6 ms·

CookUnity fabricated an order with random items and charged my credit card

26 points by sillycross 5y ago

jonathanjaeger 5y ago
My boss got me on CookUnity and I use it because the taste/variety is good enough and I'd rather spend my time on my hobbies. Re: portion size, you just have to know what to pick to get your money's worth. The calorie counts looked way off in the past, and my boss actually contacted them about it. I still don't believe most of the calorie counts and breakdown of macros. I heard their service went downhill for some people but I've never had any issues, and a long time ago got a deserved refund for something. I always get alerts before the cutoff time, so you could "skip" that week rather than message customer service. I'm not saying the author's gripe isn't real, it is, but they've at least always been clear with my orders.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
MisterBastahrd 5y ago
The business model for these meal plan companies (there are a ton of them and they all essentially do the same thing) is to put you on a recurring subscription plan and pre-select meals for you if you do not choose them yourself. This is no different from every other subscription based recurring service aside from the meal selection portion. Customers like recurring billing because it takes the hassle out of writing checks, and companies love it because most people are going to cancel only after months of stopping to use the service.
- sillycross 5y ago
  Author here. Honestly $72+tax is not really much for me. What I'm disgusted is all the dirty tricks they used to secure this $72 deal: (1) They never made it clear that it is an automatic subscription system. They mentioned they ship only weekly and you need to pick your menu before some date so you can get food for that week, which seems like an explanation on their business model. But what they actually mean is that "if you don't explicitly cancel you will still get charged and get random food". This might be "every other meal plan company" does, but this is not any shopper (who are used to Amazon etc) like me would expect. (2) They intentionally never sent out notifications. The only email I get is the "confirmation" email. Then I immediately contacted support to cancel, and was told too late. Their bad intention is clear. (3) And in the end, I was forced to pay $72 for 6 meals that I have no interest in. So thanks to their dirty tricks, I paid the money, and not even getting the meals that I wanted.
  - void_mint 5y ago
    > So thanks to their dirty tricks We're defining "dirty tricks" as "clearly defining what's going to happen ahead of time", I guess.
  - allenrb 5y ago
    I would be enraged by this, as it seems you are. Have you considered a chargeback via your payment card? It seems justified given the lack of clarity and notification email sent after the deadline to cancel.
    - MisterBastahrd 5y ago
      Enraged? Every page on the site that is for customers says it's a subscription service. It's like being angry at getting shot because you got into a hobby of juggling loaded guns.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > They never made it clear that it is an automatic subscription system When did this supposedly occur? Checking the Wayback Machine, back to at least the beginning of 2020, CookUnity’s website has been lavishly explicit that what they are selling is, exclusively, subscription plans, and that those plans default to a company-chosen selection when the subscription is active (not paused) but no selection is made.
  - MisterBastahrd 5y ago
