(The actual, word-for-word email I sent to Fresh Direct’s customer service department on Sunday afternoon.)
Holy cow, I am so frustrated.
My delivery was supposed to arrive this afternoon between 11 and 1pm. Now, I don’t consider myself an especially *important* person, but I picked that time because I had stuff going on. You know, plans. Meeting people, getting to the laundromat (I’m traveling this week, so clean underwear is a plus), etc.
So, 1:00 comes, and no food. Meanwhile, my fridge is empty and I was hoping that by lunch time, I’d be fed. No such luck. I call, only to be told that deliveries are running an hour and a half late. Fine. 2:30, 3:00, 3:30. No food. I call again and am PROMISED they’d be here by 4:00. Silly me, I believed! My food showed up at 5:38 PM.
Four hours and thirty-eight minutes late.
I love Fresh Direct. I tell people about it all the time. But I have to tell you, the basis for its appeal (besides how pretty the produce looks) is the reliability. For busy people, it’s ideal. But arriving almost five hours late? That’ll make me rethink my love for your service. And please, I know you’re trying to be nice, but refunding my $4.50 delivery charge is not going to make me forget waiting in my apartment, with a cart full of dirty laundry, and knowing that the movie ticket I bought online is not getting used.
Like I said, Holy cow, I’m frustrated. And I have big thoughts about not ordering my food from Fresh Direct anymore.
Thanks for all the pretty apples, though. Seriously.
Heather
Hilarious! And oh so apropos. I flew out of town to another village this weekend to celebrate three decades of life. I may or may not be able to return home in the near future because the bush airline that brought me over decided that shipping freight was more important than flying a paying customer home today and perhaps tomorrow, too. I am a mere fifteen minute flight from home, but must sit here and wait until they decide that I matter to fly home since there’s no other way out of the Alaskan bush. Happy Birthday to me!
I don’t generally vent in the comment boxes of people whom I don’t know personally, but your post made me feel better. Thanks for sharing! Good to know that businesses are making people’s lives go awry on the east coast, too.
i live in israel… so terrible customer service is a way of life.
i completely sympathise. it took 5 cable technicians and 10 hours of waiting until they finally agreed with me that i needed a new cable box.
and what did i get?
one channel of my choice for a whole month… so ironically enough…
i chose the karma channel.
Wow. Sarcasm disguised as over-perkiness is sure to get you the apology you want. Passive aggressiveness always works.
I also use fresh direct, and I’ve had a few times where stuff has come up missing in the order, or they’ve been really late. It’s rare, but it happens.
On the other hand… I sometimes wind up with a box or bag of goodies that belonged to someone else. After the 2nd time that happened and I called to have someone pick it up and was told again that it’s not cost effective for them, to just keep it and they’d re-deliver to the other poor sap… I decided it was just Karma evening out the scales.
Usually, if you call up and talk to one of their CSRs on the phone, you can get more than just the delivery refunded. Unfortunately, with customer service in this life, you only sometimes get what you pay for… but you almost always get what you bitch loundly about.
Welcome to what is normal in the UK. One of the few things I do miss from the US (other than friends and family) is that most businesses are quite customer serviced. Not so over here. And so it can get frustrating. But it’s getting better…But I now know not to plan anything else if I want a delivery. (Cause a lot of times they say delivery is from 8am to 5pm…yes, it’s true).
So, not only will they receive this letter from you, but little do they know that a few thousand others will be reading about their poor service as well. Awesome.
I had a similar experience with Harris Teeter this summer. TWICE I went to Harris Teeter, bought my groceries, and came home to discover that the bag boy had left my tomatoes on the counter! I wrote a letter letting them know it’s obviously not the end of the world for my tomatoes to be left behind, but it sure is an inconvenience. And convenience is a grocery store’s big selling point, I think. They called and offered to send me a gift card, but they never did. Either that or the postman stole it, but I haven’t bothered to look into it. Good luck with Fresh Direct!
Damn that sucks!
I love your sense of humour!
You should have mentioned that you were going to post a carbon copy of the letter on your widely-read blog!
Aside from their delivery issues being incredibly irritating…I just wanted to say I love that you used the phrase “Holy cow.” Tee hee.
