Cole Herbals

Before I begin, I want to do a full disclosure: Cole Herbals did not offer me anything to post the following. I’m doing it because (1) I want to commend this company to all y’all, both for its fine products and for its excellent customer service and (2) I want to give y’all a heads up about Amazon’s insidious new relationship with the FDA.

I recently received an offer to receive a gift card if I posted an “honest review” of their hemorrhoid balm at Amazon. I responded: “Thanks, but no. I bought my first and second tins on Amazon; the first was great, but the second was meh. Then, I heard from a friend that Amazon uses Last In, First Out (LIFO) to stock its inventory. If stock gets low, the stuff they send could have been sitting at the back for weeks, months or even years. I bought a third tin directly from you and it works great. I’m guessing the meh tin was a LIFO orphan. So, no. I will only be buying directly from you in the future.”

Linda Langenbacher, Co-Founder & Owner, wrote back the same day.

“Hi Chrissy,

“I know that about Amazon. That is why we are so very frustrated having to sell on that platform. We take care of our customers. Always either answer the phone or get back to them immediately if they have any complaints or questions.

“However, since you DID purchase our product once on Amazon, you can still help us out by giving us a review there. If you do, I will:

1) Send you the money that you spent on the bad product.

2) Send you another product of your choice from our website coleherbals.com

3) Give you $25.00 off on any other products that you would like to purchase from us.

“Right now all organic products (not just ours) are under attack by the FDA via Amazon. The more current good reviews that we receive, the more likely we will be able to prove to Amazon that our products DO what we say they do.

“All I need is a link to the review and I will do this for you.”

A few days later, I wrote back. “Two days ago, I updated my original review @ https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/edit?ie=UTF8&channel=glance-detail&asin=B073WKHCV3. I was waiting for them to notify me that it had been uploaded to send you the link. I just got back the other 6 reviews I wrote right after yours, but not yours. The original content I posted years ago is still there, but not the update. 

“The four reviews they accepted were for dish brushes, purse caddies, hinged boxes, and my 2024 day planner. The two they rejected were for an herbal digestive aid and a Boiron homeopathic remedy; I gave both 5 stars. I don’t understand what in the community guidelines I violated; I did talk about what they helped me with, but neither (acid indigestion, cold) is a serious medical condition, which is all that I see mentioned in the guidelines.

“And I don’t know why my Cole’s update just didn’t get processed at all. Maybe I hit the wrong button, but I don’t think so, because it sent me to the ‘what else do you want to review?’ page. I’ve been reviewing at Amazon for years; this is the first any have been rejected. I honestly thought my reviews fit the ‘helpful for other consumers’ guideline. Is this part of what you mean by under attack? Do you have any advice about what passes muster under this new regime?

N.b., While I was writing this post, I went to Amazon to take a screenshot of my original 5-star review, which I posted in 2018. It was there as of January 22, 2024. Now it is gone!

Her reply came today. “Yes. What you are experiencing is what we have been experiencing over here. It now seems to be ‘illegal’ to even post reviews that make claims that products work unless they have actually been proven to work by the FDA. I will be giving out a reward to you for your help as soon as I return to my office. Linda”

I want to stress again the high quality and effectiveness of Cole Herbals products, provided you order them from Cole Herbals, so you will know they are fresh. I am already using their “Stress Relief Formula” to help with the chronic Restless Legs Syndrome that keeps me awake at night. I am really looking forward to trying something new with my reward, probably “Digestive Support.”

I encourage you to check out Cole’s “Find your remedy” page @ https://coleherbals.com/pages/findyourremedy and also their helpful blogs @ https://coleherbals.com/pages/blogs.

If you do order, be sure to take advantage of their generous first-time discount and, of course, free shipping for orders over $35.