Customer Care + FAQ

Shipping + Delivery Info

When you place an order with us, rest assured that we will take the time to carefully package and ship your treats to you. Our goal is to have your order packed and shipped within 3 business days. If we cannot meet that requirement we will always contact you to advise!

Shipping Rates

All Canadian orders are shipped with one of the following couriers: Canada Post, Purolator, UPS, or Canpar. Once your parcel has left our facility, we are unable to guarantee shipping times .

Expedited shipping within Canada is FREE on orders over $125!* (before tax; excludes classes, Curated/Seasonal Boxes and Oil of the Month Club Subscriptions)

Pricing for expedited shipping for all orders less than $125 is as follows:

Alberta: $10, BC, Saskatchewan + Manitoba $12.50, Ontario + Quebec $15, Maritimes + Newfoundland $17.50, Territories $20

OUTSIDE CANADA: as rates are different to all countries, we will get a quote and email you with it before we add shipping charges to your order. Charges will appear as $0 when you check out with the text "SHIPPING WILL BE CALCULATED AND ADDED TO YOUR ORDER"

EXPRESS SHIPPING: please note in the comments of your order and we will quote you the price before shipping.

*ADDITIONAL SHIPPING CHARGES ON GLASS: when ordering large amounts of glass for shipping, we reserve the right to levy an additional ship charge (even when your order is over our $125 minimum for free shipping). Glass is bulky and heavy to ship. We will always contact you with additional shipping charges before processing your order.

HOLIDAY SHIPPING: As the holidays approach, it may take us longer to fulfill orders and couriers may have delayed shipping.

Local Delivery and Pickup

IN-STORE/CURBSIDE PICKUP: We require a minimum of 24 hours to process your pick up order, and we will always email you when your order is ready for pick up. Please do not come to the store to pick up until you've received an email from us. The store is open for curbside pick up or prepaid orders (excluding statutory holidays) during regular store hours. Tuesday to Friday: 11-6, Saturday and Sunday: 11-5.

CALGARY LOCAL DELIVERY (with or without refills): we are happy to deliver your order to you if you are within Calgary (see our boundaries below)! Minimum order is $35 before shipping + taxes. Delivery is $6 for orders under $75 and FREE for orders of $75 or more!

REFILL CUSTOMERS: you will always see a $10 tote charge on your order. This is a deposit for your tote which is returned to you when you return the tote to us. When you checkout you will see that your REFILL DELIVERY charge for orders under $75 is $16 ($10 tote + $6 delivery) and $10 for orders over $75 (tote charge only). Click here for more information on our Mobile Refillery program.

Our delivery days are as follows (see city boundaries below):

Calgary NE + NW: Wednesdays
Calgary SE + SW: Fridays

ADDITIONAL DELIVERY INFO:

All delivery charges are non-refundable. Delivery cut off times for orders is the day before at 1 PM. Eg. For NW / NE deliveries, the cut off is Tuesday at 1 PM.
Delivery Boundaries in the City: Our route falls within the North, East, and South boundary of the ring road (Stoney Trail) and we deliver as far west as the communities of Rocky Ridge and Valley Ridge.
Non-delivery to an Apartment / Condo: If we make an attempt to deliver your parcel and are unable to leave it (ie: apartment/condo customers), we will bring it back to our shoppe and let you know. At that time you may choose to stop by and pick it up, or we will gladly re-attempt delivery the following week on your scheduled day for our regular $6 fee. This fee will apply regardless of order size.
Delivery for Customers not Home: If you are not at home when we deliver to your location, we will leave your order unattended at your door (and we will attempt to leave it in a safe place, however this is not always possible). In this case, we are not responsible for stolen packages. If you do not want us to leave your parcel unattended, then please choose the Pick Up in Store option or Canada Post / Canpar shipping options.

Duty Charges: You are responsible for any duty charges associated with your order. Unfortunately, we cannot offer any time guarantees on the length of time it will take for your order to clear customs.

Backorders: We do not ship back ordered items. If any products are not available at the time of your shipment we will ship what is available and invite you to re-order out of stock items in the future.

