"I've been a customer for well over 10 years. I really like ETS store-brand products, and have a few favorites, although there are a couple teas that are stunningly sub-par. That's surprising to find considering the qualtiy of their other products. If you read the product reviews you will see that others share that opinion on certain teas.
Their website has improved dramatically over the last year or so, it's much more functional and easy to use than it was for along time. One major drawback of the site, and complaint that I have, is that there is no way to cancel an order online. I made an error in my most recent order and noticed it as soon as I submitted it. I sent a contact email to customer support to request cancellation so I could reorder and got no reply. Today (the next day) I got an email saying my order had shipped.
I find the prices for tea pretty reasonable. Shipping time is variable, somtimes fast, sometimes very slow. Relatively poor customer service, I would say.
So I would advise reading the tea reviews and be very sure of your order before you submit it. If not for these various problems, I would have given them more stars.
Update: I'm taking away one more star to bring the grand total to "ONE". The company touts returns because they "want you to be 100% satisfied with your order". I went to the website to start the return process for the item ordered by mistake, and their policy for tea returns is:
"FOOD and FOODSTUFFS (including TEA): We do not accept returns or exchanges for food, foodstuffs or tea. All food, foodstuffs and tea purchases are final."
Who knew?
"
"I received bad quality tea. It has a strong chemical smell and taste, and it looks different than the original tea. Customer service did not offered any solutions. They said what quality of the tea depends on weather. So if you received a bad quality product, it was just "weather" fault, and no, you cannot return it. I ordered exactly the same tea from another website for few years - never ever had any "weather" problems with them I decided to try this site just because they seems closer to were I live, so I thought shipping time will be better. "
"An order that I placed on the first was delayed due to a back ordered product. The remainder of the items were not sent out until I contacted them to cancel the back ordered item. It was then processed somehow for four days, and shipped on a slow boat from China to have an estimated arrival date of some time at the end of next week. That's a conservative 19 days from the date of order? It will be no wonder when they are out of business and wailing about Amazon stealing their potential client base.
If you think you are ordering from a Mom and Pop this is brokered by an "Online Store", it's no small business. The customer service rep I spoke with was unhelpful and ended the chat when I asked if she could offer a refund on shipping.
Steer clear!"
"This is the worst company I have dealt with. The package that arrived was late and some goods were damaged. I called customer service and the woman said to send pictures which I did. She then left a phone message saying that they won't provide a refund as they were damaged in shipping. I asked to speak to a supervisor or someone above her. She refused to provide this information and hung up the phone. I have had a prior occasion dealing with this company. The prior time the bottles were broken due to bad packaging. Customer Service is extremely rude and incompetent. While the prices are reasonable the shipping is slow and late, the goods are often stale and damaged. Customer Service does not resolve the problems and has a poor attitude."
"I ordered 84 jars of jelly honey and figs! Well upon receiving my order I opened the box a d the jelly was busted and broken glass everywhere!! Immediatly I called customer service where the associate didn't want to help me keep saying it's 7 o'clock I have to go and I wasn't done talking with her well long story short they sent me another enitre order and I'll be dammed! Just opened the box and it's broken again and jelly everywhere!!! I will never ever buy anything else from these ppl! I will recommend to everyone that this company pretty much dont give a **** about there customer nor the products they purchase! If Amazon can deliver everything I order unbroken and so can everyone else lack of work on your company's part! Need to hire people that know what they are doing! "
"Placed my order on Saturday January 20 2018. I live 11 miles away. My order was taken by DHL over a hundred and thirty miles away to Stow Ohio. And then brought back to my post office 5 days later. My order will supposedly be delivered tomorrow on January 26th 2018. This is the most asinine shipping except for the time when I ordered and they took my order to West Virginia before returning it to Pennsylvania. It is so stupid and I feel that everyone involved are incompetent and stupid. I tracked my order and I am appalled at the inaptitude of DHL and USPS. I don't know if English tea store has any control over this. But it's ridiculous that I paid almost $10 shipping and tax to order three items when I only live 11 miles away and it's taking it 6 days to get here. They are all idiots!"
"Their website is not accurate. I order a tea set and after 30 days of waiting I was told that my order is canceled and if I want to order again it is not guarantee that I will receive the order. "
"They have everything we needed and very easy to order."
"Having the same issue as many others. Placed my order on November 2 with an arrival date of November 13. After 4 days and no shipping details I chatted to check on my order and was told that one of the items in the order is on backorder and it would be back in stock on November 17 which is when they would ship my order. I asked that they please either remove or replace the item and ship me the rest of the order. I got an email the following morning saying they would ship the rest of the order "soon". 2 days later (yesterday) and it still had not been shipped so I contacted them again to first be told that it was set to ship on the 15th. I asked for a refund and they told me to call the customer service. I called and they said, "the package has been picked and packed and is due to ship today or tomorrow". It's now 2:15 on the 10th and there is still no update on the shipment being shipped. If I would have known it would be weeks before I received my order, I would have taken my business elsewhere. And now its a nightmare trying to get my money back. "
"I received an email telling me one item was on back order, I assumed the rest of my order would be sent along in a few days. Sadly the order never arrived..I was never sent an email advising me when they would ship..Very disappointed in this company. I have been waiting over four weeks, I must assume something happened to the order in transit, or it was never sent. I dont like to give a bad review but when I get bad service I must do something."
"I searched for a vendor to buy Devonshire and clotted creams as I could not remember where I had purchased it earlier. The English Tea store came up and since they had been in business for 15 years, I assumed they were reputable. I placed my order and when the shipping options came up, chose not to accept the free shipping they were offering but rather the priority because of the date it said I could expect it to arrive. Well, lo and behold the day it was "scheduled" to arrive, it's still floating around the postal system with an estimated arrival date of two days from now. When I contacted them I was told l should have paid even more for the "guaranteed" delivery date and special gel packs to ensure the creams would stay cold. The stuff they use only stays cold for 24 hours. So in essence since they only pack it to stay cold for 24 hours and it's going to take at least 5 days to arrive, I am expecting to have four unusable jars of cream. Eric was probably just following his script but in so many words, he pretty much expressed that it **** to be me for not paying for the premium shipping. My question is what reputable company ships perishables improperly packed. The last company I ordered from, posted a recommendation in large red fonts, if they felt you should reconsider your shipping choice before you were able to check out. That time I even opted to pay extra for an insulated zip pack since I lived in a rural area at the time. If there had been something like that when I checked out at the English Tea Store, I would have followed their recommendation but I actually went back and put together another order just to get to the check out to see if I missed something and not a single recommendation or alert showed up just the shipping options. . .shame on them! I placed my order 10/15, it was to be shipped 10/16 and arrived 10/18. It didn't even arrive a the facility until 10/17, 23 hours after they created the shipping label"
"I searched for the tea I wanted in our small town before I tried online. After many disappointments, I found the English Tea Store with reasonable prices and the tea I was trying to find. They have my business from now on. Thank you."
"We received order #05542778. Unfortunately the packaging was not properly secured and the contents of one box of Cadbury's drinking chocolate was spilled into the whole box. The packaging slip was stained and crinkled, and the lid of one jar of Heinz Piccalilli was punched in. It was impossible to return the box delivered by Online Stores since it was not in fit shape for re-posting. We need to receive a refund of this delivery. Photos have been taken if you should wish to see them."
"Good selection of good teas. Shipping prices are high.
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"I ordered a mug and am excited to use it. It appears to be a very well made mug. "