Snotty letter time

[very-near]

Back in the dim recesses of mid-2008 I tried over several weeks to organise delivery of organic fruit & veg box to Chateau Wafflycat. To cut a long story short, I eventually found one organisation willing to come out to the uncharted wilds of mid-Norfolk. Said organisation had been exceedingly tardy in responding to queries, but eventually it did, apologised for the tardy response and offered a concilatory box of organic eggs as a freeby with my first delivery. So I gave them a go.

Bad move.

The stuff was delivered a day late. It was missing items and some of what was in there was already starting to rot and was inedible. Seems the driver couldn't be arsed to deliver on the day he/she was supposed to and left it to the next day, with the fruit & veg in the back of the van on a warm summer day/night.

So I immediately contacted the organisation, said I wasn't happy and I would not be ordering from them again and said why. After that first box, nada, nothing. As it should be as I'd stopped the order.

I heard nothing further until this morning.

Got a letter from them stating they are ending their delivery box scheme as its not cost effective for them and asking me for nearly £87 as the cost of, according to them, the carton of eggs I've been receiving from them each and every week...since then. These would be invisible eggs as I have not asked for or received any.

Snotty letter is sent, informing said organisation of its error and that I will not be paying them for goods neither asked for or received.

If you are happy to pay the over inflated prices for 'organic' produce, I'm surprised you noticed the small point they didn't even bother to turn up with them.

I think you handled the situation very badly TBH. A bit of tact would have got you the result you were hoping for.

Telling them you will never shop with them again will not encourage anything more than the minimum fulfillment of their contractual obligation to you.

Nice one

 

[Gerry Attrick]

I'm with Waffly here. We used to use a box scheme which was superb for the first couple of years. Good fresh seasonal stuff with many unusual varieties to try. I was happy to pay a bit extra. Then the rot set in...(geddit?) and the spuds had more worm holes than the beach, the greens were limp and looked like they been picked a week. We received the same stuff week after week, and there are only so many squashes I can eat before getting bored. Next, prices were racked up every couple of weeks. We did complain twice about the quality, and to be fair it improved each time for a couple of weeks, but then back to rubbish.

Eventually I politely asked them not to deliver any more. I think they must have guessed the reason because they didn't ask. Probably pleased to get rid of a moaning old s*d.

I have had to resign myself to travelling twelve miles each way to get good fruit and veg now. Still, the exercise is good!

 

[Twenty Inch]

I used to work for a well-known London organic delivery scheme, and I've been around the organic scene for years.

A lot of these enterprises are set up by wooly-headed idealists, or other sorts who don't know much about business. The place I worked was set up by a couple, who broke up but remained in business together. As a result they were constantly at each other's throats, and the business lurched from crisis to crisis. They both treated it as a piggy bank, and both rescinded the other's operational decisions. The business could have been a goldmine but instead many many people had experiences like waffly's and turned their backs on small local producers.

Even Abel and Cole nearly went under until they got some good management in. Riverford are now a franchise brand rather than a farm, and very good they are too, but when the Guy and Charles were running it, they were better at growing than farming.

And as for the wholefood coops - well, it's the management structure. When everyone is involved in running the business, you have to ask everyone about everything, even simple stuff like labelling the sacks once they come in. I have a fund of similar stories from various coops around the place, where they need a management committee vote to let you fill up a small ecover bottle instead of a big one.

It's interesting to see the pressure that these early adopters are under now that serious business has got behind organics and brought some discipline to the market. Several have gone, others have had to up their game significantly.

Of course, come peak oil and the model changes again, and waffly's local exchange model will be the way to go. I have a pot of damson jam - will anyone swap for some eggs?

 

[Arch]

Of course, come peak oil and the model changes again, and waffly's local exchange model will be the way to go. I have a pot of damson jam - will anyone swap for some eggs?

I would, but I fear it might be a postage nightmare...

I guess it's almost inevitable that people with keen business sense and people with environmental concerns are two disparate groups - the ones that get on will be the one's in the intersection of the Venn diagram, the few with both. But I expect the same applies to many businesses based on interest - bike shops, for example or anything where someone tries to market a favourite craft...

 

[Mr Pig]

You can't trust the people selling you goods to pick it for you! Would you phone up a used car dealer and say 'Send me a Focus, pick me a good one'? What would he do, give you the best car on the lot? Use your loaf.

Years ago I needed a stack of wood for the house and made the mistake of phoning the local timber merchants and giving him a list to deliver. What did I get? More knots than wood! Idiot pig. You go to the place and pick out the good stuff.

That's what you do with cars, that's what you do with wood and if you've got a few cells in the penthouse that's what you do with your fruit and veg too. Otherwise you get sent the stuff no one else will take!

