Hello Fresh are absolute robbing bastards

[thatsmyhouse]

I used to get it regularly last year but it got a bit samey and some of the meals weren't that great so I deactivated the account. They obviously started sending discount emails and eventually I caved and started it again. But it seems they no longer send the reminder to pick your meals so I keep ending up with meals I haven't chosen which is annoying.

I thought my cut-off day was today but it turns out it was yesterday and they are refusing to refund even though the box doesn't come until Friday. Just a complete 'fuck you' attitude from the person on the chat and they have said there is no one higher to complain to! I never want to eat one of their meals again but they are saying all they can do is cancel the order and keep the money on my account. I'm furious. What a waste of money I can't really afford this month after a very expensive couple of weeks.

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?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

We had them for a while, then stopped. But it was almost impossible to get off their various mailing lists (email, post, phone calls). It took months of repeatedly telling them. In the end, after multiple contacts and threatening the Information Commissioner on them, they did remove our details. Would never use them again as it was impossible to have a short stint with them when you need them for a few weeks/months and then leave easily.

To be honest I think they’re quite good. They need a functioning model to be able to run the business so if everyone wanted to cancel on Wednesday rather than Tuesday it wouldn’t work for the rest of us would it? Just get another box then cancel.

I could never see how HF and all the other food delivery companies could be profitable unless they really scrimped on meat. I mean their recipes are delicious but I had to always supplement with extra meat.

Don’t fall for their discounts again, op!

Gousto is way better than Hello Fresh.

I’ve tried Hello Fresh and Gousto and thought they were both terrible value for money. The portion sizes were tiny and the quality of the ingredients was dire. But it was really clear that there was a cut off time for the next order.

Sorry you’ve had a bad experience but personally, I like HF. I have been caught out with the ordering situation a few times, but I could freeze the meat. They’re not for everyone but on balance, work fine for me.

If you’re on 02 you can get 20% off right now. If you have Amazon Prime you can get free delivery, if people do use them and didn’t know.

Oh yes, they really are.

If your order turns up and is warm, they'll refund the box amount but only to your hellonfresh account...

I wouldn't mind the annoying 'we'll send you some food you didn't choose' part if they let you save preferences. My son hates mashed potato. I really would like a way of telling them this. Because we'd eat their auto-stuff if they didn't find a way to offload potatoes on us every fucking time.

I think the portion sizes are fine. Agree that mince gets repetitive.

I found Hello Fresh bland. I do quite enjoy Planthood, the dishes are tasty and I too have made the mistake of not
choosing the dishes (despite the reminder) and they were nice about it. It is pricey so I only do it once a month.

for now get the delivery, type in all the ingredients you receive into AI and tell it the kind of meals you like and let it plan some recipes

Well it's happened to me so I just put it down to me nor being organised enough. At least they have let you have the credit to choose meals that you do want

This is a you problem not Hello Fresh. You didn't manage the order requirements and now you are pissed off they are applying their delivery rules. If you don't like the food, or the rules just cancel your subscription - don't bad mouth a company because of your failures.

This is a bit worrying as we've just signed up. I ordered vegetarian only so will see what the choices are. The main appeal was not having to shop and meal plan for the next few weeks

I can’t see what they have done wrong? They have to have cut off dates.

Yeah, this is a personal responsibility scenario. I’ve been caught out a couple of times previously by the cut off with Gousto, and got orders delivered containing meals we didn’t like. We passed them on to friends who loved them. It was annoying, but it was my own fault. It inspired me to be a bit more organised.