"Earlier this year I placed an order for several boxes of Quest bars as part of a promotion from Swanson Health Products, in conjunction with a promotion from my credit card. I was originally intending to have them sent to an address that was not my billing address. After placing the order I received an email from a service rep, Amber S., stating that they will not ship a customers first order to an address other than the billing address. While this was incredibly inconvenient for me it was not a deal breaker so I responded that it was okay to ship to my billing address. I received confirmation from the same rep that the order would be processed, but that one of my items was on back-order and would not ship until that item was in stock. I responded that this was fine and that I would wait for the order. Several weeks passed with no communication, so I sent a message to the service rep about my order and did not receive any update. I sent several more messages over the next several months. I finally got in contact with a different service rep, Jessica, who told me my order was cancelled because it couldn't ship to an address not my billing address. I pointed to my email with the previous rep that I had authorized shipping to my billing address and she said something along the lines of, "Yes I see that. It appears the previous rep did put your order back in process, but it was later put on hold and cancelled." When I asked why she said there was no listed reason, simply that the order was cancelled. This also took an exceptionally long time to get from the rep with several repeated questions to drag the answer out. Final result she stated there was nothing I or she could do and, I'm paraphrasing here, that I was SOL. No apology, no offer to help get the order re-instated, which wouldn't have helped because my CC offer had expired, no explanation for why I was never informed of my order being cancelled or why the previous rep did not respond to any of my emails. This meant that I waited weeks for a product that never shipped, I ended up missing out on other deals for the same product that I could have used if I had known I wouldn't get it, and that the company did not care or have an explanation.

Basically, this company has terrible customer service and I would never order from them again and will be telling everyone I know not to buy from them."

"It is a complete disaster for international customers.
I had a chat asking if I could change the order. The answer was affirmative. There was a new amount (40% inferior to the previous one). They charged my bank with the old amount. One customer representative even said to me that Swanson has to be protected by fraud when I asked for the refund for the difference!!!! And they are asking my bank to authorize them to do the refund (insane!) My bank is one of the big ones in Europe and tells me that Swanson is problematic. So, I cancelled the purchase, a customer service representative said was ok. But I decided to ask by email as well. Again, no notice about it even after 9 emails. Then the order was already sent. And they still refuse to pay the difference with the definitive amount or pay after the order goes back. I ask for the complete cancelation and they, obviously, refuse again. later they send me another email telling me that I can accept or not the delivery; but they say nothing about the payment (I have asked about it in every single email)
I am informing about it to every Patient Association that I am involved with . And I have a formal complaint about Swanson at the European Consumer Network already accepted.
It is a company that overcomplicates processes, does'nt care about intermational customers. They do not know how to deal internationally.
With Puritan s Pride there is never this kind of problems. on the contrary.

I have been reading the reviews here at resellerratings and at Yelp . There is a hudge difference between american customers and international ccustomers, specially europeans. Americans seem quite happy. The rest, very, very unhappy. The experience with Swanson is a nightmare. I believe now that They despite international customers. There is a coomon denominator and it's that we, europeans customers, feel deceived and robbed. Too much of a coincidence. "

"I thought I had found a good source for health care products with this website. Good prices, selection, shipping. But when I tried to place a second order, I found out that there is a long list of items they refuse to sell to me because I live in California. Some nonsense about Prop. 65, but other merchants don't have any problem with selling me the same items.
Bottom line: If you live in California and want a single source for health care products, you probably want to look elsewhere. They have a good selection, just not for you."

"They canceled my order because they didn't like the way I ordered."

"I get the majority of my supplements from Swanson. The main reasons are quality, price, and friendly, helpful service. Even though they offer incentives for referrals, I have recommended them without taking advantage of the incentives because I believe they will provide my friends with what they need.
"

"AUSTRALIAN & INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE

Swanson Vitamins has chosen to use DHL as its new shipping supplier. I placed an order that was shipped out quickly on the sixth of May. I checked today and noticed they they have provided a "GM" tracking number.

This is a DHL Global Mail tracking number, that can take up to several weeks to arrive. In checkout it is listed as DHL Priority Mail with shipping time 4-8 days. Such a time frame is DHL Express, not DHL Global Mail.