    They flat out tell you it's a subscription service. This is why you read the sales pitch and the TOS. https://www.cookunity.com/ https://www.cookunity.com/ "Subscribe now and change your life for the better!" https://www.cookunity.com/how-it-works https://www.cookunity.com/how-it-works "A few days before your next delivery, we’ll text with our recommendations. Stick with our selections or choose your own—it’s up to you. Need a break? You can reschedule, skip a week or pause your subscription anytime" https://www.cookunity.com/terms https://www.cookunity.com/terms "Purchases, Fees, and Payments When you first sign up for a subscription to a CookUnity weekly Plan (a “Plan”), you are charged only for the orders schedule on your weekly plan on a weekly basis. All Plans are continuous subscription plans, and you will be charged the applicable price listed for the Plan that you select on a weekly basis on your delivery day and each subsequent expected delivery date until your subscription is cancelled. If you wish to cancel or modify your subscription to a Plan, you can do so at any time as described in the “Cancel or Modify a Subscription” section below; however, except as noted otherwise below, any amounts charged to or paid by you prior to such cancellation or modification will not be refunded, and cancellations or modifications may not impact any order for which you have already been charged, depending on the state of the order."
dmcginty 5y ago
When I first read this I was 100% on the author's side, but after visiting CookUnity's site I have some reservations. Unless CU changed their website since this was posted (which was about an hour ago according to Github), they mention quite a few times that it's a subscription service. The banner at the very top of the page say "Subscribe now". One of the four entries in the FAQ is "My Subscription". The "How it works" page talks about how you can pause your subscription. Even the URL that the author links in the first paragraph is subscription.cookunity.com. All this being said, the solution to "how to handle a user that hasn't chosen their meals" should be to email them with a reminder instead of just choosing random things and charging their card. Also, sending the email after the cutoff to cancel the order is irresponsible, if not outright malicious. I'm not sure if this was illegal, but it definitely seems immoral.
- sillycross 5y ago
  Author here. I admit I might be missing the subscription part (perhaps because I don't know about how meal plan companies work). But my impression when I issued my first order is simply "this is just Amazon except that item is shipped weekly". That the company would "pick something for me" if I don't act is just beyond my imagination. And as you have pointed out, they intentionally not email any notification and only emailed me when I cannot cancel the order is immoral, which is another reason I was annoyed.
  - dangrossman 5y ago
    That the company would "pick something for you" was explained under "How does CookUnity Work" on the first page of the signup flow. The same page that says it's a subscription multiple times.
    - sillycross 5y ago
      I just checked this "How does CookUnity Work" thing again [1] .. So you are right, "pick something for you" is there. But it's hidden in a bunch of text, and the phrasing is unclear to me: > Our Chefs cook the meals available on each day’s menu in our community kitchen, every morning. Choose your meals or let our auto-pilot ordering select meals for you (you'll be notified of the selections in advance). I actually recall I reading this sentence on my first order. And my impression is "what? they are using auto-piloted cars to do delivery? I should go watch how that works when it comes" and I just overlooked what it actually meant :) [1] https://support.cookunity.com/en_us/how-does-cookunity-work-S13cwBWCL https://support.cookunity.com/en_us/how-does-cookunity-work-...

