Starwest Botanicals

Shipping was fast and speaking with customer service was easy; however, my review is based on the fact that I find some of their policies to be quite deceptive. Due to California’s Prop 65 they now have to start labeling their products with a warning saying, «This product contains a chemical known to the State of CA to cause cancer… etc.» They do not clearly list this in the product description — so I was quite surprised after ordering to find this information. I called requesting a refund and customer service was understanding and tried to explain to me, «It’s not a big deal». The rep actually said, «You get more lead exposure from eating a carrot». First off, they don’t know the dosage I will be using, what I will be mixing it with that may change the efficacy, or my mode of exposure so it is OUTRAGEOUS that they could even say this! I asked for the certificate of analysis to see what «chemicals» it had in it, but they couldn’t supply that information. So, I said I’d like to process the return. Then, they won’t even pay for return shipping. There is NO WAY I would have ordered these products had they been upfront with this information. I could understand not paying shipping if I did not like the product or some other reason that was my fault. But this product was not as described and shipping should therefore be on their tab not mine. Not only were they not forthright with this information, but I asked, if I decide to order from your company again will I have to inquire about every product beforehand to see if it has the health concern label and the response was yes. Too deceptive for me, especially for a company that touts itself as a «Natural living and health» store.

I have been buying tea and spices for my restaurant from Starwest for 2 years.
The product quality is exceptional.
There has never been an error in filling an order and the turn around time is excellent.
I am located on the east coast and tend to prefer quality local suppliers, but Starwest has earned my trust.
As far as the credit card fraud issue, there have been no issues with the credit card I use with Starwest.
Speaking from the point of view of a business owner with some knowledge of these issues, it seems apparent to me that the people who posted the scathing reviews have very little knowledge of how credit card security works!
Thank you, Starwest! Keep up the good work!

I have been ordering from this company for a while and have never had any issue.
They send emails with your order update, tracking number and items are well
packed.
I am happy with their products and service. Will definitely make future purchases
and highly recommend them!
NOTE: I have been victim of credit card fraud in the past and contacted my bank
to dispute the charges. My bank ALWAYS reimbursed me for those fraudulent
transactions. Unfortunately this happens all the time to a lot of people. If Starwest
Botanicals were found guilty of several suspicious transactions involving credit
cards, BELIEVE ME the banks would go after this business in an eye blink. Get
this: you do not play with the banking institutions.

Starwest Botanicals has been my go to retailer for bulk teas, spices and oils for 15 years. I have always received top quality service. When I make a mistake on my order they are quick to find the mistake and call me to correct it. I have NEVER been unhappy with the quality of their products. I’m just glad there is a company still around that is so honest and trustworthy.
Prices are the best around
quality is top notch
service is excellent. You can call and talk to a live person or buy online.
Everything is sent in one package, fast and well packed. I’ve never had a broken item arrive.
I always recommend Starwest Botanicals to friends and family.

Big fan. Quality products at good prices. I have never had any problems with them.

lookout they lost our credit card info.
then let us know that was only one computer and that they have all our info on yet another that was lost.
and then were basically jerks when we told them of their errors.
stupid…

Last week I received an auto-​generated letter in my mailbox, informing me that Starwest Botanicals’ website was hacked, and the hackers were able to get every customer’s credit card number and other information. I went through the process of going to my bank to cancel my card and get a temporary one to use in the meantime to survive and function with.
I have been ordering tea from Starwest Botanicals for many months now, and loving the quality and prices of the tea — and even though I was greatly concerned about my card information being compromised by their situation, I was still interested in ordering their products, but not through their website — so I phoned them today to find out if they could process my order for me using my temporary bank card and was told flatly ‘no’. I asked them for other alternatives, asking if it was possible to have them ship me the order with an invoice and I would gladly put a check in the mail, and was told ‘no’.
I then explained my situation that I did not have any other means of payment and this temporary debit card should work perfectly fine to order with — since I’d already used it at Trader Joe’s, Safeway, and several nearby café’s and restaurants. The customer service rep on the phone then asked me «Well, I show two other card numbers in our system, couldn’t you use one of these?» I was shocked. I asked her WHY if their website was just HACKED did they still keep customers’ credit card numbers in their system?! She explained «Well, this is on our local system, there’s no way they can access this information.» I told her to immediately remove my information, and she then added «The customer is responsible to tell us after each transaction if they want their credit card number removed from our system– otherwise we do keep this information on all of our computers.»
I was just blown away by this— mostly considering their company’s system was just compromised and all of the customer database/​personal information was taken by the criminals — and it could very well happen again. I asked to speak to a manager, who also began to argue with me and was quite rude. I went into the question again about other forms of payment, and she refused to compromise and offer me any solution. I again asked for her supervisor and was transferred to leave a message in the owner of the company’s voicemail, which I did, telling her that I was going to proceed with a negative Unilocal review, a negative review on Facebook, Twitter and to the 7 other friends who I referred to use their products (one of which is a wholesaler and makes very large bulk orders, and will no longer be using them after hearing about this from me today).
Do not use Starwest Botanicals— they follow BAD business practices and do not treat customers with any respect– and most importantly — they KEEP YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBERS and PERSONAL INFORMATION in their computers even after their system was hacked and customer’s private information and credit card numbers stolen.
They may have a great product line but believe me, there are plenty of other fish in the sea— don’t waste your time (or money) with them.