Finlandia Pharmacy & Natural Health Centre

My recent Finlandia Customer experience was the worst customer treatment I've had ever had in my life. Previously, I was a regular happy shopper at Finlandia growing up alongside the treasured neighbourhood store. Finlandia seamlessly met all of my health care needs in a timely and professional manner.
I have been a loyal, easy going customer since 2007.

This past Winter 2024 the Customer Service decline was truly shocking. I couldn't quite wrap my head around it.

I had contacted Finlandia Herbal directly by phone in early December knowing up front when i called that they had supply issues over the past year. I asked them on the phone if they could make something for me 'given the supply issue they are still facing'?
They told me yes, no problem they could customize and formulate an antibacterial topical oil. They also agreed that a topical oil was a good idea with my condition - and told me to get a Prescription for this request from my Herbalist. I followed the new procedure at Finlandia and got a Prescription from my Herbalist that week as I wanted to be prompt.
They emailed me back declining my Prescription saying they had "a supply issue" and couldn't fill the Prescription request.
I immediately replied to the Herbal Department and said I already knew that and that was the starting point when I initially called and spoke to an Herbalist to inquire and would they please double check, as I was told by Finlandia that an antibacterial topical oil was totally possible with the given supply issue just two or three days before.

They did not reply back to me after that. Radio Silence.

They gave no answer to any phone or email inquiry I made. I was literally ghosted by a Business? ! I had followed their new procedure.

You can imagine how puzzling this was considering I have never had one single issue before at Finlandia. I think that's why I kept naively trying to get help; because I believed there was only a miscommunication.

I then tried to clarify the entire situation with the Store Manager, thinking this would easily be resolved.
I asked politely in a voice mail for assistance by calling the Customer Service twice and I emailing the Store. I asked for a call back so I could explain my concern. I was hopeful the store Manager could assist me and resolve the communication issue.

. Crickets from the Finlandia Store Management.

Not one reply to all my efforts to get help with the order.
I have never experienced anything like this before with any professional business.

The Finlandia website states they built their business from 1974 on good relationships with Customers. As a core tenet.
That is clearly not the mission for their Business at present in my experience. I made every polite effort to get basic assistance or a response.

Finlandia, I have never had a more disrespectful Customer experience in my life. I would never normally take time to write a nasty review about any Business to be honest.
I did not want to rattle on about a negative and complex customer experience. However, this type of dismissive and odd business practice can't be overlooked, I had to share it.

Businesses in this City are quite capable of communicating clearly and easily with their valued Customers.
I hope Finlandia has a serious pause after seeing this and considers how easily this could have been addressed.

A Former Customer of Finlandia Natural Health,
S. Lawrence

After being a huge fan for many years, I quit Finlandia yesterday. The sky-high prices shocked me because they are way, way higher than other merchants. The supplements are far more expensive than other retailers (same brand, same quantity), and the bar soap that I use is now more than $11 at Finlandia, while is is $5 at all other retailers. That's more than DOUBLE! I am very disappointed at this obvious gauging.

It has been extremely frustrating to call this business. They do not answer any calls and don’t return any calls either. It’s ridiculous. How can a business run without answering calls and zero customer service. They have voice message that says to go online and check inventory and order online. Many elderly are unable to do this. I am no longer going to this business again. Worst run business ever!

Finlandia Pharmacy provided me with top-notch service and an extensive range of high-quality natural products. Their knowledgeable staff offered valuable guidance, making my shopping experience both pleasant and educational.

This place use to be amazing, it use to be the best health store in Vancouver. I’m not sure what happened in the last year but their herbal dispensary closed, so sad. They never returned my email. When you call your on hold forever and most of the time no one picks ups. I don’t go there anymore, what happened to Finlandia!

The best in town! This is my go-to for herbs, supplements and tinctures. They have great experts always in store to help you out.

Ordered something online and was able to pick it up at this location very quickly (3 days). I love that they have a variety of products online!
The store is a bit confusing as there are 3 different cash register areas, but staff were friendly and helpful in directing me to the right one for pick up!
I like their pet section and hope that they continue to stock good products like Nordic Naturals for pets, which is not widely available in Vancouver.

