Hello Fresh - duped into signing up for 20 meals for a family of 5

enginestar

We had Hello Fresh knock on our door 5 days ago.
I was happy to give them a try. I'd always been meaning to give them a go.

The agent took my phone and filled in for me and applied their discount code to give a discount.

I told them we had a family of 5.

I logged onto the account today and tomorrow we have 20 portions of food coming - food for 20 people!!!!!!!!!!!
I spoke both online and one the phone.
They tell me I am wrong, it's not food for 20 people: it's meals for 5 people, with each meal being 4 portions (so 4 people can eat).

They've told me I can't cancel - they need 5 days cancel notice.

Where do I stand with this??
I'm guessing I can't be the only one to have fallen for this trick?

Or am I the mad one here?

Thanks.

Emmia

You've signed up for 4 different meals for 5 people, which can be eaten over a few days. Essentially a box - I'd be very surprised if you've got 20 portions of the same meal. (Were you expecting a single meal as a trial?)

We use Hello Fresh and have our default set to 3 meals for two each week - 6 portions, and it's 3 different recipes which we choose (although the default selection they offer is usually pretty good). Sometimes we order 4 or 5 meals depending on what we're doing.

prettyandfluffy

Why did you let them use your phone to fill in the trial form for you?? It means you've agreed to whatever they put on the form.

Aylesbury_Duck

enginestar said:

We had Hello Fresh knock on our door 5 days ago.
I was happy to give them a try. I'd always been meaning to give them a go.

The agent took my phone and filled in for me and applied their discount code to give a discount.

I told them we had a family of 5.

I logged onto the account today and tomorrow we have 20 portions of food coming - food for 20 people!!!!!!!!!!!
I spoke both online and one the phone.
They tell me I am wrong, it's not food for 20 people: it's meals for 5 people, with each meal being 4 portions (so 4 people can eat).

They've told me I can't cancel - they need 5 days cancel notice.

Where do I stand with this??
I'm guessing I can't be the only one to have fallen for this trick?

Or am I the mad one here?

Thanks.

That first bolded part seems incompatible with you being duped.  As I read it you willingly handed over your phone and got them to set it up for you.  Have you checked they haven't set up payments in your name, etc?

Have you actually checked exactly what you're getting?  It might be 20 portions of food but that doesn't necessarily equate to food for 20 people.   The second bolded part seems odd.  If it's 20 portions, it's either five portions each for four people, or four portions each for five people.  As it's written there, it is only 16 portions.

Where you stand will depend on the terms and conditions, and if they say it's five days' cancellation, that's what it is.  The only other way out is if you complain that you didn't set up the account, and that their rep did it for you and presumably "signed" as you, or similar?

enginestar

@Emmia thanks for the reply. Not getting 20 portions would be upsetting as well!! LOL.

I wanted: food for 5 people once a week - 1 single meal.

'20' portions of food sounds like a lot of food to store.

I didn't even get to choose ANY of the meals being delivered.

I want to know if I refuse delivery and request a refund from my card... where do I stand with that?

They've said to me that if I get a refund from my bank that they will 'pursue' this - so I'm guessing they will take the matter to court?

The total charge is £37. They've given a refund of £10. So total paid will be £27.

I'm still fuming. The people whom I spoke to say it's NOT food for 20 people.
5 meals?? I wouldn't plan to cook all 5 in one go - so 4 have to go into storage.

Emmia

enginestar said:

@Emmia thanks for the reply. Not getting 20 portions would be upsetting as well!! LOL.

I wanted: food for 5 people once a week - 1 single meal.

'20' portions of food sounds like a lot of food to store.

I didn't even get to choose ANY of the meals being delivered.

I want to know if I refuse delivery and request a refund from my card... where do I stand with that?

They've said to me that if I get a refund from my bank that they will 'pursue' this - so I'm guessing they will take the matter to court?

The total charge is £37. They've given a refund of £10. So total paid will be £27.

I'm still fuming. The people whom I spoke to say it's NOT food for 20 people.
5 meals?? I wouldn't plan to cook all 5 in one go - so 4 have to go into storage.

Do you have an online account with Hello Fresh? Go in and see what meals you've had selected. The stuff they send will be a mix of meat vegetables and sauces in the main which you can use if cooking other meals (you don't have to use the recipes they're intended for).

