Eastern Standard Provisions

I was a devoted fan for years. This year I had 2 negative experiences. I ordered 2 boxes in November/December 2024 for a Christmas gift. One of the boxes arrived very damaged. It was a food item I was not happy about offering it as a gift, in case the inside packages were punctured or damaged. I immediately contacted customer service. It took them more than 5 days to respond. Their initial response was to blow me off and tell me "they weren't responsible for the carriers damage to the package." The next response asked me to "please send pictures" even though I had already sent pictures with the first correspondence. I replied and sent the pictures a second time. The customer service rep responded, "don't worry everything is fine, if the quality seal on the outside was not broken everything was just fine!" I let them know that the quality seal was intact but the box was crushed and punctured. That fell on deaf ears. After numerous frustrating attempts to get them to actually address the REAL issue and not 1/2 read my emails- they offered to address my problem IF I sent them pictures (😲 wow.) Finally they sent me replacement packages. I explained that I did not need two replacement packages, just one..... And I wanted to know if I should ship back the damaged box or throw it out. NO RESPONSE. When I opened the new package, it had mold, green fuzzy mold on the pretzels. I wrote again (you can't call because they put you on hold indefinitely and then say that they cannot answer the phone. If you leave a message.....they NEVER call back.) I sent an email with pictures. After a week, they responded with "questions" about storage. They explained that they were not responsible for the mold because I stored the sealed packages in a cool dry place. They should have been refrigerated. If they were shipped, and supposedly hermetically sealed, and I had them in cool dry storage for 2 days, why would there be extensive mold? Could it be that their sealing process was faulty and the mold was already growing on it? I'm not sure, but they declined to address the problem. Maybe to keep me quiet they shipped me two old boxes?  I accepted their response with the proviso that I would never do business with them again. Their customer service whether by telephone or email, was sorely lacking; it was inadequate at best or facetious at worst. The product is obviously not sealed properly..... they just decided that they had done enough for me.

This product is truly exceptional, surpassing all expectations in both quality and taste. The level of customer service I received was absolutely outstanding, making the entire experience even more enjoyable. If it were possible, I would gladly award it 10 stars for its excellence, but since the maximum is 5, it certainly deserves every single one of them. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a top-notch solution!

TL;DR If your order hasn't shipped and you're getting beat down trying to get past the chat and email AI, tell the AI you're going to dispute the charge with your credit card company. That got me a response from a living human. Placed an order, and was charged for it, on December 27. Tried using chat and email to determine why it hadn't shipped by January 3. Chat and email are responded to by an AI that repeats the information on the website that orders usually ship in 1 or 2 business days, but doesn't provide any better information than that. Emailed the AI again on January 12 and told it if a living person didn't respond to me on the morning of January 13 I'd dispute the charge with my credit card company. That got me a response from a human. The human told me there was a supply chain problem delaying shipments and they didn't know when shipments would resume. I asked for a refund, which to Eastern Standard's credit was pretty much immediately applied. So if you know there's a supply chain problem, why are you charging me when you know orders aren't going to ship? I'm not a bank and shouldn't be funding your operations interest free. As of right now, there's nothing on the website indicating shipments will be delayed. And why not tell your AI to tell people the truth, instead of lying by omission when it's contacted asking what the deal is with an order not shipping. Oh, I know why - so that you'll continue to fund Eastern Standard's operations interest free with your payment for an order that they have no idea when it's going to ship. Also got a canned email from the CEO apologizing and letting me know that, to express his gratitude, he was going to reach out with a special offer once the shipping issue is resolved. Can't wait to see what that is.

Something has definitely gone wrong with ESP. I have been a loyal customer for over 2 years and had been a frequent customer, until this past Dec 2024. I am still waiting on an order that was placed on Dec 27, 2024. I have tried contacting them by phone, but after an automated response, they hang up. I am so disappointed.

I've been a loyal customer years, have even referred friends and family who have also come to love their pretzels. However, I'm not sure what has changed in the last few months but the service and the product are horrible, if you even receive the product you order. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and order again because I have been a loyal customer, but I just don't think I can. And when you try to follow up on where your order is, or report a problem with the order, you can't get a straight answer or a resolution. They tell you to just wait a few more days or they will get back to you....but don't worry they have already charged you for the order, even before it ships. You also used to be able to order a lot more varieties including the waffles and salts, suddenly that was gone. Or you can't order a certain type;like a pack of wheelhouse or turnbuckle because they only have kits available. I don't know if your leadership has changed or you grew too big too fast, but it makes me sad because I LOVED this product and company at one time. I'm sorry to even have to leave the negative review but my last few experiences have been horrible and people should know what to expect prior to ordering.

Do not order if you need them for an event or in a timely fashion. These were some of our favorite pretzels to order. Unfortunately, I recently ordered for an occasion gift. When they did not ship and the order delivery date was missed, I asked customer service about the order they did not have any info on a due date and asked that I be patient. After another week went by, I queried again via email and they told me they did not have a date and would cancel and refund my order immediately. While I have my money back, I wanted the product we love. Very unfortunate that their service has gone downhill and they would rather leave you empty handed than deliver the product.

Made an online order about a month in advance so it can ship out earlier this week. To be fair they said it was shipped the week before but the tracking had been stuck on UPS awaiting item for over a week now and the promised delivery date is now past. No help from customer service since they use a AI bot. Unless it magically gets there by Christmas next week then I guess I will have to put a dispute to get my money back. Very disappointing since I have ordered years before for gifts and they were great. Now sure what happened to this company.

I wish I could leave a review about the pretzels. I can say ESP's customer service is awful. I entered an order and the USPS couldn't deliver it. It went back to ESP. I reached out to ESP to see how they handle the return. They said they wouldn't replace the items I ordered sine it's not their fault the USPS returned it. OK, hard to argue with that reasoning. They offered to re-send the order to an alternate address for $15 and sent me a link. The link didn't work and I've exchanged a number of emails and haven't heard back from them since. I tried to call and left a voicemail with no response. I tried live chat and after a few tries, no one engaged on live chat. Needless to day, I'll skip ESP in the future.