Amazon Fresh

This isn't the first time I've had an issue with Amazon Fresh, but this is by far the worst experience I've had with them. Usually I'll have items just not show up in the delivery, only to find out later after looking online that they didn't have them and just didn't inform me. It leaves me at a disadvantage, because I need the things that are often missing, and since you don't get your money back for a couple of days it means you often might have to go without. Not cool.

Made a Fresh delivery yesterday morning for today between 7-9am. I wake up this morning at 6 just to be safe and see that everything has been packaged and just needs to go out for delivery. 7am, out for delivery. For the next two hours, the interactive map on the site shows the driver just sitting in the same spot for two hours, before it starts moving AWAY from my location, despite the system telling me I'm the next delivery.

I called the driver, and was told he had car issues, Amazon was supposed to call and inform me, and that they were supposed to tell me what would happen next. Surprise, this didn't happen. I called and spoke to someone in customer service, who told me that due to the driver having car issues, they cancelled the order and then redid it in order to assign it to another driver. Upon asking if this means that I would get all of the items I'd ordered (which Amazon told me this morning I had) I was informed that key items that I needed were not going to be coming.

So, instead of just assigning another driver to my already packaged order, they cancelled my order, returned all of my items to the shelves, redid the order, and left me without key items that I'd previously had when it had been packaged. On top of that, no one from Amazon bothered to call and inform me about any of this. I've put in for a refund since the important items I needed wouldn't be coming, but now that leaves me at a disadvantage because I have no groceries in the house and was waiting on this order. Since it'll be at least tomorrow at the earliest that my money will be returned, this now means I have no food and no money to get any.

Screw Amazon and Amazon Fresh, and order your groceries from literally anyone else.

Since Amazon refused to post my review on their site as it did not adhere to their "guidelines", I'll go ahead and place it here, and probably a few other places as I don't like to be censored for honest reviews.

I've had great experienced with Peapod and Safeway delivery, but I received a coupon from Amazon for Fresh so I decided to give it a go. First, I accidentally thought the delivery option was 9-11am, but it was actually 9-11pm. My fault, but when I called to change it, the only way to modify the order was to cancel it according to the call center rep. So I left it as is. When the delivery was made, there was no notice, no knock on the door, no email or text saying it was there... so the bags ended up sitting out in the rain for 15 minutes before I checked the door again.

One of the bags was missing, the eggs were crushed, and the jar of sauerkraut was not sealed. I called Amazon to see what happened and they told me one of the bags was lost and they wouldn't be redelivering because of the holiday, so they issued a refund for the missing items. The next morning I let out the dogs and the missing bag was delivered, it had been sitting outside all night I guess. Fortunately it was mostly produce so it was okay, but the blueberries had fallen out of the package and were loose in the bag. The order was still missing the dip, but I wouldn't have eaten it anyway as it would have been sitting out in the heat for hours.

I didn't bother to call back for the refund of the other missing/damaged items as I'm tired of dealing with Fresh at this point. I'll certainly never use them again, especially given the high price of the groceries.

Taking a break from them. I had so many pics (now deleted) of messed-up items. It's been 8 months since I've ordered from Amazon Fresh and I was ordering like 2-3X's/month since Summer of 2020. When they are good they are really good but when it's Bad they are REALLY, REALLY BAD. I can't tell you how much Bad Produce, Bad Meat, Melted Stuff, Missing Stuff, Smashed Breads, Crushed Eggs, Dented Cans, etc. I've gotten over the years. Each time I call or go to the site for a refund because who has $ to waste esp these days? Once, I actually got my ENTIRE ORDER REFUNDED ALMOST $300 worth of Food because almost everything was damaged via their driver's lack of care AND the order was over 2hrs late AND MISSING 10+ ITEMS. There have definitely been more MISSES than hits. Also, prices can be VERY EXPENSIVE based upon what time of the Month you are ordering and other factors. Most of us who use these types of services either do not drive or have a car OR for health or other reasons need to have groceries & other items delivered instead of us actually shopping for them in-store. And we are all different ages; its not just the elderly; a lot of@ home Moms or just people working from home also use these grocery delivery services. So many of us Depend on this. Another issue I have which kind of turned me off from AF is 1 of my aunts uses this service and gets SSI + on SNAP. They used to deliver for free $35 for SNAP now it is $150. Most people esp if they live alone or just another person won't always need $150+ in grocery items. So, if your order is below the threshold you pay a delivery FEE (which ain't cheap)...and of course we need to Tip our Drivers because it's just the right thing to do if you have the $ to do so. I actually have been doing Walmart and a friend temporarily staying with me has been driving to pick up the items for free. But everybody can't do this. I know things are higher now but the service is now just too expensive price-wise + delivery fees if not $150+ especially when a lot of times you don't get your items in the right condition or much of to most of the order could be a HOT MESS.

Amazon Fresh has been very convenient for me during the pandemic but also endlessly frustrating. It was all well in April 2020 when I first ordered. Cold food was delivered refrigerated with frozen water bottles in insulated bubble wrap bags inside paper bags. It looked like care was used in the fulfillment of the orders. Then that stopped abruptly in June 2020. My weekly orders have been delivered in plain paper bags since then. I've received spoiled soy milk, moldy ice cream and thawed frozen fruit. Once, my order was delivered 70 minutes after the end of the 2-hour slot. Quality control is absent in any case. Sweet potatoes are more often than not rotten on delivery (see photo). I've received fresh soy milk that expired 6 months earlier (see photo) and cheese and milk products with no expiration date (see photo). Sometimes I get items that are all about to expire and I have to choose between using/freezing and throwing them away. Coconut water cans come loose in a paper bag with no protection, often severely crushed. I've received generic crackers instead of the more expensive organic whole grain ones I paid for with no questions asked or adjustment made. Leafy greens are wilted or spoiled, apples badly bruised, avocados black inside and bananas take two weeks to ripen. In fact, I've stopped ordering most produce for that reason. It is so unlikely for produce to be fresh and healthy that during lockdown I resorted many times to walking to Safeway (it's a 45-minute walk each way; my bus line to the store was cancelled for over a year).

This state of affairs makes one think about the people who pack your order. Do they not get paid enough to care? It's a discomforting feeling not to trust your food sources. I want my food to be surrounded by a culture of care.

Yes, you can go to your Amazon order page and "request item refund" but that is no solution when you want good food on the table. Besides, I have to request refunds so often that the feature is blocked for me and need to contact Amazon directly to ask for a refund. And that is not a done deal. They have to transfer the request for approval and then get back to me with a decision. I contact Amazon Fresh to complain about quality control quite often and they always say they're escalating the complaint. My well-documented complaints have made no difference.

‘Fresh' is definitely a misnomer. It looks as if Amazon Fresh has deliberately gone downhill and has no plans to change and recover. Maybe Amazon Fresh is trying to get rid of some customers. The potential and resources for Amazon Fresh to be great are all there. I give it two stars for the convenience, which is relative.