FAQ's

BY ASKING US TO PROCESS YOUR ORDER, YOU AGREE TO ALL THE TERMS OUTLINED IN OUR "TERMS & CONDITIONS" AND "SHIPPING POLICIES". The customer is responsible for the use or mis-use of any product purchased from Camden-Grey. Camden-Grey is not responsible for recipes or end products which don't turn out as the customer expected. All sales are final.

PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL US ASKING WHEN YOUR ORDER WILL SHIP. THIS IS DISCUSSED AT THE TOP OF OUR HOME PAGE, PLEASE READ THAT INFORMATION AND YOU'LL BE ABLE TO DETERMINE MORE OR LESS WHEN YOUR ORDER SHOULD SHIP.

On this page we have tried to post and answer some of the most frequently asked questions:

1. What is the quality of your products and how are your essential oils processed?
We offer high quality essential oils which we source worldwide. We do many of our own imports ourselves and deal with numerous reputable distillers throughout the world. Essential oils are steam distilled, absolutes are solvent extracted, and CO2's are extracted using carbon dioxide. At the top dark blue section of each web page there are sections titled Essential Oils - Descriptions and Nut/Vegetable Oils, Butters and Other Raw Materials - Descriptions. In those sections you will find all the information you need on each product we offer (method of distillation, botanical name, country of origin, uses, precautions and so on). We're also adding descriptions directly to each product so that all you will eventually have to do is click on a product and you'll also see the description. If there's a description you cannot locate, please inform us.

2. Do you offer unrefined carrier or fixed oil?
No, we don't. Unrefined fixed oils have a peculiar odor in most cases, which many customers find objectionable as the odor may impact their final product. Another reason is that unrefined fixed oils have the risk of containing bacteria. Should this oil be applied to broken skin, the person runs the risk of introducing bacteria directly into their system. The demand for unrefined oils from the majority of our customers is just not there.

3. Do you have a catalogue?
No, we don't have a paper catalogue. Our complete catalogue is online.

4. Do you accept PayPal, money orders or do COD shipments?
We don't accept money orders or paypal payments and we don't process COD shipments.

5. Do you have a store?
Please click on the dark blue tab at the top of our pages, titled South Florida Orders. There you will find all information which pertains to local orders, pick ups, showroom hours, etc..

6. Do you offer discounts?
We offer numerous price breaks based on sizes of various products. There are no additional discounts offered. Occasionally, throughout the year, we may offer various discount structures during a particular month and that information will be prominently displayed on the front page of our website. If you don't see it at the top of that page, it's not being offered.

7. Do you offer terms?
No, we accept all major credit cards.

8. I want to make a lotion and need someone at Camden-Grey to tell me if the following ingredients will work in my recipe and what steps I need to follow.
We're a supplier of raw materials for aromatherapists, herbalists, massage therapists, soapmakers and toiletrymakers. We don't make products and feel we are not qualified to tell customers how to use these raw materials. For this reason, we have created our own List on the Internet which is monitored by a highly experienced, patient toiletrymaker and teacher, Ela Heyn. To subscribe to our list, please go to the main page of our website and look for the Yahoo! icon for The Handmade Toiletries List. Click on it and subscribe to Digest. The List library includes recipes. Once your subscription is accepted, you may post any questions or problems you may have as they related to toiletries and soaps.

9. I forgot my password and/or login name.
It's always a good idea to save your basket in the event you encounter a problem during checkout or if for any reason the credit card charge is declined. If you're placing an order, please continue with your order and after you select "checkout" enter your login name in the space provided. Then select "email me my password" and the system will do so in less than a minute. If you're not placing an order at this time, follow those same instructions. Once you have your password, enter it in the appropriate space and you may continue with your order. Please make a note of your login name and password and keep it in an accessible place for future use. Sometimes we're extremely busy and may not be able to provide you with your password for several hours. If you forgot your login, please email us and we will find it for you as time permits: orderdesk@camdengrey.com

10. How are your essential oils dispensed?
Essential oils are dispensed by weight. Essential oils in sizes from ½ oz. to 4 oz. are dispensed in amber glass bottles without orifice reducers and without glass droppers. If we ever run out of amber glass bottles, we reserve the right to use cobalt blue glass bottles at no additional charge to the customer.

Essential oils in sizes from 1/4 oz. or smaller are dispensed in amber glass vials with an orifice reducer in the neck of the bottle. An orifice reducer allows the user to dispense the product one drop at a time. It also prevents full spillage of the bottle should it be accidentally knocked over. We sell glass bottles with orifice reducers or Eurodroppers up to 1 oz. in size should you wish to purchase those separately.

Essential oils in sizes of 8 oz., 16 oz., 32 oz. and 5 lbs. & larger are bottled in amber plastic pharmaceutical grade bottles. We strongly recommend that essential oils not be stored in plastic bottles for long periods of time and it would be best if they are transferred to amber glass soon upon arrival. Amber glass bottles are sold separately. Many essential oils are quite aggressive and the bottles may become deformed.

