iHerb review: IHERB and UNIUNI — failed AI lost customer.

On a recent order from IHERB, delivery was to be made using UNIUNI. The delivery failed with incorrect address information. Funny—Amazon, FedEx, and UPS have no trouble delivering with this same exact address—even on previous orders from IHERB with the same exact address. Okay, somebody could make mistakes. A mistake is not a crime.

Canadian company UNIUNI is seeking to expand operations in the United States. This is one company that Canada should be ashamed of and not allow to represent the great country of Canada. (My opinion, not a fact, not a slur on Canada.)

So, I went to their website. There was no way to make a complaint except their chatbot. The chatbot would not escalate to a human. Apparently it is not able to do this. I used ALL CAPS to tell it was ANGRY. I did not use vulgar language. Apparently, it cannot recognize ANGRY customers and escalate to a human. It just provided a phone number to use in my time zone. I told it it should be turned off before disconnecting.

So, I called the phone number. It was a phone AI. It requested my tracking number. It did not allow keyboard input, only voice. I tried three times. It either dropped a digit, or transposed two adjacent digits each time. It would not, under any circumstances allow keyboard input or escalate to a human.

So, I went back to the UNIUNI website. They listed an 800 number to call from anywhere during the hours sufficient to cover any place in the US or Canada during normal working hours. The phone rang several times and then returned a busy tone. I tried several times. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE!

My conclusion: whoever designed the online AI chatbot and whoever designed the telephone AI chatbot should be fired along with whichever executives authorized or approved or oversaw the development of these AI incompetents. Using BAD AI IMPLEMENTATIONS does not help your company succeed in new markets.

As for IHERB, I told them to fix it or close my account. They should also fire whoever designed their online chatbot (“Joy”) that could not escalate to a human, along with whichever executives authorized, approved or oversaw the development of this AI incompetent. Using BAD AI IMPLEMENTATIONS does not help your company satisfy angry customers, or retain those customers, or discourage those angry customer from posting on social media about their bad experiences with your company. Nice of them to PROMISE to issue a full refund for an order that was not, and will not be delivered since UNIUNI has sent it back to IHERB. Thanks a lot. I’ve been a customer for ten years. You’ve lost me.

Funny things:

UNIUNI sent me two emails, the second signed by a customer service representative: Manel. Both addressed me as “Dear 848” my area code. So, a chatbot pretending to be a human can’t figure out my name from the address on the package, from the name signed to previous communications, or from my email address which contains my full name.

IHERB asked me for a review on TrustPilot. They are going to get a review that says they have MAJOR problems, and that the executive who approved the UNIUNI contract should be fired for lack of due diligence. UNIUNI has the lowest possible TrustPilot rating for extremely bad customer service.
I’m going to keep up giving IHERB bad reviews until:

The package is delivered (no one else sells a similar product), and

The UNIUNI contract is cancelled, and

The IHERB executive who failed to do due diligence is fired.

Refunding the order is not enough if I can’t get a similar product anywhere else.