There is no tracking for DHL Global Mail once it leaves its country of origin. All I know is that my parcel left the US on the 8th. I have no idea when or if I will receive this parcel.

Please people, do not choose this shipping option unless you are willing to wait a considerable amount of weeks to potentially get your parcel - I know from experience.

This was the only available option available to me when choosing shipping, and I thought that it was DHL Express (due to the 4-8 days shipping time mentioned).

Australian & International customers, DO NOT place your order unless you are sure Swanson will send it express, otherwise you are likely to have a very long wait. I myself will be taking the 4-8 days quoted as being literal and be taking further action if the parcel does not arrive within an appropriate amount of time.

UPDATE: The parcel went to Germany and now MIGHT be on its way to Australia. That was a week ago and apparently it sat in Germany for eight days.

I don't know about all of you, but I don't want my vitamins held in storage for weeks without proper care. Swanson have stopped replying to my requests and blatantly refusing to process a refund. I'll be contacting my bank on Monday and processing a refund. If the parcel arrives, I'll be throwing it out as the item (several hundred dollars worth) will no longer be consumable."

"Twice now when I've spoke to the people in the "Product Experts" Dept I've been treated like I'm an idiot...Breaking news Swanson...that's not how you keep customers, especially with so much competition! The Pea Protein expires this month! I bought it earlier but just now started using it on a regular basis...then I started noticing that there were hard chunks of consolidated pea protein that were like hard plastic in all my protein drinks...and they're hard as a ROCK! When I complained about that today, I was told to throw it out...when I asked if they were going to send a replacement to me...the guy flattly refused and said no. So guess what...I'm done shopping here...I had stopped last year when another of their "product experts" answered my question with a question and acted so snotty and superior that I asked for her manager! You don't treat the customer that way! The sales reps are fine...but beware the "experts"...they're full of themselves and don't act very nice! Easier to go somewhere else...like directly to Mother's Market where the real product experts are!"

"I just got my 1st order with swanson and I am very pleased all the products are completely fresh all the bottles have at least two years on expiration dates. I saved 20% of my order everything was packaged and in great shape I made my order on a Saturday and I received it on a Thursday, as this was the free shipping over $50.00. I spoke with the representative and everything was great and she was a very pleasant person to talk to I am in no way affiliated with this company I am definitely just a customer and a customer that is very happy they have some bad reviews that we need to speak up for them when they have done an excellent job with me I would definitely be using them in the future and stand behind them 100% if you try them you will also see the very same thing."

"Great and fast service! Received my order within 3 business days from shipment!

Chatted with CS and they were very friendly and helpful when I wanted to edit my order.

Will shop again!"

"Great service and great prices on many of their products. I've ordered from then for several years and will continue to do so. I like the variety of product, which includes the Swanson brand and other manufacturers."

"ATTENTION people!!! swansonvitamins.com does not list the correct ingredients for their products.
Check before you buy. Good luck.
"

"I have been using Swanson for about 1 year. I have had nothing but good experiences with them. I have noticed that Swanson herbs and vitamins are stronger then the ones locally available through Vitamin Shoppe brand, or health food store brands. The shipping is consistently about one week. "

"Compared to most other online health food websites, Swanson Health has the cheapest prices, based upon my own research. Swanson Health offers great discounts to its customers. Shipping is reliable and not too slow. Highly recommended !"

"NOT WORTH THE HASSLE. I placed an order over 2 weeks ago. I tried to place it one night and it didn't go through. The next morning I completed the order using PayPal. PP is a safe and easy way to pay/receive payment, which is how I receive payment in my online store. I was charged twice for the same order. I knew it was a mistake b/c the first time I tried to order it did not go through and I only received e-mail confirmation for ONE order. I have now called 4 times in over two weeks-allowing time for the hold to be taken off. Each Customer Service Rep I talk to says they can see the charge, but it's not attached to an order. This means there is absolutely no reason the money should not be released. Someone in Billing simply needs to go into their PP account and verify that the charge is void. I placed the order at the end of February and I MIGHT have the money released in May by MY PP account if the charge continues to not go through and stay pending. I have now paid $100 for a $50 order. This was not my first purchase. I was becoming a regular customer. However, I WILL NOT be using them anymore. Every phone call ends in an e-mail sent to someone who never takes care of the issue. I have yet to receive a call either, which I was told I would. This is a simple problem with a simple solution and an overall terrible customer service call to action. BUY SOMEWHERE ELSE. There are plenty of other stores, whether they be online or not. Save yourself the headache."

