Ordering raw food online!

[Analeah]

Hi everyone I just wanted to start a thread and see what people's experiences were like ordering raw food online. I placed an order over a month ago at www.rawfood.com and I am extremely disappointed. I placed the order on the 11th of August and was told my order would be shipped the next day. I received no order number or confirmation of any kind and after waiting a week or two I emailed, got no response and then finally called them. I was told my order had been shipped and should arrive very shortly. After waiting another week I called again only to find out that my order was still there and hadn't been shipped yet. I asked them why it was not shipped and they just said "we have no idea, but we can ship it off for you tomorrow". That was at the end of last month and it is now the 13th of September. I emailed them a few different times inquiring about my order and got absolutely no response. I just called today and was told "well we shipped it off so now it's your repsonsibility to find out what happened to it". This is so frustrating to me as I have no idea how to track it down because they can't provide me with any tracking number. So now I have no idea what to do and am getting worried because it was a pretty large order and has been over thirty days so I doubt I can cancel it now. Anyway I would really like to know about anyone else's experience with ordering raw food online either positive or negative. TiA!

[pam]

Hi Analeah,
That sounds very frustrating!
IÂ’ve ordered so much stuff on line and i have come to the conclusion that it just sometimes depends! I can forgive bad service once or slow shipping if there is an explanation (out of stock, etc.) but that sounds like you were not taken car of at all!
Sometimes i get great service and then from the same company things take a long time and the customer service is bad.

I guess its hard for a company to please everyone all of the time.
I have ordered from rawfood.com twice and the first time they were great. Really friendly on the phone and i got the order very fast, within days! The next time i got someone who was very abrupt and rude and the order took at least twice as long to get here.

When i ordered from Alissacohen.com i actually did not receive my book and it had been about 2 weeks. I called her and she sent another one out for free since we couldnÂ’t figure out what happened to the first one.
Well, i finally did receive the first one and i realized i had given my old address and they forwarded it to me but it came about a month later. I phoned her to tell her i now had two and had only paid for one and she told me to keep it and give it to someone that i thought needed it or for a present. I thought that was so nice! Thats why im a big fan of hers!

[Rawkinlocs]

Wow Analeah...sorry you had to have such a terrible experience. I was going to order from them too...not sure now but I'll wait and see if others have had equally as poor service or if this was an isolated incident.

I know stuff gets lost, but their customer service seemed to have sucked for them to FIRST tell you your order had gone out when it hadn't and THEN once they did (finally) send it out, they don't know where it is and make it your responsibility to track it down and basically tell you it's your problem now and not theirs...that sucks!

I know your credit card company will charge you for doing it, but you could cancel the order via your cc company, couldn't you? Not sure if the charges are more or less than the amount of purchase, which would determine if it's worth it or not to do that.

Now, do you know HOW they ship (UPS, etc.)? Could you call them and ask them for a tracking number so you can contact UPS? I'd tell them if they don't help you find this order that you'll blast their name all over the 'net on every raw food message board you can think of!

[Analeah]

Hi guys, thanks for your posts. Yeah, I was/still am pretty frustrated and don't know what to do. They said they don't have a tracking number to give me because they sent it airmail parcel post. I do have to say that after the first mess up from them the rep I talked to said she would refund me $40 of the shipping cost or give me that much in store credit which was very nice (though I still don't know if they actually gave me the credit). It's so unfortunate because it appears from their website that they have it together so to speak but from talking to the company and experiencing their lack of communication I now think otherwise. I would be interested to know as well if this is an isolated experience or if other people have had similar problems with this company. Perhaps it is because it has been sent internationally? They told me it could be held up in customs but I have had food sent from back home in cali and it got here four or five days later. I emailed them yesterday and told them that if they could not not help me find out what happened to the package I at least wanted them to provide me with some proof that they actually sent it out. Haven't heard back from them yet but I will wait another couple days before calling and making yet another long distance phone call. Thats a good idea to tell them about complaining over message boards because I think that does reach a lot of people. Then again I get the feeling form the reps that they could really care less what I do. Anyway thanks agian for sharing your experiences and my advice to you would be to not order from that company and try to find a different one, but you might have better luck with them because you are in the same country.

