Mar 31 2009
Product Review - Seattle Coffee Direct
My article yesterday seemed to garner a lot of attention, as in our economy we are always looking for cost cutting strategies while still enjoying a few luxuries here and there. It is important to pick and choose your luxuries carefully and not to overspend.
In the previous coffee related article, I referred to Gevalia Coffee, however recently I had the opportunity to try another home delivery coffee service, called Seattle Coffee Direct. This is my review of the service, product and investment.
Because this was an experiment and not a true desire to obtain coffee monthly, we used a special credit card we have for such items. I review a lot of products, so we have a separate card set up for these situations. Let me first tell you, this was to our advantage in the long run, which I will explain in a bit.
It’s simple to just go to their website to sign up, and your coffee will be there in mere days. And I was intrigued by the companies claim of the “finest micro coffee roasts from around the world”, boasting of a “variety of flavors and blends straight to your doorstep”. I will admit I was impressed with the selection of flavors. We signed up for the current offer which was a 5 for $5 each offer - the problem is, it wasn’t 5 bags of coffee for $5.00 each, which might be worth it. It was 5 items for $5.00 each. I will say, they had lightening fast service and was surprised when the doorbell rang a couple of days later.
When the initial shipment arrived, there was not a coffee pot/coffee maker in the box, so already I was impressed (the fact is that I don’t need another one - and I love my coffee maker!). The shipment contained two travel coffee mugs, two standard coffee mugs and two different blends of their coffee - Cocoa Mocha Twist and Hawaiian Hazelnut. I have also had the pleasure of trying Dutch Chocolate, French Vanilla and Kahlua). I was excited to try the coffee, but I refrained until morning. That evening I checked my credit card statement and was a little surprised to see a $34.68 on the card we used. I went and back and went through the package again -It bothered me that I could purchase the same travel mugs at Walmart for about $3 and that the two mugs I received look exactly, and I mean exactly, like those that can be purchased at the dollar store. That in itself seemed like a rip off when you take a good look, but what surprised me further, was the cost of shipping and handling that had been added. Nearly $10 for a pretty small box. Okay. I was still on board though.
When I opened the coffee pouch the next morning, I was a bit surprised by how much coffee was in the package. It is certainly more than the competing company, and had a much stronger aroma. My mouth was instantly watering and the coffee couldn’t brew fast enough for me. I will state that the coffee is delicious. But that is all I’m going to say, because it is important that you do not misunderstand that it was not worth the cost of the product.
However, I happily enjoyed the mouth watering flavors each day for a week and a half until the doorbell rang again. Low and behold, another shipment - two more 12 oz. pouches of coffee. Checking the bill, another $36.95. Whoa! Hold on here - so this is for 2 pouches of coffee, plus shipping and handling? I don’t think so! That makes my coffee drinking come up to $444/year at that cost! And possibly more since I went through those FOUR pouches in a month (the two initial shipments and the two “scheduled” shipments - for the record, I did not schedule them for a week and a half later - it clearly stated that 3 weeks later I would receive another shipment which made me think 1/month - not so much), and that cost for four pouches/month would come up to $886/year. That’s FAR worse than Gevalia and you get a coffee maker from them! (sorry seriously just making light of an incredibly ridiculous situaiton)
At this point, I got curious and researched the company further. I found an unbelievably large amount of websites with thousands of complaints pointing to their unethical behaviors in not disclosing full cost for future shipments, sending more than the stated amount and an even larger number of complaints stating that the company was difficult to contact. At this point, I was thanking my lucky stars that we had decided to use our “review credit card” for the purchase, since the company knows me so well and knows how often we have had to dispute charges. It’s my job, what can I say.
I immediately looked on the statement for the phone number, and called the one listed (888-217-2233) expecting a long delay on hold (one complaint said it was almost 45 minutes), and the possibility of reaching a voice mail service (there were a lot that stated this). Well, that’s the one positive I can give the company at this point - in my experience, their customer service was very good. I was on hold less than 3 minutes and a real live person picked up at the other end. Within two minutes of the gentleman coming on the phone, I was back off. I waited two months to write this review, for the specific purpose to be sure it had indeed been cancelled and that no further charges would appear. That was exactly the case and my short lived stint as a Seattle Coffee Direct customer was ended easily and indefinitately with no further contact.
So, my final review? Superb coffee. Great customer service. Overly expensive product. Is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Please be sure and read other’s complaints here. Also, feel free to add your own complaintas and experiences with this company.
This beautiful baby was my second favorite Christmas gift this year. Among the clothes and accessories, knick knacks, books and other wonderful things I received, were two big boxes both from my mother. I was shocked when I saw the coffee maker, and was even more surprised when I opened the largest box and discovered this baby from my tiny wish list too. Isn’t it ironic that both of my favorite Christmas gifts were for my kitchen. I’m seriously a cooking addict.
Is this seriously the most beautiful thing ever? This was one of my Christmas gifts this year from my mother who always tries to get me whatever is on my wish list every year. This year I totally did not expect it because the coffee maker was a bit more than what we usually spend for Christmas all by itself.
