Grocer Direct

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
I know there is no way I can prove what the salesman promised me. I guess he just took advantage. He told me while my husband was deployed it would be perfect and I could cancel when he came back. He kept assuring me I could cancel but left out the part of owing the rest of the money for the freezer.  I'm very disappointed that this company operates like this.   Can I get a copy of the freezer receipt or is this impossible? I really want proof it's that expensive.   Also it says I pay $82/month for the freezer and I have been paying since May 2014. Shouldn't I already be almost done? And this says I owed $2205 but I have been billed for over $3000 and still saying I owe over $1,000 after over 2 years. This doesn't make sense to me. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Mr. [redacted]s complaint with Grocer Direct has been resolved.  After receiving this complaint from Mr. [redacted], we contacted him to go over the details of his purchase and to rectify his concerns with his order.  Mr. [redacted] purchased Food, refrigeration and service...

policy from us in July 2014.  He was happy with his initial order and decided to place a second order with us which he substantially cut back and didn't receive enough meats, vegetables or groceries. Grocer Direct will be sending him additional food at no additional cost to offset his pricing and we have also re-explaining his refrigeration purchase and the discounts he is receiving.Mr. [redacted] indicated that this is satisfactory to him.  We will follow up with him to deliver the balance of his products.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
I was told in the beginning I could cancel at any time (in 6 month increments) and they would take back the freezer. The guy kept insisting this was the case. I didn't say anything in the binning because the food was good but now it is terrible. They changed companies and the food is cheap and not good. But now I have to keep ordering or get stuck paying over $1000 and not getting any more food. I did call about not receiving the groceries and I was told they don't do that anymore but I had ordered it and I'm assuming that was placed on my bill. 
I want a copy of my original agreement AND the receipt for the freezer. I want to see that my freezer really cost that much money. I would have bought one on my own if that was the case.
its common sense that I was fooled into this as no one would sign up for a food delivery for 5 years unless they were promised it was not that kind of commitment. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Contrary to Grocer Direct's claim that they never said they would take the freezer back, the salesperson (whose name I am withholding due to Revdex.com's request to not include personally identifying information) claimed he would do everything in his power to ensure we were not stuck with a freezer/payment once we discontinued service. I have a text message from said salesperson that states "I will see if there's something we can do, but I can't promise that they will pick it up and rescind the contract". Upon speaking on the phone with the salesperson he stated that they will not be contacting the company because the contract states we purchased the freezer. He also claimed to have never said they would take the freezer back.
 
I am not disputing the fact that the contract was signed, I am urging Grocer Direct to understand the fact that the salesman mislead us to believe we would not be bound to it if we discontinued service. His verbal assurance to my wife and I led us to believe that Grocer Direct would pick up the freezer and rescind our contract.
Regards,
[redacted]

After scheduling an appointment with us to discuss delivery of high quality foods and groceries, the [redacted]'s decided to place an order. Our service is a bulk buying...

service and requires either a chest or upright freezer to store the food. 
We presented our freezer program which offers a discount off of the order to offset the cost of our commercial freezer with a service plan to Mr. and Mrs. [redacted]. Mr. [redacted] asked if after the first order he no longer wanted the service do to moving out of state or just didn’t want the service anymore, we explained to him that he would have to continue paying off the freezer.  Mr. [redacted] initially decided not to purchase the freezer from Grocer Direct which was perfectly O.K. and 10 – 15 minutes later just before he had to leave, he then decided to purchase the freezer stating that he was O.K with it and wanted the freezer. 
We provided full disclosure in writing as to the terms and conditions of his purchase which he and his wife signed.  Copies of all the documents were left with the [redacted]’s for further review after we left.
At no time did we state that we would take back and rescind the freezer contract if they decided to discontinue the service.
Mr. [redacted]’s order ran short of chicken cutlets which we are sending him more of which is part of our guarantee.
If I can be of any further service, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Operations / Customer Support

Mrs. [redacted], we have noted that you are rejecting our response to your complaint.  There is nothing further that we can do.  As per your request, we furnished you proof and full disclosure of your purchase. 
Once again you are under no obligation to order food from this company again however you are responsible for your non food purchases.
Sincerely,
 
