Imperfect FoodsReviews of imperfectfoods.com

Imperfect foods has an interesting concept and sometimes they deliver decent quality groceries. They aren't the "bargain" some might expect, because they focus a lot on "artisanal" grocery products (which are imo often just overpriced and badly formulated). You end up getting 20% off a product that is 3x the price of the "normal" version. There are some serious quality and reliability issues. I think this may vary by region. By "ugly" food, one assumes cosmetic defects, not food close to spoilage nor damaged in ways that lead to quick spoilage. Some of the "scarred" foods are actually spoiling. Not good. *If you are also having contamination issues, you can contact the FDA -esp for eggs, meat, chicken!* They also have a really bad problem with warehousing and packing. I have had food arrive covered in raw egg, even when there were no eggs in my box. Hello FDA? This has happened several times. Often - most weeks - there are wrong items, missing items, and completely random items in the box. Most weeks also feature smashed items, slashed or broken open packaging, and crushed broken items. These include tomatoes, slashed open packages of fish, shattered bags of pasta (that takes talent!), lettuces that look like they exploded in the box, crushed cukes, broken zucchini (again - takes talent!), crushed boxes of berries and berries and small fruits wandering around the box and getting mushed. Eggs are a roll of the dice. Their customer support is ludicrously bad. Don't even expect a reply unless you document everything in the box with photographs (treat your groceries like a crime scene, folks!). They're set up to funnel customers with problems AWAY from support and into an endless loop of chirpy useless articles. When you finally get to a contact form -no direct email or phone number - you get an autoresponder and no support. Everything about this company is organized around what is easy and convenient for them,and you - the customers - are expected to just suck it up. Delivery times and days are chosen by them, no flexibility for customers. The time window is until 9 PM! Yay - groceries that arrive and need cleaning, repackaging and storage when you REALLY want to start winding down! (For example) A mess.

By imperfect, do they mean mushy cucumbers and brown apples It was a great idea in theory, they need better quality control. Every time I get something I’d never pick at the store!!!! Also, greens just rolling around with cans and onions and garlic is a disaster waiting to happen.

I can only guess that the good reviews for Imperfect are folks that have only received one or two deliveries so far. However, after a year with them, I have finally got fed up with missing items, smashed fruit, loose berries, squished bread, leaky milk boxes, etc. While the customer service folks are very nice, no amount of gently letting them know something was wrong with that week’s order ever made a difference in the packing care and delivery of the following week’s order. Today, I received my very last order from them and fittingly, all my eggs had been crushed. The company has a great mission, but unfortunately that isn’t enough to make up for the poor execution.

Although the people at Imperfect are super kind & I know work so hard, our orders keep arriving with missing items, and worse - raw meat not in the freezer bag &/or fresh produce in the freezer bag which then gets freezer burned. This time though, the raw meat also split open and went all over our fruit & vegetables. We don't feel safe eating the fruit or vegetables. We don't understand why don't they just pack the meat & any perishable items in the freezer bag, seal the bag. Then pack fruits & vegetables in the box, outside the freezer bag. Why throw meat into a box, then fruits and vegetables on top and then only put a few random items in the freezer bag? Can't take it any more. Is expensive waste of food & money we sometimes get refunded. Is such a shame.

It's been okay but I absolutely hate that they have a shopping window and throw stuff in their most people will never eat. It's like they are giving us what no one else wants. What am I going to do with 3 lbs of meatless meat? They need to allow people to clarify any allergies, things they won't use etc.

While I like the concept of Imperfect Foods and their espoused mission, not only have I had to contact Imperfect Foods MANY times about missing items over the course of months, the last time this occurred a specific customer service representative indicated she was going to be on top of this and would actually contact me the morning of my delivery to check how that delivery went. She never did. Nor did she do so the next day. Many times I was told by various customer service representatives that a note would be made in the computer to make sure that this would not continue to happen; that did nothing. I certainly do not expect perfection from anyone or any company, but the disregard I have been shown -- despite the friendly rhetoric and lighthearted language -- that allows this same error to continue to happen over and over has convinced me that I should take my business elsewhere.

The website was totally confusing. It indicates the customer needs to give credit info in order to order food before you have a chance to see what your getting. I spent about 20 minutes trying to get a sense of what they had to offer but could find little. They indicated a "shopping window" would appear in several days. I just dismissed it then as a waste of time. About 10 days later I'm notified I'm receiving an order! I called and they did say they canceled my "order" though the box was delivered the same day and I could not return it. Inside it had like four oranges two cumbers three apples, four carrots etc. Their was a 12 oz small box of shrimp and a handful of items I would not be interested in purchasing. Basically I could duplicate this order easily for no more than 20 or 25 dollars. The reason I gave two stars instead of one was they supposedly cancelled the order though I received it and are not charging me. Just to be safe I called my bank to cancel as well. Misleading and certainly not worth the money in either case.

Even though imperfect foods will refund missing or damaged items, You're unable to receive replacements for that week. So meal planning is out of the question. My last box was the last straw. My chicken strips were open and chicken slime was over $62 worth of produce and pantry items. After spending an hour with soap and water trying to keep as much product as I could, I called and canceled the service.