Review: Ingredients To Die For (ITDF)- Long

[Cellador]

A couple of people may remember this thread - https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/what-would-you-do.73380/

where I asked for feedback in regard to a supply quality issue I found. Well, I wanted to let you know my final impression of this company. DO NOT BUY FROM INGREDIENTS TO DIE FOR!

Below is my opinion and what I believe to be factually true:

After contacting this company about what I believed to be a bug in my surfactant blend, they eventually responded that they would do a full investigation once the product was returned to them. They paid to have the item in question sent back to them, which I did.
I gave them about a week and didn't hear anything from them about it, so I followed-up with them via email.
I received an email about a week later stating that their investigation revealed, not a bug, but the "contaminant was rubber" and quality control was "tracing it through the fill line to see where and how it could have happened." They offered to send me a replacement once the issue was resolved, and I agreed. They also offered to send me some free samples of other products, which they did send to me with the replacement surfactant.
So, at that point, I felt ok about the situation-not great, but I felt like they were honest about the situation and tried to make-up for my troubles.
Fast forward to this week - I placed a fairly small order with them (not for the surfactant-not sure I'd be able to use that product again). And, my order is almost immediately cancelled citing "Loss Prevention." ?!! What?! Really?! Customer Service told me that they don't receive details as to why the "Loss Prevention team" cancelled my order, but it was most likely because I violated their terms and conditions.
In their T&C's, the loss prevention section states-
"Unlike a physical store where it is possible to employ security to watch for and prevent theft and / or fraud we have to rely on the integrity and honesty of our customers and we must take aggressive measures to collect and prevent further loss when those qualities are lacking. The only means we have of instituting loss prevention is through the careful analysis of shopping and / or behavior patterns and the implementation of steps in response to those patterns."
Today, I am beyond furious and quiet frankly, very offended. I am generally very easy-going, but this is awful. I honestly believed I was doing them a favor by allowing them to correct the situation without a lot of trouble. If I had resold anything with this product, I probably could of sued. But, I figured, no harm, no foul...Shame on me.
In any case, that's my review for Ingredients To Die For. I hope this helps anyone who is considering doing business with them.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Their customer service in particular has elicited numerous negative reviews on Yelp. I have never ordered from them and in fact had never heard of them. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Lin19687]

That totally sucks.
Were you Charged and they are not refunding the money ?

I would also call them out on the REFUND for the other order !

 

[earlene]

Thank you for sharing your experience, Cellador. I would also be infuriated! I will be avoiding them, that is certain.

 

[Cellador]

That totally sucks.
Were you Charged and they are not refunding the money ?

I would also call them out on the REFUND for the other order !

Thanks. Luckily, I was not charged for the most recent order.
Initially, I felt like fighting back with them, but...I'm done. I'm sure karma will serve them someday soon.

 

[HowieRoll]

I am sorry this happened, and feel your frustration. I buy some things from ITDF and overall feel pretty ambivalent about them, so this gives me food for thought when needing to place another order for surfactants and such. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Cellador]

I am sorry this happened, and feel your frustration. I buy some things from ITDF and overall feel pretty ambivalent about them, so this gives me food for thought when needing to place another order for surfactants and such. Thank you for sharing.

I have found many other suppliers for surfactants that I am more than happy to reccomend- Save On Citric, Lotioncrafter, & The Herberie.

 

[HowieRoll]

I have found many other suppliers for surfactants that I am more than happy to reccomend- Save On Citric, Lotioncrafter, & The Herberie.

Thank you for the other recommendations. In the past I've usually purchased shampoo/conditioner ingredients from Lotioncrafter (I really like them) and ITDF, but next time instead of ITDF I'll check out one of the ones you suggested. I've also been wanting to check out Essential Wholesale & Labs, so this just gives me an excuse to branch out (something I should do more often, anyway!)

 

[Cellador]

Another one that gets good reviews (that I haven't tried yet) is Formulator Sample Shop.

