Dumb and Dumber
Written: Apr 24 '06
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| Full Review |
The Hershey Company recently discontinued my favorite brand of chewing gum so I was looking for another source of supply. My remaining private stash of vintage Care Free Original Bubble Gum was down to a couple of sticks so I did a search on Google and found that Peapod, a Skokie Illinois based online grocery delivery service, covered my area and advertised them at $1.79 for a bag of eight packs.
Now that’s a decent price, so I set up an account with them using my Stop and Shop card, ordered 28 bags of gum so it met their $50.00 minimum order. Now you might think that’s a lot of gum, and it is, 1120 sticks to be exact, but I was pleased with my purchase knowing that I didn’t have to look any further for quite some time for my Care Free Bubble Gum. It was a textbook case of online shopping.
Paying for it was easy, I used my credit card, paid for the gum and their modest delivery charge. I even got to select when my order was to be delivered. I got $1.00 off for picking the 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noontime slot. Their email said to sign back on after 10:30 PM to see the exact 2-hour delivery window. When I checked mine said 10:00 to 12:00. I rearranged my schedule accordingly.
On the morning of the big day I made sure the door was open so I could hear the delivery person knock, in case they didn’t know how to use the doorbell. At 10:10, a big white truck backs into my driveway, the delivery woman got out, opened the lift gate. Inside I could see her searching through lots of other orders in rectangular green plastic baskets. She grabbed one and took out a clear plastic sleeve with a piece of paper inside. She walked towards me, handed me the paper and a pen and said, “sign it.”
Before doing that, I scanned the document. It had my name written on top with my order information. Next to the item entitled “Care Free Original Bubble Gum” it said “not in stock” “Ordered: 28” “Delivered: 0” “Delivery Charge: $9.95.” I asked her where my gum was; she said my item was not in stock. I asked her why she bothered to come and try and charge me a $9.95 delivery charge for a piece of paper that told me my gum was not in stock. She said her boss told her too.
After sending her on her way I called their customer service number and spoke with pleasant man named Doug. He explained that they run into similar problems because their staff has a inventory system that cannot tell what quantities, if any they have in stock so when an item is ordered they have no way to tell the customer if they really have it available for delivery. No, he said, I did not have to pay the delivery charge.
Nevertheless, despite this notably idiotic experience with a less than brilliant driver, her really stupid boss and a company with a substandard inventory system, Peapod probably could be a great resource for a mother with a newborn baby, or an elderly person who can’t go out and who won’t get too upset if a few items are not in stock, but for me, my first impression of Peapod was one of great disappointment.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Care Free Original Bubble Gum
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Epinions.com ID:
cmanning1000
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Reviews written: 18
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