Customer Service
SHIPPING POLICIES
> What types of shipping do you offer in the U.S., and what are your rates?
> What are your rates to Canada?
> How quickly will my order ship?
> Do you ship outside the U.S. and Canada?
> Do you ship to P.O Boxes?
> Do you ship to APOs and FPOs?
RETURNS POLICIES
> What is your Returns Policy?
> How do I return or exchange items from my order?
ORDERING POLICIES
> What are your accepted payment methods?
> Is ordering on your site secure?
> Do you collect sales tax?
> Can I send my order as a gift?
> Do you offer gift wrapping?
> Can I ship one order to multiple locations?
> Do you have gift certificates?
OTHER QUESTIONS
> What are your Customer Service hours of operation?
> What are you doing to ensure the quality and safety of Tea Forté products?
> Can I purchase Tea Forté in a store?
> Can Tea Forté products be personalized?
> Can I customize my own flavor selection in a Ribbon Box or Event Box sampler?
> Is there an expiration date on tea?
> Is your tea certified Kosher?
> Is your tea Gluten Free?
> Is your tea certified organic, or Free Trade?
Shipping Policies
What types of shipping do you offer, and what are your rates?
Tea Forté offers Ground, 2nd Day Air and Next Day Air services, all provided by UPS. We ship all orders to the forty eight contiguous United States via UPS, including all Standard Ground orders. Please allow 7-10 business days for overall delivery time when shipping UPS Standard Ground. All orders shipped to Alaska and Hawaii ship UPS 2nd Day Air only.
Free US ground shipping on orders of $75 and more.
Under $25 $25 to $74.99 $75 to $149.99 $150 to $299.99 $300 to $499.99 $500 or more
Alaska and Hawaii ship UPS 2nd Day Air only:
under $74.99 $75 to $149.99 $150 to $299.99 $300 to $499.99 $500 or more
Do you ship to Canada?
Yes! However, there are some specific details you should be aware of: we ship consolidated ground shipments to Canada on Thursdays. This allows us to process all orders through Canadian Customs and ensure that you do not have any unanticipated import costs. Orders ship once a week, on Thursday. Your order must be placed by 9:30am Wednesday to ensure your order ships on Thursday.
Unfortunately, because we can only ship ground shipments, we cannot send orders to the Northwest Territory or Yukon Territory. Also, currently we can only process credit cards in U.S. Dollars. We are not responsible for any fees or exchange rate costs that your bank may charge for a foreign currency transaction. Below are our shipping and import charges for Canadian orders.
Under $75 $75 to $149.99 $150 to $299.99 $300 to $499.99 $500 or more
How quickly will my order ship?
Orders ship the next business day. During peak periods such as before Thanksgiving, Christmas or Mother's Day, please allow 2-3 business days for your order to ship. Next Day orders ship the same business day if placed by 9:30 AM EST, otherwise they ship next business day. Our warehouse is located in Ontario, California. For some parts of the country, you may not require as much lead time for ground delivery. You can consult the UPS shipping map for standard transit times.
UPS does not deliver on Saturday.Do you ship outside the U.S. and Canada?
We cannot currently ship outside the U.S. and Canada, but we do have distributors in a number of countries. Contact us at info@teaforte.com and we can provide contact information to direct you to a retail location near you. Also, you may want to try shipping Tea Forté to local friends or relatives, and then have them forward the product on to your international destination. If you need to pay with an international credit card, please select PayPal as your payment type, and you may do so through them. Finally, if you are interested in becoming a international Tea Forté distribution partner, please contact international@teaforte.com.Do you ship to P.O Boxes?
No, please do not try; your order will not be delivered.Do you ship to APOs and FPOs?
No. UPS is our sole delivery carrier, and they cannot deliver to APOs or FPOs. We are working on incorporating USPS shipping to help serve Armed Forces personnel better.
Returns Policies
What is your Returns Policy?
We want you to be 100% satisfied with your purchase. If for any reason you are not satisfied, Tea Forte will gladly refund your purchase of any unopened tea or accessories within 30 days of receipt. For orders placed between Thanksgiving Day and December 25th, we accept returns through January 31st.How do I return items from my order?
If you have an item that you wish to return, please contact us at info@teaforte.com or 1 (800) 721-1149 to receive a returned merchandise authorization (RMA) number. You MUST contact us prior to returning your products. WE DO NOT ACCEPT RETURNS WITHOUT AN RMA NUMBER. WE DO NOT ISSUE CREDIT FOR ITEMS RETURNED WITHOUT AN RMA NUMBER. We are unable to pay for return shipping charges unless due to damage or company error. In order to receive full credit, all returns must be unopened in their original packaging and in resalable condition. Any returns that are not in resaleable condition or not due to company error or damage will be subject to a 25% restocking fee.How do I exchange items from my order?
