Monterey Bay Spice (herbco.com) sells culinary and botanical herbs and spices. This page aggregates customer ratings and reviews to help you assess the retailer's product quality, shipping reliability, and customer service before making a purchase.
Monterey Bay Spice Reviews
What Shoppers Say About Monterey Bay Spice
Monterey Bay Spice has a polarized customer base, rated 1.8 out of 5 by 5 shoppers. The overwhelming majority of reviews cite significant problems with product quality (stale or old herbs), unresponsive customer service, and a strict no-refund policy that leaves customers unable to resolve issues. Shoppers report dismissive staff, long processing times despite advertised 48-hour shipping, and difficulty getting support when raising concerns. The few positive reviewers praise reasonable pricing and solid quality, though this view represents a small minority of feedback.
Core complaints center on the retailer's inability or unwillingness to help dissatisfied customers. Multiple reviewers emphasize frustration with the final-sale policy, which prevents refunds or replacements even when products arrive stale or unusable. Customer service interactions are consistently described as unhelpful or dismissive, with staff either cutting off complaints or failing to engage with customer concerns. One long-term customer ended their relationship with the company over what they perceived as insensitive messaging.
Customer Reviews (5)
Sorted by: Most recentThe herbs I received were old and stale. Like other customers have mentioned, this place won't give refunds no matter what's wrong with your order. It's frustrating to spend money in good faith on a product and end up with something completely unusable, especially when money's tight. Do yourself a favor and look into other retailers before buying from these guys.
Great experience here. Their prices are reasonable and the quality is solid. Loved it enough to order again. Really happy with my purchase.
Really disappointed with both the customer service rep and her supervisor. The website claims 48-hour shipping, but my order placed Wednesday evening was still showing as processing the following Tuesday. When I called to check on it, the representative was dismissive and kept cutting me off while I was trying to explain the situation. She blamed a computer glitch and said it was my job to track it down and notify them of problems. She wouldn't commit to anything concrete, just said maybe it could ship by Friday, but only after it processes and gets packed. When I asked for a written summary of our conversation, both she and her supervisor refused. They kept insisting they didn't have time to deal with my concerns and threatened to delay my order further if I kept pushing for help. This was my first and last order with them. Total waste of time and money.
Got an email from this company celebrating black herbalists and entrepreneurs, which I found deeply offensive. I've been a loyal customer for years, buying their herbs for my farm animals instead of harsh chemicals. That ended today. I called to explain my concerns, and the representative basically shut me down, saying she didn't understand what I meant and had no interest in hearing me out before hanging up. This is unacceptable. I've told countless people about their herbal parasite control products for livestock, but I won't be recommending them anymore. I thought they were just an herb supplier, not a platform pushing political messaging that alienates customers. I'm done with them and taking my business elsewhere.