Approved food general discussion part deux

sb44

sharonB wrote: »

I wanted to try them but I can't find them on AF

I have just had a search and can't find them now either, they must have sold out.

There are a few new items on there today but I shouldn't look at them really, I will be annoyed if there is anything else worth buying as I placed my order very late last night.

dawn1

i have had the reece's , they are lovely

Cerenia

My order arrived today, all happy ^^ Got enough tea to last post christmas now!! We're all rather surprised here at how fast it was, and double checked, no damage, and a great big box the cats are currently enjoying! Shall definatly be ordering again!

sb44

dawn1 wrote: »

i have had the reece's , they are lovely

Can't wait to try them now as I love peanut butter.

Ta!

Lurleene

Hi - I just got to the end of my order to discover that I can no longer pay with my Maestro card. :mad: Coming on here I see that other's already knew about it though.

Luckily for me I have a credit card, although I hate to use it, but I bet many don't. I know this is a Google thing rather than Approved Food specific but I think that it is outrageous to force people to use credit for purchases. Bad google!

Just a thought Dan - maybe you could put something on your homepage to warn people that Maestro is no longer accepted as I bet you will have a fair few customers spend ages over an order then find they can't pay?

Confuzzled

well i FINALLY got my order (i'd actually planned to cancel the order when i got another dhl email this morning, to the WRONG email address, again!) they came much later than normal, good thing i hadn't left as i'd originally planned to

the order is missing items ( i know i haven't been refunded because i called the bank about it this morning :mad:) AND you guessed it STILL DAMAGED! there was salsa all over everything in the box it was in plus it had been seeping out of the corner so it's on every box and now i have a towel covered in salsa and had to wash a bunch of packages of noodles and soup mix most are so soaked they are not what i deem safe to use.

HALF of the huge container of salsa (3.78 litres) is in the box and all over everything, the LID had come off! it makes me wonder if this is precisely the first problem they had and why it hadn't been taped up and indeed bubble wrapped to stop this sort of thing happening.

i ordered 2 weeks ago and have only heard from the dhl people via their automated emails (again they keep sending them to my OLD email and i didn't even pay the last 3 times from that one!) i have not heard a single peep from AF since i ordered. i really think they should have had the courtesy to call me when the order was returned to them damaged the first time, then ask me what i wanted as replacements or refund what they didn't have in stock, and an appology for how long it took!

at the very least i feel i should have my shipping refunded and definitely refunded for the price of the damaged items and those that they didn't send but what i really want is an appology! and they really MUST sort out the payment issue, i know it's not their fault about googles ridiculous decision but they do have an option over how they can accept payment and i suggested paypal to them months ago which would sort this for many people

i raved about AF all over the place, i'm so very very disappointed in them now and more than a little embarrassed to think someone might take my advice, try to buy from them and then get this kind of 'service' ... these are long standing issues dan, really, it's time to get a move on things it's not like you can't find people to work for you in a recession when no one has a job (since i hear the blame is on the massive influx of new orders) tsk tsk tsk


UPDATE: rachel called me back (quick response!) and we had a long discussion about the issues at hand. i was right the salsa was the issue the first time as well. appearantly dhl didn't notify them of having a damaged parcel they were returning so they only found out by it coming back to them on the 28th. i however pointed out that they had missed an opportunity to email me and let me know what was happening and she admitted she forgot to and appologised

we discussed a number of issues and i'm happy to say i've come away a happy customer, fully refunded on shipping, out of stock items and damaged items plus a big appology. i've also been informed that they are currently working on a new website with a new ordering system and the new website will take paypal (they didn't know about googles maestro decision until they'd been informed by a customer...charming google, you should make a point to let your customers know you're robbing them of a method of payment that is very popular!) i've been told they hope to roll the new website out in a few weeks so i wish them the best of luck on that.

