In total, I purchased several dozen samples over a couple of months, in four separate purchases, costing a couple of hundred dollars. Of these several dozen samples, two had visible impurities. The first, Italian Lavendar, came in my very first order and had visible sand-like grainy sediment in it. I called customer service, and despite my politeness as I explained, the salesperson was curt and angry-sounding on the phone. She did, however, acknowledge that the lavender had sediment in it. Her words were, "We're coming to the end of the stock for that oil and at the bottom of the container there is sediment. But I'm not going to send you a replacement. I'm just going to give you a store credit."
I am a cell molec. biologist trained in the extraction of organic matter from plants, but I don't need to be one in order to know that in a properly filtered and *pure* essential oil, you DON'T get insoluble granular sediment settling at the bottom of a container. If anything, you'd get some waxes floating on top. Anyway, they gave me a store credit for that oil, so I shrugged off the salesperson's abrasive manner and placed more orders over the next few weeks. And then I got a sample of red mandarin that, I kid you not, had PIECES OF RIND floating in it.
This time, not wanting to deal with curt saleswoman, I sent an email. Since she'd implied last time that a store credit was how they dealt with this stuff, I asked for a store credit. She said something like, "It was a free sample, but I can send you another of the same oil with your next order. Also this stuff was wax." Firstly, it was not a free sample. They give samples out with every $20 purchase, and therefore the samples are NOT FREE; a free sample by definition would be one that you could obtain without spending any money! I didn't argue that point, though. More importantly, I was sure it wasn't wax, but I heated the oil toe 40 c for 5 minutes to check, and the impurities did not melt, confirming that they were rind and not wax. I told saleswoman this, and she didn't reply for two days. I followed up, and she says, "We'll give you a store credit, but we won't do this again for any other samples." No mention of oh, sorry we implied you were wrong when you said there was rind, sorry for the impurities in our product. Just the chilly assertion that if I got any other oils with fruit floating in it, the company could not care less.
I asked for a manager to contact me, so that I could "share my concerns as a customer, about this service experience". No reply from curt saleswoman for two more days, no contact from manager. I follow up, and then finally manager writes and tells me, "You have no obligation to keep buying our oils. Our oils are pure." The answer from a decent company *with ethics*, who wants to retain repeat customers, *should have been*: "We're so sorry, you've spent so much money with us and you legitimately found impurities TWICE now, that absolutely happens sometimes, here, let us refund you the price. Please tell us if it happens again!" Instead the manager gaslighted me and was dishonest about his products, DESPITE his own salesperson having told me that their oils had sediment, and DESPITE photographic evidence of rind that I sent, and DESPITE having read my note that the impurities did not dissolve on heating.
I am done with this company and their dishonesty and their crappy service. I plan to inform everyone I know in fragrance and aromatherapy companies that they dishonestly claim "purity" and gaslight customers who find rind and insoluble sediment in their oils. I have also placed a review with Better Business Bureau. read more