I
do want to begin this post by saying that the people at Home Chef
have been wonderful. I really wish I could say the same about the
company they have hired to deliver their product in my area. I have
no idea how they chose the delivery company or how wide an area this
delivery company covers for them. I only know my experience with
them. I will not name the delivery company so don't ask. I am not
going to open that particular can of worms.
So
I was really excited to try Home Chef, it was one of the first of the
meal delivery companies I heard about. One of the couples I watch on
YouTube gets meals from them and has wonderful things to say about
the foods they get. I have to admit the meals they have shared on
their Vlogs played a part in me wanting to go on this adventure of
trying the different meal kits.
I
have now tried twice to receive my kits from Home Chef and so far I
have completely stuck out at actually getting a box delivered to me
in time to use it.
The
first time (almost a month ago now) I picked out my 2 meals and they
both looked amazing. I paid my money and everything looked good. I
was very excited when I got the tracking information on my package
the morning of the expected delivery. Everything seemed to be good to
go. Then the delivery day/night came and went with no package
arriving at my home. I looked online at the tracking and for over an
hour after the latest expected delivery time it still said my package
was out for delivery. Then the tracking changed and told me there was
a problem with delivery and it would be delivered the next day.
Hmmmmm...... this just didn't sound good at all.
I
decided to immediately send an email to the shipping company
inquiring about my package (they have the form right there on the
tracking page). Late the next morning I got an email back telling me
that they had misplaced my package and were searching their facility
for it and it would be delivered as soon as possible. Mind you we are
in the middle of a heat wave here in Oregon and my box was supposed
to contain a beautiful piece of salmon! Not a good thing at all.
I
decided to contact Home Chef to see if they would be able to resolve
this issue. I talked to a wonderful customer service representative,
Nick,who was able to at least fix things so I am not out the money I
paid. He assured me that if the box arrives today (1 day late) it
will still be perfectly safe but just in case he credited my account
I can receive another box to replace the one that seems to be lost.
The
shipping company updated my tracking to say that my package was out
for delivery, then it said it was delivered. When I again couldn't
find the package the next day (by this time the food had probably
gone bad) there was no actual answer from them Then the tracking again the
told me the package was “out for delivery” and I got yet another
notice the next morning that it had been delivered. I searched and
could not find the box any where. This finally "delivery day" was on Friday for a box that should have arrived on Wednesday.
I
picked out 2 new dishes to be delivered 2 weeks later and again they
looked amazing. I was truly excited at the thought of trying them. I
was also a bit apprehensive about the delivery.
Between
the time the first box was supposed to be delivered and the day I was
supposed to receive the second box (in excess of a week and a half past the original delivery day) I
actually did finally find the first box. It was in the ditch along
the road, not the road I live on mind you the next one over. It was
partly covered by blackberry bushes and very hard to retrieve. It was
really amazing I actually saw it at all, but as soon as I did I just
had a feeling it was either my Home Chef box or one belonging to one
of my neighbors. I pulled over and checked the box and it was indeed
my shipment. It was over a quarter mile from the end of my driveway!
It also smelt like rotting food because that was exactly what was
contained inside of it. I did load it into my truck and bring it
home. I didn't want to leave it littering the road with my name and
address on it. I will have to now dispose of it properly (it is
sitting on my back porch in the meantime)
The
day my second try at getting a Home Chef order I kept track of my
tracking information. I checked it often throughout the day and
evening. The Home Chef page says the package should arrive by 9 PM on
the delivery day. I finally gave up at 10 and went to bed. The next
morning I checked the tracking again and it said that my package was
still out for delivery. I decided to drive down to where I had found
the last box just in case it was there, it wasn't.
Around
8 or 9 in the morning I got a message that the box had been delivered
the night before and at this point the tracking was updated to show
this also. I again took a drive to the spot the last box was found as
well as a drive to the end of the road I live on and back home. There
was no package to be found.
At
this point I again called Home Chef and again the customer service
person (I failed to get her name, I was more than a bit upset/angry
at this point) was wonderful. I took her up on the offer to have my
money refunded (which happened immediately) and she apologized and
promised to contact the shipping company to see if she could find out
anything.
So
while I would love to be able to post my opinions on the Home Chef
product I instead am posting my experience trying to actually even
get my hands on the product.
For
me this was a terribly disappointing experience, I really did want to
try the foods that look so amazing on the website.
Compared
to the experience I had with Hello Fresh this was a nightmare. Hello
Fresh not only didn't charge for shipping they use UPS who actually
can manage to get the package to the recipient. (I think I forgot to mention I had to pay $10 for the privilege of having my package shipped)
In
my opinion a shipping company has one job- to take packages from
point A to point B. Point A being wherever it was shipped from and
point B the address on the package. This un-named company certainly
has failed at this and because of their failure I feel I missed out
on an fun experience and had a lot of extra stress besides.
Maybe
if you live in town or in another part of the country your experience
receiving Home Chef would be different but for me I am not willing to
try them again.