Claudia S
Customer Support

Issue resolved. thanks for your help

Mrs. [redacted],
What exactly are you rejecting? We said back in May that we
would be sending you additional food when you are ready for it. We always honor our promises. Perhaps you
should be asking what we will be sending which is based on what Mr. [redacted] and
I spoke about.
Keep in mind that you substantially cut back your re- order
from your original order and didn’t accept any groceries. 
Our service typically provides families with a 6 month
supply of products for a certain price.  In this case, you went against the recommendation of Grocer Direct and
placed an order that wasn’t sufficient and perhaps more expensive.
Grocer Direct is a bulk buying service that guarantees enough
food for a six month term however in this case, your order wasn’t enough due to your changes.
Even though your order was changed by you against our
recommendations, we will still send you some additional products.
You can feel free to contact me to go over what we will be
sending.
Sincerely,
Claudia SCustomer Support[redacted]

Review: Our latest order had new issues. We received our first invoice for this order and it showed two separate amounts. One for the food bill and a second for the cutlery set and service contract. No one ever informed us that we would be receiving two invoices. We have had the cutlery set for the past six months and never received a separate bill. I reviewed the bill for the cutlery set and service contract and checked the math. It turns out that the cutlery set and service contract will take three years to pay off, not a year to year and a half we were told. I explained everything to Bob and told him that between the order mistakes, billing issues and the misinformation regarding the cutlery set and service contract, that we wanted our contract terminated. When I told him that John said the cutlery and service contract would be paid off in two to three orders, he said John would have never said that. I argued with Bob telling him that the company had misrepresented their services and that I was unhappy with their company. He said he would look into it to see what he could do. Bob said the finance company was willing to work with us on the six months of missed payments by restarting the payments with the current order. I told Bob that means I would be stuck under contract with the company for an additional six months. He refused to do anything else. We were also never provided with a breakdown cost for the cutlery and the freezer service contract. There is just a total on our paperwork of $3742.82. I’m not happy with it. We have never put the knives in the dishwasher. They are always hand washed and dried and they already have discoloration marks on them. The cheap [redacted] knife rack is fogging up on the inside due to static charges, making it look dirty.

I have a full explanation of all the issues written up that I could email.Desired Settlement: At this point I am willing to pay the remaining monthly bills on this latest food order, but I want Grocer Direct to take the cutlery set back and terminate the cutlery and service contract agreement with no penalties.

Business

Response:

On July 24,2014 Mr. [redacted] place his second food order with us along with a cutlery Setwhich includes service on his freezer.Our representative explained the details of the transaction that was also detailed inthe contracts that he approved and signed.The contracts explain the total cost of his food and term as well as the cost ofhis cutlery and term, the monthly payment of his food and the monthly paymentfor his cutlery and service. Mr. [redacted] claims that he hadn’t received an invoice for the cutlery for 6months and then received it. On ay 5th 2015 we spoke to Mr. [redacted] and made sure that he would be receiving hisinvoice each month as well as reviewing with him the details of his food and cutlery purchase.We reminded him that he would be receiving two invoices, one for the food and one for thecutlery.Mr. [redacted] wants us to terminate his contract for the cutlery and take it backeven though he has been using it for the past 6 months which we unfortunately cannotdo.We will continue to honor the food discount andguarantees on our food and equipment.Mr. [redacted] is under no obligation to continue to purchase future food from us ifhe wishes not to however the cutlery would have to be paid for.For as long as Mr. [redacted] is shopping with us, the discount from the food will continueto subsidize him for the cost of the cutlery and service.Sincerely, Claudia SOperations Director

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because Grocer Direct refuses to acknowledge my multiple complaints.