Sorry to hear about that…where I live we don’t have any option besides going & picking up our own food…though a delivery service would be nice some days…as long as what happened to you didn’t keep happening…hope you didn’t starve too much before you were able to eat…
Ah, Fresh Direct. I love/hate them too. When they forgot to bring some juice with an order, they gave me a $3 credit. I begged them to credit my card instead but that was “impossible.” I’ve since moved out of NYC, and still have the credit. However, they do have the best lookin’ produce around…
It truly is terrible to have an empty fridge and to have to wait all those hours for your delivery.
You have cosidered to ask mr. Bolton to ask questions at the U.N. for this impertinence I suppose?
What happens if you’re not there to receive your food? Also, I’m not familiar with this service… is it groceries or lunch?
Wow…I love the letter! I will have to follow your example when I write to the company refusing to fix my computer. I also love the use of “holy cow”.
Although, I am severely jealous that you even have access to a service like that. Out here in the Midwest, I still have to do things the old fashioned way….in a Supermarket!! Crazy.
Hmm, now I know what to do when some company pisses me off. Write them a letter and then post on my blog. No Fresh Direct here in Seattle, WA but I have had the same experience with Safeway. And the apples weren’t even pretty!
Oh, Heather, how I love your blog. The end.
i just can’t believe you would rather waste your time waiting for groceries in the middle of the day than buy them yourself!
Some of us who have to go to work have the time to pick them up ourselves and not waste time complaining about it!
i just can’t believe you would rather waste your time waiting for groceries in the middle of the day than buy them yourself!
Some of us who have to go to work have the time to pick them up ourselves and not waste time complaining about it!
THAT (comment above) was hysterical…
Looks like little Miss Sassy was so full of sass that she had to post that cranky response twice! Way to go, Fish. Stand up for yourself! (‘cuz if you don’t, you know that us faithful readers will..)
If you don’t mind, I’m going to copy your letter and adjust it for my own complaints… I tend to just vent and rage and it never works. The UK is soooo frustrating for it’s lack of customer service. I grew up in NZ and was used to attentive service and businesses caring about the customer because it was a small market and they had to be responsive. In the UK, they couldn’t care less about the customer. I’ve ditched 3 banks since I moved here 6 years ago but they’re all the same. I think they have the arrogance training.
I must say, I have to agree with another poster: I don’t understand the whole Fresh Direct craze either. I don’t see how people who have an hour and a half to wait around for groceries don’t have time to go to the store. It’s sounds a little bit silly and a lot lazy. Okay, so if one works from home than he/she is excused from the silly part, but it still seems way lazy. But I guess that’s why people love it. It lets them eliminate one more reason to leave the house.
haha.. “dear fresh direct: i’ll leave my house and run errands like a normal person! i will! don’t test me!”
I think it would be a whole different story if I could get the same things at the grocery store. FD has these awesome ready-to-cook lunches that are fresh (not frozen), preservative-free, and so freaking good. I order those every week to take to work. The rest of my groceries I *do* pick up at the nasty ass grocery store across the street. But also? Fresh Direct is SO. MUCH. CHEAPER. It’s not lazy to save money and get better food. What’s lazy is sending my underwear out to be washed. Recognize!
Holy! It’s cheaper?! As I said, I didn’t understand it. Now, I’m beginning to. I imagined it couldn’t possibly be cheaper than the g-store because of delivery charges and whatnot.
I concede, dear Fish, it sounds like you are a non-lazy, non-silly super-shopper. Go on with your bad self.
It is! Yogurt at the suck-ass place across the street is $1.10 and at FD it’s $.63. They don’t have to pay for a store, so they save and I save! Delivery is like, $4.50. So worth it.
Now, I don’t live in New York, so I’m probably making assumptions here, but I’m guessing that if I needed a lot of heavy things like milk and juice and didn’t have a car (like most New Yorkers) that it would be a major pain to haul my many pounds & bags of groceries from a decent store to my house.
Now, sorry that for some reason my question came across as being so judgmental, but I was really asking the same question so many others did (and you answered) as to why it is worth waiting for the groceries rather than getting them.