[marigold]

brill service..mostly here in uk though..shazzie.com brill fast service in fact i would rather pay more and use her knowing i am looked after...fresh network here also pretty fast and supportive.

vitanet sent my dsso really fast too...from usa..i am amazed actually how cheap and fast it is to order in usa and get to here..alissa's book also came fast..

[Analeah]

Ok cool thanks marigold. Hmm, what's the site for vitanet? I finally found a store online in Switzerland that is selling the stockli dehydrator so I'm thinking about ordering one. Hopefully it will be as good as the excalibur! I have shied away from ordering from the other UK sites simply because everything is in GBP and seems to be about twice as much as what I can buy it for in the US which is unfortunate.

[Jeanne]

I have ordered a few times from rawfood.com via the internet, got confirmations almost immediately and then an email when the package was sent out. I get the package within a few days every time I order.
If you don't get what you pay for you can dispute the credit card charge. You have to start the dispute before too much time goes by, but if the package shows up, or something is resolved with the company in another way, you can drop the dispute. The thing is to get the dispute going before the time limit passes.

[marigold]

analeah i have the stockli and have found it fine for my needs..love marigold

[Analeah]

Yeah, I suspect I probably had an isolated incident with them...or at least I hope so, I wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through what I am going through with this company lol. Well I called them again yesterday after getting impatient waiting for unanswered emails and talked to a rep named Wesley who said this has never happened before and they have shipped to Switzerland in the past so he said he would send out another order and make sure to have the proper customs code on it which apparently they didn't know they were supposed to put on the package when they shipped it last time. I am hoping everything will work out good and the old package is on its way back to the company. Thanks for the tip about the credit card dispute. I wouldn't have known to file it earlier rather than later knowing I can drop the dispute if the problem is resolved. I am excited to hear something good about the stockli! I just found out a store that carries it where I live so I think I will go out and buy one today or tomororw. Do you have the one with the timer? The store only has the one without the timer but I don't really think a timer is that essential? Have you tried making essene bread in your dehydrator? I would really like to make some so I hope it will work in this kind of dehydrator! Thanks for the posts!

[marigold]

not sure what ess bread is but i cant imagine not beeen able to make anything in it..yeah i have a timer but its not that essential..i will occ put it on for 2 hours and go out knowing something only need s a bit more drying but mostly i put it on and check on stuff to see when its ready..i bought an extra tray for it ..
love marigold

[smasty]

Hi Guys!
I've ordered tons from raw food with no trouble. It takes about a week for deliveries, but I've never had any trouble at all. I ordered a Saladocco from them (before I knew Alissa sold them), I didn't like it and sent it back with a carrot stain on it and they sent me a store credit. Now that I know more about spiral slicers I know the blade wasn't set right on it. I ordered from Rejuvenative and never received a thing, I haven't seen an email or a bill either, they have kind of a hosed up ordering system I think. I've ordered from Eat Raw...they had things in stock that Raw Food didn't have, like truly raw cashews and Raweos (like oreos). One thing I've found that gets people's attention when you haven't received an order: threaten to cancel the credit card payment. On the platinum/gold cards you can usually just call the credit card company and tell them you've never received the shipment and the company is being uncooperative and the company gets charged back while it's under investigation. That get's them moving fast!

Sue

[flutterfly]

I have ordered several times from rawfood.com most of the time the order came within a week. One time an order came that I didn't even order. It was sent, I opened it up and returned it. Wish it would have been my order, it looked very good. Good luck, Georgie

[Analeah]

Hey Smasty, thanks for the advice! I was thinking of ordering from eatraw as well because I am REALLY craving cashews. I went to a local healthfood store and asked him about the cashews he has and how they were processed and he assured me they were raw and no heat was used in getting the nut from the shell but I have no idea if this is true or not. I wish there was a way to tell! And those Raweo's are incredible! My mother sent me some chocolate mint ones she bought at the store and they were so good. Lol, Flutterfly maybe they sent you my order.