Hello Fresh are absolute robbing bastards

Hello Fresh does sound crap from all the posts on this thread. But my son and his housemates had a kind of reverse experience of its crapness a few years ago which meant that it worked brilliantly for them. For some reason they were able to game the codes that gave a free trial to new customers. The whole household ate completely free for ages.

I never really understood how it happened, but I can see now that the company just puts very little effort into running well.

You clicked on the menu and that ordered you a box? Including taking payment and everything?

They do refund, but they don't like to, as I managed to get one for a delivery I accidentally forgot to reschedule due to being away the week it was arriving.
I'm thinking of signing up again as they have sent me some decent offers for returning (I always cancel once these expire).
Howener we said the same about portion size, feels too small (or maybe it's correct portion control).
But you have to buy additional things to make it a full meal, so I always end up buying additional stuff from supermarkets as it's cheaper than their top ups, to add to the meals.
Also I hate that they don't do reduced fat 5% mince options, as we buy that as we find regular mince too grisly, and their mince is always grisly, so I avoid mince dishes but as a result I'm always ordering the same meat dishes like chicken.

i liked simply cook but i cancelled last minute 18 months ago and now cannot reorder - it keeps saying oops

Sorry to be annoying but you sound frustrated with yourself. We’ve all done it but the lesson is not to get into subscriptions, if you can’t afford to make a mistake with cancellation. You’re setting yourself up to fail.

Try Gousto, we love it despite no more discounts. It's got me cooking, which is saying something!

I get them, I found portions to be good. I forgot to cancel this weeks so thats on me, I'll use them. We are having a kitchen refit, so I had cancelled previous weeks. I am predominantly veggie, so their choices are ok.

But it is not up to you to decide how they run their business you seem to be taking this a personal insult that they made up just to annoy you

To be fair the cut off date will be literally the last minute that they can do the order to their suppliers.

I ran a similar business model. For our chickens for example they needed to be killed and plucked by the farmer. She needed to know how many (it’s not a quick job). Our cut off time was midnight and I’d send the orders out then and there often until 3 am. But they needed to be there before they started their working day. While most of it is automated some of them wanted a text, some emails, had to check manually for glitches in the system. It’s not for the faint hearted.

You sound so angry OP. Why not let this order arrive, eat what you can of it and then cancel the account and block all messages so you are never tempted back?

Another vote for mindful chef. We started out with Gousto which was ok for a couple of years then I think it got bought out by whoever owns hello fresh and the veg started going downhill, lots of missing ingredients etc. so dumped them. Then went keto to lose weight so used green chef as they were the only ones doing keto. Used mindful chef for a while but as they weren’t doing proper low carb at that point (just low carb with no corresponding fats to satiate which you need if low carb) just ditched it. Have gone back to green chef since the summer as needed to lose some weight so back to keto food 3 nights a week and low carb rest of the week (plus I do 8/16 fasting which has improved my energy and mood no end ). I just get the meal boxes to give my brain a rest from thinking about meals, ingredients and what to make. I have mostly coped fine with it for 35 years but lockdown broke me and I’ve never got it back. If it was down to me I’d eat the same thing every day and eat one meal a day!

They keep sending me stuff and I’ve never even subscribed.

Seems like a lot more hassle than Cook.

You don’t have to think about what to cook or shop for it. Those are the two main benefits. There is also zero food waste and the variety of meals you have is greater than if you were doing it alone.

but all of this is your fault?

"I keep getting meals I haven't chosen" Once might be their fault if you were expecting a reminder but every time after that is yours. Just set a reminder yourself every week to pick a meal. If you do this on your phone you can set it at a more convenient time for you rather than whenever they send their emails anyway.

"I thought my cut-off day was today but it turns out it was yesterday" Again, this is your mistake not theirs.

A cut off means just that - a cut off. Presumably they have to tell their suppliers how many of each item they need by x date. Then their packers have to pack each individual box. Then it has to be ready for delivery at least 1 day before. That doesn't give them much leeway. The faff of trying to get hold of all of those different parties to not send your box, plus the waste of produce = of course they cba to fix it. Why would they? They're a business not a charity, why would they want to lose money? It's not like you're a particularly loyal customer they really want to keep happy.

They've already helped you out in letting you keep the money to use on a box you do want in the future so you haven't lost anything. They could have said a complete tough luck and just delivered a random box of stuff you won't eat. Basically you're just offsetting your grocery bill by a week or two - if you spend £50 in aldi this week on food then you won't spend it in 2 weeks time (or whatever) when you use up your Hello Fresh credit.

I used them once and was annoyed they took way more out of the bank than advertised - my own fault I had ordered more expensive meals apparently. I didn't know I had. Website hard to navigate
. I hear you OP. I have repeat deliveries on Amazon and they are really good at reminding you of your cut off date to amend it I find.

I get reminder emails from them still? It does require you to think in their rhythm. I also have it on my phone calendar so I don’t forget.

I don’t think they’re at fault, I’m sorry. It isn’t Tesco, it’s a subscription box service and the cut off is the same every week. And the only reason you’re not getting an order this week now is because you’ve told them you don’t want it.

Just use the credit for one last order and then cancel.

We only use them when they send us the 60% discounts. Then we stop and wait. If we like a recipe I just buy the ingredients myself. We’ve had trouble the last 2 delivery’s. Last one only we only received one box when there should have been 3, and this week non of it was delivered because apparently the boxes were damaged so evri refused it.

Their customer service is based out of the Philippines and the agents neither know nor care about your problems. I cancelled my contract because of the appalling service (plus the incredibly wasteful packaging) and they could not have cared less - and still phone me every now and again to try and sign me up despite me repeatedly informing them how shit they are.

I didn’t until I saw a box or two in the reduced bit! Yes I totally agree because you inevitably end up eating the same thing for days in a row because of the size of the raw ingredients. So annoying!

I feel the same way about single supplement hotel rooms!

Buy a recipe book and shop for yourself. I can’t see the benefit, personally.

@thatsmyhouse Gousto have just introduced a next day delivery option so you don't have to have a contract and can order pretty much 24 or 48 hours before you need it!

No risk of random boxes turning up because you forgot to select meals!

Same here. I ended up with a refund because I complained but wtf?

Maybe only if you subscribe (I didn’t even know Sainsbury’s sold them!) but some of the ingredients don’t come in packets small enough for 1 so it tells you to use half. It feels as if you’re getting extra for free but you’re not really as the one person meals are comparatively more expensive but I still like it. Meal planning for one is depressing, as are 1-person ready meals!