The Vitamin Shoppe

We here at the Vitamin Shoppe do apologize for [redacted] inconvenience; we would like to send him a $25.00 gift card to keep him as a good standing customer. Please let me know. Bryan S[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this...

response because: [redacted] promised me a refund in May of 2015. This is more nonsense. Please have them send me a refund & I will be done with this company. Give me also the # for " [redacted]". My # is ###-###-####. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Our Customer Care team reached out today(2/7/17) to [redacted] regarding his filed Revdex.com Complaint. Our agent left a voicemail for Mr. Reed who returned our agent's call; the agent updated [redacted] shipping address information to ensure future orders ships out via [redacted]. As per our agent, the...

customer was satisfied with the call back and resolution.

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
Could you please forward my address: [redacted] to the business, so that I may receive the $40 gift card in the mal, as a resolution?  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Today we called Mr. [redacted] but we were not able to reach him by phone so we sent an email.
In the email we apologized for the delay in shipping and also offered an appeasement.
We are now waiting for his response.

We reached out to [redacted] via phone and email  to resolve the issue but have not heard back as of yet.   We're happy to make things right with [redacted] once we get in touch. Carlos

We reached out to Mr. [redacted] via email on July 7th and have not received a response.  We called and left a voicemail with instructions on how to reach us to have this matter resolved.We will await his response.[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Again, the company knows full well that the Google Shopping lists many merchants when looking for an item.  Google Shopping also display special offers on these items if the vendor (Vitamin Shoppe) elects to have a special offer.  Because of the special offer, customers will click through google shopping and will land on the said companies product page.  This is the first time you would arrive at Vitamin SHoppes website, and no where does it say these terms.  Onlyl when you go to check out are you informrmed, otherwise you would have to specifically navigate the site to find the terms as stated in the accused response.
 
Again, Vitamin SHoppes ignored the accusation and defended something different other than what they were charged.
 
Vitamin Shoppe dishonorably offers a Special Offer on Google Shopping.  The industry terms this click bait.  It is frowned upon, is a shady business practice, and Vitamin Shoppe should be punished.
Regards,
[redacted]

Horrible customer service! I ordered something that stated that it ships in 1-4 days and a month later I contacted them to find out where the item is. They are telling me it's backordered! They might get it in a week but it might change. I have to keep calling them to find out. I asked to speak to a supervisor to find out more info and she was very rude! Seriously? The worst company ever!

Contacted Mr. ** and informed him that his new order has been placed and approved. order should arrive within a few days.Mr. ** was happy with this outcome.[redacted]

Tell us why here... We sent below message to customer on May 18th.We wanted to contact you regarding the matter below which we do apologize that it has caused you aninconvenience. I was able to research this matter and had the accounts payabledepartment issued the refund of $4.90 back to the...

credit card on 05/12/15. Ifyou do not see this refund reflected on the account please let me know and Iwill respond as soon as possible and help you with the issue. We hope you havea great day and thank you for shopping with the Vitamin Shoppe.Customer Care

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I just called my credit card company and there is no credit. Keith from Vitamon Shoppe said on 25th the credit would show in 2-4 hours and I told him I would give him until the next day or I was going to Revdex.com.
Regards,
[redacted]

We contacted Ms. [redacted] via email on May 18th. We apologized for the inconvenienced this may have caused.We provided details about how  tracking works when a packaged is shipped on a Friday.   We provided further details about the type of...

carrier that was used  to ship to her P.O Box.  In regards to her inquiry about the cancelled item we explained that because it is cancelled her [redacted] account was not charged.Ms. [redacted] received her order within four business days which is well within our promised delivery time frame.