"I am based in Canada & order for delivery here.

Putting things in perspective to give honest assessment:

(1) The link below says, estimated delivery in 3-10 business days (Landmark Global Canadian delivery option) . The company does not start counting these days until order has left their warehouse

Catch here is: Found them taking 2-5 days for shipments after the date of orders. So goods arrive past this period. For my recent order (Placed on February 16th, 2015), I am still waiting for the delivery. So far 12 business days have passed from the date of shipment (21 calender days)

Link (referred above):
https://www.swansonvitamins.com/help/international-information/top-searched-countries/canada.html


(2) This period of 3-10 business days includes time taken for customs. (As confirmed by CSR: Molly B. during online chat on March 4, 2015 between 10:50am and 11:15am (EST)

In my case, customs took 2 business days for clearance, so standard excuse delays in customs clearance does not apply.

(3) Personal experience on shipping: I have ordered over 15 parcels over the last 3 years (might have accounted for over $3000 purchase), in almost all cases after ordering, the shipment has happened after 2-5 business days. Usual response of CSR due to high volumes of orders, there is delay in shipment, we are sorry.

Guys, hire more people instead of standard excuses?
How does your apology solve any health problem?

(4)
Now, if ordered, and there is delay in shipment after ordering. The company policy is: Order can not be cancelled if the order processing has started So you get stuck!

Solution: Call up their CSR, who if kind enough can take you out of this mess and might cancel the order.

If it does not work, dispute the payment with credit card company and cancel the payment.

(5) If order has passed 3-10 business days limit, then as per the policy of the company, the customer must wait 15 business days to receive refunds/replace the package by sending another parcel. So in such cases, after adding there is further time-lag to receive the shipment. So minimum 20 business days (or maybe over 26 calender days if count 2 days of weekends). And remember that this is from the day of shipment.
So hopefully in a month such orders might be received!

(6)
So what should a customer do if such goods are not received on time and have passed 3-10 business days from the date of shipment.

The solution I found, dispute the payment and cancel the payment from your credit card company; instead of dealing with their hopeless CSR.

(7)
Now, god forbid if you have to deal with their CSR.

If calling them, there is no record of that conversation. If chatting, (based on personal experience), if there is serious complaint and try to resolve that matter, less probability to receive the copy of that chat by email (their default option is to send the transcript of the chat by email), maybe the CSR does some magic!


(8) If email them, then absolute useless responses:
From my recent interaction:
My email (Dated March 3, 2015 EST): "I have checked in your online tracking system of both service providers (which are Landmark and Canada Post), then called up Canada Post, the order status has not been updated for the last many days. Could you please investigate so I receive my order as it it urgent.

CSR response (responded on March 4, 2015 by Courtney B., Email Specialist): We are sorry. You could check the tracking status at Canadapost.ca. We advise you to have patience.

Guys:
Did you read the email?
How the hell patience would solve the health problem?

Perhaps you should also go through the same problem to have the right experience.

(9)
Follow up email:
My email (March 6, 2015): the order status has not been updated. These products are urgent due to my health issue, could you please investigate or reship the goods;

CSR response (March 7, 2015 by Kellie B., Email Specialist): We are sorry. If you do not receive your goods by March 12, 2015, then contact us for further assistance. Also, can you verify your address with us?

Now, I pray that you have similar health issues so that you learn to deal with the real issue rather than doing smart talk.

Verify your address: Guys, how many orders have you shipped so far and for how many years? You can not do this earlier?
Long-live smart talk!

So after pleading and waiting for 21 calender days, the order status has changed (so that gives everyone the solution that one should wait to be harassed by their CSR, and if you are alive by that time due to them being sorry/having patience, then perhaps order status change would be granted to you.

In my case, unfortunately it is a weekend, so might have to wait another 2-3 days!

(10) Found other options:
(a) eVitamins.com
(b) iHerb.com
(c) VitaminLife.com
(d) LuckyVitamin.com
(e) Vitacost.com

Canadians beware, 12-months refund option only applies to the orders within the US.

Pardon my grammar and spelling mistakes if any."