Spiritual Quest spiritualquest.com, richard ori bait and switch, no refund, no return, product not delivered completely, 8 month wait Carson California

I had been doing business with Spriritual Quest for a few years buying the occasional low dollar item. My main initial interest was an herbal supplement called Protandim. I was buying 2 bottles a month, and I should have known who these people really were from this. After a few months, I spoke with owner Richard Ori who tried to get me to "distribute" Protandim. I can not be absolutely sure, but from the tone of the conversation it sounded a lot like a pyramid scheme. As for the product, I can report I took it for several months and found no significant health benefits.

My real trouble started when in January 7, 2015 I ordered one of Spiritual Quests, Harmony Salt Caves Himalayan Salt Infra red saunas for about $2000 plus $500 shipping. I spoke directly with Richard Ori to place my order and he informed me that this model, which is a 3-person sauna (or as he later described, an 'enhanced' 2-person model thats about 5 inches wider on one side than the standard 2-person sauna) was not in stock and would have to come from the factory in China. He said I needed to pay the entire $1995.90 price of the sauna up front so he could assure that my unit would be placed on the next shipment out of China and I could expect delivery at the end of February, 2015.

There were apparently many delays in the international shipping of this item including Chinese New Year holidays, labor disputes, and customs in the USA. By the time all was said and done, I did not receive the sauna until April 30, 2015. 

After several hours of unpacking and examining the sauna, which was a 500lb. deivery completely black wrapped on a pallet,  I noticed that one of the three main boxes of the sauna were missing. This included the front and back (the largest) panels of the sauna. I immediately called Mr. Ori who explained to me that there was a new guy in his warehouse and he must have screwed up the packing. He called me back and said there was no screw up and that somehow UPS Freight (the delivering company) had most likely either lost or broken a box off the pallet and tried to cover it up.

He said he would investigate the matter, which would take some time in the form of several weeks and asked me to be patient. He said no matter what, he and Spiritual Quest would "take care of me". I decided to be patient and understanding with Mr. Ori and his company because of our history and because I recognized that this problem was likely not his fault.

A week later Mr. Ori filed a claim for the entire cost and shipping of the sauna with UPS and he asked me to wait for the result. Around June 1, 2015, UPS released a statemnt that Spiritual Quest would receive a partial refund of the price of the sauna ($1500) and they would ship a replacement sauna for free. Again, Mr. Ori told me to wait as he would talk to UPS management directly since he, "does over $100,000 worth of business with them".

By late June, Mr. Ori said he was getting no where with UPS. I asked Mr. Ori for a replacement 3-man sauna, but he informed me that once again, these units were not in stock. He said they usually were not in stock. If I wanted one of those I would have to wait another couple of months (or more based on my experience so far) for a shipment from China. He offered me instead the next lower grade 2-man sauna and about $100 worh of replacement merchandise like salt lamps. I said I did not want the smaller sauna but rather what I ordered.

This is where I completely lost patience with Spiritual Quest and Mr. Ori and requested a refund of my money. My position was that he did not deliver what I ordered in a resonable amount of time (6 months) and That I was entitled to a refund. Mr. Ori said that was not an option. I told him I would take this to my credit card company and perhaps pursue a legal case for fraud. He had my money ($2500) plus he had the settlemnet from UPS ($1500). I filed a claim with my credit card company. 

On July 1, 2015, I received a letter from Mr. Ori's lawyer essentially threatening that I settle this manner in one of 3 ways:

1) Take the cheaper sauna

2) wait for the delivery of the sauna I ordered

3) take the $1500 cash refund from UPS

The letter stated that they were not obligated to refund my money since the messed up delivery was not their fault. Also, these three options were actually a courtesy from Spiritual Quest because I received delivery of the sauna as it was and it was essentially my problem at that point. The letter further threatened me that I was not to write any negative reviews about Spirtiual Quest on the internet or they would recind their 3 offers.

The matter was settled when after an investigation, my credit card company refunded my $2500 in full in July 2015.

My advice is do not deal with these people. They sat on my money for a total of 8 months and they made me wait unnecessarily for a resolution. The right thing to do as a legitimate business would have been to either refund my money or send me a new sauna in early May when I told them I did not receive a complete shipment. 

ON A SIDE NOTE: It was a good thing I did not get a sauna from Spiritual Quest. The parts they did ship looked like they were made withs shoddy construction and cheap material, some of the wooden pieces actually came apart where they were glued or stapled....yes....stapled. I actaully had a top panel which was not big enough to fit on the top completely so they cut another thin piece and stapled it next to the panel to make it the right size. Half these flimsy staples came off during shipment.