Ruth S.

I sent Whole Foods the following email to customer support at Whole Foods: I purchased a tritip roast from the Wayne Avenue store last week. I prepared the roast and it was inedible. I went to the store today with my receipt and the label from the roast. I am curious why the person in customer service could not just refund my money directly. She had to put weight on the scale to reach the weight of the roast to refund my money. If I had brought the meat back in, the weight would not have been correct anyway. I have never seen such an inefficient way of returning an undesirable product. No other store does this. I am hesitant to purchase meat again from Whole Foods with this silly return policy.

This is the reply that I received. I am incredulous!:
Hello. Thank you for contacting Whole Foods Market. I am very sorry to hear about your experience with returning the meat at the Silver Spirng store. The reason the store needs the meat to be physically weighed is due to the high price of meat making it easy for people to take advantage of the return policy. Please know that we take every complaint seriously to ensure that our customers feel satisfied with their shopping experiences.

I WILL NEVER BUY THE SUCKY MEATS AT WHOLE FOODS AGAIN!

Someone from customer service emails me and promises me a call. Shall I call it, "THE CALL THAT NEVER COMES?" Just another reason to STAY AWAY! What a joke!

I have been ordering from this company for years. When I went on vacation to Los Angeles this summer, I placed a substantial order to be sent to my hotel. Lucky Vitamin held my order because of the change in the shipping address, but did not notify me.

When I inquired, I asked them to express ship my order at their cost because of their failure to notify me. Remember, I was a consistent customer, spending over $1,000 a year with them! They refused and were rude. Apparently, my money is not good enough for them and they, like THRIVE MARKET, don't give a hoot about losing revenue.

I tried to contact their parent company, GNC and was disconnected one time, promised a callback two times, and never heard from anyone. I am no longer paying their salaries by making purchases from Lucky Vitamin.

When these small companies become successful, they are sold to horrible corporations: Lucky Vitamin=GNC, Jet.com=Walmart, Vitacost=Kroger... and, of course, Amazon just bought Whole Foods.

Small businesses used to be the "backbone" of American Business. No more! This is very, very dangerous and very sad!

On Friday, my wife and I went to Expo East in Baltimore MD. It is a trade show for retailers. We have been attending for many years to add products to our business and to see what is new out there.

There are many, many gluten-free products on the market. We tasted plenty of gluten-free pizzas at the show. However, Sonoma Flatbreads outshone them all. Unfortunately, their brand is not available in the Washington DC area; the closest is Frederick MD which is too far to travel. The next time I visit relatives in Cleveland, I will be bringing back Sonoma Flatbreads Pizzas and will be filling my freezer.

Look them up. If they service your area, chow down.