Taste Guru Subscription Box Review – May 2014

WOW!! I was wondering what was going on!!! I too purchased the 6-month Gilt voucher. My May and June boxes were these “chinsy” boxes!!!! I’ve gotten TG in the past and they were big boxes with several full sized items in them! And, actually, a co-worker also redeemed a Gilt voucher and has received the regular TG boxes! Not these small ones!! So, we can contact Gilt about getting a refund?
Thanks so much for your review!

I am so upset that I waited to use my voucher. May was my first and June was even worse. They sent me the Delallo orzo again. The value is below $10. Their customer service keeps closing my zendesk requests saying they are sorry I am not happy but, never answering questions. Attached is my box. They are not sending out the big brown boxes to those of us who used their gilt.com voucher. I subscribed last year and recommended the site to three people I know who are gluten-free. I cannot believe they are sending out such horrible subscription boxes. I hope to get an answer soon as to why I am getting these small boxes.

I wanted to update anyone who subscribed via Gilt City – I sent them photos along with my emails proving that Taste Guru is not sending people what they advertise. Gilt City is aware of the issue so if like me you either were not sent boxes or got this insult of a box for May contact Gilt City for a refund!
On another note even though it clearly states on Gilt City that it will NOT auto renew and people email them however if you do get charged I hope people start sending the information to the BBB! If enough people complain maybe they will finally stop!

Was charged $174 even though I was assured weeks ago that my sub was not auto renewing. I’m contesting this charge. With no April box in sight and a low value May box why would anyone renew?

I sincerely wish all gluten-free businesses the greatest success, but dealing with Taste Guru’s customer service has been an epic fail. I’ve had assurances that my April box would be delivered since March 18. Despite a flurry of emails confirming that I’m on the shipping list, it’s now June 2 without any indication the APRIL box is shipping. I feel others should be forewarned that the company is not fulfilling its deliveries.

I also had a 3 month subscription via Groupon. I received my first two boxes and did not receive my last box which was April 2014. I emailed the company and was told there was a shipping delay due to the holidays and it would go out within the next few weeks. I waited and did not receive a shipping notification and emailed them again. This time i was told she checked and made sure i was on the next shipping list. Today 6/1/14 i found you review and saw that i am not the only Groupon user this has happened to. I just emailed them again and said if i dont get my last box i will contest the charge. My other problem with this company is they “switched” servers and i was not able to log in to my account and cancel my subscription. Luckily i emailed them and they canceled prior to it autorenewing. Its a shame. I really enjoyed the GF products. It has potential if they would make things right.

My box was almost as bad! Lots of duplicates of nature valley bars and seaweed snacks that just seemed like they threw leftovers into my box. I subscribed via the 2FOR1 code starting in April. Will never subscribe again!!

I am another Gilt City subscriber who was burned by the May box. I finally managed to make contact with a *person* at Taste Guru via email. This is after the phone hung up on me. I told them in no uncertain terms that I wanted my account closed, just to make sure that they didn’t try to auto-renew. One hour after my email, I received a response from “Laura Cordes” stating that my subscription would be canceled on May 31.

When I received full boxes, I was fairly pleased with the service. But the rapid decline in quality and customer service is reprehensible.

Of course, they had the audacity to offer me a 20% off discount code. LOL

I received the same box as you and inquired about the three missing items and was told that the variety is not guaranteed and the boxes are sent at random. I’ve never seen such a poor response from a subscription box company. I was missing one piece of candy from a Love with Food box once and they sent an entire new box. Now that’s service!

I got the exact same box, and am sorta relieved because I thought I might be the only one to get a crummy box since I canceled and they knew it would be my last box.

I don’t subscribe to this box but I’m sorry you are going through this. I had to post a review like this once and the company stopped their subscription two months later. Hopefully they get things turned around.

I got the same meager contents as you Liz. Never received my April box. It’s still on the way, they say.

Thanks for this review. I signed up for the 3 month groupon and never received my final box. It was supposed to be coming in mid April. It is almost the end of May and the May folks have received theirs but I am sill boxless. I contacted them 4 times and each time they said it was on the way. Most recently this week. It is unfortunate that they are not truthful and honest with their customers. What a poor way to do business. I am out $20 for the box they never sent. Feel like I should go to BEtter. business bureau but it may not be worth it.

