Vitacost

Over one month ago I ordered supplements ($100 value) from vitacost.com and shipping should be delivered in about 15 days - but now is over double that period and NO supplements. The worst, last tracking info is from 10th March: "IN TRANSIT" - over 20 days!!?? Important is that this is not the first time I had problems with orders from… Read more

vitacost.com, before there were no shipping problems with DHL but now constant problems with fedex.

When I reported problem "support" responded that I need to wait 60 days or 2 months that they can say order has a problem, they fool around with paying customers.

"Support" is not only useless but contributing to the problem with NO intention to resolve the problem, in addition they do NOT understand that waiting month or two without resolving the problem is NOT acceptable for any customer, even for a brick order.

I replied that they do not sell bricks but food supplements sensitive to temperature and other conditions, after a couple of months, who knows in what conditions, food supplements are likely for garbage, no one wants to get poisoned with bad supplements.

BTW they send shipments of food supplements in cheap plastic bags similar to garbage bags, does that suggests that products are garbage quality, it all looks like ordering and getting garbage, supplements from all other shops are well packaged with care.

If order is received in 60 days or 2 months it will NOT be what is ordered, similar like ordering pizza delivered by fedex after a month but with extra fungus - not ordered. Food supplements not shipped fast and carefully is serious danger for people health!

It is very unprofessional that vitacost.com does NOT understand that, I receive faster non-food orders from China and shipping is free or much less that fedex problem shipping. Fedex shipping is the WORST ever experienced, my order is not even close to Europe.

Repetitive problems are sign of unprofessional business, useless "support" contributing to the problems with NO help for customers, all that may suggest problems with products too.

When vitacost.com can NOT resolve repetitive problems with useless "support" - then I can! Never again order from vitacost.com - never again experience their repetitive problems!

There are many other online supplement shops I had no shipping or other problems, with good care of customers and quality products - so I'm ditching vitacost.com problems in cheap plastic garbage bag for good - and it feels good.

After ditching vitacost.com and fedex repetitive problems, I already received my orders from other much better online shops with quality products, customer service and shipping.

Never again experience vitacost and fedex repetitive problems fooling around for months!

P.S. Read the many bad experiences of dissatisfied former customers...

Horrible customer service, 5 orders all 5 damaged. They use Horrible shipping companies like ontrac etc and delivered boxes are destroyed because vitacost poorly packages them etc. Then customer service sound like they are 7 years old and are less intelligent. Hours on the phone and they never answered many emails I sent. We will never use these disgraces again. Use The New Mall on eBay, or Amazon, or Walmart etc.... for no troubles..

Great experience on my first order and second order – Placed my first order on Monday and it was delivered on Friday. It was an international delivery from the US for less than a week with detailed online tracking. I am very happy with my first experience with Vitacost in terms of cost and service. Placed my second order with good discount last week and the order was delivered today around 1 week. Show details

Zero communication – I ordered vitamins 10 days ago. Instanly received order confirmation email which said they’ll let me know when order is shipped. I gave them a lot of time because it’s Christmas time (vitamins were supposed to be a gift by the way). Today I started looking into it and apparently my order was cancelled. Order date on cancellation notice doesn’t… Read more

mach the email. No email or text message. Don’t even know when it got cancelled. Chat didn’t even work. Foul experience.

Unprofessional – I am extremely disappointed with the services provided by Vitacost Not only was their customer service unreachable, but the phone number listed on the PayPal transaction was working only for new orders option. This made it incredibly difficult for me to address the issues I was facing (never receivedthe order) I hope the company takes steps to improve its accessibility and customer support in the future

Dunno why they don't let Australia buy snacks or food any more. :( Disappointing – Used to be great for certain health food items that I used to use in the US and cannot get in Australia. But now they don't let you ship any snacks to Australia. I don't know why, because shipping is pay anyway and based on weight. It's not cheap, either. This makes no sense to me. If it's a volume thing, a quantity limit would have been better… Read more

than banning all snacks from being shipped to Australia. It's not a ingredient issue either as I can buy the same snacks from iHerb no problem.

Vitacost is the main competitor to the iHerb, another US based supplement site. I used to use them when I lived in America. They're fine for supplements that are tougher to get in Australia. I usually go through them or iHerb. Sometimes Vitacost has has stock that iHerb doesn't have, and they have their house brand which works out cheaper sometimes. But their whole site is in USD, despite setting the 'region' to Australia-- they do not convert their prices and their shipping is pretty expensive. With the AUD being low right now, you gotta be careful buying from them, as the USD conversion is nasty, but some products still work out cheaper than iHerb (who converts arbitrarily and occasionally raises prices based on stock levels/demand) even with the conversion rate. You gotta factor in shipping though and it's usually only worth it if the item is on sale.