one issue we discussed was about them sticking their head in the sand sometimes when they get backlogged. i told her that i feel like most people here are receptive overall (yes dan will get a bit of a grilling, some of it deserved some not) to being let known about problems here vs no word from them. or even emails. she told me that they had debated making things widely known and have worried it might sound like they are trying to fob people off or are uncaring so i thought i'd ask what everyone here would prefer so they will know what we really want

personally i'm all in favour of a blanket email and also posts on any forum they know they have a thread on to let us know 'yes we're having some problems and we are working to restore the issue we'll keep you posted'. i don't see this as a weakness, in fact i applaud them for doing it because we would never get that level of personal responsibility from a big shop.

i LIKE approved food because of their personal touch, i like dans quirky videos and i like that they have spoken to me on the phone twice now and have admitted errors and been friendly and likeable and very HUMAN. i want them to succeed, not just because i want to continue getting good quality food at a price i can actually afford but because they are nice people trying to make an honest living and sharing in the spoils in a manner of speaking. i understand not everything is within their control but i do want them to trust their customers enough to TALK to them honestly. there is no shame in honesty, besides we here at mse are all very savvy and know quite well when we're being misled no matter how prettily it's said. give me honesty every day, you don't even have to go into great detail just give me honesty and transperancy and i will trust your company and spread the word like gospel (i really DO love shopping there despite some hiccups)

i think mostly i felt like a very disappointed parent which i told rachel. i know they can do better becasue they actually seem to give a damn about their customers...though like all of us sometimes they get overwhelmed and bury their heads in the sand. however, all has been set right, i didn't have to fight for it, a genuine appology was made and i do wish them the best. i particularly hope the new website works or i will not be able to shop with them again do to the maestro issue.

so please i'd love for us to leave them some constructive feedback, good and bad because as rachel told me several times, they wouldn't be able to make the place better and better without the wonderful feedback from the customers. i think we all know that sometimes we're too busy, to wrapped up in something or too close to a project to see all the flaws or possible improvements and they are of course no different so here's hoping we can help them out a little by continuing to let them know what we want and need.

thanks to every one at approved food i think that in the end the situation has been well handled and that genuine appology goes a long way

sb44

sb44 wrote: »

Has anyone tried the Reese's Swoops yet?



I thought I would give them a go as they are only £1 for a box of 15 (there could be a good reason for that :rolleyes:).

Well, my order arrived today and I got a bit of a surprise with these.

I assumed from the write up that all of the tubs were of white choc and peanut butter but they are not. The box contains 15 x packs which contain 4 packs of 6 pringle shaped chocolates. Three of the tubs are actually milk chocolate, there is only one white chocolate one in each 4 pack. So, you get 45 tubs of milk choc and 15 white ones for £1 which wasn't bad.

I do like white chocolate and these are quite nice although you couldn't eat a lot as they are a bit sickly, the milk choc ones may not be as sweet.

Greatgimp

Confuzzled wrote: »

well i FINALLY got my order...


UPDATE: rachel called me back (quick response!)...

...thanks to every one at approved food i think that in the end the situation has been well handled and that genuine appology goes a long way

An informative post – thanks for making the effort to write that lot out.

Raksha

I think a lot of us feel a bit 'parental' about Approved Foods (as well as being damn greatful). The most important bit about Approved Foods is the LISTEN and there's a few much bigger companies who could follow their example.

littlelaurakate

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!! Received my order today, very fast, within two days of ordering. Everything was perfect, with no damage whatsoever.

AF have clearly listened about packaging of 'leaky' products, as the 5L of Surf Tropical I purchased was so well taped up I struggled to get all the tape off!! That lid was going nowhere!

Products all great, particularly the Reeses Swoops which are scrummy and a total bargain!

I had one packet of gluten free biscuits omitted due to short stock (value 40p) and to compensate these were substituted with a full case ( x 6 packets) of gluten free chocolate cake mix (value £1) - so I am very happy.

Well done Dan, your customer service is faultless in my eyes.