ComplaintsforGuaranteed Foods, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  02/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We heard about guaranteed foods from my wife’s Facebook friends it seemed like a good deal. We started trial where we paid $617.93 a month for the food and $86.50 a month for the freezer provided which they made us use instead of a freezer we own already saying we had to so if the food went bad they would replace it. After trial period we decided it was too much money so we went down to $340 a month for the food. And they got us at the end of the trial by saying if we pay $4 more we can be purchasing the freezer instead of renting it. So we though ok sounds good not realizing few months later the freezer is a $3500 freezer when coming to find that out contacted them and wanted the freezer gone they declined our request and said they don’t do refunds and we have to pay it off. Another thing is the food is supposed to last 6 months which it only lasted about 3 months so I still had to pay them and buy groceries for my family of 5. They offer a deal for every friend you get on is $100 which explains the Facebook friend another thing is if you look up the part number on the freezer is not even $1000 and they way over charging for it and when telling this to them they say the additional cost is for their services and fees. I don’t know if there is anything that can be done about this or not mainly we just want the freezer gone and the payments for it gone. And the money we have paid for the freezer already would be nice to have back which is $468 but not worried about it to much.

  Business response

  03/12/2024

  see attached

  Thank you for forwarding me Matthew *******’s ‘review’ of several weeks ago.  I am very familiar with the good work and services of the BBB as I served as Vice-chairman and, then, Chairman of the Board of the Better Business Bureauof Greater Kansas City when *** ******* was the long-serving president.  It looks like the BBB has centralized Midwest operations in Omaha to cover a wider geographical area..

   

  To explain in writing what Guaranteed Foods does (we’re a professional Home foodservice), how we do it, how we interacted with the ******* family and how we resolved their concerns 10 days ago will take some time. But, because I couldn’t find a local phone number where I could explain it verbally, and I could not get the reply code you sent me to work, please bear with me as I try to explain in writing.

   

  We received your forwarded complaint (21336200) two weeks ago, Friday, 2/23/24, from Matthew ******* of Abilene, KS.  On Saturday, 2/24/24, I emailed Matthew and told him I was concerned about his complaint, that I would be talking to all my people whom he had dealt with by Monday 2/26/24 and would get back with him then.  He emailed me on Sunday, 2/25/24, saying he had not expected a response that quickly and thanked me for getting back with him.  Subsequently, we set a time to talk by phone on Monday evening, 2/26/24, any time after 5:30 PM to resolve his situation.

   

  I emailed him at 5:30 PM on Monday evening and I set up a definite time to talk with him and his wife at 6:30.

   

  At 6:30 PM on Monday, 2/26/24 – which was the next business day after we received your review – I called him.  He confirmed that Mrs. ******* (Sarah) could hear the conversation on his cellphone speaker.

   

  We reviewed the facts.  He explained that last spring they had heard about Guaranteed Foods via Facebook from someone they knew who said how much they liked our food and service, and indicated they were saving money as our customer.  So, *******’s then contacted our company for more information.

   

  One of our Food Counselors, Jenni ***** responded to them by phone, answered their questions and set a time to meet with them by Zoom on May 12, 2023.  At the Zoom meeting, she did a complete Personalized Menu Analysis to determine how much food they were using, and would need, and an approximate cost, attached.  (*******’s sent you the rest of the paperwork they completed.)  As the menu analysis shows, they told Jenni they were currently spending about $300-350 a week on food and groceries and needed approximately 36 main meal servings per week.  [So you’ll know, our company specializes in portion-packaged and blast frozen, All-Natural main-meal meats – poultry, beef, pork, seafood, etc. – plus high-quality prepared entrees, side dishes, appetizers and desserts.  Some customers also purchase breakfast meats and breakfast sandwiches.] 

   

  At Guaranteed Foods, we typically set up each new customers on a six-month, 180-day trial program so families can determine if what we do fits their needs.  Based on the family’s size, food budget, diets, food allergies, etc., we customize a food supply for that family and quote them a price – daily, weekly, monthly, etc.  If they decide to try us, we have them complete a credit application because, with us, they do not pay for the food up front.  Instead, we let them pay for their purchase - interest-free - as the use the food, with the first installment not starting till 30 days after delivery. 

   

  If the family’s credit is approved, we place in their home on a short-term lease, one of our heavy-duty Foodservice Center^© units (it’s like a freezer but with many more features to protect the food), so that they have a place to store the food supply.  We also subsidize that short-term lease of $19.95/wk. by giving them a 25% discount on their food purchase. 