They've definitely gotten worse, and now they block Australians from buying a significant portion of their food items then I have no real reason to chose them over iHerb.

Bordering on a soft scam – You log into your account, and you can have a dropdown conversion for currency saying Australian, you purchase your products, I went through Paypal, and its setup that Paypal doesn't show the cost or currency, only in Vitacost, and you think you have purchased in AUD until you get a receipt from Paypal saying the price and that it's USD. With the… Read more

exchange rate the way things are, that's a much larger cost than we are led to believe. This is quite deceptive, luckily if you notice within 15 minutes you can cancel the order. A normal company would show the pricing in any currency you choose, and it would be quite clear, I think Vitacost financially benefits from this ambiguity and is taking advantage of customers where possible. Some Regulators should pull them up on this.

Unauthorised transactions from this vendor – I was notified by my bank this vendor charged me $750. I never purchased anything and the transaction was unauthorised. I don’t know how they got my credit card details. I have disputed it.

Superb service! – Even prices were a bit higher but the shipping was superb! I got my supplements less than a week shipped to Sydney! Definitely buy from them again.

Great product range but beware the rip-off pricing – At first glance Vitacost appears to have some pretty sharp pricing. What does not become clear until you receive the charge to your bank account is that all pricing is expressed in $US. There are no warnings on the items or the general pages. Even the order confirmation comes through in $US with no notations that it is not $AU. This happens even… Read more

when the shipping region has been set to AU. The only indication that you are not browsing in $AU comes at the shopping cart screen. At the very bottom of the page underneath a shipping calculator is an easily overlooked currency calculator that you need to use manually & then at the very bottom of that window is a tiny warning about all charges being in $US. BUYER BEWARE - I just placed what I thought was an AU$105 order only to be billed AU$147. When you do currency conversions chances are you will find that Vitacost are no cheaper than a local shop or other online retailers.

exorbitant – Shipping to Australia has increased exponentially since I started using Vitacost and is now exorbitant so I've had to switch to iHerb who offer free shipping over about $60 (compared with Vitacosts $17+!!)

Long shipping time to Australia, poor shopping experience – I have been ordering items from Vitacost for several years now. I only use this company when the items I want are not available on iHerb. I agree with the numerous negative reviews here - there are long shipping delays and they cancel items and don’t give you the option to cancel your order. Their customer service is also very poor - I won’t… Read more

bother emailing them anymore as they don’t read your query or they read without understanding as the responses I have received do not address the query. This is not a once off issue I have had with Vitacost. I have never had this much trouble with other companies that ship from the US.

Purchased Ubiquinol – Purchased product from the internet heading Vitacost/Australia, so assumed that prices were in Australian dollars. It wasn't till the invoice was posted that USD appeared. The site said said shipping was free and it wasn't. All in all a bad experience. Would suggest you avoid

Dreadful order and despatch system – I have ordered 4 times over the past few years with orders exceeding $100 each time. On my latest order the total was for $148 and I ordered 3 large B Complex and 3 large E (cost over $136) with three smaller items just as add-ons simply because I had the order coming. The other items were literally not particularly necessary and only add ons. … Read more

Because I am in Australia, I had to pay freight on the order discounted to $10, but freight nonetheless.

During my night I received an email saying the E had been removed from the order because it was out of stock. I immediately contacted Vitacost to tell them to HOLD the order and allow me to add a different E or cancel the order as it was a major part of my order. The next night they sent me an email saying their system didnt allow for a delay and the order was already processed. I also received ANOTHER Email saying the B was out of stock and had been removed from the order!

In other words I was now only receiving the three items I had added on simply because there was an order being sent and worse still was being charged $10 freight on those three items worth $12!!!!

And before I could even respond to that I received ANOTHER email telling me the order had been despatched!

Viatcosts system is deeply flawed if it can allow that to happen - and it does!

It is OBVIOUS you dont do that to a client. If you are removing a large chunk of the order you should advise and wait for their reply and if you DO have a system that doesnt allow that ANY items removed should be back ordered and sent freight free!

They have lost me as a client and I strongly recommend you look elsewhere if you want a service that is reliable and has any sort of customer care. This mob border on criminal in that area!