 

[mr Mag00]

You can't trust the people selling you goods to pick it for you! Would you phone up a used car dealer and say 'Send me a Focus, pick me a good one'? What would he do, give you the best car on the lot? Use your loaf.

Years ago I needed a stack of wood for the house and made the mistake of phoning the local timber merchants and giving him a list to deliver. What did I get? More knots than wood! Idiot pig. You go to the place and pick out the good stuff.

That's what you do with cars, that's what you do with wood and if you've got a few cells in the penthouse that's what you do with your fruit and veg too. Otherwise you get sent the stuff no one else will take!

when we ran our delivery round, that was the exact opposite we picked the best for delivery for that reason they couldn't, what was left went to the shop and the 'knotty' veg to use a comparison was sold cheaper as soup veg

 

[661-Pete]

I'm afraid, another 'plug', but we're quite happy with our Riverford boxes. The carrots, especially, are superb once you've brushed the mud off. Yes, the food isn't necessarily local, some of it imported even (to the benefit of the overseas grower of course!) but they do watch their food miles carefully and try to minimize. Try to imagine one of the big supermarkets even considering that!

Not the cheapest, but their deliveries are always on time and reliable, and nearly always box contents match the website. Once, just once, we got the wrong box, one of higher value than what we'd ordered, but they didn't ask us to make up the difference.

You do need to check the produce for insects etc. That's part of being organic. We have missed the odd caterpillar and cooked it in the broccoli - all good fun (as long as I'm not the one who gets it )!

One snag, maybe, is that if you order a box, you always get all that's listed in it, you can't have things left out. Not a problem for us, but maybe for someone with allergies. It costs more to order stuff by item rather than by set box.

 

[661-Pete]

If you are happy to pay the over inflated prices for 'organic' produce, I'm surprised you noticed the small point they didn't even bother to turn up with them.

Prices for organic home-delivery boxes are not generally over-inflated, considering the higher production costs. We're content to pay the slight premium. Some (not us!) would also be able to factor in the saving of fewer supermarket treks (especially if done in 4x4! ). Since we usually cycle to the supermarket we don't save I'm afraid!

I think you handled the situation very badly TBH. A bit of tact would have got you the result you were hoping for.

Retailers - the bigger ones at any rate - are perfectly used to handling angry or stroppy customers: they have complaints departments and have set procedures for such situations. Whether this smaller supplier got a flea in its ear, I don't know!

Telling them you will never shop with them again will not encourage anything more than the minimum fulfillment of their contractual obligation to you.

Once - just once - in my life I can recall writing to a retailer in that tone: i.e. that they could expect no further business with me. That was many years ago. It was not a food retailer. It was (it can hardly matter now - I doubt if they'll sue me) Dreams, the bed people. They were appallingly late in shipping a bed I'd ordered and when it finally came its quality fell far short of what I'd expected. After my letter, I never heard any more from them - nor they from me . So perhaps you're right, there....

 

[thomas]

The veggy soc at UEA organised something like this. I gave it ago one week after a girl I worked with raved about it.

You got a bag of in season, locally produced, organic veg. They also had a fruit bag which you got free the first time.

I was a little disappointed. I did expect a bit more for the money and decided I'd rather just get what I want at the supermarket (bugger seasons ).

The fruit bag, which was free, would have been quite expensive for what you got. The apples were yummy, but it only had one banana - for an entire week!

 

[Danny]

Waffly - have you tried Riverford? They look to have a farm covering your area. I've started getting a box from them fortnightly and it's great quality.

My friends down South swear by them, but I didn't realise realise they covered Yorkshire now.

I might give them a go as I don't currently have time to grow my own, and past attempts to generally been a dismal failure. Green thumbs have I not.

 

[fossyant]

Got a letter from them stating they are ending their delivery box scheme as its not cost effective for them and asking me for nearly £87 as the cost of, according to them, the carton of eggs I've been receiving from them each and every week...since then.

Clever those chickens of yours......... they've stopped laying, so they order a box in every week, so they don't end up in the cooker !

 

[wafflycat]

Clever those chickens of yours......... they've stopped laying, so they order a box in every week, so they don't end up in the cooker !

Three of them are currently in various stages of moult, so only one is laying. The Laydeez in moult are not looking their best, poor things!

 

[fossyant]

Don't leave the internet on, or the credit card about......

 

[HelenD123]

My friends down South swear by them, but I didn't realise realise they covered Yorkshire now.

I might give them a go as I don't currently have time to grow my own, and past attempts to generally been a dismal failure. Green thumbs have I not.

They opened a sister farm near Northallerton a couple of years ago (I think). As I said, I've been very pleased with the quality of the veg and they tell you in advance what you're getting. It's definitely worth a try. You can cancel at any time.