I am rejecting this response because:
Two different issues.  The double charge and the refunded shipping costs.  First, I received multiple contradictory answers from their customer service.  The final answer I received from [redacted], one of the Customer Care employees, is that it IS their policy to make two separate charges, with the first "authorization" usually disappearing (being refunded) within 1-3 business days.  Although this is their policy, it isn't stated anywhere in their lengthy Terms of Service agreement or their Purchase Policy agreement.  Seems like a purposeful and glaring omission to make. 
Can you imagine if every time you used your debit card to make a purchase the company deducted twice the amount of the transaction (without even telling you, even in the fine print) and then their response was "Oh, that's just how we do it.  Don't worry.  You'll get your money back eventually."  That's good business??  Maybe it isn't an issue for customers using credit cards where the charge will have been reversed by the time they get their statement and have to actually pay their credit card company.  But for debit or prepaid card users it is a different story.  (And for the record, it took just over 10 days for me to get my refund.  I did speak with a customer service rep who was going to try to fast track my refund but she told me she couldn't unless I provided her with my card number AND my social security number so she could contact the bank on my behalf.)
I do think that they can conduct business that way if they want to.  Some businesses, like hotels and even gas stations (when you swipe your card at the pump), will place an authorization hold on a card that can take a while to be released.  But I've never heard of that happening with a simple webstore purchase.  And my biggest issue is IF THAT IS THEIR POLICY THEY SHOULD DISCLOSE THAT IN ADVANCE.  (If I had known in advance I would have found an alternative store to use or made the purchase in one of their local stores near me.)
As for the refunded shipping costs, their response makes it seem like they did that as a way of making up for the problem, which is absolutely not the case.  Shipping was initially free.  I paid extra to have my items shipped 2nd day air.  Their website promised that all orders received before 2 pm would ship that same day.  My order was well before the 2pm deadline but wasn't shipped until over 48 hours later.  Not same and not 2nd day arrival.  That's why I asked for a refund of the shipping.
Yes, I did eventually get the refund.  Yes, it was definitely more than a slight inconvenience.  I won't be doing business with them again.  To anyone planning on doing business with them online, I'd say Buyer Beware -- big time.  And why are "accredited" businesses not called on having hidden policies like this to begin with?

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

We have refunded the rest of the order, for a total refund of $29.50, so this should resovle the issue.

I am rejecting this response because:
Number of orders were honored and shipped. Why was mine discriminated against?

We have looked at the transaction and the multivitamin purchased didn’t qualify for our sale. To qualify for the sale the multivitamin purchase had to be $14.99 or more. The multivitamin purchased in the disputed transaction fell a bit short of $14.99. However, we will send a free vitamin D3 to...

Ms. [redacted]. We apologize for any inconvenience.

We have discussed this issue with Mr. [redacted] and we’ve issued him a gift card for his experience. We will also honor his return and refund on his next store visit. We will be discussing the experience with the store staff internally to improve all customers shopping interactions going forward. We...

certainly apologize for this and thank Mr. [redacted] for bringing it to our attention.

Due to an error the item ordered, [redacted] Shaker Bottle, waspriced on our website for $0.99. The regular price for the item is $7.99 so wereceived a lot of orders for the item. Unfortunately we were unable to fulfill ordersplaced for the shaker bottle and had to cancel the orders. Below is a copy...

ofthe email sent to customers that ordered the [redacted] Shaker Bottle. Dear Valued Customer,You recently placed an order for [redacted]Shaker bottles on our website at www.vitaminshoppe.com.Unfortunately, due to a pricing error, the overwhelming demand and themanufacturer's ability to meet this demand, we are unable to fulfill yourorder. As a result, we cancelled this item from your order. Please note that ifyou have other items in your order, they are processing as normal. We apologizefor any inconvenience this may have caused you.We would like to makethis up to you by offering you this 20%off couponthat you may use towards a future order. To redeem, please use coupon code at [redacted] checkout.Thank you for choosingus to help you fulfill your wellness needs. To your best health. Sincerely,the Vitamin Shoppe teamWhile we are unable to honor the price for the [redacted] Shaker Bottle or a substituteitem, we will be happy to honor the coupon. We understand this might not be thebest outcome but we do sincerely apologize. The coupon code [redacted] can be used on our site for20% off.