I also was thinking of doing fresh direct and the prices and selection you mention make the difference. (unless as you say you sometimes have to wait 5 hours).
I think I also like the action of walking to the butcher, the fresh market, the small organic place, etc.
Oh and by the way, I am a physician, so my full time job is more like 80 hours a week – and yes I work most weekends!
I don’t appreciate your response just b/c you misinterpreted my comment. I really
think your letter was rather passive aggressive and wanted to know if it made sense for you to wait at home.
Given that you can work from home and the prices, it does.
Actually it’s not necessarily lazy to be waiting at home for groceries. You might have other stuff to do at home. I don’t get mine delivered all that often but when I do, it’s when I’m not ‘just’ waiting for the groceries. Perhaps I’m doing a spring clean or something. But busy – just at home busy.
Thankfully we have a washing machine in our flat so don’t need to do the laundromat run.
Sandra G (UK)
I’d pay $10 to have someone pick, pack, and deliver my groceries. Grocery shopping sucks and I’d much rather spend that time sitting in my underwear, at home, earning a buttload of money…so I could continue to pay someone to deliver my groceries.
Dear Sassy,
Fish’s letter may have been somewhat PA (tho’ I would say that “snarky” was a better read on it) but your post was hostile, and not open to “misinterpretation”. I sincerely hope you don’t treat your patients like that.
Plus, if you really are a MD and work 80+ hours/week, you would have been dying to find out how she does it. So, I think you’re a, how shall I say this politely, troll.
Love ya!
Yogi
exactly!
I went back and read sassy comment again and there’s no way fish misinterpreted it.
I can think of some reasons why folks would rather utilize a grocery delivery service, rather than shop on their own:
1. Disability, whether permanent or temporary. Family & friends come in handy, but not everyone is that fortunate.
2. I once saw an obviously exhausted mother with six misbehaving children trailing behind her at a grocery store. Need I say more?
3. Busy/conflicting schedules and a long grocery list.
4. Agoraphobia.
5. Transportation issues.
6. Convenience.
7. It limits “impulse spending” to a certain degree.
Personally, I love to go out and shop for my own groceries. However, there are times when I am up to my ears in studying and housework, and I fervently wish I had a grocery fairy. A personal chef wouldn’t hurt, either.
And where does “working a full day” mean she can’t leave her house for two hours to see a movie? Or even five hours? A work day is what, 8, 9 hours? You’re an ass, Evil.
Seriously! you judge her so for getting groceries delivered! Get a life! Who cares if some person YOU HAVE PROBABLY NEVER MET gets groceries delivered to her house? cheaper, more expensive, lazy, convenient, better food, worse food. WHO CARES?! She wrote a funny letter to them. That’s the point. Now quit judging her for her GROCERY SHOPPING HABBITS and GET A LIFE.
Dear Evil,
The time to go “meeting people, the laundromat, etc.)
comes from (wait for it)
NOT HAVING TO GO SHOPPING.
There, feel better now?
best wishes,
Yogi
john, get a life.
cah-razy in the comments!
i work full time (40-50 hours) and go to school full time (15 hours) and have a family. if i had access to that, damn straight i would use it.
save me time & money? all OVER that. but if they promise a time-frame of delivery and exceed it by several hours? then they need to comp something (a percentage) off of the bill, not just the delivery. and they need to adjust the ambitiousness of their delivery schedule.
under promise and over deliver, fresh direct. one of the first tenets of customer service.
used to work for Fresh Direct in the corporate offices in LIC. If you saw the warehouse you would never order from Fresh Direct. The place and the people are dirty. Food drops on the floor and isn’t cleaned off just throw into an order. The mangers don’t care all they want is the order to get out the door. You’re order will be wrong on average ever third time but a lot of people it’s every time. People think they make tons of money but they don’t because they can’t get **** right.
Take it from me DON’T ORDER FROM FRESH DIRECT!!!
Fresh Direct Sucks:
Is it really that bad? I just read a blog that said that FD is going to get a competition. Looking forward to that!
clearly “Fresh Direct SUCKS!!!” did not work there…he/she can’t even write their name right. It’s one word….always has been…even when he/she used to work there