Holly
Terrible Customer Service & Poor Refrigeration Labeling
Terrible customer service and poorly labeled products. For the first time we received a Swiss Colony box as a gift. What a disappointment it turned out to be! Their competitor, Hickory Farms, has products that are shelf stable and can go without refrigeration. Apparently that's not true for Swiss Colony products which say in small letters on a small label in the corner of the large box that it needs refrigeration. Because that notation wasn't apparent, and it was delivered without any cold packs or cooler, it sat under the Christmas tree for nearly 4 days before being opened. Only upon being opened we saw the small print saying it should be refrigerated. Not wanting to poison anyone, we immediately put it in the refrigerator and contacted their customer service through their Facebook page to see if it was edible or needed to be thrown away. A day later we got a response that asked for the information from the shipping label so they could look up our order and give us an answer specific to our order. I provided a screenshot of the label immediately and confirmed the information in writing as well. Another day and a half later this was their Customer Service response: "Greetings! On the label, below the shipping address information, there is a message that says A Gift From: "Merry Christmas -Love Mom & Dad" We hope this information is helpful." Nope, not helpful at all as that has nothing to do with whether the product is safe to eat or not. It's so bad of a response it feels like I'm purposely being pranked; but that would give them too much credit. No, their customer service really is just that bad. I tried to find my own answers and looked back through their previous responses to similar customer concerns from years ago and all of their replies say the products need to be refrigerated. Nowhere do they answer that the products are shelf stable and can be left out. In fact they claim they keep the gift boxes on refrigerated delivery trucks right up until they are delivered and they should be refrigerated right away upon receipt. If that's the case then why don't their boxes say that in huge letters across the front? I've ordered perishable foods from other companies many times and they always have huge warnings across the packaging to let you know. Not Swiss Colony. It's in small, non-distinct black letters in a small corner of a large box, easily missed. And since it's delivered without refrigeration, and their competitors' products are shelf stable, it's not clear from anything that Swiss Colony products must be refrigerated. Poor labeling, poor customer service. I would not recommend their products at all. I feel badly that our relatives wasted good money on a product we can't use.