Farmer and the Dale

I had been a customer of Farmer and the Dale for the last 5 years. Something over the last 18 – 24 months has changed. I’ve experienced one problem after another with poor communication, deliveries to the wrong address, spoiled produce and repeated substitutions. I have been reluctant to cancel because I really liked having fresh produce delivered to my door, but the cost per unit goes up substantially when the produce is spoiled or overly ripened. On the positive side, I took pictures of spoiled produce a couple of times and sent them to Nick, who promptly refunded a portion of my basket price. But most of the time, unless something was grotesquely rotten, I just put up with throwing it out and counted it as part of the cost for the convenience. However, that cost /​benefit ration has recently tipped where it is no longer worth tolerating the many problems. The website for ordering produce is poorly maintained so one is never sure whether an item is available — I think it reasonable to expect that all the listed produce is available. Occasional substitutions are not a problem for me, but substitutions every delivery are just not good management. In mid-​January, I gave notice that I wanted to cancel the month of February because we were traveling. I was shocked to find that I was charged for the entire month, though no basket was delivered (as has happened in the past when I suspended service for vacation). Still, I didn’t want to cancel, but each delivery brought another disappointment with quality and the repeated substitutions (which always seemed to be broccoli, and we do not eat). I finally cancelled the day after my PayPal debit for this current week, requesting that today’s delivery be the last and I suspended the PayPal debit from my end. This morning I put out the basket and later heard the delivery guy on the porch. By the time I got to the porch, the basket was taken but no produce was left in the container I left out for that purpose with a note. I was furious. Later in the morning, I emailed Nick and early this afternoon I did receive a PayPal credit — however, the fact that I had to demand the credit takes away from the response. If their policy now is to charge for baskets when service is temporarily suspended for travel, then that should be on the website. Additionally, someone needs to be dedicated to keeping the website up-​to-​date all the time. And for heaven’s sake, if you have to substitute, at least look at what people order regularly and try to give them something they actually use — you already have the orders in digital format, it shouldn’t be hard to check.

Like Michelle B., communication has been a huge issue, and for others we know as well, with Farmer and the Dale. We’ve been a bi-​weekly subscription customer for about 9 months now. My wife was on maternity leave for a while and F&D were good during that time about changing delivery locations, and on one occasion, holding an order when we were out of town.
The major issues didn’t begin until December 2013. More than a week ahead of time, my wife called to ask that they hold our order since we were going to be out of town for the Christmas holiday. But the produce was delivered to my wife’s work the day we were leaving and so we had to give most of the produce away rather than having it spoil. Since then, we were charged for delivery the first week of January but the delivery never arrived. Even worse, one of my wife’s co-​workers, following a recommendation from my wife, signed up for weekly deliveries in early December but has yet to receive her first delivery. However, she’s been charged three times.
We, and my wife’s co-​worker, have both tried repeatedly to contact someone at F&D via phone, email and their website to see what the heck is going on over there. At the time of this review, nobody has gotten back to either of us.
It’s really too bad because I really want to like this company for the things they do right. The delivery guy is really nice, and when they do deliver your produce they almost always pad the order with additional produce you didn’t request but are pleasantly surprised to receive. The convenience of being able to start and stop orders, and switch delivery locations is really nice as well — if and when you can actually get a hold of someone to initiate those changes… For now, it’s these still promising features of F&D customer service that prevent me from giving them one or two stars. However, if my payment/​delivery issues aren’t resolved soon, I’ll be back to update my rating — and will likely have to take other action as well.

A great timesaver to have fresh, organic produce delivered to my door. I like how they allow customers to try their service without committing to a month long service. Plus there are no extra crate/​bin fees or deposits, which is a plus.
All of the produce I selected was high quality. The person who delivered it to my door was friendly and professional as well. I’d recommend this service to anyone looking to save a little time or anyone who wants farmers market quality produce delivered to their front door. Great service!

[UPDATE: I still have had no communication from FAD, but I did receive a refund in my Paypal account today. So, I’m adding a star to the rating.]
I am all for supporting local businesses, and that’s why I started service with this group. I paid $ 30.00 (auto-​debit from my Paypal account) for 10 units of produce to be delivered every Thursday. I received two deliveries, and then I canceled the service. I was billed for the third delivery, but it was never delivered. When I emailed the company directly AND through the website, I received no response. It has been a full week, and still no response. I simply asked to either receive my third deliver or get a refund to my Paypal account. I have heard nothing, so I’m assuming this was a $ 30.00 lesson in «don’t pay until you have product in hand» and «don’t ever allow anyone to auto-​debit your accounts, Paypal or otherwise!»
As far as the produce goes, most of it was good. On the second delivery, I received a basket of cherry tomatoes that were overripe. About ¹⁄₃ of the tomatoes were split open and leaked all over the rest of them. I emailed the company about the tomatoes, but I received no reply. The carrots were very soft but usable. The avocados had a lot of black parts in them, and I had to throw one out altogether. I got corn on the cob in both deliveries, and I was very disappointed because it was perfect picking time for the corn, but the ears I received were very bad (lots of missing kernels, very uneven rows, and not sweet). The second delivery of corn like this is what made me decide to cancel.
Most of the fruit we received was good, and the green veggies were good, too. I gave 2 stars because of the poor communication, poor produce (that was in season and should have been very good), and the fact that I never got my last (paid for) delivery after I canceled.
My advice: go to the farmer’s market.

I’ve been a customer for about 6 months now and I am very pleased with the quality of produce I receive at each delivery. I originally joined in an effort to include more fresh produce into my diet, but I found that it inspires my culinary creativity by having beautiful, less common produce easily available. I’ve found that the customer service is top notch and the produce is very flavorful. I often find extra treats in my deliveries.
FATD offers a weekly 10 unit package and a bi-​weekly 10 unit package. There is also a one time 10 unit package available to try out the service, but it’s a few extra $$. Produce selection is completed on the website and can be changed as often as weekly if desired. They do a pretty good job with keeping the website up to date with the seasonal produce. I am at work when produce is delivered, so I leave an ice chest on my patio which the delivery person always cafefully packages in my ice chest to keep the produce from wilting in the hot weather.
If you are a fan of organic produce (which most of the selections are) and have a busy schedule, this is a great way to save some time and still eat nutritiously. I’m never going back.