I’ve been getting my skincare products at Finlandia for years. I have sensitive skin and I appreciated the fact that if I react to a product, I had the option of returning it after using it at home. After visiting the store today, I’m sad to say that I will no longer be buying my skincare products here. Apparently the return policy no longer exists as long as there is a ‘tester’ on display for the product. Anyone with sensitive skin knows that testing a product on your hand while in the store is not the same as taking it home and trying it out properly for a few days. Reactions don’t always happen instantly. They also never have testers to bring home anymore. It’s unfortunate that Finlandia would rather save a buck than take care of their customers. They just lost a long-term client. Happily taking my business elsewhere.

My partner and I went in tonight (around 6ish) and the lady at the cash register was awesome:) she was really nice and we had a good talk about tattoos! Made our night! We will be back

Great service and selection. Thank you very much for helping me with getting the supplement my mom needed.

Customer service has gone down hill won't go back other nutrition companies that are more willing to answer questions

I know i was there before closure, but a smile and a gram of patience can go long way. I'll never disturb again.

Good supplies of health products. Prices are not cheap.
Have to drive from Coquitlam to here is not a fun everytime.

Many choices of health supplements and health related products. Bought some lipsticks and they were labeled as edible. Tried the products and very happy about them.

I've yet to visit the actual store location, but the staff were friendly and accommodating with my requests regarding my online purchase!

Great place to find a variety of natural products. The staff are very helpful in explaining and suggesting products!

I've been to Finlandia a couple of times and each time, my experience has been less than ideal. I was there this past Sunday as I had asked for a tincture to be put on hold.
I asked if the tincture contained alcohol and the cashier said she didn't know and wasn't inclined to assist me any further. She did mention where to find this particular type of tincture.
I went to that area and a sales person didn't offer much help.
Basically unless you're planning to make purchases (ie.they make sales), the staff don't help.
The whole attitude of the employees is a big turn off and I managed to find what I wanted online. (at a cheaper price too)
Avoid this pharmacy.

Edit to add: just read the response from Finlandia and it just confirms that this place doesn't value customer service. Yes, of course, stores rely on sales to stay afloat.
I don't have a problem with the cashiers referring me to a specialist - it's the attitude behind it that's not acceptable.
And if the specialist can't help me, then I just ask for honesty and not just walk away without saying anything.
I will never shop at this place ever again.

I really liked the front of house staff very friendly and approachable and helpful. I think the store is a tad small in space but i like the displays and differences in products esp in natural beauty products!

It is the best source of preventive and alternative medicine products in Vancouver. The staff is nice and gentle.

I should gave this a 4 or 5 star review because I was really satisfied with the first bottle I bought last October 2020 in the store.but with my 2nd bottle that I ordered online, it was really frustrating. I got my order 1st week of March but have not opened it until March 19th. When I opened it, the liquid is not coming out of the bottle when I squeezed it and it felt like there was something blocking the mouth of the dropper. I called the store the following day and explained the situation. The lady I talked to told me to visit the store and someone will assist me, When I arrived at the store, the staff at the cashier counter told me that I have to talk to the online staff about this. I told them that I lived in Richmond and I don't want to come back to show the bottle again. They told me to just buy another one and then talked to their online staff and see what they can do. One of the staff tried squeezing it and she told me that I just have to squeeze it really hard because that is the consistency of the liquid. I don't think its how it should be because I bought one before and I didn't have any issue with it. Liquid should be coming out as soon as you squeezed the bottle since it’s a medicine drop. With the bottle that I got, I have to squeezed it really really hard so that a little drop of the liquid will come out. Staff could have been more helpful but they sounded and looked annoyed since their chit chatting was interrupted.

I have been shopping at Finlandia Pharmacy for all my dietary supplements and beauty products since 2014. I love my shopping experience in this place, staff here are very polite, knowledgeable and professional. My kids love to visit this place with me, especially to meet with Tanja. She is very friendly and caring my kids enjoy interacting with her.

Like premium quality, good service, honest knowledgeable information, this is the plase. Wonderful knowhow.

