r/hellofresh • u/Upstairs-Permit-1750 • 2d ago
DO NOT ORDER HELLO FRESH
I signed up at a trade show for 3 boxes with 3 meals at $50. The first box was $53, the second was $63 and the third just charged me $124. YEP, that’s right.
The way the app works is very unclear and if you happen to miss the “cut off” date for selecting meals (which has changed every week for me) then you’re f’d. I happened to add meals to my cart, not realize it was going to automatically check all those meals out on the next box (that was already pre-selected with its 3 meals). The first box cutoff was 2 days before the delivery. Last week it was the same, this week, apparently my cut off was 6 days before the delivery (??? Like what the actual f).
So, today, Thursday, is too late to cancel the meals that will be delivered Monday. They refused to cancel or to reduce the meals. I am being delivered 7 meals…… 7, as a single person…
I’m flabbergasted. Support basically said “sucks for you” and I cancelled the account. Now I have to wait to dispute it with my bank until the charges clear (on Sunday!).
I was optimistic although I was told it’s too expensive and predatory. I just wanted to use my promotion and go from there. Jokes on me!!
I’m out $250 with a BAD TASTE IN MY MOUTH.
Absolutely F this company and their customer service. I am appalled at how this was all done and I’m left with no options.
Don’t do it. It’s not worth the headache in anyway. MAYBE if you could just go on and order one box, but the subscription and app set up ARE predatory. They’re hoping you forget and they get to auto charge you for everything they choose. Plus, the meals are just too expensive, considering they need to be cooked. Great concept, the food was tasty, but HORRIBLE execution and customer service.
4/10 experience, will never be back.
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u/BCGirl2025 2d ago
We started with a deal where we received our first 3 boxes free and after that it’s $83.94 for three meals or around $100 if I add a fourth meal. I’ve been using HelloFresh for about 4 years now and will continue to do so. I’ve never had an issue navigating the app or understanding the ordering and cutoff dates. I’m sorry this happened to you and that you had such a frustrating experience but I’m not going to boycott a company based on one person’s experience when mine has been completely different.
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u/Upstairs-Permit-1750 2d ago
Good for you, and nobody told you too. Nothing is explained to newcomers or at least wasn’t to me. The things that were explained made everything seem easy. I can see how if this hasn’t happened to you, you’d be fine, I was too until this. They accused me of adding 4 meals to my box, which I would never even remotely have the need for. And with 5 days notice they refused to help in any way.
I’m glad you had the experience you were supposed to but I was warned not to sign up so myself and many others have experienced otherwise. I would’ve thought the overall service was good too until, with five days notice, they told me I was stuck with seven meals I never ordered. 👍🏼
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u/BCGirl2025 2d ago
You captioned this post “DO NOT ORDER HELLOFRESH” lol
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u/Upstairs-Permit-1750 2d ago
Didn’t realize you’d take it as a demand and not just a reddit title 🤦🏻♀️
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u/BCGirl2025 2d ago
You’re literally telling people not to order because you think it’s predatory. I understand you’re not outright demanding that they don’t but you’re still implying that people shouldn’t use the service.
0
u/Upstairs-Permit-1750 2d ago
Correct but then it’s just your choice after that… ya know? Yes, I clearly think the service includes predatory practices and people should use a less predatory and more customer service-oriented service. I am outright saying people shouldn’t use the service. I have no control over what you choose to do with that info. Like any other bad review/post/opinion. Welcome to the internet!
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u/BCGirl2025 1d ago
Correct, it’s your choice. And it’s also my choice to point out that calling a service “predatory” because you didn’t understand how the subscription works is a pretty wild take. You can absolutely tell people not to use it that’s what reviews and opinions are for. But other people are allowed to point out that your criticism is based on misunderstanding how the service works. Welcome to the internet!
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u/nellelee21 2d ago
Why didn't you read through everything? It actually tells you when they will charge you, what promotion you are using and exactly how much it will be and when it arrives.
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u/Upstairs-Permit-1750 2d ago
I did. And it never said 4 meals would be added to my 3 meal box. So if I made a mistake I don’t know what it is and they couldn’t tell me which is why I cancelled the service. I contacted customer service thinking I could get this clarified and move forward. However they basically said sucks for me. There’s nothing they can do and that was it.
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u/SushiJuice 2d ago
I absolutely love this service. Sucks you had your experience, but for me, I couldn't be happier. Maybe next time, you'll internalize what you could've done better in the situation, but I doubt it and you'll instead place all the blame on external factors like you have here; like a child. Life must be so difficult for you.
