Name: Gousto
Rating: 2.45

“My box didn't get delivered, twice in a row. Gousto told me they'd issued a refund but did not, I suggested they provide me with some credit for the error, and Gousto then tried to avoid even giving me the refund. I attach part of the conversation, shortened slightly, with customer service below, so that you can see for yourselves how they dealt with it. After a whole hour, I got the refund and some account credit. James 8 Aug, 11:12 BST Chat started: 2019-08-08 09:05 AM UTC (09:05:20 AM) James: I haven't received a refund (09:05:25 AM) *** Renee joined the chat *** (09:05:29 AM) Renee: Hi James, your refund was processed successfully on the 1st August so it should be with you by now (09:07:52 AM) Renee: I would advise double checking with your bank (09:08:12 AM) James: could you confirm which refund you are referring to (09:09:24 AM) Renee: for £33.43 where you were charged twice (09:09:33 AM) James: this is not the refund i am referring to. i am due another refund after this one, because my box last week was not delivered, and that is the one that i have not received (09:10:19 AM) Renee: my apologies (09:10:24 AM) Renee: I'll be right back (09:13:25 AM) Renee: I do apologise for the delay in receiving this refund, it should be with you in 3-5 working days (09:14:30 AM) James: so just to confirm, not only have 2 boxes now not been delivered, and no discount offered on the late/non-delivery of these boxes, but in addition to this, the refund that i requested for goods that were never actually received was not processed, meaning that had i not been proactive in seeking this refund, it never would have even been received (09:15:35 AM) James: and in addition to this, on several occasions i have not been automatically provided with the discounts promised by the company for being a referred friend or referring a friend (09:15:49 AM) Renee: It was accidentally missed. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused (09:17:23 AM) James: i dont think accidentally mishandling customers money is a valid reason, as safeguards should definitely be in place to find this. (09:18:28 AM) Renee: I do understand your frustration and we will do everything we can to ensure this does not happen again (09:19:23 AM) James: that doesn't account for the amount of time i have spent talking to customer service trying to resolve these repeated problems, and every time i have spoken to somebody they have said they'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again. (09:21:05 AM) James: by not providing a refund you are in breach of chapter 24 of the consumer rights act 2015 under UK law, which means i am entitled to either compensation or a discount on further purchases. (09:29:24 AM) James: Is there any reason for the lengthy delay in response to my previous message? (09:30:36 AM) Renee: We are providing a refund in this case - it was a human error which has caused a slight delay in the refund being processed but it has now been resolved and the money will be back in the account shortly (09:32:41 AM) James: You failed to provide a refund on request. The refund would have never been received had I not realised and contacted you again, costing me even more time. You don't agree that this is absolutely terrible customer service and worthy of any kind of compensation or credit to my account? (09:42:31 AM) James: Again any reason for the delay in replying? (09:43:00 AM) Renee: We are just investigating, apologies for the delay (09:43:21 AM) Renee: We issued a refund of £33.43 28/07 and £33.43 on 01/08 so both should be with by now (09:43:28 AM) Renee: apologies for the mix up (09:43:52 AM) James: the refund in question was issued on 02/08, and I have the transcript to prove this (09:45:00 AM) James: would just like to note here that the number of refunds is a credit to how terrible the delivery service has been (09:48:20 AM) Renee: Yes that's correct, I have notified management of this and it has been processed. In terms if credit there isn't much we can do in this instance (09:48:26 AM) Renee: I do apologise (09:49:00 AM) James: so to confirm, you just tried to not give me the refund AGAIN, and you are now saying that you WILL provide the refund? (09:49:54 AM) Renee: There was a mix up with the dates but yes the refund will be provided (09:50:45 AM) James: And you are also saying that despite now on 2 occasions trying to prevent me from getting a refund that I am entitled to, you are also saying that you refuse to even provide credit to my account to acknowledge the significant inconvenience this has caused me? (09:52:15 AM) James: And you consider this to be an acceptable level of customer service? (this continued until they gave me some credit in acknowledgement of their mistake)”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Disgraceful customer service. Charged me full price for 1st months boxes (should have been 50% off) then sent me boxes I didn’t order (at full price) even though I cancelled them when I realised they were coming. Hit brick wall with customer services (they don’t answer the phone even after 1/2 hr). Your order history disappears from your account. DO NOT GIVE THIS COMPANY your bank/credit card details!!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Okay good but absolutely awful customer service. I was promised a refer a friend discount but they wouldn't allow it claiming that my account details were duplicated and implying i already had an account. They refused to give me the discount i was entitled to, and it took over an hour on customer services to deal with this as the replies were so slow and unhelpful. Additionally, one of my friends who uses gousto had a box arrive FIVE DAYS LATE and was not offered a refund.