 

[FacenEarth]

I have been very happy with this company and been a loyal customer for many years. I ordered Allantoin at the beginning of the year with a 36mth lifespan and kept in the correct conditions. Second time of formulating with it, I noticed that it is not the ingredient that I ordered, Allantoin. I contacted letting them know that this was not Allantoin, they asked for photos of the label and product, which I did. They got very rude and condescending stating that I need to be familiar with my ingredients so I don't make mistakes and that I also mislabeled it. I am familiar, that is why I contacted them! And the ingredient was in the original packaging. They have been rude and refused to help in any way and always putting the blame on me. They refused to test it, and said that it was another ingredient (niacinamide) which was on the same order and that I mislabeled it. As stated to them many times, I have kept it in the original packaging and that it does not behave like niacinamide (vitamin B3) B3 dissolves in cool water, this does not. So they continued to blame me and refuse to help. So I did testing myself. I opened the bag and it smelt like Salicylic Acid (SA) which I also ordered the same time and still have. SA 5Lb bag and Allantoin 15Lb which I still have both in the original bags, I sent them pics of the test that clearly shows that they are both SA, They said that I did not test their SA as it does not behave that way, I DID USE THEIRS, I don't order anywhere else. I have had to pull all my products from the shelves too. They sent an incorrectly labeled product! I am glad I caught it in time and took everything off the shelves. This is very bad business practices. I will be going elsewhere for business who are honest and have Good Business Practices. I am shocked at their behavior and not wanting to put this mistake right. I have lost a good amount of product that I have to trash. All I was requiring was a replacement of the ingredient that I ordered.

 

[Zifnab]

I've been ordering from them for over 7 years...reluctantly because it's always a crapshoot. I've encountered many issues with them over the years; missing products, damaged products, products marked as something they clearly were not, their emulsion bases are wildly inconsistent...like to the point you're not even sure it's the same type of product, and the customer service is lacking, to say the least.

I literally just today had the owner call me a lair because she's upset that I emailed them yesterday to discuss an issue with the order I received at customerservice@ingredientstodiefor vs emailing them at orders@ingredientstodiefor, which is their preferred account if you have an issue with an order...the problem is, they rarely respond to that account, and they don't answer the phones or respond to voicemails either.

When she (Deborah) basically yelled at me for using the "wrong" email, I asked her why I would email them at an account they don't respond to and sent her a screenshot of the emails that I had sent to the "correct" account that went unanswered, her response was, and I quote: "I truly hope that you never have the misfortune of having one of your customers treat you with the disregard and disrespect you have shown us, as your supplier. NO! You do not get to continue to lie and attack us with your email 'lack of response' nonsense... you wrote this email to customerservice@, and not orders@, You even dare to think that you can speak for me, and tell me what I know as you see it, I think not!!! I do know what I know".

So I think it's fair to say that Deb may be a bit unstable as well as being a lousy business person.

 

[ttarpein]

I've been ordering from them for over 7 years...reluctantly because it's always a crapshoot. I've encountered many issues with them over the years; missing products, damaged products, products marked as something they clearly were not, their emulsion bases are wildly inconsistent...like to the point you're not even sure it's the same type of product, and the customer service is lacking, to say the least.

I literally just today had the owner call me a lair because she's upset that I emailed them yesterday to discuss an issue with the order I received at customerservice@ingredientstodiefor vs emailing them at orders@ingredientstodiefor, which is their preferred account if you have an issue with an order...the problem is, they rarely respond to that account, and they don't answer the phones or respond to voicemails either.

When she (Deborah) basically yelled at me for using the "wrong" email, I asked her why I would email them at an account they don't respond to and sent her a screenshot of the emails that I had sent to the "correct" account that went unanswered, her response was, and I quote: "I truly hope that you never have the misfortune of having one of your customers treat you with the disregard and disrespect you have shown us, as your supplier. NO! You do not get to continue to lie and attack us with your email 'lack of response' nonsense... you wrote this email to customerservice@, and not orders@, You even dare to think that you can speak for me, and tell me what I know as you see it, I think not!!! I do know what I know".

So I think it's fair to say that Deb may be a bit unstable as well as being a lousy business person.

I think it's more than fair to say you're far too generous and comically understating their bad faith actions and their subterfuge/incompetence as well. I'm Tiffany Tarpein, one of two formulators (the other being my mom, Judy Jones, founder and proprietor of To Die For Soap, then ITDF Inc., until she "sold" the company to Deb and Kevin in 2006) who created every cosmetic base and sourced every bioactive ingredient ever sold by the company. I personally created the AHA, BHA and Organicals lines.I personally created the active extract blends on the site and had them manufactured for us. It's a travesty what's become of it. Another travesty is the fact that they never ever paid my mom more than a few of the monthly payments on the company sale price, which was pathetically puny to begin with! And allllll this nonsense about the 'loss prevention ' and 'quality control ' TEAMS? UTTER nonsense! This is one hairless, mentally unstable woman and her delusional, aggressive bully of a husband operating out of a small apartment with a garage. "Customer Service ' is just some anon person in a call center in Bolivia who's getting paid 2 (yes I said TWO) dollars an hour to work for the call center, servicing thousands of different client companies who pay a few cents for every instance in which a call center employee must issue any type of reply or contact.