What has happened to our favourite plant based meat ? The definition of Umami is a mouth filling , lingering richness which the thick cut filets had in spades and was our go to meal for a Saturday night in with some nice wine. I cooked some yesterday in the same manner as I always have ( season and leave to rest for an hour ) and made my usual red wine and garlic gravy only to find that neither my wife nor I could taste the filets at all . I had suspected something had changed when I opened the packaging to find that the meaty smell had gone and the marbling was very faint along with a dry and pale appearance compared to previous filets I had bought over the years . If you like a less powerful flavour then you might still enjoy this product but for me it's a pointless exercise now as the wow factor when you take your first mouthful has completely disappeared. We are gutted.
LS
Lisa S.
A Total Kerfuffle
This is a hard one to write as the product is really good; it’s management that is a serious issue.
The “beef” products debuted in the US last year and proved a big hit. As with any small start-up, there are supply issues. Many waited patiently for more product, only to have the filets sell out in minutes never to return, so far anyway. For many people, the loin isn’t practical, especially at $60 a piece plus shipping as it cannot be refrozen once thawed and has to be eaten fairly quickly. It’s kind of perplexing as one would think that the filets are the same product as the loin only cut and packaged differently so not sure why the inability to produce the product as the loins are regularly in stock.
With no filets in sight Juicy Marbles announced a new product, ribs. The promotional campaign launched with an email telling customers that they could sign up for a purchase link, which means by definition that those who sign up will have the ability to purchase product. The incentive went one step further, offering free ribs to the top fifty people with the most referrals. The person in the number one slot ended up with 119 referrals and on down the line. Then people waited, only to receive the last minute information less than twenty-four hours before the launch and only a single post on their Facebook page as to the time in each country. At the appointed time the ribs “dropped” as they say.
And, as the company should have anticipated, the 500 units they ultimately had to sell were gone in mere minutes, leaving many disgruntled customers in the ribless dust. Myself included.
Juicy Marbles Facebook page became the center of the scandal, with those voicing their anger and asking for corporate accountability ultimately finding themselves blocked by the self-proclaimed “King of Kerfuffle,” while the sycophants who chose to ignore the obvious marketing ploy allegedly received a link for a free rack of ribs. I had a vision of the King of K. and his sidekick cat laughing maniacally at the sad losers who clicked on the “purchase” link too late.
Another rib “drop” was immediately announced for October. Cue the maniacal 😈 laughter by those in charge at Juicy Marbles.
It has since gotten some serious conversation time among those of us in the vegan food industry in the US, the prevailing opinion being that the lack of concern for their customer base and outright offensive marketing plan was an abomination. the bland 10% discount email did nothing to change that opinion.
One of our colleagues did manage to score a rack but is now hesitant to eat them due to the bad taste left is his mouth by this whole debacle. We have decided to forgo using Juicy Marbles in our retail products and hope that there is a significant shift in the company’s thinking process when it comes to how they treat their consumers in the future.
Hope at least the cat got his treat, purr purr.
AK
Alex K.
Immature & Disrespectful Customer Services!
This review is regarding customer services in Europe. The product itself is delicious. In fact, so much so that I wanted to order more. But it appears that customer services in Europe aren't interested in my orders. I was very excited that this product had come to Europe and would now be available in the UK. I made a couple of email queries and made the order for 1 pack of four, just to try it out. After this, I was keen to have these filets as part of Christmas dinner in a faux beef wellington. I emailed customer services asking what they had in place for getting orders out to customers over Christmas to ensure the orders were not late or expired before December 25, and my emails have been ignored. I've sent about three emails requesting information for Christmas orders and I have not received even one courtesy email. I would have been grateful for a reply even if the email was informing me that they had nothing in place and couldn't guarantee orders. Ignoring customers is not a reply. It is extremely childish and disrespectful. All my emails were polite. They were just queries. Be a grown-up and say "no" if that's the case, but don't alienate your customers. When I got the email confirmation from the first order, the email stated how grateful they were that we were one of their first thousand customers in Europe. Is this how they intend to treat their European customers? There's nothing more daunting and unappealing than making orders and having no customer service should you need to query an order or ask a question. No reply is NOT a reply! It's just plain RUDE!