Help! My order has arrived damaged!: If your mail order parcel arrives damaged or you notice that an item in your parcel has leaked or opened in transit please give us a call right away at 403-453-0313 or email us at info@the-apothecary.ca

Return Policy

If you are not 100% happy with one of our products, please let us know within 30 business days of purchase. We will do our best to help determine why the product does not work for you. Sometimes products will not work properly because the application is unclear.

If after speaking with us you are still unhappy with the product and would like to return it, please read our policies below!

PRODUCTS (including non-refills and excluding diffusers)

Any unopened and unused products in their original condition may be returned for a full refund within 30 days of purchase, with receipt (store credit or exchange without receipt).
Any opened or used products may be returned for an exchange or store credit within 30 days of purchase, with receipt.
Web orders: see our policy below!

ELECTRONICS (diffusers)

All functioning used or opened electronic products may be returned within 30 days (with receipt) for a refund, exchange, or store credit, less 10% of the originally paid price. Why a 10% fee? If a product is functioning and used, we are unable to return it to our supplier for a refund, and we are also unable to re-sell the item in store at full price.
All non-functioning (defective) used electronic products may be returned within the warranty period (varies by product) with receipt for a full refund, exchange, or store credit.
All returned electronics are tested in store before a return or exchange can take place.

MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS: Menstrual products are final sale.

Refills

All refills done in a personal container brought into the store are non-returnable. Please ensure you've got the right product and amount you'd like in mind before filling. If you are unsure of how much a product will cost, please ask - we'd love to help with the math!

Refills done in a new container purchased in store at the time of refilling are eligible for an in-store credit or exchange only.

Gift Certificates: Gift certificates are final sale.

Contactless Store Returns

You may not want to venture into our storefront to do a return. No problem! Please come to our back door 7 days a week from 10 am – 3 pm. There is a doorbell that you may ring and there will be a table outside. Please leave your return on that table and ensure that a staff member confirms receipt of your return. Please do not leave your order on the table without a staff member confirming it as then we have no traceability. Once the products are received and processed we will issue your refund or store credit, as determined above.

Please allow 24 hours for returns to be processed, and allow up to 5 business days for a return to show up on your credit card.

WEB ORDER RETURNS

If you would like to return an item purchased through our online store, please first get in touch with us via email info@the-apothecary.ca or phone us at 403-453-0313. Please have your order number handy for easy reference!(Refunds or store credit for items purchased online cannot be processed in-store.)

The process is pretty easy:

After you've confirmed the return with us, box up the product(s) and mail them to: The Apothecary in Inglewood Returns, 921 9 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0S5. Please ensure that you've written your order number on the box, or on a slip of paper inserted into the box.
Once the product has been received in house we will issue a refund or store credit for the product (less any shipping charges)
Any unopened and unused products in their original condition may be returned for a full refund within 30 days of purchase
Any opened or used products may be returned for an exchange or web store credit within 30 days of purchase
Shipping charges (to or from us, unless the error was ours - see "Shipping Errors on Our Part") are non-refundable.

Shipping errors on our part

If there has been an error on our end with shipping (incorrect product, packing, etc), we will of course offer a full refund to you (including ship charges) once the returned order has been received in-house.

Return of Unclaimed Shipped Parcels: We will happily refund the cost of your order, in Canadian dollars, less all shipping charges, for any orders that are returned to us as a result of non-pickup by a customer. Please contact us in this case so we can resolve the matter with you! We are happy to re-send your parcel out to you, and will bill you the additional shipping charges in these cases.

FAQ + Other Policies

Do you have an Order Minimum?: No way! You can order as much or as little as you'd like.

May I Order by Phone?: Absolutely! Just give us a shout during business hours at 403-453-0313.

What Payment Methods do you accept?: We currently accept Email Money Transfer, Visa & MasterCard & Paypal.

How do I know if something is out of Stock?: Our online inventory is kept as up-to-date as possible. However, in the event that the stock availability of an item in your order has changed, or if an item in your order is sold out and no longer available, we will inform you via phone call or e-mail to discuss the status of your order and make any adjustments as needed.

Can I Collect In-Store Rewards Points for Online Purchases?: Unfortunately our online store does not communicate with our in store Point of Sale system. As a result, any orders placed online do not qualify for in-store rewards points. It's the same reason that if you'd like to purchase a gift card, you must choose either online or in store; the two systems just don't like to talk to one another! We do not anticipate that the systems will be able to communicate at any time in future.

