Imperfect Foods Review: formerly known as Imperfect Produce, is a food delivery service that sends you produce and other goods that are defects, surplus, and normal. It is imperfect food and here is a negative review.
Imperfect Foods claims that they are there to help reduce food waste and the environmental impact that comes with it. While honestly, in theory it sounds good, but I had a negative experience and would not recommend this service.
Packaging
I was impressed by the lack of it and sustainability of what was included.
Almost. All. Wrong.
Upon further inspection. I noticed that almost all of the items in my box were wrong. The items that were there looked to be a significantly smaller portion size than that promised.
At this point I was pretty upset and contacted customer service which is a chat service on their website.
The customer service rep was very kind and I felt bad for her. She then pulled up a screenshot of what I had ordered when I customized my box last week.
Since so many items were missing or wrong, I then decided to weigh the items I did have. Below are the weights and for reference, it is in oz (16 oz= 1lb) and there should have been 1lb of each of these items. Not to mention the Avacodos included were extremely small and probably all seed.
So… out of my whole order, four things were correct.
- Onion
- Lemons
- Apples
- Lettuce
Customer Service
The customer service rep offered to only have me pay for those four items, which I accepted. I was still upset about paying for shipping. Their shipping is pricey, $5 for every order.
Essentially, I was paying $1 for each of these items to be shipped to me. I asked them to refund this as well and they agreed but in store credit (very disappointing).
General Review
There you have it. Something that is supposed to help curb food waste, contributing to it. They gave me food that I don’t normally eat and will probably give to one of my neighbors in a local “Buy Nothing” group. Not to mention the carbon footprint they did sending the wrong items to me.
This Imperfect Foods review shows that they need to make a change. To me the whole thing came off as a scam. This was evident in the weight of the items that were included. I’m sorry but if you say you are giving a pound of something, give them a pound. I don’t mind if it is small items or “ugly” but I want the amount advertised.
If you are still interested in getting a box, HERE is link for $10 off your purchase. Please let me know if it is better than the box I recieved.
Have you tried Imperfect Produce or something similar?
What was your experience with them?
6 Comments
Oh no, sorry to hear you had such a negative experience! I tried my first box last week and was impressed with everything except the amount of plastic used. I didn’t weigh anything though, so definitely will next time to be mindful of what I received vs. ordered.
Yeah it was pretty wild how messed up this box was. I’ve ordered it before when it was still Imperfect Produce and several times received expired foods.
It is coming off to me as them up charging discounted food which in a sense is gentrifying reducing food waste!
More power to you for bringing this up! Can’t believe they would do that, though. It sends them a strong message that they need to step up their service. And on our part, we all need to be more mindful of what we order online.
Oh no! I have been waiting for Imperfect Foods to become available in Arizona where I live but that sounds terrible! And a lot for shipping too! I think I will stick with shopping for produce at my local farmer’s market. 🙂 Thank you for the review!
Thank you for your honest review! You would think there are plenty of ‘imperfect foods’ to go around, it doesn’t make sense to me they would short you so much! Sorry to hear about your experience!
Yeah it’s unfortunate! It came off to me also like they didn’t care about double checking everything, sadly!