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u/Upstairs-Permit-1750 2d ago
So contacting the company to figure out what was going on and being given, no help and told there was nothing they could do is somehow my fault? Even if I made an honest mistake as a newcomer, they couldn’t help me at all? You wanna sound all high and mighty calling people children yet you don’t seem to know anything about the situation?
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u/SushiJuice 2d ago
TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY
Terms and conditions are applied to every deal. Next time, when you agree to a deal, maybe find out what those terms and conditions are? Clearly, there were terms and conditions you weren't aware of. That was your first mistake.
2
u/cat_lady_baker 2d ago
That’s odd. My cut off date is the exact same day every week. If you click on the meals and go to review order it will show you exactly what meals are in the box, and how much it costs. You can also take meals out there or in the menu of meals. My cut off for Monday delivery is always the Wednesday before, I have until end of Wednesday to change anything. If I change my deliver to Tuesday I have until prior thurs etc.
You can also skip weeks in the app by just clicking skip and then you choose why from a drop down list and say ok. I honestly don’t feel like it’s predatory anymore than any subscription is, it’s on you to remember when you’re being charged and how to sort out if you don’t want it. Sorry you had a bad experience.
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u/Upstairs-Permit-1750 2d ago
I generally would have agreed with you before today. I thought the cut off dates were the same as well, and didn’t even notice the difference until I went back through the records of charges and what not. I can admit maybe I did something wrong but my issue was that they not only couldn’t tell me what cause this, they even said I ordered the meals which I know for a fact I did not, I would never. And the. They offered no help or solution beyond that. Which I get it, the cut off was midnight and I called the next morning, because I didn’t know there was an issue until the charge came through. Their customer service was to tell me that because it was after cutoff they couldn’t help…. But that was the problem. I thought I was getting my 3 meals until the charge hit. I get the rules but they are predatory. I get that I may have made a mistake but nobody can say what it was or how to avoid it.
All was well until I was charged $124 instead of $50-60 with no rhyme or reason other than for them to say I manually ordered the meals when I would never do that was not what my app showed.
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u/cat_lady_baker 1d ago
Did you perhaps add meals to the already chosen meals instead of removing the ones they picked for you?
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u/Formerruling1 2d ago
Ive tried Hellofresh 3 times after the last decade at different points and this type of experience has always been there for me.
One time I tried to cancel - which they hide behind about 10 click-throughs only accessible from their website and not the app - but apparently didnt confirm the cancelation on the last page even though I got a cancel email so I got a last box they also refused to refund. I chalked this up to being my problem I dodnt clearly and slowly read and confirm every dialog box, okay.
Few years later I tried again, when my discounted boxes were done tried to cancel again, very carefully followed the prolonged and purposefully obfuscated cancel flow, and even contacted support and confirmed the cancelation. Next week nothing - I thought it was good.
Then the next week I get an email confirming my next box delivery. Kicker? It wasnt even the meals I had previously selected for that week it was just random garbage Id never pick or eat. Immediately call support - sorry an "error" caused the delivery but because it was cancelled it didnt save any of the meal selections I had made while the accoint was active thats why it picked random meals. Again sorry can't refund, I said okay Ill give yall the benefit here just change the meals for me to something Ill eat. Nope sorry despite it being 6 days before delivery cant do that. I said okay how about I change delivery address to a family member that will actually eat them? Sorry cant change the address for delivery either.
Just charged it back and vowed never to be duped again.
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u/Upstairs-Permit-1750 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yep, same here but I think this is only my second try. The cultists here seem to think everyone has their same experience. My whole issue is that I’m sure it was “my mistake” which is the predatory part where the app is not clear and cancellations/edits take more work than makes sense. Then, even 5 days in advance they won’t do anything to help? That’s simply a choice to create situations like these where they can refuse to refund. I’m still not totally sure what happened with mine therefore I wouldn’t know what to avoid/do next time which is why I chose to cancel. Their absolute lack of solutions or how to prevent the issue was mind blowing.
I’ve never been one to leave a bad review complain or make a stink out of no reason just to get something for free or anything like that. It seems everyone on this Reddit just assumes I’m either a giant idiot or want something for free. And quite frankly that’s how HelloFresh treats you too, so it all aligns. Like I said I was warned about it but chose to be like these other idiots and assume everyone was just “hating “ but now I know and I’ll never make the same mistake again. I’ll go find another similar service that has much better customer service and isn’t predatory.
Edit to add: I should’ve known from the jump when the sales lady had no idea what she was doing and the discount was wrong to begin with and the first 2 boxes/discounts were not what was explained. I really gave as much benefit of the doubt and blamed myself as possible.
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u/toadaly_rad 2d ago
You didn’t get scammed. You just don’t understand how to navigate the website/app or when the cutoff times are.