   

  And, our agreement with each new customer is that if, after completing the 180-day trial period, they don’t want to continue as our customer - for whatever reason - they can cancel our service and have no further obligation to us provided only that they have made their six monthly installments on time.  If so, at their request, we’ll pick up the Foodservice Center^© unit we placed in their home, cancel the lease and that’s the end of the relationship.  No further obligation on either side.

   

  So you’ll know, Guaranteed Foods has been in business since 1958.  In 2000 we changed our marketing, introducing the Risk-free, In-home Trial service so families can decide if they’d like to become a long-term customer of Guaranteed Foods.  Normally, we retain 90-95% of the families who try us.  Of course, some choose to opt out because of divorce, illness, job loss, etc.; or they decide we’re just not for them.  Seldom do we ever lose customers because of our quality, service or pricing.

   

  In talking with Matthew, on 2/26/24 he told me they were very happy with the quality, convenience and price of the first food supply we delivered to them. Because of the size of the food supply they needed, our food counselor set it as a four-month supply of about 40 adult-size, main meal entrée servings per week.  The food supply lasted then the full four months.  Although, so they could have a few more servings of some of our products they found they particularly liked, in July we did swap out a few products for them at no additional charge.

   

  The financial numbers on their food order looked like this…

   

  Our Food Counselor quoted them a figure of $175.95 per week they’d be spending with us out of the $300-350 a week they were spending.  However, because of fluctuations in market prices and meat weights, the ACTUAL price came to ONLY $165.55 a week, including everything except the sales tax on the food which we have to collect up front.  

   

  In fact, when our Customer Care Manager, Jennifer *******, did her normal, in-home, personal call-back on them in late July, the *******’s decided they liked us well enough that they decided to switch - from leasing – to purchasing - the Foodservice Center© unit we had placed in their home.  The effect of that switch was that the *******’s received an additional 5% lifetime discount on all their food purchases from us and their weekly price on the unit increased by less than a dollar.  The net result was a savings of a few dollars a month.

   

  They loved the food.  They had plenty of it.  There was just one problem: 

   

  Because their total income for the family of five is only about $700 a week, when it came time to reorder in September, the *******’s told our Customer Care Manager, Jennifer *******, that they had trouble making their payments with us.  And they asked her if they could cut the size of their reorder to where the food payments would only be about $80 a week vs. the $142 they had paid on their first food supply.  Jennifer told them they COULD do that, but that, if they did, they would run out of food and still have payments left.  They told her they could always go to the store to fill in and Jennifer told them they would definitely need to do that because if they didn’t, they’d probably use up the food they got from us in three months but be paying for it over six months.   The *******’s assured her they would supplement at the store because they definitely wanted a lower monthly payment with us.

   

  So, against her better judgment (but because we cannot force anyone to purchase any certain amount of food), Jennifer let them cut their reorder from a 4-month supply of 631 servings (about 36/week) at a price of +/- $140/week to a 6-month supply of 482 servings (about 18/week) at a price of +/- $80 a week.  This cut their monthly food installment from $618/month to $340/month, which is what they wanted.  

   

  But, Jennifer was concerned and put the following memo in our system at that time:

                                                                               

  9/17/23 11:35A J.*******    Sarah is planning to supplement at the store to

  get their dollars down with us. The first order was

                         difficult for them budget wise. We put them on a

  six-month inventory and lowered their servings. She

                         felt much more comfortable under $350/month.

   

  The first we heard of any dissatisfaction from *******’s was THREE MONTHS LATER, December 6, 2023, when Matthew called and talked to our Operations Manager, **** ********.  Greg put the following memo in our system:    

                                                                                 

  12/06/23 12:19P G.********   Matthew called to ask about cancelling.  He wanted

                                                          to know if he can send the unit back.  I covered

                                                          that it was being purchased and is not on a lease.

                                 I said there was nothing to cancel and that it was up  

                                 to them as to when they place the next order.   They  

                                 are in the middle of one right now.  Sounded like he

                                 was looking to cut his budget back in places.    

   

  We heard nothing more from *******’s until February 2024, two months later, when Matthew called again.  At that time he again talked to Greg.  Here is Greg’s memo on that conversation:           

   

  2/07/24 05:36P G.********   Mr. called about unit again.  He said he still wanted

                                                       to return the unit and cannot afford it plus he

                                                     ran out of food early and still needs to buy food

       to feed his family.  Family of 5.  Not much income

       showing.  He said he thinks it is all ‘snakey.’  