Based on past experience, our reason for using plastic to ship the larger sizes of essential oils is to prevent breakage while in transit to the destination. While in our warehouse, essential oils are kept in amber glass bottles under air conditioning and are poured into the plastic bottles the same day the order ships. Please note that most of our suppliers ship essential oils to us in aluminum or plastic containers.

11. Why isn't my bottle of Sandalwood essential oil filled as high as other bottles in my order?
Essential oils are dispensed by weight. The weight of each essential oil will vary. A very liquid essential oil, such as Orange, will take up more space in the same bottle than a heavier oil such as Sandalwood. Rest assured that your precious oil weighs what it should weigh.

12. Why isn't my bottle of Almond oil filled to the top?
We sell all our vegetable/nut oils by weight, not fluid ounces (unless specifically indicated that particular product is sold by fluid ounces). If the product you ordered is currently dispensed by weight, this information will be posted on our website at the time of your purchase, as well as on the label of the bottle. Our HDPE plastic bottles hold more than the amount on the label.

13. How are your fragrance oils dispensed?
Sizes smaller than 8 oz. are bottled in amber glass. Larger sizes are bottled in plastic HDPE bottles to prevent breakage while in transit to the customer. Many fragrance oils are quite aggressive and there will also be various temperature ranges a package will go through while in transit. You may find that the shape of a bottle of fragrance oil may be slightly deformed when you receive your shipment. There's nothing wrong with the fragrance oil. Fragrance oils are shipped to us by our suppliers in HDPE containers. You may transfer to glass upon receipt of the oil if you so desire. If we ever run out of amber glass bottles, we reserve the right to bottle all sizes of fragrance oils in HDPE plastic; feel free to transfer them to glass if you wish.

14. I couldn't find.......... Do you sell this?
Please use the Search feature on our website (top left of the screen). If the item for which you're searching does not appear, we don't offer it. You only need to type a portion of the name of the product; for example, if you're looking for lavender type only "laven", if you're looking for patchouli, type only "patc", if you're looking for glass roll-on bottles, type only "roll". The less you type, the more chances you will have of various products turning up.

15. Please tell me how much S&H will be for a pail of almond oil to zip code 99999.
Sorry, but we're not equipped to provide S&H on demand. This is one of the reasons why invested in, and set up, a shopping cart. Once an order is placed on the shopping cart, S&H will be estimated by the cart. If you don't wish to go to the trouble of placing the order to find out S&H charges, you can go to the UPS website, www.ups.com, and enter your zip code, enter ours which is 33122, select Residential Delivery (if applicable in your case), select Daily pickup, select Your Packaging, and their site will provide shipping costs. You could also call UPS at 800-742-5877 press 0, give them the approximate weight of your products plus a few extra pounds for packaging, and ask for a quote. All our orders have a handling charge added whose minimum is $5 per box in a shipment and $2.50 per pail in a shipment (this is already computed by our shopping cart). If more than one box and/or pail will ship in your shipment, this will affect the S&H quote you received.

16. I don't want to place my order on the website.
Telephoned or faxed orders incur a $7 manual entry fee. We're usually busy in the warehouse preparing and packing orders; this means we're not always by the phone. With our new order processing system, all orders must be placed online. If the customer doesn't place the order online, we must do so which is why there's a $7 manual order entry fee. If the customer doesn't want to place the order because he/she doesn't want their credit card number processed online, entering the credit card information online is the only way we can process an order. Please leave a detailed message and we'll get back to you as time permits. If you don't wish to listen to our lengthy voice mail greeting, please press the "#" key and, once you hear the beep, leave your message. If you have an unusual last name or company name, please spell the name. Countless times we're unable to locate a customer's information either because the customer spoke very fast or had an unusual name and didn't spell it. Also, if you don't leave a phone number, there's no way we can call you back. Our phone number is 305-500-9630. Our fax is 305-500-9425.

17. I don't want to place my credit card information on your website.
Identity and credit card theft are growing concerns for all of us and we can understand someone's concern about providing credit card information online. Credit card information theft is everywhere: the waiter at the restaurant, the clerk at the store, the cashier at the bookstore or at the hospital. What control does one really have once the credit card is turned over to someone else? We have gone to great lengths and expense to make our site fully secure. With our new order processing system, all orders must be placed online. If the customer doesn't place the order online, we must do so which is why there's a $7 manual entry fee. If the customer doesn't want to place the order because she doesn't want the credit card number processed online, entering the credit card online is the only way we can process an order. As previously mentioned, if we're busy preparing and packing orders we cannot answer the phone and many times it's difficult for us to call customers to obtain the credit card information. We have played telephone tag many times.....we call, the customer is not in; we call, we get a recording.

18. I received my order two weeks ago and I just noticed the bottle of orange is missing (or peppermint is only half full, or the two empty glass bottles I ordered are in pieces, etc.).
Our policy is that all missing or damaged items must be reported to us within 48 hours of your receipt of the order, no exceptions. Unfortunately, since so much time has elapsed since you received the order and we were not notified within the specified time frame of the problem there's nothing we can do about this matter at this time. Please review all our Terms and Shipping Policies before you place your next order.

