IHerb vs Vitacost

As I said previously, I live in Québec, Canada. Saddly, the market here for natural/organic items is rather small, and without competition of any sort, the prices tend to rise, so I've found that it's cheaper and also easier thanks to the large selection of goods to buy online and, more precisely, from the United States. When I first started lookig for my monthly dose of beauty products (I'm a junkie when it comes to those babies) I stumbled upon a rather popular site, IHerb. I was rather impressed by all the products on display but please - please keep reading. I do not wish to make them any publicity at all as I was more than disappointed by their services.

First order
After a little while, I decided to give it a try. I created an account, chose a bunch of stuff, paid. And started waiting. I'll give them that, they're fast, which is one of the only good points they'll get from me. Couple of days later, the package comes in. I was awaiting fees since it's from across the border but on a 80$ order, I didn't expect a 30$ breakage fees! At that price, buying from here would have been cheaper.. Anyway. I waited a little bit before I tried again.

Love a the first sight
Before I went back to IHerb, I looked around a little bit to see if I could find something better. And to my awe, I did! You might have heard of Vitacost, IHerb's baby brother? The selection was smaller, but so were the prices. And when I got my package (which took longer to get by, but still) I was pleasantly surprised bu the total absence of fees! Nothing, nada! That meant 30$ back in my wallet, and when you're a student, that's a really nice bonus you get there.

Second IHerb order
For a reason that I still can't grasp, I gave a second chance to IHerb. Probably because of the impressive selection, and because some items that I really wanted weren't on Vitacost. Anyway, I gave them the benefice of the doubt, and tried again. I waited for a couple of days (still shorter amount of time than Vitacost) and received it.. Alongside another 30$ bill. But when I opened the package.. There was an item missing! I contacted them and, yeah, sure, theygave me a refund. But they only gave back the amount of the product, before taxes, shipping fees AND the ridiculous fees that I do not get when I order from Vitacost (note that both of those sites are from the same country and yet, I only pay fees for one. This is a mystery.) So basically, I still paid for an item that I never received. How hard is it to double check the orders?! I had like.. 7 to 8 items at MOST. Very dissapointed.

Never have I had such a problem with Vitacost, and I also would like to point out the fact that their selection grows by the day and that most of the stuff that was only on IHerb at first is now on Vitacost.

To wrap this up quickly, I won't be buying off IHerb anymore. It's not Canada-friendly since a lot of their goods can't be shipped here, they have bad customer care and their transport/breakage fees are just too expensive. I'd also like to point out the fact that I've waited up to 6 weeks for their out-of-stock items, before giving up.

I don't know how they handle their USA customers, but if you're Canadian like myself, there are better options out there like Vitacost (my favorite) or Well.ca.

So that's it, I hope this post helped you a little bit. Take care,

F.B