UPDATED: Company finally, a month later after the BBB's intercession, agreed to refund my order as well as pay the postage to ship items back...hence, honoring their 100% money-back guarantee.
Regarding my original review: As you can see it has been removed by me as unfortunately included in the company's response dated today, 08/04/2020, to my BBB claim I initially filed on 07/14/2020, they have "kindly" requested for me to remove my negative review stating it contained untrue information about their business practices and I quote:
“If this is not removed, we will need to take action as we will not allow anyone to spread inaccurate information about our company across the internet.”
So, while my review according to my experience was not inaccurate, and as I do have pictures to prove my concerns/claims, which are also documented and on file with (including pictures) with the BBB, I have redacted my original experience per their "friendly" request, and of course to avoid them "needing to take action" as honestly, who has time or money for that? I don't, or clearly I wouldn't, have fought a month to get back a few hundred dollars?
Bottom line: I just wanted my money back and their food picked up! I absolutely never wanted to go through hours of emailing and responding to claims, rebuttals, etc. just to get what their guarantee promised...100% money back (requiring customers to pay to ship large totes back due to defective/inaccurate product would in no way be 100% money back IMHO!). That said, I am just glad this experience is over and can only say without hesitation that I definitely will never do business with this company again.
Pros and Cons:
Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend
5 people found it helpful
Link to this ReviewContacted CS the same day received (ordered two 4-week supply, 4th of July special) because upon inspection, the "free" bonus gifts were missing (listed as shipped on the invoice...NOT!). The tubs were incomplete (not the amount or types advertised), ******* (part of the reviews were redacted). NO WAY this will feed one person for 4 weeks. It's MOSTLY RICE, oatmeal, and pancakes! SPOILED foods. Majority of packages not sealed/airtight with powder and food inside both tubs.
CS was useless, didn't honor 100% guarantee...as they said I needed to PAY TO SHIP their defective products back to them! I have notified the BBB and now almost a month out, I've not received a refund, return shipping ticket, replacements for damaged items (MOST OF THEM), or the VARIOUS missing items. NOTHING! BUYER BEWARE! I wish I had just ordered from INFO WARS...never had these issues from their products or customer service. I just got sucked in watching a YouTube ad.
Dear Michelle,
I am checking back with you as the shipping labels we sent to you have not been printed or used as of today. We see you have left negative reviews with information that is untrue (our food was manufactured in 2012). Please print the shipping labels, return the unwanted food back to us, and we will issue a prompt refund.
We are also kindly asking that you remove your negative review from the site "Highya" as it contains untrue information about our business practices. If this is not removed, we will need to take action as we will not allow anyone to spread inaccurate information about our company across the internet.
Please respond so we can move this closer to a happy resolution for all.
Thank you,
Amanda Carden
Director of Customer Service
4Patriots
amanda.carden@4patriots.com
Company Response from 4Patriots, LLC
Hi Michelle,
For transparency purposes, it is only fair to provide all of the facts that led us to this point.
On 7/3/20, you completed your purchase with us online. One of your orders did contain a promotional item (Sun Kettle) that was on backorder and set to ship on or around 7/22/2020. I am sorry if you did not receive the email we sent regarding the delay or the clause at the bottom of your order confirmation stating this information.
You initially contacted us after hours on 7/14/20 regarding the contents received, threatening to post negative information on several listed social media channels, seek legal resolution, dispute the charge with your bank, etc. if we did not respond to you within 24-hours. We responded to you with substitution details and offering to replace damaged meals, but you were not satisfied with our response and elected to file a claim with the BBB after-hours.
On your 7/14/2020 complaint filed with the BBB, you requested for:
Replacements for damaged meals.
To provide a refund in full and pay for the return (if we would not replace with fresh items).
On 7/17/20, our Customer Service Director responded to the notice we received from the BBB.
1. You stated you did not receive what was advertised and were missing items.
On the product page before purchasing (on our website) and on the order confirmation email we sent to you, the following information is listed:
Our #1 priority is shipping your survival food to you as quickly as possible so that it’s there for you when you need it. Right now, the need for Survival Food is more urgent than ever, so we may substitute recipes of similar quality and caloric value to expedite your kit.
You did not respond to our request for clarification on which items you did not receive or missing servings less than 184. We offered to replace any servings not received and the damaged meal(s). We requested pictures of the damaged items for our quality assurance department for every damaged complaint we receive - yours included. We also provided you with return information on our initial 7/14/20 response since you indicated that your purchase was a financial hardship. Our return information is transparent and listed on our website here, https://4patriots.com/pages/refund-policy, which states, “products should be shipped at your expense.”
2. You claimed that we advertised our foods as GMO-FREE.
We do not advertise our kits as GMO-Free, nor do we claim our foods contain organic ingredients. We requested where this information was showing so we could further investigate. You did not provide any further information. We do not add MSG to any of our products. However, MSG occurs naturally in ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, and protein isolate, as well as in tomatoes and cheeses.
3. You claimed the foods we sent you were produced in 2012 but did not provide any supporting evidence to your claim.
4Patriots did not start selling any food until 2014. Due to recent demand, our current inventory is averaging about 2-months old. On the back of each pouch, we provide the manufacture package time, date, batch, and sequence information. This information also was not provided in your claim.
4. You advised that many meals were leaking into the totes or not sealed correctly.
We requested which items were damaged along with pictures as we are required to provide to our quality assurance department for such claims. You refused to submit this information as well. Our meals are packaged fresh, and some may have more air than others, depending on the contents. Each pouch will contain an oxygen absorber to remove additional air and preserve the ingredients for 25-years*.
We attempted to resolve your complaint with the BBB promptly, but you stopped responding after indicating more than once that you were expecting to receive a full refund and to keep the kits. Unfortunately, we are not in the business to provide our products for free. We offered a fair solution by offering to pay for the return postage and applying your refund once the kits were received to our warehouse.
Due to your lack of response, we applied a full refund in good faith to your payment method on 7/29/2020. We also emailed you return labels for the kits. You neglected to respond or acknowledge this offer. To date, the kits have still not been received to our warehouse.
On 7/30/2020, after ignoring attempted resolution offers made through the BBB, you provided a negative review. We were forced to give a public legal statement advising you to retract your false claims since you would not respond to any previous communication attempts. We take our reputation very seriously and will not tolerate any lies to be made about our company. You then responded to the BBB advising you were satisfied with the resolution, and you would remove your negative review. You then proceeded to close your claim with them and update your Highya review with more negativity.
We have decided to end our relationship with you indefinitely.
* Your survival food is designed to last 25 years on the shelf. Storage conditions impact the shelf life of your food. For best results, always protect your food from heat, air, and moisture. Avoid prolonged exposure to temps above 75 degrees F. Keep food sealed until ready to eat. Shelf life will vary based on storage conditions.