Can I ask if your tracking was through Fed-ex smart post or usps?

Ours is set to arrive at my boyfriends today but he doesn’t get home until late. It was sent Fed Ex Smartpost and definitely took longing than usps priority mail to get to him.

We got three boxes on our first subscription and all were good, full boxes. Skipped April and then resigned up this month for 3 more months through Gilt City. I’m crossing my fingers we just get lucky with a decent box, but if not, does Gilt City have a return policy or anything similar to Groupon’s for companies that don’t deliver what they say they will??

I received my May box but still haven’t received my April box which makes no sense whatsoever. I can’t even log into my account. Customer service takes about two weeks to finally respond, and they simply said that they are upgrading they’re system and some people didn’t receive the April box. They should have communicated that way before anyone has to email them. Everything in my May box was so crammed together the popcorn and crackers are basically crumbs. Which pretty much sums up this subscription – crumby.

I’m not really interested in food boxes but I read pretty much all of your reviews bc I enjoy them. Actually I have recently subscribed to nature box and graze due to your reviews so I guess I do like food boxes lol. What is wrong with Taste Guru? Who would pay $39 a month after receiving a box worth $10? I agree with u that they won’t be around longer and the Gilt City offer was probably just a way to get a few dollars before shutting down their operation.

Hey Liz, I also really appreciate the honesty. I was considering a subscription as a bday gift for my sis-in-law, who has a tough time finding yummy gluten free food. Now I have been warned. Unfortunately, It does sound like they are about to go under.

My last box of three was last month. I got four items, two of which were repeats from the previous month (figs and chips), and two granola bars, It wasn’t even worth the gilt city subscription price. Two of my three boxes were not delivered until I had emails with customer service, though I will say they were answered within 48 hours (weekday). I also got my subscription canceled by email instead of auto renewed which was one of the main complaints on the now disappeared Facebook comments. I jumped on that ahead of time because of those, and have the still saved email that says my account was canceled because I also saw complaints that a new charge showed up after people had been told they were canceled. I suggest anyone who bought the “nonrenewing” Gilt CIty coupon email to confirm that they will not auto renew. I too have a hard time figuring out what has gone wrong over there. I can see maybe getting in over their heads and not having the money to refund customers, so just trying to get something out there, and I’ll forgive that, but if they are taking new customers and providing this kind of product, they are being dishonest. If the quality of their boxes varies from person to person, they are also being dishonest. I don’t know, but I am done (I hope).

Taste Guru must not know who you are. I’m glad you wrote a bad review, I was starting to think this blog was just advertisements as it was too positive.

I signed up with the same code. The first two boxes I purchased last summer/fall were really good. The value was about equal to the cost of the box, and it seemed well curated. Then Taste Guru took over GFreely. I think this was the turning point. Many blogger’s were promoting Taste Guru for a long time because Taste Guru offered $15 to affiliates per new subscriber! I gave my final and fairly negative review in February, though my subscription ends in June.

Well, that’s just crud.

Hopefully they right their wrongs. I think several other subscription companies did things like this before calling it quits. Just saying ‘oh well’ is a horrible business move…

Fancy customer service is just as bad, they threw in a lot of junk from mystery boxes into the mothers day boxes. They didn’t reply to complaints and delete all negative comments

Liz,

Thank you so much for finally writing a negative review! All of your bloggers appreciate friendly critiques as well as well deserved criticism.

I stopped subscribing to Taste Guru because everything was either granola and pasta and make my own. The contents of this box makes me sad…

I am so glad you did this honest review. I subscribed last year for 4 months and loved it. I bought the gilt city 6 month deal and was going to gift it. I have 3 friends that are gluten-free completely. I ended up getting so busy that I forgot about it. I finally just had it sent to me. May was my first box. I was SHOCKED. I sent an e-mail and the boxes are random and may not contain what is advertised. I was basing it off my previous experience. Very disappointing. And so glad I did not send this directly to one of my friends. I would never pay full price for this box. I wish I would have used the gilt voucher earlier.

Completely unrelated to Taste Guru, but the brown rice pastas from Tinkyada are good if you’re looking for pasta that’s gluten free. Sold at Whole Foods and Amazon for sure. (And good for you because they’re whole grain.)