Blocking Australian buyers for no reason – Vitacost's website blocks Australian buyers from purchasing 1 bottle or more of the 100 capsule Vitacost ARO L-Carnitine. They also block the purchase of the 300 capsule bottle of Vitacost L-Carnitine. However you can buy as many bottles of the more expensive 60 capsule Vitacost L-Carnitine as you like with no issues at all. When I questioned… Read more

Vitacost customer service about these discrepancies they said words to the effect "We have to follow Australian Government guidelines that don't allow you a 3 month supply of supplements, which is why you can order the 60 bottle L-Carnitine but not the 300 Capsule bottle."

This is incorrect anyway, but they failed to answer why we can't order the 100 capsules of ARO L-Carnitine, or why we can order way more than a 3 month supply in the more expensive 60 capsule bottles. I repeatedly asked them about this but Customer Service just kept repeating themselves using the 3 month supply line. I even cc'd their bosses and ... NOTHING.

Swanson International own brands for Australian buyers are either cheaper or very close to Vitacost own brands in value, and iHerb stocks all third party brands for exactly the same prices as Vitacost, and both have faster shipping than VItacost, so no real need for Vitacost when they're trying to rip Aussies off like this.

Patient patient – Customer for 8 years or so. Had one only botched order of dozens, quickly remedied. Appreciate consistent potencies and ethically sourced ingredients and produced in FDA controlled conditions which is something of a safety net, better than the highly questionable supply chains for Australian mainstream brands Usually receive free shipping with orders over $US70 .

Won't Use Vitacost Again – I am from overseas. This company split two small bottles of vitamins and packed them each in a different (huge) box each without letting me know they would do this. When the first parcel arrived with just one bottle in it I realised what had happened and then had to pay my freight forwarder another lot of postage to get the second bottle. This… Read more

cost me an extra $50 in postage!!!! When I contacted them, they could not care a less and refused to compensate me for what had happened.

Good Service – I was impressed by how quickly my order arrived as I'd read some conflicting reviews. They price in US dollars so take that in consideration when ordering.

Vitacost - great place to shop – August 2013: Unlike other reviews, I only have positive things to say about Vitacost. Admittedly I have only placed one order, but it arrived to regional Australia in one week. I have absolutely no complaints about any part of the transaction - the best part of which is their price. I will certainly be using them again. Update Dec 2015: I have… Read more

now used Vitacost several times and am still extremely happy with their service, delivery and of course prices. Every single order arrives promptly and in full. I will certainly keep using them. Inexpensive, reasonable delivery

Very slow delivery – It took way to long for my coconut oil to arrive way passed the time they said. Unfortunately they seem to lie with this and I can not say I have trust in them as it happened again on another order. Products are good but not the delivery time at all, i won't be shopping there anymore.

Just horrible – If you value the timely and accurate fulfilment of your order, give these guys a wide berth. The first time I ordered from them, not only did my shipment arrive late (even though I'd paid extra for expedited delivery) but it was one item short. Despite this, some masochistic impulse led me to give them another chance. The results have been even… Read more

more impressive: this time, my delivery wasn't even my own order. It rightfully belongs to a man on the other side of the world. I recommend you save yourself similar grief and shop elsewhere.

Terrible company, bad customer service, totally waste of my time – The delivery time is should be 7-10 days. but 30 days past already. The vitacost mistake my address and attempted to delivery to wrong address three times. My order has to be sent back. I called them to correct my address(the address i filled is correct), but they seems lazy to do nothing and still attempt to deliver to the wrong address.....i am… Read more

very disappointed. The customer service is very very bad and bad attitude. I know the price vitacost got is maybe a few dollars cheaper than other stores, but its totally waste of my time. I will avoid and never buy from vitacost again.

Best prices and customer service! – I've purchased from them 3 or 4 times, and they always have the best prices and customer service. Their shipping time to oz is quite reasonable. If you have an issue, they get back to you with 24hrs, and if something is not as advertised they will happily refund. Will purchase from them again! quality of vitacost brand is same as leading brands or better, prices are the best, customer service is great.

Shipping time is a blatant lie! – Absolutely useless! My first order with this company took over a month to be delivered. I gave them a second chance as I thought it may of been a one off. The second order was a bit late but not too bad. The third order however was a month overdue. After countless emails and live chats they finally refunded my order. So I had to wait for over 5… Read more

weeks for my health products that never came. What a waste of time. Nothing, an absolute pain to deal with Their site lies about delivery times, customer service is a joke, Didn't even receive my order and had to fight for a refund

Relieved – I bought a whole heap of products from Vistacost before reading all the negative reviews. Especially since they were written so close to my order date. Then received a confirmation email that showed the estimated arrival time was 6 weeks away, even though i selected priority shipping it only registered as normal shipping. I began expecting the… Read more

worse.

