a credit for not being cool (lyn)

Fresh Direct is the Zappos of food delivery.  Great products, great variety, and great customer service.

Earlier this week I placed an order and scheduled a delivery for this morning, between 10 and noon.  Fresh Direct is one of the few companies that offer a two-hour window.  Imagine how much better life would be if cable companies would do that.

Around 12:30, I still haven’t heard from Fresh Direct, which is unusual.  They are pretty reliable. I call down to my doorman who greets me with, “Oh, we have some Fresh Direct boxes here for you.”  Huh?  I go downstairs to get them and of course ask why no one called to tell me.  “I did try calling but no one answered the buzzer,” says Aziz, our dependable doorman.  “You did?” I ask.  “But I was home all morning.  What time did they come?”  “Around seven.”  That means that my food was delivered three hours ahead of schedule, and worse, it’s been sitting in a closet for five and a half hours.  Can yogurt, fruit, Kansas City baby back ribs, and some other perishables even survive that long without refrigeration?

I call Fresh Direct and get a very-nice Stanley on the phone.  I tell him what happened and he says,  “I’m really sorry about that.  What I can do is either have all the items that needed refrigeration re-delivered to you tomorrow, or give you a credit toward your next order.”  I opt for the credit.

Stanley then totals all the items on my list that potentially could have been harmed, and even includes some things that I would not have counted (baby carrots and a French baguette).  The total comes to $63.91 plus another $5.79 for delivery.  Much better than I would have given me.  I was hoping for maybe a free delivery on my next order. 

I still plan to serve the $22 ribs for dinner tonight; I hope they’re as good as they look.