Are your Essential Oils "Therapeutic Grade"?

This is a question that we are asked on almost a daily basis. To answer that question, first you must define what is meant by “therapeutic grade essential oils.” What does it really mean? There is no organization that oversees therapeutic quality so the definition is really up for grabs. It can be what you make it. This is the reason that we do not make the claim that our oils are “therapeutic grade” since, in North America, the term is meaningless, and often used as just marketing hype. Any vendor can claim that their oils are “therapeutic grade” since there is no regulated definition of the term.

We do know that a commonly agreed upon definition of “therapeutic grade” (not a legal definition, but often used by knowledgeable members of the trade) includes that the oil be from a named species, single crop, single distillation, ie, not a mixture of aromatics from various areas, perhaps even various years, hopefully (but not always) either organically grown or knowledgeably and ethically wildcrafted. And we know that our oils fit this definition.

In our opinion and experience, the correct term should be “aromatherapy grade” since aromatherapy requires only the finest of essential oils. It is very common practice in our industry for botanical matter from different countries or even different years to be blended for distilling, or the oils from different areas or different years to be blended. We believe that aromatherapy grade oils should be distilled from one harvest. The oils should be offered as they come from the still, with no components increased or removed to meet an arbitrary profile.

For the consumer, finding oils labeled “organic” or “certified organic” does not automatically extend to being therapeutic because 95% of all essential oils produced by “certified organic” distillers are still for the flavour and food products industry, still distilled under high pressure, and still not therapeutic-grade oils. Many of the larger “certified organic” distilleries have the flavour and food industries as their largest customers, who are not concerned about therapy. An oil may well be grown organically, but poorly distilled. This will give you a certified organic, mediocre essential oil. Not something we will knowingly put our label on.

Privacy Policy: The Apothecary in Inglewood respects the privacy of visitors to our website. Any and all information you supply to us will be used for our business only. We do not sell information to other companies or media services. We do not tolerate "spam". Our addresses are collected from web and phone purchases, requests for information, and requests for our newsletter email reminders only. We do not use outside sources to acquire addresses. Occasionally, we may send sales bulletins or special sales coupons to our customers. If you do not wish to receive these mailings, just click on the "Unsubscribe" link that is included in every mailing. Your address will be removed immediately.

Abuse Policy

Our policy is simple: We have a zero tolerance policy for abuse, bullying, or threats of any kind. This includes verbal, written, or physical towards our team, and any other type of bullying or abuse (real or implied) for any, and all situations as a result of doing business with us.

We work hard to ensure you have a quality experience with us, whether it be in store or online. We also know that we will never please 100% of humans 100% of the time (we do our best, but sadly, this is a reality for every business!). On these rare occasions we promise that we will work hard to make it right for you, our customer. We will treat you with respect and kindness and we expect the same in return. We believe there is always a way through a process that is caring and genuine, even if at the end of that process we decide to go our separate ways. Should a situation arise during an interaction with our business where we receive abuse or threats, we reserve the right to ask you to leave the premises (in store customers) and direct you / revert to our store policies for any further interaction with us (in store and online customers).

Disclaimer: The Apothecary in Inglewood is not a pharmacy, nor does it offer any pharmacy related services. The information provided here is for educational purposes only and is not intended as diagnosis, treatment, cure or prescription of any kind. The decision to use, or not to use, any information is the sole responsibility of you, the individual. We recommend that you consult your primary health care provider before using alternative healing methods or products.

Store Hours

COME AND SEE US 6 DAYS A WEEK!

Our brick & mortar location is open during the following times.

Tuesday - Friday: 11 am - 6 pm
Saturday + Sunday: 11 am - 5 pm

PLEASE NOTE: Our storefront and curbside pickup are closed on all statutory holidays.

CURBSIDE PICKUP & REFILL DELIVERIES

You may pick up curbside orders 6 days a week during our regular store hours.

We also remind you that we offer online ordering and delivery, including our Refill Delivery service.

Parking

We have paid street parking right out front of our building. There is free parking on our cross street (9th Street) and we also have designated spots at the back of our building, along the railroad tracks. You'll see signs for "The Apothecary" parking - that's ours! Feel free to use those spots when visiting our shoppe.