Regards,

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted],We are sorry that you are not happy with our response however, on January 27, 2014 youplaced an order with Grocer Direct for food and groceries which was deliveredto you shortly thereafter.At the time of your initial order, you did not make any additional purchase of an appliance. Your initialorder included free food which was part of a promotion that we were offering atthe time which is why you had more food than normal.According to you, you were very happy with the order and placed a second order of food and appliance on July24, 2014.You claim that you did not fully understand the transaction but you went through with it anyway. Why?Our representative left you with fully executed contracts signed by us and you detailing the Nature of thetransaction including the total cost of the food order, the percent discountyou earned off of the food due to the cutlery purchase, the monthly payment, Theinterest amount, etc.It’s unlikely that our representative told you that you would only be making payments for 3 f orderswhen the math could ever support that. (18 monthly payments of $113 would not cover the total cost.)On delivery of your second food order, there were some backordered items that were missing from the orderwhich Grocer Direct delivered to you in short order. As part of our guarantee, any items that you were not completely satisfied with would be replaced, and was toyour complete satisfaction.You were well aware that your monthly food bill would be reduced by the monthly payment amount of yourequipment bill however you claim that you did not receive your equipment bill,you never reported to us that you hadn’t received the bill and six months laterwhen you say you finally received the bill and was shocked by it. After re-explaining the transaction to you, you wanted to return the cutlery after using it for 6months which we explained we could not do.Mr. [redacted] is under no further obligation to purchase foods from Grocer Direct but he will continue tobe invoiced and ned to pay for his additional purchase.This is also pointed out to Mr. [redacted] in the paperwork he signed. # 2 of his receipt states:“Thank you for your non food purchase of Cutlery. Keep in mind this is not a lease or rental program. Shouldyou decide to discontinue food purchases, you are still responsible for you Non Food purchases.”For as long as Mr. [redacted] is ordering foods and groceries from us, we will continue to honor our discountto him along and all warranties he’s entitled to and provide the best service possible.Sincerely,Claudia SCustomer Support & Operations

Consumer

Response:

Ms. S,You state that I was "very happy" with my first order. I don't know where you got that information from but I never said that. To the contrary, in my last response I said I was reluctant to be locked in with Grocer Direct long term because of our concern of how the company operated. This was a direct reflection of how John bad mouthed Bob in front of us.You asked why did I place the order for the cutlery and freezer service contract if I did not fully understand the transaction. As I have already explained, When John told us about how the additional purchases work, it was very confusing. That is why my wife and I continually asked John questions in an effort to understand. The reason I finally agreed to place the order was because of John's statement that it would take 2 to 3 orders to pay off the cutlery. If I was unsure about continuing with Grocer Direct, why would I agree to be locked in with the company for at least another 3 years? The answer is I wouldn't. This is the main reason for this complaint. Grocer Direct's incorrect information led me to make a decision that I would have not made if I knew the true information. Would you have agreed to enter into a contract with a company for 3 plus years if you weren't comfortable with them? We also were not made aware of the finance charges. Why did the Grocer Direct rep not explain these charges to us?It also seems that some of the information you have provided does not tell the whole story. You talked about the delivery of our second order and how there were some backordered items that were delivered in short order. First of all, it took a month of emails to get you to understand everything that was wrong with the order and my issues had nothing to do with back ordered items. We received items that we did not order. You said this was done as a convenience to us, but when my wife has food allergies, how does getting food that someone else picked out help us?On top of all that, every single item of the grocery part of the order was incorrect, whether it was the wrong size, type, etc. I understand mistakes happen, but when you downplay my complaint by not acknowledging the entire contents of the issue, that's just not right. Because we were never told that we would be receiving two separate bills after we purchased the cutlery, we assumed when the one monthly bill arrived that it was for everything. We recognized the amount from when we placed the order with John and never had reason to go back to see if that price was for everything. I was told Grocer Direct can not take the cutlery set back after using it for six months. I really don't believe that you can not take it back. I feel that you don't want to take it back because then you are responsible for the having to pay the finance company. Sincerely,

Review: It would appear that the selling price was $3000.00, taking the advise of there expert, we agreed. Later just by shear coincidence we discovered that the selling price to be $500.00? After calls to Grocer Direct nothing was resolved?Desired Settlement: return of moneys spent, or correction of priceing Product has not been used or opened

Consumer

Response:

