“We tried to contact you via email since you posted but were unsuccessful, so we will post our response here instead:

We're very sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with one of the products we offer at our shop. As always, we're here to address any issues any of our customers might have, and always ask customers to simply call or email us first to give us the opportunity to personally address any issues you might have with us, your orders, or any of the products we carry from a wide range of distributors and suppliers. You are of course covered by our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, and we're still happy to issue a full refund or replacement if you choose to return your order.

Also, as we all know, every body is different, and every one of us reacts differently to everything from foods to medicines to to drinks to herbal products. What some swear by, others feel absolutely nothing at all. What some might get terribly ill over, may completely heal others.

We only carry products that we all personally believe in here at the shop, and a product we presently believe in is the the SweetSmoke line of products. Their line of herbal smoking blends are crafted from organic-grown herbs when available, partly because their formulas are based on blends that have a rich Shamanic history, and partly because their blends are completely free of any glues, synthetics, and other substances such as potentially-dangerous research chemicals that have become headline news recently.

But like many of the close to 2,000 products we offer, we are the distributor or the reseller and not the manufacturer. Most of our products that require manufacture have the manufacturer's information on it so that you can contact the manufacturer directly if you're unhappy with your product. We're always happy to refund an order, but with many of the products we offer, we don't have direct control over the manufacture of the product itself. We can provide feedback from customers and often do, which we pass onto the manufacturer in the hopes that constructive feedback will help improve the quality of their products.

So, we kindly ask if you would consider giving us a rating based on what we do in these instances, which includes getting you the products you offer as quickly as we say we will (we'll get you your products the next day if you order before 3:00PM, CST), providing you with clear information for our shop and the products we offer, addressing any problems or concerns you might have with your order in a timely manner, providing you with as much information as we can on any of the products we offer, having the items in stock, and so on.

We work very hard at trying to make every one of our many hundreds of thousands of customers happy, and will always firmly believe that it’s our continued commitment to product quality and customer service quality that had allowed us to become the top entheogen and exotic botanical vendor on the net. So, in closing, I ask what it is we can do to make you happy with your purchase. With so many unique products and exotic botanicals to choose from; perhaps another one would be more suited to your taste and needs. If not, in honor of our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, as always, we're happy to offer you a refund on your purchase.”

“My sincerest apologies.  Max was not being rude in the least, and has every right to be upset.  That being said, as owner of the shop, it was my job to make sure we did everything possible to resolve this as best we could. The first thing I did was respond to Max privately, immediately offering a full refund in good faith, asking him to simply write "Refused" on the package(s) whenever Canadian Customs decided to deliver one or both to him. I also made the offer that he take a few items from the order (whenever it arrived) and return the rest, still with a full refund. Finally, I offered an even larger discount code if he ever wished to shop with us again, as well as my personal email address so I could personally watch over any future orders he might place.

We then did a full investigation into this event, and Max was kind enough to help with that as well. We save every email sent or received from our shop for a period of time just for rare events such as this. We searched for any email that might have been related to Max or this order, and the only ones we have on file are the order notifications that were automatically generated by our system, including automatic notification to Max for the re-send on the January 21, 2011. We then ran multiple tests on our Offline LiveHelp feature, as well as our automatic notification system, and both appeared to us and to Max to be working properly. So, the question as to what happened to his several emails he sent us from our LiveHelp system or the automatic order notifications unfortunately remains unanswered at this time.

As far as the (agreeably ridiculously) long delay with these particular international shipments, since we have no control over International Shipping or Customs, we do have our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee in place. That states that if a customers package doesn't arrive within 4 weeks for an International Order, we don't actually place a new order, but we will re-ship the package. We then ask that if both packages do eventually arrive (which is usually what eventually happens), to simply write "Refused" on the unopened package so it gets sent back to us. As stated above, we sent that replacement package out on the 21st of January according to our policy.

Since it's been another 3 weeks as of this writing and Max says he still hasn't received that shipment, I'm honestly not sure what else we can do. Closing in on almost 500,000 customers, with daily shipments to Canada that often number several dozen, this is truly an unprecedented event for us. Since Max's order, at least a few hundred packages have arrived to Canadian customers with no issue, as well as thousands of other International Shipments. We're extremely proud of our very close to 100% success rate in getting package to customers wherever they are in the world, but I know that doesn't help Max out, and it seems we've unfortunately lost a customer as a result. My offer still stands for Max if he ever changes his mind, but I certainly don't blame him for going elsewhere.”