Today everything arrived 10 days later. No problems.

I'm sure other peoples experiences are valid. Mine was not that bad :) cheap, fast

Use by date – I received a large number of supplement tablets with use by date so close that I will have to throw 70% of them in the bin. Got the refund but lost the postage and handling costs. I will never ever buy anything from them again. They are dishonest. I would have been better off getting it from my local chemist store. Use by date

Fast Delivery – I ordered goods through them last year and received it 10 days later postage was not expensive , Iam thinking of using them again as their prices are very good . I will right agian and we will see if all those bad reviews are just bad luck for them or the others and me where just lucky . Inexpensive fast delivery

Worst company for supplements - bad shipping – Please do not buy from Vitacost even if the prices are cheaper. I placed a $300 order that was meant to have arrived by now and it hasn't despite paying a premium ($80) for shipping in 4-6 days. My order hasnt even arrived, it got sent to Denmark and I dont even know If Im going to get it. I contacted customer service and they told me I have to… Read more

wait 60 days to see whether the delivery shows up or not. I am in serious need of supplements and I am really unhappy. Here's my email from them below - Its ridiculous!!! They are telling me to contact them in two months time!!!!!!!! Please do yourself a favour and dont order from them!!!

Thank you for contacting Vitacost regarding order XXXXX.

We are very sorry to hear your product(s) haven’t arrived. Although it's extremely rare for international orders to get lost, it can sometimes happen. Generally they are not lost but delayed in transit due to custom processes. Your order shipped on 20/05/2013. Average shipping time is 8-20 days, however we do ask that you please allow 60 days from the shipping date for delivery. Depending on your location, courier selection, and any history of similar problems, we’ll work to help resolve this issue.

Please contact us by 20/07/2013 via email, or live chat, seven days a week, and we'll explain your options.

If you have any further questions or comments regarding this matter, please feel free to discuss it with us at [email removed]

did not receive my order, bad customer service, have to wait 60 days until parcel doesnt show before they do anything about it, very unhappy with service, took my money and did not deliver

Vitacost - misleading and fraudulent – I paid for Priority shipping and the estimate for delivery was between 5-10 days when I placed my order, but my confirmation email said possibly over one month for delivery. They ignored most of my communication but eventually I got an email stating they have used Global shipping instead of Priority (Global shipping happens to be cheaper and… Read more

slower).

They have ignored every email since then. I paid for more expensive, faster shipping and they are using another method but are completely ignoring me now. I immediately asked to cancel my order when I found out it would be over a month for delivery but they ignored that too.

Their customer service is shocking. To state the estimate for delivery is 5-10 days and then to take over one month for shipping is not just misleading, it is deliberately dishonest and fraudulent. Will obviously never order from them again and will make sure people know how this company operates.

Dishonest, fraudulent, misleading, completely ignores customers, charges for expensive shipping but ships using cheaper method and ignores if you query why.

Vitacost - Not impressed! – I received two orders from Vitacost, no problems. I then realised I had been doubly charged for my second order - this was in November and I've still had no luck in having this resolved. I stupidly placed a second order with them in early December - it has been paid for via PayPal, yet the order is not showing in MyAccount, I have received no… Read more

order confirmation and of course, it has not been delivered yet. My biggest issue is with the customer service - I have received no response, seems like it's just too hard for them!

Vitacost - misleading information about delivery time & vey poor customer service – Vitacost provides false and dishonest information about average time for international deliveries. They are also very unhelpful when contacted with any questions. Considering that their many competitors charge far less for a quicker type of shipping it is obvious that they profiteer by overcharging for shipping - so whatever you may safe on the… Read more

cost of items purchased is more than off-set by the expensive and incredibly slow delivery time - on their website they advise that international deliveries via DHL Priority Mail take on average 11 to 25 calendar days. When my order did not come in within the time specified in their e-mail to me I contacted them and was told that delivery time actually averages 15 to 45 calendar days!!!!!

dishonest and misleading information about delivery time; no information about use by date and their unhelpfulness when contacted

Vitacost - online American health store – I made my first order through Vitacost and was extremely pleased on all accounts. Great prices and wonderful selection of products. Would happily recommend them. This was my first order (July 2012) but I will definitely be back...there was no problem with shipping to Australia and the postage cost was not prohibitive and anyway, some items are a quarter of the cost of what you would pay here, so well worth it. reliable, good products,