Issue resolved. thanks for your help

Review: June 22,2015.As of today after the advice of the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General,Division Of Consumer Affairs,we are canceling our contract with you.In Jan of 2015 you had a sale representative come out to our residence after we won 2 free weeks of food from your company.Your sales representative at the time stated we must sign up for 6 month in order to receive our two free weeks. He went over a series of questions about our normal food shopping habits.We told him we usually only spend about$100 on groceries a week and that we would be only using this service initially for meat.This being said he said he would come up with something for us in this range.At that point he had us sign the contract for 6 months to proceed with the order.At no point were we given a breakdown of your calculations to come to the figure of$2600.Also upon delivery there was a fish product missing that we made aware to the driver and in a phone call to you.This meat was never replaced. We have called numerous times and written twice inquiring how you figured out what quantity of food and the cost of the items you sent to our home.We should be provided with how much each item cost us and any calculated hidden fees.The$100 per week times 26 weeks is the figure of$2600.We have called local grass feed and organic farmers in our area and came in with a$1400 difference in the cost we were charged for the amount of food received. Your meat is not organic as stated it would be at our home in Jan by your representative,it is only stamped USDA meat.So the cost would then be even lower then our organic farmers calculations.Our last conversation with you in April you stated that you may have only sent half of our order and would get back to us.We have not heard from you since this conversation.With this letter we have included a check for$416.33 which pays for the food you've already delivered.Our account is now considered paid in full.Do not send the other half of our order or any new order.Desired Settlement: Above is a copy of what we mailed them in June. They have not provided us with an adjusted bill to reflect the amount of product that they sent us or the remainder of our food if they will not adjust our totals. I have told them I do not want anymore product from them. I have already over paid for the quantity and quality of food they provided. When questioned of a price list they said they can not provide one. Their company is much like Omaha Stakes and Omaha Stakes and any other food company I have gone to can provide a price list but this one.

Business

Response:

[redacted], Grocer Direct is a bulk buying shop from home food service that provides 6 months of foods at a time to it's customers for a weekly price. We guarantee enough food for a family over the 6 month period for that price. This is what you agreed to at the time of your purchase. The food that was delivered to you was the entire order. Your order was not split into 2 deliveries. according to you, there was plenty of food for you and your family. You only paid for half your order and owe a balance. The payment that you sent with your letter is not acceptable and therefor after attempting to resolve the matter with you and you hanging up on us, your account was referred to our attorney. The entire transaction was documented to you in writing and now you are attempting to change the terms and defraud Grocer Direct out of the balance owed them.You lied about Consumer Affairs advising you to send your letter with your payment. There is nothing on record with them to substantiate your claim that they advised you.At this point, you must remit to the attorney handling this, the balance of the money you owe to avoid further legal action and expense. Sincerely,[redacted]Operations Manager

Review: we put a food order in, the sales man said if we bought 4 order of food with this company the freezer was free. he said it would pay for it self with our food discount. he never informed us we would be financing a freezer at 19.80% and the freezer cost would be $ 3632.65 . on nov. 24 2014 we received two bills one for the food and one for the freezer. so I called and spoke to the manager and we didn't get anything resolved, now I have a freezer bill of $ 110.06 a mo. for 36 mo. when we were never informed about this. we have not touched the food , we told them to pick up the food and freezer and give us our $ 500.00 deposit back. we were told our food bill would be $ 266.59 for 6 months and that was all we were informed about, I hope this can be resolved. they said they could not take the food back , because it was our order and we should know how food companies like this work. also we already had a freezer and he told us it was old. that is why we thought this was a great deal. Ialso spoke to a [redacted] at [redacted] services this is the freeze finance company his number is [redacted]Desired Settlement: we would pay for the food only , not a freeze

Business

Response:

We spoke to Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] on November 24th, the day Mrs. [redacted] filed the complaint. We had already spoken the day before. The confusion stemmed from receiving 2 bills. One for the food and one for the freezer they purchased. in the past when they purchased a service from another company they only received one bill combining both the freezer and food.We re-explained the transaction to them, resolving their issue. We went through the paperwork that they approved when they purchased the food and freezer. We pointed out that they would be receiving two bills totaling the monthly payment they were quoted.It's my understanding that their issue is Resolved. If they need any further help, please contact us at ###-###-####[redacted]

Review: On July 6, 2015, we met with a rep from Grocer Direct who put together a menu for what he believed was six-months’ worth of food for our family. In the estimate, there was a single line item (no breakout) for the cost of six months’ worth of food. The rep promised that it would be sufficient, and if not, a supplement was would be provided. Neither ‘sufficient’ nor ‘supplement’ were ever defined, leaving the agreement ambiguous. As we did not have a place to store six-months’ worth of food, the rep incorporated the requisite sale of a $3495 freezer into the proposal. No freezer options were given.

