UPDATE:
All issues below have been resolved. We've been very happy for the past year or so. Great family business, they're just really busy getting great produce and sometimes lose sight of the customer service aspect, but getting much better! Upgraded from 3 to 4 stars! I recommend to the reviewer above (Suzanne B.) that a 2nd chance be given. As I've stated below, customer service isn't their strong suite (obviously) but they seem to be taking note and learning from reviews like ours, calls and emails supporting these issues, and based upon the price and overall service (I felt) were deserving of another chance. So far, they have been deserving of that 2nd chance.
INITIAL REVIEW:
Like Michelle B., communication has been a huge issue, and for others we know as well, with Farmer and the Dale. We've been a bi-weekly subscription customer for about 9 months now. My wife was on maternity leave for a while and F&D were good during that time about changing delivery locations, and on one occasion, holding an order when we were out of town.
The major issues didn't begin until December 2013. More than a week ahead of time, my wife called to ask that they hold our order since we were going to be out of town for the Christmas holiday. But the produce was delivered to my wife's work the day we were leaving and so we had to give most of the produce away rather than having it spoil. Since then, we were charged for delivery the first week of January but the delivery never arrived. Even worse, one of my wife's co-workers, following a recommendation from my wife, signed up for weekly deliveries in early December but has yet to receive her first delivery. However, she's been charged three times.
We, and my wife's co-worker, have both tried repeatedly to contact someone at F&D via phone, email and their website to see what the heck is going on over there. At the time of this review, nobody has gotten back to either of us.
It's really too bad because I really want to like this company for the things they do right. The delivery guy is really nice, and when they do deliver your produce they almost always pad the order with additional produce you didn't request but are pleasantly surprised to receive. The convenience of being able to start and stop orders, and switch delivery locations is really nice as well - if and when you can actually get a hold of someone to initiate those changes... For now, it's these still promising features of F&D customer service that prevent me from giving them one or two stars. However, if my payment/delivery issues aren't resolved soon, I'll be back to update my rating - and will likely have to take other action as well. read more