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.

We used to get Hello Fresh all the time until it didn't turn up one day and I had to ring customer services. I will never forget the attitude of the rudest woman I've ever spoken to in my life.
I won't out her on here (I know her name) but that particular employee has certainly cost them a lot of lost business.
Shame, because I've met Patrick the owner and I believe he cares about his business.

This sounds like someone complaining about how shit Ryanair are for charging for hand luggage when their bag was too big. You missed the cut off date. Annoying, but it's not their fault. And why did you carry on using them if it was so bad-you almost make it seem as if that was their fault too.

As a regular customer, I feel your pain, I’ve had the odd week of random meals.

But this is user error OP - you Know you have to select by a certain day ahead of delivery so you should have done that. You didn’t - your fault.

They have to purchase the food, select it, box it and arrange courier. That doesn’t all happen on Friday.

YABU. Just cancel it.

Also - I’ve always found their vegetables to be fresh. The only annoying thing is the odd swap of ingredients, but on the whole I think they offer a good service.

Sorry you’re angry OP - it’s misplaced, as it’s your fault, but it’s not nice to feel that way, I hope you’re able to relax and see it for what it is soon. Just one of those things.

Is this the tip of the iceberg? An annoyance that has tipped you over the edge? We all have weeks like that.

I've used them for years without any issue. No idea what the people saying the portion sizes are small or the veg is off are on about, the portions are normal sized dinners, even sometimes on the large side, and the veg is fine. The odd time something has gone wrong like a split packet, you just go on the app, click 'this packet was split' and they put money on your account without any hassle.

Yeah you should definitely be annoyed at yourself rather than Hello Fresh here.

I stopped using them after having missing and rotten ingredients in one meal, meaning we'd got nothing to eat that night. They wouldn't offer another meal to replace it, not even a token refund. I couldn't trust them after that.

Yes that's how it works. You can't see the menu choices until you have signed up and given a payment method. They will then charge you for one box before you can cancel.

I stopped using them after finding the portions were small (apart from the huge bags of pasta) and the meat poorer quality than I would normally buy. Plus all that packaging to dispose of! Simply Cook are ace as it’s just the flavour pots and you can adapt to your own preference.

In this instance I think your hands are tied so choose the best you can with the credit money and resolve never to bother with them again. Ever.

Now you’re just being ridiculous. If you order food from ANYWHERE and then change your plans/ don’t fancy it you will waste that food; that’s really not something you can blame HF for 😂

I thought the portion sizes were on the large size. I did like the variety but the instructions were a bit fussy (perhaps designed for people who don't cook much) and getting a rotten ingredient out me off. I couldn't rely on them. Plus it was expensive!

One of the guys who founded Hello Fresh went to my school in Germany and was in my best friend's class 😃

I get why you are angry OP but they have to have a cut off date. That will be based on their own deadlines so won't be movable.

You have 3 choices,

1. Is the most sensible. Order your last delivery for next week and cancel immediately after that. I appreciate you dont want to eat their food again but frankly you've already given them money for it so why waste £50?
2. Have the meals delivered to family /friend if you really cant bring yourself to eat it. A bit dramatic, more hassle for you and Hello Fresh won't care/notice.
3. Write off the £50 which seems a bit cut your nose off to me.

I'm not sure subscription services are for you but I can recommend Guosto if you want a different meal service.

Any company that doesn't refund for out of date meat, I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Total lack of integrity.

Presumably you have a phone. It’s not difficult to set up a reminder to do things like this.

I thought Hello Fresh were ok to begin with. We got some moudly pak choi once which they addressed (cant remember how but we were happy enough) but then they started missing ingrediabts out. We ordered something like eggs and avocado on toast once and they put a note in saying they didn't have any avocados but you could still do the dish without it (no credit or alternative given) but they didnt put the egg in either. When we contacyed them they said all they could do was put an extra egg in the next box. Not particularly helpful.

I do like Guosto though. If we could afford it, I'd do that regularly. As a veggie, the recipes can be a bit samey but they are within my taste range so I dont mind.

I tried them for a bit, but they didn't do single portions for singletons like me, so I ended up wasting some bits, and having to eat the same thing next day for lunch etc, which is fine once in a while, but not every day.

This happened to me, but in my case DS was admitted to hospital so I tried to cancel and when they refused tried to redirect it to literally any address or bin it. But no, they insisted in leaving the box on the street where foxes ripped it open and made a huge disgusting mess. They are a subscription company, not a quality food delivery with good service. I am with Gousto now if we have had a problem the staff have been fantastic.

I agree it doesn’t make sense not to refund. But those sort of companies tend to have quite draconian rules, presumably to maximise profit over customer service.

I’ve never seen the appeal TBF.

I’ve no idea how much they charge per week, so maybe they’re better value than having veg in the freezer (so you only use what you need) and batch cooking/freezing.

The older I get, realise how lucky I am (took it for granted when younger) to come from a long line of working class folk who grew their own fruit/veg and relished what was in season: “Ooh, look at those peaches, they’re at a good price. I must have some of those”. And then building a meal around it. Guess it’s cos they lived through rationing. You look in the larder/fridge, see what needs using up and make a meal of it, use leftovers etc.

Deciding what to cook is so much easier now recipes are online, rather than rooting through a cook book.

I found gousto much better. I found the shelf life on the hello fresh really short. Id order a few meals for the week, but have to use them within three or four days because the stuff arrived already on the turn (it must have been leaving the warehouse already in a sorry state). There was no thinking of which dish I'd prefer each night- I had to use it in order of expiry- and god forbid I made short notice plans to go out- that was then a meal having to be binned.

My food waste went up not down.

You're frustrated I get it - but they're not as bad as some subscription services that simply won't let you cancel (or V broadband - absolute nightmare)

You must acknowledge that at least part of this is down to your lack of organisation in cancelling at the right time/choosing boxes - it's not in their interests to make this easy for you. You have to do it yourself.

Did the same to me. Constant advertising too.

I now used simply cook. It seems like a strange concept but im 100% converted.

I've used them for about a year and had very few issues. They choose a box for us and we have until end of Monday each week to either choose another or skip that week entirely. It seems to work fine. I don't get reminder emails but you can always put a reminder alarm on your phone.

I've had the occasional ripped packet or mouldy bit of veg but not a lot. Portion sizes are ok, we would prob eat more pasta or rice but that is prob what we're supposed to be eating and we've lost sight of that.

What I will say though is their website has changed a bit .... the 'extra' meals at the top of their choices are more expensive now and there seem to be more of them (£4+ per portion), and if you change the delivery date or time they automatically move it to a paid option ... you have to go into the drop down box to change it to free, which is very cheeky IMO, very easy to miss.

They're an awful company. They kept charging me wrong every single week, I had to start keeping screen shots of how much it said the box would be (when ordering) versus what they charged me. A few times before I started screen shotting they refused to return the money but put it on my account as credit. Credit that I could never use. Would never use them ever ever again and warn everybody else too

If money is so tight why are you ordering Hello Fresh at all?
Surely it’s a luxury.