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Vitacost.com - Delivery Time is Horrible/Horrific Customer Service
Complaint
Review by dem8899 on 2013-01-29
Rating: 
LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA -- As a long time customer who has been very happy with Vitacost's service in the past, I felt compelled to post this review after a recent horrific experience with the company. By the way, this is the first official negative review I have posted about a company in years so it takes a lot for me to be so angry that I will do this.
Last week, I placed an order on 1/22 for an OTC sinus remedy in the morning. Because I was anxious to receive the product, I paid $7.58 for ground shipping because in the past, doing so caused the product to reach me in two days since I live in Virginia.
I was very upset to receive an email on 1/24 that the product had just been shipped and that it wouldn't arrive until 1/28. According to Vitacost records, it was shipped on 1/23 but I suspect that because it didn't arrive at the UPS facility until late that day, it was not shipped until 1/24.
I was also angry because another supplement I ordered from another vendor in North Carolina that Vitacost does not carry arrived on 1/28. I had placed it on 1/26 with free shipping. The vendor's prices are lower than any other outfit that carries the same product.
So I contacted customer service with my complaint about delayed shipping and kept receiving boiler plate responses. I asked twice for a priority customer service callback to no avail.
During one phone call, I asked to speak to a supervisor and after a period of silence, I gave up. I later read in other reviews that this is common practice in not allowing customers to speak to supervisors.
The emails I sent were an exercise in extreme futility. When I sent a 2nd one, I asked that a supervisor respond. When it was clear one hadn't, I sent another one and again made my request and someone did respond with another typical boiler plate response.
When this person offered me a 5% discount on future purchases, I asked that the shipping charge be waived. I won't repeat what I thought of this person's offer but let's just say it wasn't positive. I never heard back from the company.
As a result of my horrific experience, I decided to post a complaint on my3cents because Vitacost needs to know that providing inferior service is not acceptable. I also wanted customers who were considering doing business with this company to hear about my experience.
After reading posts from VitaCat, a representative of the company who seemed sincere about resolving customer service issues, I decided to email her before posting this complaint. When she didn't respond, I decided to post it.
Needless to say, when my OTC remedy runs out, I will be looking for a new vendor who carries the product at a reasonable price and doesn't gouge for shipping.
Last week, I placed an order on 1/22 for an OTC sinus remedy in the morning. Because I was anxious to receive the product, I paid $7.58 for ground shipping because in the past, doing so caused the product to reach me in two days since I live in Virginia.
I was very upset to receive an email on 1/24 that the product had just been shipped and that it wouldn't arrive until 1/28. According to Vitacost records, it was shipped on 1/23 but I suspect that because it didn't arrive at the UPS facility until late that day, it was not shipped until 1/24.
I was also angry because another supplement I ordered from another vendor in North Carolina that Vitacost does not carry arrived on 1/28. I had placed it on 1/26 with free shipping. The vendor's prices are lower than any other outfit that carries the same product.
So I contacted customer service with my complaint about delayed shipping and kept receiving boiler plate responses. I asked twice for a priority customer service callback to no avail.
During one phone call, I asked to speak to a supervisor and after a period of silence, I gave up. I later read in other reviews that this is common practice in not allowing customers to speak to supervisors.
The emails I sent were an exercise in extreme futility. When I sent a 2nd one, I asked that a supervisor respond. When it was clear one hadn't, I sent another one and again made my request and someone did respond with another typical boiler plate response.
When this person offered me a 5% discount on future purchases, I asked that the shipping charge be waived. I won't repeat what I thought of this person's offer but let's just say it wasn't positive. I never heard back from the company.
As a result of my horrific experience, I decided to post a complaint on my3cents because Vitacost needs to know that providing inferior service is not acceptable. I also wanted customers who were considering doing business with this company to hear about my experience.
After reading posts from VitaCat, a representative of the company who seemed sincere about resolving customer service issues, I decided to email her before posting this complaint. When she didn't respond, I decided to post it.
Needless to say, when my OTC remedy runs out, I will be looking for a new vendor who carries the product at a reasonable price and doesn't gouge for shipping.
Comments:
Posted by dem8899 on 2013-01-29:
As an FYI, VitaCat finally responded to the email I sent yesterday. Unfortunately, she has said nothing to change my mind about the situation.
Posted by VitaCat on 2013-02-14:
We sincerely appreciate your long term customer loyalty. I am very sorry that you had a negative experience that upset you to a point that you felt it best to reach outside of the company and warn others. I am the same person, VitaCat, and I have not received the email to which you refer. We do have a rigorous spam system that your email very well could have been lost in, and I apologize for that. I am happy to look over this and work with you to resolve it with your 100% satisfaction.
If the order was to be shipped with expedited shipping methods and it was input by 1PM, EST between Monday and Friday – it should have shipped the same day. Otherwise, it should ship the following business day. If this standard operating procedure is not carried out in that manner, it is our policy to refund the shipping costs. I would be more than glad to take your order information and refund that if this is the case.
To hear that our customers were not able to reach a supervisor when necessary is disheartening. I am sincerely sorry that even one of our customers feel this way. This isn’t our normal business practice and it is honestly the first that I have heard of it. I will definitely share that with the upper management within the Customer Contact Center. Please email me again at Catherine.Corey@Vitacost.com with the subject line reading “My3cents.com post reply to Catherine Corey” and I will pull that from spam this evening and reply.
Thank you in advance for allowing me to assist you.
Catherine Corey
Customer Communications Specialist
Vitacost.com
1-800-793-2601
If the order was to be shipped with expedited shipping methods and it was input by 1PM, EST between Monday and Friday – it should have shipped the same day. Otherwise, it should ship the following business day. If this standard operating procedure is not carried out in that manner, it is our policy to refund the shipping costs. I would be more than glad to take your order information and refund that if this is the case.
To hear that our customers were not able to reach a supervisor when necessary is disheartening. I am sincerely sorry that even one of our customers feel this way. This isn’t our normal business practice and it is honestly the first that I have heard of it. I will definitely share that with the upper management within the Customer Contact Center. Please email me again at Catherine.Corey@Vitacost.com with the subject line reading “My3cents.com post reply to Catherine Corey” and I will pull that from spam this evening and reply.
Thank you in advance for allowing me to assist you.
Catherine Corey
Customer Communications Specialist
Vitacost.com
1-800-793-2601
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