*******AVOID******
⭐ 1-star review
Extremely disappointing customer service – would not recommend
I purchased a £59.95 tub of PER4M Whey Protein from The Supplement Store and, having used this product for years, immediately noticed that something was not right. The powder had a very strong sour/off smell and taste when mixed with water. I stopped using it immediately and contacted the retailer.
I fully cooperated with everything they asked of me, including returning the actual tub to them at their request. Despite this, they refused to provide a refund and instead offered me £20 store credit, which I declined.
What I find particularly disappointing is how difficult they have made this throughout. They repeatedly relied on the fact that a retention sample from the same batch was within specification. However, PER4M themselves have since confirmed in writing that they are not questioning what I experienced, and that a batch being within specification and an individual customer experiencing a genuine off smell and taste are not contradictory. PER4M also confirmed that they did not inspect my individual tub.
The Supplement Store have now confirmed that they still have my actual tub and that it remains available for independent assessment or Trading Standards, but they have refused to fund any further assessment and have stated that this is their final position.
I have spent a considerable amount of time dealing with this, despite raising the issue promptly and doing everything I was asked to do. I certainly did not want to go through all of this over a tub of protein — I simply expected a reasonable resolution when I reported a product that I genuinely believed was not right.
I am particularly disappointed by the repeated references to being a “small family-run business”. I completely appreciate that they are a small business, but that does not change the fact that customers deserve to have genuine complaints handled fairly and reasonably.
PER4M themselves have been much more helpful and have kindly arranged a replacement as a gesture of goodwill. For that reason, I will continue purchasing PER4M products — but directly from PER4M rather than The Supplement Store.
Unfortunately, after this experience, I will not be ordering from The Supplement Store again.
£59.95 spent, a lot of unnecessary stress, and ultimately no satisfactory resolution. Very disappointing.
Réponse de The Supplement Store
Hi
We’re pleased that we were ultimately able to reach a resolution with you following your review.
As your concern related to a possible product or manufacturing issue, we immediately referred the matter to Per4m for investigation, as we normally defer to the manufacturer on issues of this nature, particularly where the concern relates to the contents of a factory-sealed tub. Following their assessment, Per4m advised us that they could not establish a product fault and did not consider a refund to be warranted. However, given your previous buying history with the product and the concerns you raised, we ultimately chose to resolve the matter directly with you and agreed to your requested resolution.
We hope everything is now resolved, and if you feel the final outcome has changed your experience, we’d really appreciate you considering updating your review to reflect this.