At the end of the pitch, we were provided with the menu/estimate compiled by the rep. The menu/estimate did not provide the weight of the products to be provided, only the number of packages. When the food was delivered, we calculated the total value of the product delivered using the weights on the packages multiplied by market prices at national grocery stores. Our calculations showed that Grocer Direct provided roughly $1000 worth of product at market prices while charging us $2,926.10.

I spoke with [redacted], managing director at Grocer Direct, who continually reiterated that they sell a six months’ supply of food and refused to acknowledge that the market price of the food he provided was substantially below what we were being charged. He only said that we ‘have more food coming’, but declined to provide specifics. We calculated that Grocer Direct provided approximately 6 ounces of protein per person per day, as estimated by the rep. This is adequate for our family. As such, [redacted] offer of ‘more food’ does not help.

After completing our analysis, (which could not have been completed prior to food delivery due to the lack of food weights provided on the estimate), we feel that the company has grossly overcharged us for the products provided. Although we entered into this contract, the opacity by which it was conducted has led us to this inequitable situation.Desired Settlement: In my conversation with Bob, I expressed that I cannot continue with the business relationship because of the inequity noted above. I offered to return both the food and freezer to Grocer Direct. [redacted] refused this offer. I am prepared to pay market price for the food product provided ($1000, less the $488 already paid to Grocer Direct) and will pay a restocking fee for the freezer in the amount of $250.

Business

Response:

Grocer Direct LLC is a bulk buying shop from home food service that offers home delivery of high quality meats, vegetables and name brand groceries, including beef, chicken, pork, veal, lamb seafood along with a variety of vegetables.Typically, these orders are designed to last 6 months with service throughout the six months and beyond. Included in the price that we give, Grocer Direct guarantees that there will be enough food to sustain a family over the six month period.In addition to the food, Mr. [redacted] purchased a commercial freezer as well.Mr. [redacted] description is pretty accurate as to what took place when the representative was there. He was also given a complete product list with the weights of each item.Grocer Direct sells food packages for a certain amount of money, guaranteed to last. We do not sell products on a per unit basis. If Mr. [redacted] was uncomfortable with the method that Grocer Direct uses to sell its foods or the price of our commercial freezer, then he could have refused to purchase them at the time the representative was there or have even have cancelled the order without recourse prior to delivery.Mr. [redacted] makes his living as an auditor beating up companies for the best price possible. This tactic should have taken place prior to his purchase, not afterwards.What Mr. [redacted] fails to realize is this is not the same food that you could get at the local market. Each item is individually vacuum sealed for freshness, has more than double the shelf life, is delivered and packed away for him, a representative that comes to his home to service him and is affordable, costing him well within his spending budget. In addition, we would not use any pricing criteria other than our own to price an order up. Certainly not Mr. [redacted].Grocer Direct offers the best foods and service available and will insure that their order will provide for Mr. [redacted] and his family, plenty of food.Also, we had the representative contact Mr. [redacted] to go over the order and speak to him and it was our understanding that the matter has been resolved until we received this complaint. As we explained to Mr. [redacted], we cannot take back any food or the freezer to be resold to anyone else. At the end of this order, Mr. [redacted] is under no obligation to continue purchasing food from us. He is, however responsible to pay for the freezer he purchased.If there is anything further that I can help with, please don't hesitate to contact me.Sincerely,[redacted]Director of Operations / Customer Support

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:Provided that Ms. [redacted] fulfills the request sent to her, most recently on August 13th, I will consider the matter closed and update this complaint accordingly.

Regards,