"I purchased over $100 worth of essential and carrier oils. I've since learned that when it comes to these things, it is best to be able to inspect the product prior to purchase. Also, if an offer seems too good to be true, then it's watered down! As is the case with these oils. The 1x aloe vera looks like nothing more than a green tinted bottle of water and maybe a tad of citric acid. The wheat germ is thin and lighter than cheap beer. Citronella and lemongrass smell potent, but don't they always? Cinnamon bark smelled strong and did cause a little irritation when applied straight out of the bottle, but the tea tree and peppermint oils smelled terribly weak compared to pharmacy or even Wal-Mart selections. I sprung extra for the organic versions if they were available. All in all, it wasn't an aweful experience. Delivery was on time and packed well. Hopefully the tea tree, peppermint, lemongrass, and eucalyptus will perform well in my diffuser. "
"DECEPTIVE DESCRIPTION because they think their customers are too stupid to know a difference.
They are NOT accredited with the BBB and have 80% negative reviews.
I ordered the Unscented Basic Hand and Body lotion and the Unscented Heal and Foot lotion. When received, they are in fact all the same base. Reading the fine print is only helpful if you read ALL of the products but since I did not want the massage lotion, I never opened it.
They claim they are the same ingredients but without giving content amount, one could think, as I did, that because these are labeled as different that they in fact would be.
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"I have now ordered from them for a few years and for tube mist part i was happy but every time i had a problem they never fixed it knowing this i never ordered less then a month out for what i needed but now even with me ordering a ninth before i needed to have it i still can't get what i order"
"I also wanted to leave a review but you dont have the option. I'm extremely upset. I ordered the same foaming base I did last month for my scrubs and received a Stephenson melt and pour base. I contacted customer service for them to keep trying to assure me that the packaging was changed and it's the same product but I have to whip it on my own now and when I tried it it's COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CONSISTENCY then the last kind I received! I said I was so unhappy with it and it's not what I ordered. Your costumer service is awful. I order from you all the time and the one time my order is wrong all I get is "sorry you're unhappy with your order, I assure you that it's the same product, the photos on the site are misleading!" I'm sorry but if the photos are misleading that's false advertising. Im about to write BBB and report it because I should of been offered a complete refund for the product being different and being told the photos on your website are misleading. I have it all in my emails. I'm a very easy going person, but when someone tells me all that and then doesn't even offer a way to keep me happy other then arguing with me or offer me a refund without me asking for one, that's a horrible way to do buisness! Now I have to send back the products that were wrong in order to get my refund and take more time out of my work day for y'alls mess up and telling me you have a misleading website? I should get the refund regardless. I would never even normally ask for one without returning the product but the way I was argued with and not offered a way to make me happy w/o me asking first, it should be automatic refund!"
"Just placed my first order and they delivered it promptly and filled it exactly as ordered. Products were all high quality and packaged in solid containers (aluminum bottles for essential oils) and tubs for lye and coconut oil. Would definitely recommend based on this experience. Just placed my second order."
"After 3 orders I have been nothing but satisfied with a Bulk Apothecary's prices, quality of product, shipping times and service. Excellent company."
"I have actually never written a bad review. As a business owner I know how challenging it can be to run a business let alone make everyone happy. That being said, a company's duty is to own mistakes and take care. Solve problems and be kind and empathetic. You do not get any of that with BA. By the end of this week, this company will have caused me to incur hundreds of dollars in expenses and the potential to lose a lot of customers.
Having sold out of a lot of what I needed must faster than I had anticipated I went to place another order, which went swiftly. Two days later I placed another order, also going swiftly. Between the two I probably placed $3000 worth of orders in those few days. The first order shipped the next day due to arrive two days later. Out of stock items at my store were being sold to customers and told they would arrive in a few days. When I went to check on the order to make sure it was on track,, I noticed at the end of the shipping confirmation it said they didn’t have the 4 cases of diffusers I had ordered. On the shipping confirmation! No call, no refund, no separate email – nothing. Previously the site had told me if something wasn't in stock. If I hadn’t scrolled to the bottom I would have never know until I noticed the product didn’t arrive. Again, my employees at my retail location are selling these units and promising they will be delivered to customers.
I called. I was told they would not get them back in for weeks… which meant the 6 additional cases on my second order placed the previous night were not coming either. There was no indication these were out of stock. As of this email – they are still in stock on the site. This order had other unites on it and I wanted to change it to get more hopes to replace the items out of stock. The person on the phone confirmed he had all 5 cases of what I needed but could not adjust my order. I was told to place another order and he’d cancel the current one - I did it right as I was on the phone with him. He physically went to the warehouse confirm they had the diffusers I needed. Well…..
I got the shipping confirmation a few hours later. And this time I scrolled all the way to the bottom. Those diffusers he physically confirmed he had for me? Nope, not getting those either. Same little note one wouldn’t see on their shipping confirmation unless they looked for it at the bottom. No call, no email, and it still says on the site that they have them. Nothing on the site indicates this could happen, by the way. There is no warning or FYI.