Tea Forte will gladly exchange any unopened product for product of comparable value within 30 days of receipt. You will be responsible for shipping costs to us unless due to company error. You must contact us at info@teaforte.com or 1 (800) 721-1149 for an RMA number. No exchange will be given for items returned without an RMA number.
Ordering Policies
What are your accepted payment methods?
Tea Forté accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and PayPal. All transactions are in U.S. Dollars. You may also make payment by personal check, certified check, or money order in U.S. currency only. Just place items in your shopping cart, proceed to checkout and complete checkout up to the point where we ask for credit card information. Print out the order summary on that page and mail the information to us with your payment. Please note that orders mailed to us require a longer processing time than those placed on our website. Please remit payment along with your order form to:
Mail Orders
Tea Forté
23 Bradford St
Concord, MA 01742Is ordering on your site secure?
Absolutely! We use the latest industry standard 256-bit SSL encryption to ensure that your information is securely transmitted to our servers. We also display the Comodo Secured Seal on our checkout page. Clicking on this seal can provide you additional comfort that we are who we say we are, and we are using the right technology to keep your information secure. Please view our Privacy Policy for more information about how we use and secure personal information.Do you collect sales tax?
Tea Forté is required to collect sales tax in California, Massachusetts and Washington. Sales tax only applies to our gift sets and tea accessories, tea is treated as food and not taxed.Can I send my order as a gift?
Of course! Many of our customers give Tea Forté as a gift. During checkout, your shipping address may be different than your billing address. You also may enter a gift message of up to 100 characters. This message will print on the packing slip that will be enclosed with every order.Do you offer gift wrapping?
We do not currently offer gift wrapping, but we do offer a several gift boxed products. Our green gift boxes are as elegant as any gift solution on the market. Please explore our selection.Can I ship one order to multiple locations?
If you are looking to send Tea Forté to five or more addresses, we recommend our Corporate Gift Program, and our easy spreadsheet order form. For fewer than five order, we're sorry, but that feature is not yet available. You will have to place a different order for each shipping location.Do you have gift certificates?
YES. Our Gift Certificates are a perfect alternative to trying to guess someone's favorite blend. You may schedule email delivery as well.
Other Questions
What are your Customer Service hours of operation?
Our customer service staff is available for e-mail and phone assistance Monday - Friday, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Eastern Time, excluding holidays. Our customer service toll-free number is 1 (800) 721-1149.What are you doing to ensure the quality and safety of Tea Forté products?
The quality and safety of our products is our top priority as a business. As a tea company, we feel privileged to produce most of our products in the heart of beautiful and historic tea gardens in Hangzhou, China. Leveraging thousands of years of tea trade experience, producing our products in China helps us achieve the peak possible quality and safety.
To help maintain these standards, each of our products undergoes extensive third-party testing prior to launch. In addition, every one of our products undergoes random third-party testing at least once per year. All of our tea, hard goods and packaging materials are manufactured and tested in accordance with the strictest US and EU regulations, including California Proposition 65. Finally, all of our tea is packaged in a facility this is certified both Organic and Kosher. We look forward to continuing to provide you with top quality products from the country that invented tea.Can I purchase Tea Forté in a store?
We sell Tea Forté products to many stores, spas and restaurants around the world. Please try our store locator for a list of stores in your area. If you are outside the United States or Canada, please contact international@teaforte.com for a store recommendation.Can Tea Forté products be personalized?
We're sorry, no. We do not currently personalize our products.Can I customize my own flavor selection in a Ribbon Box or Event Box sampler?
We're sorry, no. Our infusers are not packaged for individual resale. In order to bring you the freshest possible tea and to ensure the tea is labeled correctly for allergies and FDA requirements, we are unable to repackage infusers according to customer orders.Is there an expiration date on tea?
Tea does not have an expiration date, but it can start to lose freshness over time. At Tea Forté we label all of our products with a "best by" date to ensure that you experience the best we have to offer.We do recommend storing your tea in a dry, cool, dark space. Tea needs to be kept away from heat, light, air, and moisture to ensure its freshness. Do not store your teas in the freezer or refrigerator.
Is your tea certified Kosher?
Yes, many of our teas are certified Kosher by KOF-K. The certified teas have the kosher certification listed in their descriptions on the Kosher Certified tea pages. Our production facility is also certified Kosher by KOF-K. You may view and download a PDF of our official Kosher Certificate.Is your tea Gluten Free?
Yes, all of our teas are Gluten Free.Is your tea certified Organic or Fair Trade?
Our production facility is certified organic by IMO-Switzerland, a USDA accredited certification agent. This is an important step in our process of developing certified organic teas. However, we are still working on earning both of these certifications. In every case, we source the most naturally produced ingredients possible and work to support fair wages. We expect to certify our teas one blend at a time as we are able to find certified sources.