       I tried to talk with him about running out early and

       his comment and he hung up on me.   I will ask Tami

       to reach out to see what can be done for him since

       he has several free food coupons from converting.   

   

  Tami (*********) our SVP in charge of food sales, asked Customer Care Manager Jennifer ******* to again follow up with *******’s.  Before she could, Mathew called her,  asking if he could have the unit picked up and reverse the purchase of the unit.  Jennifer’s memo states. “They ran out of food before the end of the inventory. I reviewed with him the conversation we had when designing the 1st reorder. They wanted to bring their dollars down, so we went from a 4-month inventory to 6 months and came down 200 servings to keep their total under $350/month. However they still chose to have appetizers, desserts and breakfast. At that time we discussed that they would need to supplement at the store, or they would run out of food before it was time to restock. He told me today they have done that ‘a little bit‘ but still ran out”.                                                

   

  On February 22^nd, Jennifer further wrote:      

                            

  2/22/24 02:52P J.*******    Offered to work with him to design a new food supply

  focusing on the meal making foods and eliminating

  the extras, giving them more servings for the full inventory.

  He said they are not interested. He asked that I send.

  over a copy of the purchase agreement of the unit.                              

   

  Later that day, Jennifer wrote:

   

  2/22/24 03:56P J.*******    Put together a mock order and emailed it with the

                                                             purchase order agreement. Increased the quantity of

  the meats and sides and eliminated the breakfast,

  appetizers and desserts. Came in with 655 main meal

  servings at $83/week. The same dollars as the first reorder

  with 173 more main meal servings plus increased sides.

  Sent the mock order and comparison to the *******'s.                            

   

  Jennifer heard nothing back but the next day I got the review from the BBB.

   

  As I analyzed the above, I realized that Matthew was having financial problems, having trouble making payments on the food they had already eaten and still having to go to the store to get food.  And I explained to him that in his efforts to lower his payments heput himself in a position to run out of food because he did not supplement our (smaller) food supply with food from the store as Jennifer had told him he’d need to do.

   

  I said that I realized he still had two payments left on our food he had eaten, and I was sure that was a burden.  Although we had no obligation to do so, I told Matthew on the phone that I would send him two months worth of food FREE.  I told him I’d have Jennifer call Sarah the next day and they could work up an order (which they did.)  I told him we’d deliver the food within the week so he wouldn’t have to go to the store to buy food. I also told him, that if he wanted us to, we would pick up our Foodservice Center© and cancel his purchase of it, even though we had no legal obligation to do it.  I asked him to make his regular monthly payment on the unit ($20/week) during March and April while they used the approximately $900 of food we’d be delivering to them at no charge.  He agreed.

   

  Three days later, I personally rode with Todd ********, my VP of Distribution, to Abilene, KS, and watched as he delivered and stocked $900+ of food at no charge into the Foodservice Center©.  Sarah thanked us over and over again for giving them the food.  Matthew was nothome but told me on the phone that he would write you and explain that we had taken care of their situation (I don’t know if he has.)  He also said he wanted to call Greg our Operations Mgr.) and apologize for hanging up on him; he said that wasn’t like him to do that.  I said he didn’t need to do that; we understand he was frustrated.  He apologized for writing the BBB and explained to me that he had asked his mother what to do and she told him to send you a letter.

   

  I asked Matthew if he had considered getting food stamps to help feed his family. He said he made too much money.  I’m not sure so I’m checking to see if I can help them get food stamps, even though we don’t accept them.   

   

  That’s the full, long story of an unfortunate episode that has taken up way too much of our time.  Had I been aware of the *******’s income, we would never have accepted their application to become a customer to begin with, despite the fact he has very good credit.   And, four months later, when they said they had trouble making the payments on the first food supply they purchased, we should have cancelled their account at that point instead of letting them place another order with smaller payments, and expecting they would supplement it with food from the store. 

   

  It was a costly mistake on our part, but to my knowledge we’ve satisfactorily handled the *******’s concerns.  Certainly, we’ve tried.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me by phone or email. 

   

  Sincerely,

   

  Tom Williams, President

  Guaranteed Foods, Inc.

  6450 Vista Drive

  Shawnee Mission, KS 66218-9239

  913-888-5000

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