“We tried to contact this frustrated customer personally over the past few weeks, but were unable to get a response, so below is the e-mail we sent to him:

With many hundreds of thousands satisfied customers (and counting) throughout the years, it's still hurts to hear when even one customer isn't pleased with their purchase. So first, our apologies at your dissatisfaction. We've got multiple ways of getting in touch with us, from e-mail that gets answered within a few hours to no more than twenty-four hours, LiveChat that's available during normal business hours, and of course a phone with knowledgeable agents standing by to assist with any questions, problems, or purchases. We are also keenly aware that any dissatisfied customer is a potential bad review, so that is part of why we also offer our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

All that being said, our standard policy is to fix any problem and ask questions later. The rare moments we get an unhappy e-mail, we offer a replacement or refund. Any backordered items are automatically shipped once they're back in stock, but we alert the customer of the backorder, which they are free to get a refund on if they choose. If seeds are purchased and they end up not germinating a week or a month later, they're still, of course, covered by our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.

So my question is simply: What do we need to do to ensure you're pleased with your transaction? I'm directly available at (e-mail address was here). I'm not completely sure how the this system works, but if there's a chance we can resolve this without you posting a negative review, I'm all ears. We work extremely hard at ensuring everyone is pleased with their purchases, but being the top vendor for these products also comes with the mathematical reality that with so many orders shipped each day, we have many times the possibility of someone posting a negative review. Customer service always has been and still is our top priority, but it's amazing how a great deal of hard work can sometimes get overshadowed with a negative review or two out of our hundreds of thousands of happy customers. Sorry again for your negative experience; just know we're here to help and that we stand behind every product we offer 100%.”

“Customer complaints, on the rare occasions they happen, trouble us deeply, partly because one of the original missions of this shop was to do whatever it takes to ensure that every one of our 350,00 customers (and counting) are pleased with their interaction and their orders with us. IAmShaman takes great pride in all we do, especially in regards to our customer service and we do everything in our power to fix any customer issue in as fair and timely a fashion as possible. Customer loyalty is far more important than a single botched order, and this instance is no exception.

In short, we apologize for the bad experience you had with our shop. If I were you, I’d be upset as well, and I know there’s really no excuse for poor customer service, but I offer at least this: As the day of Salvia becoming illegal in Illinois loomed closer, we were inundated with waves of orders that far exceeded anything we’ve handled before. We did everything we could think to do; we hired more staff, we started extracting Salvia around the clock, and we made every effort to get customers their shipments promptly and well in advance of the (unreasonable and unfair) law going into effect on January 1, 2008.

We actually made the difficult decision to stop shipping Salvia several days prior to December 31, 2007, to help ensure that we and our treasured customers didn’t inadvertently break the law by handling Salvia after it became illegal. But, due to the overwhelming number of orders and the increasingly limited timeframe, we weren’t able to ship out all orders we received during that unique and unbelievably busy time. While shipping out an extraordinary large number of orders, we then had a secondary task of making every possible effort to quickly return customers’ payments for orders we couldn’t fulfill. We did our best, we sent out apologies, but as seen in this issue, we failed to perform to the level we would have liked.

The bottom line is this: We never forget that without our loyal customer base, we wouldn’t exist. We are truly thankful and appreciative of every one of our customers, and if there’s ever an issue, we simply ask customers for the opportunity to make it right. Even if it seems we’re difficult to reach at times, we’re here to answer every issue and every question, 6 days a week, without fail.

So, if this customer is still around and there’s something we can do to make this right, we will work diligently to make that happen for you. Part of the basic policy at our shop is to assume that every one of our customers, if unhappy, has the power to post their issues in a place like this. This is why we also offer our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and gladly offer to do whatever else the customer feels would help remedy this unfortunate situation. We’re here because we believe deeply in what we do and we feel it’s because of our personal service, our superior products, and our deep and sincere appreciation for our customers that keep us on top in the world of exotic botanicals and entheogens. We’re here for you; just communicate with us, and we will respond.”