26 points by sillycross 5y ago

My boss got me on CookUnity and I use it because the taste/variety is good enough and I'd rather spend my time on my hobbies. Re: portion size, you just have to know what to pick to get your money's worth. The calorie counts looked way off in the past, and my boss actually contacted them about it. I still don't believe most of the calorie counts and breakdown of macros. I heard their service went downhill for some people but I've never had any issues, and a long time ago got a deserved refund for something. I always get alerts before the cutoff time, so you could "skip" that week rather than message customer service. I'm not saying the author's gripe isn't real, it is, but they've at least always been clear with my orders.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

MisterBastahrd 5y ago

The business model for these meal plan companies (there are a ton of them and they all essentially do the same thing) is to put you on a recurring subscription plan and pre-select meals for you if you do not choose them yourself. This is no different from every other subscription based recurring service aside from the meal selection portion. Customers like recurring billing because it takes the hassle out of writing checks, and companies love it because most people are going to cancel only after months of stopping to use the service.

sillycross 5y ago
Author here. Honestly $72+tax is not really much for me. What I'm disgusted is all the dirty tricks they used to secure this $72 deal: (1) They never made it clear that it is an automatic subscription system. They mentioned they ship only weekly and you need to pick your menu before some date so you can get food for that week, which seems like an explanation on their business model. But what they actually mean is that "if you don't explicitly cancel you will still get charged and get random food". This might be "every other meal plan company" does, but this is not any shopper (who are used to Amazon etc) like me would expect. (2) They intentionally never sent out notifications. The only email I get is the "confirmation" email. Then I immediately contacted support to cancel, and was told too late. Their bad intention is clear. (3) And in the end, I was forced to pay $72 for 6 meals that I have no interest in. So thanks to their dirty tricks, I paid the money, and not even getting the meals that I wanted.
- void_mint 5y ago
  > So thanks to their dirty tricks We're defining "dirty tricks" as "clearly defining what's going to happen ahead of time", I guess.
- allenrb 5y ago
  I would be enraged by this, as it seems you are. Have you considered a chargeback via your payment card? It seems justified given the lack of clarity and notification email sent after the deadline to cancel.
  - MisterBastahrd 5y ago
    Enraged? Every page on the site that is for customers says it's a subscription service. It's like being angry at getting shot because you got into a hobby of juggling loaded guns.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > They never made it clear that it is an automatic subscription system When did this supposedly occur? Checking the Wayback Machine, back to at least the beginning of 2020, CookUnity’s website has been lavishly explicit that what they are selling is, exclusively, subscription plans, and that those plans default to a company-chosen selection when the subscription is active (not paused) but no selection is made.
- MisterBastahrd 5y ago
  They flat out tell you it's a subscription service. This is why you read the sales pitch and the TOS. https://www.cookunity.com/ https://www.cookunity.com/ "Subscribe now and change your life for the better!" https://www.cookunity.com/how-it-works https://www.cookunity.com/how-it-works "A few days before your next delivery, we’ll text with our recommendations. Stick with our selections or choose your own—it’s up to you. Need a break? You can reschedule, skip a week or pause your subscription anytime" https://www.cookunity.com/terms https://www.cookunity.com/terms "Purchases, Fees, and Payments When you first sign up for a subscription to a CookUnity weekly Plan (a “Plan”), you are charged only for the orders schedule on your weekly plan on a weekly basis. All Plans are continuous subscription plans, and you will be charged the applicable price listed for the Plan that you select on a weekly basis on your delivery day and each subsequent expected delivery date until your subscription is cancelled. If you wish to cancel or modify your subscription to a Plan, you can do so at any time as described in the “Cancel or Modify a Subscription” section below; however, except as noted otherwise below, any amounts charged to or paid by you prior to such cancellation or modification will not be refunded, and cancellations or modifications may not impact any order for which you have already been charged, depending on the state of the order."

dmcginty 5y ago

When I first read this I was 100% on the author's side, but after visiting CookUnity's site I have some reservations. Unless CU changed their website since this was posted (which was about an hour ago according to Github), they mention quite a few times that it's a subscription service. The banner at the very top of the page say "Subscribe now". One of the four entries in the FAQ is "My Subscription". The "How it works" page talks about how you can pause your subscription. Even the URL that the author links in the first paragraph is subscription.cookunity.com. All this being said, the solution to "how to handle a user that hasn't chosen their meals" should be to email them with a reminder instead of just choosing random things and charging their card. Also, sending the email after the cutoff to cancel the order is irresponsible, if not outright malicious. I'm not sure if this was illegal, but it definitely seems immoral.

sillycross 5y ago
Author here. I admit I might be missing the subscription part (perhaps because I don't know about how meal plan companies work). But my impression when I issued my first order is simply "this is just Amazon except that item is shipped weekly". That the company would "pick something for me" if I don't act is just beyond my imagination. And as you have pointed out, they intentionally not email any notification and only emailed me when I cannot cancel the order is immoral, which is another reason I was annoyed.
- dangrossman 5y ago
  That the company would "pick something for you" was explained under "How does CookUnity Work" on the first page of the signup flow. The same page that says it's a subscription multiple times.
  - sillycross 5y ago
    I just checked this "How does CookUnity Work" thing again [1] .. So you are right, "pick something for you" is there. But it's hidden in a bunch of text, and the phrasing is unclear to me: > Our Chefs cook the meals available on each day’s menu in our community kitchen, every morning. Choose your meals or let our auto-pilot ordering select meals for you (you'll be notified of the selections in advance). I actually recall I reading this sentence on my first order. And my impression is "what? they are using auto-piloted cars to do delivery? I should go watch how that works when it comes" and I just overlooked what it actually meant :) [1] https://support.cookunity.com/en_us/how-does-cookunity-work-S13cwBWCL https://support.cookunity.com/en_us/how-does-cookunity-work-...