19. Why do I see an additional $10 charge on my credit card statement?
Based on the information we have on your last order, a credit card charge which we had to enter manually (perhaps you added items to the original order, perhaps S&H was more than quoted) was declined by your credit card company. As stated in our Terms section, we will charge a customer $10 each time a credit card charge is declined.

20. Why do I see two charges on my credit card statement for my last order with you?
As stated in our Terms section, sometimes adjustments need to be made to invoices and these are usually done after an order ships and final S&H charges have been added. These adjustments may be due to an item being on back order in which case the customer is owed money, they may be due to an undercharge or overcharge by our shopping cart and either a credit or debit is due, they may be due to S&H quoted by our cart which was too low since the shipment was extremely heavy or required more than one box, and so on. Adjustments are detailed on the invoices which have been adjusted and which are emailed to customers once they're finalized. Whatever charges you see on your invoice and/or your credit card statement will add up to the invoice total. Please contact us if you have questions before you dispute the charge.

21. Why are you sending my invoice and charging me an additional charge days after my order shipped?
Sometimes when order volume is extremely high, we may get behind on finalizing invoices. However, even if it takes us a number of days to close out an invoice we have to get it done and we have to get paid. We thank all customers for their understanding.

22. I placed an order on Sunday and I need my order delivered this Wednesday. I'm in Oregon.
In several sections of our website we ask all customers to plan their orders and to go to the UPS website or call UPS to determine days in transit. We're located in South Florida. From our area to Oregon it takes UPS 6 to 7 business days to deliver a ground order. We don't ship essential oils and other hazardous liquids by air. It doesn't look like you will receive your order by Wednesday. We have no control over how long UPS takes to deliver a package. Further, our current turnaround time (which is posted on the front page of our site) is 3 business days after an order has been logged in. Orders are logged in the next business day after they're placed. Since yours was placed on Sunday, it won't be logged in until Monday and it should ship on Thursday. Please let us know if we're to cancel your order.

23. Why is S&H on my $25 order so high?
Unfortunately, when orders are small a customer will pay a premium for S&H. The minimum it will cost to ship anything via UPS is about $4.00. If it's a residential delivery, it will cost more. To this we must add our handling charge whose minimum is $5 per box in a shipment. Right there you have a S&H charge of $9.00. Please keep in mind that the heavier and/or larger an order is, the more equitable UPS rates will be. You can figure this out yourself by going to www.ups.com and doing calculations first for an order weighing 2 lbs. and then for an order weighing 10 lbs. Our zip code is 33122, we have daily pickups, and you need to select "your packaging". If yours is a residential delivery, you need to select that also. If your shipment includes large pails (larger than 2 gallons), UPS charges $5 per unboxed pail.

24. If the products I ordered should have weighed 10 lbs., why does the UPS label on my box say it weighs 14 lbs.?
Customers must take into consideration packing materials, including the weights of the bottles and/or pails in which the oils or other products are packed. All boxes weigh, but the sturdy double-wall boxes we use weigh more. We gain nothing by inflating the weight on a UPS label since UPS will charge us for that weight. The weight you see on your UPS label is the true weight of the package, rounded off. Please keep in mind that certain products may require a separate packing box and this will also increase overall S&H charges.

25. I couldn't find where to add any comments or special instructions for my order when I ordered on your website.
There is a large blank space on our order form where customers may enter any note they want us to see or instruction about their order. If you didn't use the blank space, you may still email your notes or instructions to orderdesk@camdengrey.com and make sure you include your order number.

26. Why haven't you credited my Visa for the oil I returned to you last week? I didn't like how it smelled.
You must have missed our policies at the time you placed your order. All sales are final and we don't accept any returns. Unauthorized returns are done at the customer's risk and expense and will be discarded upon their arrival at our warehouse.

27. I placed my order on Friday, the 20th, you charged my card on the 20th, today is Tuesday, the 24th, and you still haven't shipped my order!

All credit cards are charged immediately upon order placement. Orders are logged into our system on the next business day after they're placed....yours was placed on Friday and was logged into our system on Monday and (c) our current turnaround time is posted on the front page of our site and at the time your order was placed it stated"minimum 4 business days counting from the login date". Based on all this information which is fully disclosed on our site, your order should ship on or about Friday the 27th, if not sooner.

28. Why does an order I will pick up at your warehouse show a handling/packing charge?

You may find all information related to local orders and orders picked up at our warehouse by clicking on the dark blue tab at the top of our pages. It's titled South Florida Orders.

29. When do you charge my credit card?

Credit/debit cards are charged immediately upon order placement. Should a card not have enough funds to allow a transaction to be approved, there will not be an order created and the transaction will be declined by our credit card processor. You will see on your screen text indicating that the transaction has been declined.

Rev. 2/16/08