Might I suggest you log in and alter the defaults to only give you one meal for 5 / cancel the whole thing.

But £27 for 4 meals for 5 people isn't really terrible value.

Aylesbury_Duck

enginestar said:

@Emmia thanks for the reply. Not getting 20 portions would be upsetting as well!! LOL.

I wanted: food for 5 people once a week - 1 single meal.

'20' portions of food sounds like a lot of food to store.

I didn't even get to choose ANY of the meals being delivered.

I want to know if I refuse delivery and request a refund from my card... where do I stand with that?

They've said to me that if I get a refund from my bank that they will 'pursue' this - so I'm guessing they will take the matter to court?

The total charge is £37. They've given a refund of £10. So total paid will be £27.

I'm still fuming. The people whom I spoke to say it's NOT food for 20 people.
5 meals?? I wouldn't plan to cook all 5 in one go - so 4 have to go into storage.

Surely that's because you handed over your phone and let them do everything?

I doubt they'll take it to court for £27 so I wouldn't worry about that.  What are you going to tell your bank when you ask them for a chargeback?  That you allowed a stranger to place an order on your phone with your bank details?  I wonder how they might react to that...

I don't think you need to be fuming over something you got yourself into, quite frankly.  I doubt four meals, each worth £7.50, are going to require an awful lot of storage.

Personally, I'd see what arrives, enjoy it and cancel all further deliveries.  I don't think you've got a leg to stand on. 

Emmia

Having just looked at my account it appears you can't have a single meal (with X number of portions ) as the default, it seems to be a 3 meals per delivery minimum as the setting.

mr_stripey

enginestar said:

@Emmia thanks for the reply. Not getting 20 portions would be upsetting as well!! LOL.

I wanted: food for 5 people once a week - 1 single meal.

'20' portions of food sounds like a lot of food to store.

I didn't even get to choose ANY of the meals being delivered.

I want to know if I refuse delivery and request a refund from my card... where do I stand with that?

They've said to me that if I get a refund from my bank that they will 'pursue' this - so I'm guessing they will take the matter to court?

The total charge is £37. They've given a refund of £10. So total paid will be £27.

I'm still fuming. The people whom I spoke to say it's NOT food for 20 people.
5 meals?? I wouldn't plan to cook all 5 in one go - so 4 have to go into storage.

You don't have to cook them all in one go. And it won't be loads of stuff to store. It will be delivered in a box. Put the chilled stuff in the fridge and you've got dinner sorted for the next four days.

I use them occasionally, It's not mega cheap, but it's not over the top expensive and nice to get a variation.

I'd say stick with it, take the delivery and see how you feel. You can cancel subsequent boxes (if that's what you've signed up for)

£27 for 5 meals for 4 people or whatever it is is pretty decent

soolin

OP I think someone needs to say it, and it might as well be me. You must become more security conscious , you are setting yourself up as a victim to just about any scam someone wants to pull. Firstly, if you get an unsolicited call at the door and don’t understand what is being offered, or aren’t interested then politely refuse and close the door, you have no need at all to engage with cold callers. In fact perhaps a warning sign such as many of my older or vulnerable neighbours have (I believe they got them from a local initiative with the police) that says you do not buy at the door and basically don’t bother knocking.

Then if you do decide to engage with a stranger, never hand over your phone, what were you thinking? At the very least they could have walked away with it, or browsed something they shouldn’t, as you’ve found out they have basically signed you up for something without you fully understanding what it is. 

If you don’t understand what you’ve signed up for then Go back into your account now and cancel further orders to prevent further deliveries by default.

Lastly, who entered payment details ? if you did then did you check the amount being paid and didn’t you think £27 was a bit steep for a single meal each for your family? If you handed over your card, then you seriously need to review  your understanding of financial security. 

I realise this sounds harsh, but getting too many meals is probably a better result than a few other scenarios I can think of. You must stay safe, buying at the door from cold callers can get dodgy sometimes. 

Grumpy_chap

enginestar said:

I didn't even get to choose ANY of the meals being delivered.

I understood the whole model of Hello Fresh was that you don't get to choose the meals but it is all built around "sustainability" so you get the ingredients to cook up meals based upon the recipes provided for the selection (by Hello Fresh) of available and in-season ingredients for the delivery.