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We tried out The Produce Box last year and were not at all impressed for a few reasons.
It's overpriced. To me, you're paying for convenience and the satisfaction that some of your food budget is making its way to local farmers.
The produce quality did not meet my expectations. The lettuce we received was often limp and wilty. Much of the produce shows signs of handling, including bruising. I understand this happens, but it often resulted in waste. Just this week we received apples that were aged past the point where that would have been good for fresh eating. They might have been fine in applesauce or a pie, but I just don't want to pay for an apple that I can't enjoy eating out of hand.
They need to work on organization and communication. We tried to cancel our subscription last year after deciding that the service wasn't worth the price. I can't remember who I spoke with, but she convinced me to place our account on a permanent hold instead of canceling. By doing this, we wouldn't be required to pay the initial fee if we decided we wanted to pay for weekly deliveries again. Since that time we have had two deliveries to our doorstep that we hadn't requested. It's a pain to get this corrected because the neighborhood managers are required to go to their superiors to get this figured out.
tl;dr Overpriced, bruised and wilty produce. Wasn't worth the cost for us.
I tried Doorstep Produce last year but wasn't happy with the quality. Then I was charged for items they didn't deliver. I am going to try Papa Spud's this year and see if the quality is better.
We use the Produce Box and love it. Sure, some of the merchandise can be off on occasion but they make right by it if you let them know. It's super convenient and allows us to enjoy fresh produce without having to jump through hoops. But for us the best part is knowing we're supporting local farmers.
And regarding problems last year with account management, they had switched to something new, it didn't work out too well and so have switched back to the website platform used previously. It's not a perfect solution but my wife figured out how to use it well enough and she hates technology.
We tried out The Produce Box last year and were not at all impressed for a few reasons.
It's overpriced. To me, you're paying for convenience and the satisfaction that some of your food budget is making its way to local farmers.
The produce quality did not meet my expectations. The lettuce we received was often limp and wilty. Much of the produce shows signs of handling, including bruising. I understand this happens, but it often resulted in waste. Just this week we received apples that were aged past the point where that would have been good for fresh eating. They might have been fine in applesauce or a pie, but I just don't want to pay for an apple that I can't enjoy eating out of hand.
They need to work on organization and communication. We tried to cancel our subscription last year after deciding that the service wasn't worth the price. I can't remember who I spoke with, but she convinced me to place our account on a permanent hold instead of canceling. By doing this, we wouldn't be required to pay the initial fee if we decided we wanted to pay for weekly deliveries again. Since that time we have had two deliveries to our doorstep that we hadn't requested. It's a pain to get this corrected because the neighborhood managers are required to go to their superiors to get this figured out.
tl;dr Overpriced, bruised and wilty produce. Wasn't worth the cost for us.
I had similar problems with suspending my service. I tried to cancel but was charged anyway, and they refused to offer me a refund. Thought that was weird. Apparently they send you an opt out email when your renewal is due, but a lot of people think "Oh, I'm not ordering produce this week" and don't even open it.
Another time I had a severe reaction to some tomatos I got from them. I called to see if I could get more info on the source or type of tomatos. I received the brush off...as if they had no interest in my situation. Ultimately I figured out that some heirloom tomatos are more closely related to the deadly nightshade family than more modern varietals so I had a negative reaction similar to that caused by eating green peppers. It runs in my family. Now I know just to avoid heirloom tomatos it isn't generally a problem.
This was not their fault, but I would have appreciated a little bit better info than "Well, no one else reported a reaction so this is not our problem"
Both times the response I received was pretty much "Tough luck!"
And yes, I think it is fairly expensive on a price per pound basis. I'll stick with the farmers market which is a pleasant outing anyway.
This will be our 3rd season with the Produce Box and love the variety we get knowing that we are helping out small to medium farmers in NC. This is the first time they have started up in the "winter" so they are supplementing some of the NC produce with items from other states until the Nc growing season takes off this spring.
It was well publicized via emails that this week was the start of the season and to check your accounts to update payment info or skip if you were not interested so it is a bit interesting that folks are getting boxes they were not expecting.
As stated above, if you receive something that is not to your quality expectation, by all means give them a call (or request a substitute on your next week's order) and they will bring you a suitable replacement. They are all about customer service if you give them a chance.
We get our first box of the season tomorrow and cannot wait!
I just cancelled my membership to the produce box. Too many issues with produce not fresh, getting stuff we really don't like and issues with shipping, putting on hold, etc. Maybe I'll give another company a try.
After reading this thread and checking out some websites, I think I'm going to cancel Produce Box once my year is up and give Papa Spuds a try!
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