I have been a long-time customer of Finlandia and have always found their staff helpful and knowledgable. It was a place I was certain I would feel safe visiting in person during this pandemic. I was very disappointed that customers were.not required to wear masks. The aisles are.narrow and it's just impossible to pass by someone while social distancing with someone who is not wearing a mask. I was disappointed by the answer I received when I expressed my surprise. I was given the answer that "masks are not mandated", even though masks were recommended in all indoor public space a few weeks ago and businesses are in charge with what they choose to implement. Further, I was horrified to see one of the staff behind the counter with her mask on her chin leaning over the counter to make sure she was heard by a client. I will not be shopping here until world is safe again. I would recommend Pure Pharmacy and Gaia Garden who both offer safe environments, in my opinion.

Amazing Service! Tanja was able to answer many of my questions and provided our family with education on certain products we can use that are safe and effective. I too never even went into the shop. She was able to provide so much information to lead us to products that were effective. Tanja takes the time to hear concerns and knows exactly the remedy for the situation at hand. Thank you Finlandia!

Prices were fair, selection of product was also fair. I took off a star as none of the staff were wearing masks, which is staggering to see in a wellness and pharmacy in the middle of a pandemic.

Very confusing customer experience that needs to be improved. It feels like their depts do not talk to each other, leaving a poor customer experience. They recently had a 20% off all of their in house products- Finlandia brand. When you actually talk to their staff, they have different ideas of what the 20% off means, leaving a very poor experience for the customer. Their website also stated 20% off all Finlandia products, though when I searched for the product that I wanted, it wasn't available. Talked to a number of people at the store (approx 3-4) and they still weren't clear. When I asked one lady product questions, she had to continually put me on hold to check and get back to me for each question
- which takes quite a bit of time!

Also - when you talk to them over the phone, one person asks for your credit card details (without giving you the actual amount being charged to your card) and then passes you over to a cashier to call you back - a complicated process for the customer esp if you don't have the time to wait for this. I'm not sure if they recognize that everyone is busy and cannot always wait for call backs. I told the cashier to call me back in the morning and I thought she understood this as she agreed to this.

The next day, waited for a call in the morning and nothing. Then I talk to the Manager and she says that they tried to call, which is fine. I could not answer and called back when I could. I also stated to the cashier that I couldn't talk until the morning which they seemed to miss and did not acknowledge.

Better training needs to happen as there are so many people dropping the ball and missing info. The manager was also not very accommodating. Even though they made a mistake by giving me a discount on a cream that I purchased during the sale period (which was apparently not on sale even though the lady that sold me the product said all Finlandia products are 20% off), she wouldn't own the mistake and would not listen as as per the advertisement. She said that she could honour the discount for one product, and not the cream, even though they had made a mistake if I wanted to buy more of the products.

The discount was nominal - a few dollars, though it was her attitude that made me not want to buy more from her, as she was not willing to own and make things better to even apologize and make things right. Their website also doesn't have a great search facility and when I searched for the product by sku and name, it didn't show up during the sale period. How frustrating and how unfortunate that the Manager wasn't willing to make this experience a better one.

On top of that, I had to keep repeating what I wanted over and over and she still didn't get it which was not a good experience. In the end, I really had to go and found out that she sold me the wrong size of the product - as I was so confused by the different sizes of each product that we spoke about. It was an off-putting experience, given all of the time that I spent getting product info/clarification per the above paragraphs.

How would you feel if you were a busy customer?

I hope that they start listening to their customers, as they need a lot of improvement to make things more customer centric!

Nice friendly staff. Clean and organized shop. Much better than the Medicine Shoppe down by Willow st.

I usually buy my sage to cleanse my space and body lotions from there, this store has the best selections and and a large variety of natural products and usually has knowledgeable and professional staff that help you with ordering and finding the products of your choice.

I placed an order online for 16 Bach Remedies. When I picked up there are missing 2 bottles. The good thing I have not left the store. Apparently they claimed 2 bottles were damaged when they received it. It is so bad that they did not even tell me about this. There are 4 other bottles with expiration date less than 1 year so they placed special order to their vendor. It has been more than 10 days now and the orders have not arrived to my home yet. When I was at the store, they told it it should be about a week. I am just very disappointed.

I am still missing 6 out of 16 Bach Remedies that I ordered. I am totally disappointed with the services that I am getting. My original order July 28 and today is August 14.