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Absolutely deplorable customer service. Paused my account as I was waiting for a new bank card and for some reason you can't cancel your account and remove your bank details without going through about ten different channels to request for them to cancel your account which they can also refuse. Shady. A week later I get an email that my box is arriving and showing me what's in - first of all I didn't pick any of this, I paused so shouldn't be receiving anything and they were trying to send me shellfish which I was extremely allergic to. I contacted them to explain and get them to stop the delivery (at this point the box hasn't even been put together and the delivery wasn't for another 5 days which meant another 4 days for them to cancel it and stop my box being put together) they said they could see I "tried to pause" my subscription but it's too late for me to cancel now because they've already told their suppliers that they need the ingredients for my order and it wouldn't be cost effective for them to try and cancel it... Are you kidding me. The payment was declined because my aced had expired yet they were still pushing this box on me and even said "don't worry we're still going to just send you the box then you have to pay as soon as possible" - seriously. So I hadn't even payed, I canceled it, I was telling them I could literally die from being near two of the main ingridents in the box, they DO have plenty of time to cancel my box etc... They just don't want to and are blatantly telling me they're going to force the box on me anyway and still send it then make me pay. No. I refused the delivery and made the driver take it away, they're currently still trying to make me pay and are threatening me with a debt collector. Customer service is slow and extremely rude, their policies are very Shady and they will keep your bank details even after cancelling your account, you can't just cancel your account without emailing multiple times and waiting weeks, every single box I had was missing vital ingridents that I had to go out and buy defeating the whole point. Terrible service, do not use and beware.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Absolutely deplorable customer service. Paused my account as I was waiting for a new bank card and for some reason you can't cancel your account and remove your bank details without going through about ten different channels to request for them to cancel your account which they can also refuse. Shady. A week later I get an email that my box is arriving and showing me what's in - first of all I didn't pick any of this, I paused so shouldn't be receiving anything and they were trying to send me shellfish which I was extremely allergic to. I contacted them to explain and get them to stop the delivery (at this point the box hasn't even been put together and the delivery wasn't for another 5 days which meant another 4 days for them to cancel it and stop my box being put together) they said they could see I "tried to pause" my subscription but it's too late for me to cancel now because they've already told their suppliers that they need the ingredients for my order and it wouldn't be cost effective for them to try and cancel it... Are you kidding me. The payment was declined because my aced had expired yet they were still pushing this box on me and even said "don't worry we're still going to just send you the box then you have to pay as soon as possible" - seriously. So I hadn't even payed, I canceled it, I was telling them I could literally die from being near two of the main ingridents in the box, they DO have plenty of time to cancel my box etc... They just don't want to and are blatantly telling me they're going to force the box on me anyway and still send it then make me pay. No. I refused the delivery and made the driver take it away, they're currently still trying to make me pay and are threatening me with a debt collector. Customer service is slow and extremely rude, their policies are very Shady and they will keep your bank details even after cancelling your account, you can't just cancel your account without emailing multiple times and waiting weeks, every single box I had was missing vital ingridents that I had to go out and buy defeating the whole point. Terrible service, do not use and beware.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“They promise promotion for a month and then cancel it earlier. Ridiculous. Meals are poor (pasta rice and chicken all the time), repetitive menu, small portions. High calorie food while portions are small (no idea how they do that). Much worse than hello fresh.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Your meat is so sub standards it's such a shame as I really like gusto but i can't handle the meat being full of grissle and lumps Sad for a great company and a great business idea. Avoid the mince yuk!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Had a salesman call at my door, trying the hard sell. Told him I was not interested as I believe it to be a very pricey way of buying food. Also I found the questioning very intrusive. When he realised I was not interested, he have me a filthy look and was very condescending. Extremely rude and patronising. I was glad to see the back of him as I locked my door.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Poor quality and damaged ingredients combined with delayed deliveries, a frequent occurance, avoid!”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Same story as others - persistent door to door salesperson signed me up to the service and placed an order for me assuring me it was a one-off trial. I ignored subsequent emails after the one confirming my order until I got another one saying my next order had been selected on my behalf. I didn’t order these and it turns out it includes 2 meals I am allergic to. When I contacted them to cancel - it was 2 days and 15hours before delivery but not in the 3day cut off so told to read my emails more carefully in future and to donate the food I can’t eat to some friends.