Until this point I had been calm. Keep in mind any time you call them, their customer service refuses to let you speak to a supervisor, are incredibly rude. Ask questions, they evade them or tell you to email them. I immediately demanded to speak with a manager. ( I have politely asked every time I’ve called. This is the first time I was ever transferred to someone). The woman I spoke to was robotic and could care less. I explained everything and that these new items were physically confirmed to be there for MY ORDER, and despite explaining that I had paid over $150 bucks to rush deliver these items so I could use them in place of the items that never came-and all that was offered to me was a $50 credit and explaining I had to order the items they were out of stock on from the manufacture directly and pay RUSH shipping to the tune of almost $400 dollars – so the people waiting for these particular units would get them before Christmas and… get this…. all she did was argue and make excuses – taking absolutely no responsibility whatsoever for what I see as a very poorly run company w/even worse customer service. I have to manage inventory, I get it is a pain – but it’s essential. When you’re a company advertising amazing service, bulk quantities and the lowest prices in town – inventory management would be your first priority and if you screw it up for other businesses you need find a way to make it right. There is no problem solving going on in this company. they think “giving a refund”..is doing you a favor - That’s not making it right – that’s your legal obligation when you don't deliver the goods. Making it right starts with being polite, and then to do some problem solving, offer to ship an alternative on the house, or offer to help cover the extraordinary amount of expense resulting from the mistakes of your company.
Unacceptable. I’ve worked with so many wholesalers, suppliers, and even sourcing directly from other countries - during all times of years and for all types of products and never in my life have I come across anything like this. I’m back to ordering directly from the manufacturers, even if it costs me a few more dollars per unit. Do not order from this place - the only way to fix these issues is to cause these companies to suffer for their poor practices.
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"I have never had problems with shipping, nothing ever came broke, everything has come as shown on the site. I have only ordered EO's, carrier oils, and a few misc products. I have not had any problems with what I have ordered and have been satisfied with what I got. I have never had to contact Customer Service because I have never had a problem."
"I am sitting here reading all the negative reviews and I am actually confounded and appalled. I have NEVER had a negative response or issue with Bulk Apothecary and I have been ordering from them for about two years, quite consistently. I had an order that arrived with the oil spilled out of a 8 oz bottle because the cap had broken in transit. I called the company and the customer service rep was very responsive to my needs/request. Not only did she send me a replacement of the entire bottle, she sent me a free item (albeit smaller amount), as well to help with the inconvenience of the broken product. All free of charge and it came the next day! I'm sorry that others are seemingly having poor responses, but this company is one with great products, great prices and awesome service. I'll be a customer as long as they stay in business!"
"It's hard to trust company that won't publish a negative review. I have been using this company for over a year and of late each of my orders have had some sort of issue. Twice now they have changed lip balm tubes with tubes of a lesser quality. I wrote negative reviews to inform other customers of the change and neither were published. Anytime time I've had to contact them with product issues I've always gotten the "Oh Well" attitude. Only once was I taken care of in a proper manner. Their prices are good but popular items are almost always out of stock during the vendor season (Castor Oil, Palm Kernal flakes, once even sodium hydroxide, activated charcoal and so on) I've tried to be a loyal customer to them but they really don't seem to care about just one guy."
"Ordered from them on last Wednesday and have emailed Mr Lucarell in regards to my order after receiving a note that ups does not deliver to PO Boxes. I replied that day to find out Friday he didn't update the address. So Monday I receive one package at my business address (which they can not explain how ups had that address because I gave and they have my home address on file). Lady said I must have called ups to change it which I did not. I called today to see why I have only recorded one package and see where the other items were. Lady on phn stated they are sending it out today I should get it Monday. ABSOLUTLY NOT!!! She didn't apologize, she didn't try to explain why they were processed at two different times-Not! Horrible service for first time!! Such a disgrace when we rely on your products for our business. "
"I bought this oil because it was rated so highly on the bulk apothecary website. young living thieves oil i was very familiar with, as my physician infused it at his office and i found it so enticing and exhilarating. however, after receiving the bulk apothecary version, and diffusing a few drops, I was very disappointed. It smelled nothing like the "thieves" oil I was familiar with, and even was quite irritating. But the worst thing was, I called up bulk apothecary to ask for a return label and found that they do not send labels, and I will be responsible for the postage, and the cust service rep was very rude as well. will not be doing any more business with them. Bad experience all around"
"This review isn't about shipping or product - although I wish I'd seen all these reviews before I bought from them! No, this is about advertising. About a month ago, I received my second order from them. Since then, a Bulk Apothecary ad (of one kind or another) has been on every page I’ve been on since then. EVERY PAGE!! That includes banners and/or “skip ad” ads across half of videos I’ve watched. Now I’m sure this is good news for them - their advertising is obviously working. Not so much for me! I’ve become so irritated that although I liked their company and had planned to buy more and to recommend them to others, I’m not so sure I want to anymore. If I went shopping at Safeway, would I want someone following my every step, prompting me to buy, buy, buy!? That’s exactly what it feels like and I don’t like it! Car salesmen aren’t that pushy!
Now that I've read the reviews, I'm questioning the products I've bought from them too. I'm a newbie at this and wouldn't recognize a bad product at this juncture - but I've gotten a lot of good information from these reviews! Think I'll just stick to Mountain Rose or some of the companies mentioned in the reviews. Besides, if BA can spend that much in advertising, I don't think they need my business! "
"Terrible customer service! Be very careful what you order! I ordered a small size shower gel and a large size shampoo. Apparently they are the same product! When I called to let them know I didn't get my shampoo, they said it is shower gel and that is stated in the fine print. I was free to return the $13.95 one gallon item if I pay for the shipping, which would be far more costly than that. I told the representative I would not be ordering from them anymore and he hung up on me. This is how their customers are treated!"
"Placed an order with bulk apothecary on Dec 1, 2015 without any indication on the wed site to notify me they were out of stock they took the order and later told me they had shipped out aa part of the shippedment. The other half came many days later damaged it is the 18 today and I was told they will shipped it out today. Let's see
I found the employees matter of factly attude unprofessional and not good for business, the quality of the Castro oil to be poor. This was not a pleasant experience at all . I would not purchase from this company again."