Approved Food - general discussion thread

knithappens

oh no, if they are packing orders from the 21st, i have been missed out as i placed my order on the 14th.

Sarahsaver

lilmrsmullen wrote: »

oh no, if they are packing orders from the 21st, i have been missed out as i placed my order on the 14th.

would not have thought so
Have you emailed them?

knithappens

Sarahsaver wrote: »

would not have thought so
Have you emailed them?

i emailed this morning, will wait for a reply

frosty

Mistymaid wrote: »

Frosty, why on earth didn't you just phone up as soon as you got the email and talked with them about substitutions?
Many of us have said this on the other thread (and possibly this one) including Dan. I just can't for the life of me understand why you are saying now that you aren't going to use them again when you had the option of phoning and getting what you were happy with???

I phoned last week and ended up with a bigger order than I'd ordered in the first place ...

I was going to,but had to get back to work.When I arrived home there was another email saying it had been dispatched.

Mistymaid

In that case I think it should be taken as a lesson learned then and anybody who has been waiting a good while and is worried that stuff they have ordered is now showing as not in stock, give Approved Foods a ring and sort out your swapsies - that way you will still feel it viable to order from again.

Mind you, I've just had a wake up call as I went to the local shop this morning (we don't have access to a supermarket) and browsed the prices :eek: - I'll be sticking with AF thanks!

Sarahsaver

Precisely!
We have had things we never normally would have.

sellercheckuk

sellercheckuk wrote: »

Thanks for that.
The good news is that a parcel is on the way to me and I'll be at home tomorrow.
The bad news is that so is some more snow tonight (which no doubt will hold up DHL deliveries) and I'll be out all day Monday and Tuesday!

Well I'm amazed! The delivery was made this morning. :T

What I hadn't mentioned in this forum before was that since placing my order on 17th Jan (and then seeing just how long the delays were likely to be and how many items that I'd ordered might be out of stock) less than a week ago I made a gamble by placing two more orders two days apart.
Then when I had the phone call from AF on Wednesday to tell me about out of stock items (which were the heaviest and bulkiest) for my first order of 17th Jan, I suggested that they combine my later two orders (different items) to make up the weight allowable per package and issue refunds for any out of stock items for all 3 orders.
The delivery this morning comprised 2 large cartons with all 3 orders covered.

Presumably, although that turned out to be an expedient way for an order for the shortages/out of stock items to be dealt with, because AF have now linked the stock levels to the website customer ordering system (at sometime since 17th Jan) , it should not be necessary next time?

Anyhow, although there were actually a couple of unexpected 'substitutions' made (that I hadn't been told about or agreed to) I'm very happy overall.
My wife (who signed for the packages) didn't know about the 2nd and 3rd orders that I'd placed so was a little gobsmacked at just how much stuff there was!

I rate the packing (inner boxes used and bubble-wrap around glass containers) at 9/10 with just a couple of slightly squashed items, one bag of salt torn and leaking, but nothing 'smashed'.

I hope that Dan and his team at AF don't lose their enthusiasm and are able to continue with an ever improving service that I'm pretty sure I'll be using again, although I might wait a while for things to calm down a bit.
The one factor that would convince me to be regular buyer would be a virtually guaranteed supply of what I've actually been able to add to the 'basket' and have paid for.
Cheers to Dan, Rachael and all he AF team! :beer:

mdecker_london

Originally Posted by frosty
I ordered nearly 3 weeks ago and I still havent received my order.I know they are really busy,I received an email today and over half my order is out of stock,its such a shame because the prices are fab,I dont think I will order again.

Mistymaid wrote: »

Frosty, why on earth didn't you just phone up as soon as you got the email and talked with them about substitutions?
Many of us have said this on the other thread (and possibly this one) including Dan. I just can't for the life of me understand why you are saying now that you aren't going to use them again when you had the option of phoning and getting what you were happy with???

I think this is a bit harsh. I feel the same way as the original poster; I placed my second order on 24th January, expecting a delay of a few days (as stated on the front page of the site at that time) but two weeks later I've heard nothing, and it's only by coming to this website that I find out a) that I'm very unlikely to get most of what I ordered and b) that the company knew on 16th January that it would have a serious problem in fulfilling a huge number of orders placed on that particular day.

My own view is that it is likely that the company knew on 24th January that it would be unlikely to have in stock items it was advertising at that time, and that it was misleading for the company to fail to point out to buyers on 24th January that much of one's order would likely be out of stock. I and others wasted time poring over a list and selecting items that weren't going to be in stock weeks later when our orders were picked and packed.

While, clearly, we have lionised this vendor and adopted him as one of our own, we must not be blinded to the fact that some people have waited more than three weeks for orders that have arrived half-fulfilled. By any measure, and however big the bargains, that is unacceptable.

The correct solution for this vendor should have been to suspend his website on 17th January; the day on which he realised that he would have a severe problem fulfilling orders made the previous day. This would have meant that when he fired it up again (around 1st feb) it could have a far more accurate indicator of stocks. Instead, people like me and you placed orders for stock that may have physically been in stock on 24th Jan but there wasn't a hope in hell that they'd be in stock by the time the vendor got around to packing that order.

I wasted a lot of time putting together a large order (plus £15.75 postage/packing), only to be finally told (not that anyone's bothered to tell me yet) that most of my order will be missing, or that I'll be getting some money back. It's simply not true to imply that substitutions are perfectly acceptable, or that people shouldn't dare to complain because 'hey, cheap food'. However cheap the product, there are still simple steps that vendors can take to ensure the best experience for customers.

I can therefore entirely empathise with the original poster, and I too won't be ordering again unless I can be assured that a) orders will be delivered within an agreed period and that b) the stock offered on the site is available to me even after all orders prior to mine have been filled, and c) if there is any change then I'm contacted as soon as the vendor becomes aware of the problem. These are not unreasonable requests.

Wolfsbayne

The key problem here appears to be the management of the website in terms of stock control. Does anybody reading this forum have advanced website experience that could perhaps lend Dan a hand with coding, etc to try and get these problems sorted? It's just a suggestion . . .

fay66

It did say a weeks delay around 7 days ago then 2 weeks this week, so I imagine it would be a wait if you place a order to be delivered, Im going to collect my next one but I dont live too far.