As of today August 31, I am still missing 4 bottles. I sent them an email yesterday August 30 and nobody respond back to me yet.

The issues are two things:
1) When I picked up the bottles, they should have told me that there are missing 2 bottles that was broken during the shipment. Imagine if I already left the store, I doubt they would believe me.
2) They said the rest of them will be delivered to my home within 7 days and that is not the truth. So far I did not get any of the remedies that are promised.

Being upfront and honest is more acceptable business practice and none of this reflected when I picked up the order.

Thanks
Disappointed customer

The best inventory of natural products I've seen anywhere in Canada. Prompt service, great quality. I'm so glad I found them, I am now a lifelong customer.

My Lomilomi massage practitioner told me about this place and now I get my Weleda products, essential oils and vitamins from here. The prices are lower than other places such as London drugs for Weleda and the customer service is definitely much better than most of stores I have been to. It's just too bad that they are a little far from me, but I still make the trip.

The spirit of integrative medicine! Good assortment of quality supplements, tinctures, ointments, and teas. Up to date knowledgeable staff. Oh yeah, there's a big beauty section and a wide variety of sports nutrition products for those interested. And, of course, the pharmacy.

My wife has histamine intolerance and it is Evey time difficult to go in because it's so much smell inside

Great friendly staff! Especially Sara the new receptionist! Very knowledgeable and great positive vibes. I got lots of help to get the right vitamins and health information in general.

*I had to say that I eyewitness some really rude negative COSTUMER (discourteous-FuFu-lady) to enter the store and started yelling at the receptionist! Because she asked her to keep some distance (in the best direct way!) but BOOM! The explosive discourteous-costumer overreacted.seriously some people should stay at home with their negativity! (it's not the first time I go there and see some really rude costumers!). People are just so rude because of the pandemic in general. The store should not allow picky-trashy-costumers anymore! Great team! Great products and awesome friendly staff! Keep it up!

Convenient free parking behind the store. Clean and well-staffed. Got what I needed. In-and-out in less than 3 minutes. This would be my go-to place if I lived closer to the area.

This place is the best, great products excellent staff and I always know I am getting quality products here. I am a happy customer since 2013.

If you were looking for a full-service pharmacy which also has a wide selection of naturopathic and homeopathic treatments, I would rate this most of the top places in Vancouver. Staff are generally pretty knowledgable and always willing to help,

I am so glad I found this place. You can find all sort of high-quality and 100% natural products in here. Including make-up, and herbal teas sold in bulk. All the staff are really nice and helpful. Ramona was really wonderful helping out with make-up products. And Zan also brought joy to my day with her hospitality. The prices are quite good as well if compared to other places. So, overall, a great experience and I'll definitely be back.

I can’t say enough about the staff and products. The supplements recommended to me literally changed my life. Thanks to all the staff that take time to offer great service.

Nice and knowledgeable staff. Love their herbal dispensary as they were always super helpful in order to mix herbs for a specific conditions.

Great experience here. So many helpful staff members I got in and out within 10 minutes with everything I was looking for! Much better compared to big chains where there is 1 person to fight over!

Customer service is excellent. Called me to tell me my eye homeopathic drops arrived. Bought two. Expensive but hopefully worth it. Bus accessible from university of bc. From Broadway train station. From Oak St. From Granville St. Overall recommended.

Good prices, friendly greeting every time I walk in the entrance. Friendly and helpful staff. Convenient right on a major road with several options to get to or from here. I also love the improved rewards loyalty program. Hoping to start shopping here again even though I have to come all the way from marpole.

The customer service here is horrible. I ordered vitamins from this location 3 months ago and still haven’t received them! I have phoned numerous times to inquire about where my order is and they just keep telling me that the order hasn’t been picked up yet and that I have to be patient. 3 months patient? Waste of my time. Go somewhere else to order your goods.

The modern version of an alternative medicine drug store. This place has been a Vancouver institution for at least 30 years. Amazing selection. Patient and knowledgeable staff.

The stuff at Finlandia are exceptional extremely knowledgeable and courteous. The space is spotless there's always warm tea and they always have their clients in mind. This is Healthcare at its finest there's no better person to look after yourself then yourself and Finlandia