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I am completely disgusted by this company. A door to door salesman knocked selling us a one off trial box of our choice, no ties no subscription just a TRIAL ! and IF i wanted to order again then I could if I chose to. The box arrived I wasn’t overly impressed as I am a busy mum of 3 who works and husband works long hours. Iv realised the way it has been done, the salesman said to download the app so I did in front of him picked the food I wanted and put my bank details in. By doing this it has tied me into a subscription! Absolutely outrageous! Why not just be honest to people about having to deleted a subscription that you have just tied them into. My sister has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and the last thing I need to be checking is to cancel a subscription I was told by a salesman it definitely wasn’t . A company taking people’s money and being dishonest. This has bought me to tears this morning as I just don’t need it and nearly £50 spent I just don’t have .”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Very disappointing. First week I had one portion of rotten chicken, the second week two portions of rotten chicken and the third week the box didn't show up until 22.45 in the evening and everything was floating in water because the freezer bag had leaked. I did get a refund for the chicken but then the meal is down the drain and you have to start improvising to replace the chicken. Besides, the amount of plastic this company uses is also unacceptable. Ok they claim to be doing something about it but that doesn't solve the problem at the moment and seriously, it's astronomical the amount of plastic. Every teaspoon of herb is in a small plastic bag and so on. Some of the meals were tasty but if I can't rely on the produce to be fresh, then what is the point in ordering from them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I made my first order in food faith, I had friends order for a dinner party and decided to order through Gousto. The order was placed to be delivered on the 19th of January having placed the order a week in advance. On the day off the delivery I had stayed in during the timeslot booked when to my amazement I was informed the delivery could not be made and a calling card left. Interesting as I have CCTV at home and when I informed Gousto, this was simply ignored and I was informed some days later this box off fresh food in fact could not be re delivered as the box was damaged. The fact no one had tried to deliver and I was lied to did not get resolved and because I was not happy I emailed in requesting a refund and not that the company was a least bit interested I had to dash out and buy ingredients last minute for the dinner party I was hosting. After 4 days I was informed a refund was made. And the subscription was cancelled. To my utter shock another payment was taken by the company and an order placed of my behalf. When I questioned this I was informed I had received the emails informing me to place an order and a reminder. I can categorically say no emails were received and after such a shocking service I would never use this company again. A company that not only lies to its customers but also removes money from there account. I feel so strongly against this service I have contacted trading standards and will make sure another customer does not suffer at the hands of gousto.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Had a Gousto account for a few months. The food was average at best. Food portions were just right however. So decided to skip my orders for a few weeks and just forgot about it. On Friday morning, I receive a message from them saying they (Gousto) prepared an order for me without my authorisation. I cancelled this order on Friday morning and they now claim it was too late to cancel an order that THEY prepared for me without my authorisation. So now, we have a situation where they are going to send me food that I don't really want. So, food wastage! And they have charged me £34.99 for food that I didn't really want or authorize. Called them on the phone and encountered really rude condescending customer service. When I tried to explain that I did in fact try to cancel, the lady said I just couldn't have the option to cancel so now, they will apparently start an investigation on Monday! I have now cancelled my account with them and will try another service! Avoid for the customer service alone. They entice you with 2 weeks half price and then treat customers very rudely.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Similarly I ordered a box and paid £24. I unexpectedly received another box of food the following week which I had not ordered but which Gousto had deducted another £24 for. I have just spoken to them and so far they have refused to return my £24 saying that I had subscribed...which I had not. Then I was told I had been sent an e-mail which told me that if I didn't decline they would choose another box of food for me and send it!!!! On reading those e-mails I discovered that this is in fact what happened. How is this right? I believe this to be a fraudulent and deceitful way to conduct business and will be contacting trading standard if this is not resolved to my satisfaction.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

“I had a Gousto rep call at the house to tell me about the service the company provides. Excitedly i placed an order but it failed to be delivered. When I called the helpline they had no record of my order and despite their best efforts they could not trace my order. I am now having to contact MasterCard to get a refund on my credit card. A lot of hassle. Don't use this service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

“They are not free they taken £47 out of my bank asap and I have to wait 3-5 working days for a refund don't not use them they are a rip off”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
Average Delivery Time	Within 5 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 45%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 60%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour

Gousto Reviews