Jenna K.
Google
I shop at Whole Foods regularly, both in store and I also do pickup orders. Produce usually looks good for the most part in my pickup orders and I’ve never had any issues with items being left out. The store is pretty well organized and I like shopping here. However for the last 2 years, it seems the organic garlic is always old! And I stopped buying fresh Atlantic salmon here over two years ago because it was slimy and seemed old the last 3 times I purchased it. The salmon used to be amazingly fresh. I now purchase it already frozen and it’s fine. Maybe the fresh salmon is better now, who knows, but I’m not willing to risk it again.
This review is primarily focused on the subpar customer service. I was shopping in the store around lunch time, and decided to head over the sushi counter and I asked the sushi chef if they could make salmon sashimi, just the fish only, no rice. He pointed to one already made but offered to make me one fresh and I said sure. I told him to make sure it was the 8.5 ounce size just like the one already made in the sushi section. He nodded and made the sashimi, then handed me the container.
The sticker on the container read “8.5 ounces” and “$31.98/pound”. I paid $16.99 for the container. I was more than happy to pay this price because ordering sashimi grade salmon online from a large fish company can get quite expensive and I’ve always thought Whole Foods had the best quality of sashimi salmon.
I got home and opened the sashimi container, and to my surprise it did not look like a lot. I weighed it on my scale and the weight was approximately 5 ounces! I was shorted almost half of what I paid for. I got online and contacted the customer support. The person on the chat asked me many questions and I sent photos showing what I received and the weight. The person assured me that someone would get back in touch with me in a few days. They were unable to give me any partial refund or anything.
I was not feeling optimistic about anyone getting back in touch with me, so I then called the store directly and told the woman who answered what had happened. She was apologetic and told me I could bring in my receipt and get a refund. I told her I was very interested in purchasing this sashimi salmon regularly, and I asked her point blank “How do I know this isn’t going to happen again?”. She replied “That’s a great question” then asked to place me on hold. Almost 5 minutes later, she returned and told me that the only contact info she had for the sushi company (Genji) was an email address, and asked me if I wanted it, to which I replied “Yes”.
She told me that Genji is a separate company that operates inside of Whole Foods and they don’t really have anything to do with them. I wanted to say to her that my money was going to Whole Foods, not Genji, and that it shouldn’t be my responsibility to contact this company directly. But, I just said thanks and hung up.
I contacted the person’s email from Genji and received no reply. It’s been over two weeks now. I also never heard back from anyone from the online Whole Foods customer support department (who I first contacted about this issue). I really just wanted to make sure this didn’t happen again, but I feel like no one really cared to do anything about it.
I’ve had a few other issues with their customer service over the last 5 years, for example I told someone at the store about the old garlic a year ago and nothing was ever done about it. Their online customer service is a complete waste of time because no one ever gets back to you. I complained online a few months ago about a pickup order (all of the bags that my produce were in smelled SO STRONGLY of cologne/perfume and it was sickening, it got onto the produce too!) - someone assured me that a representative would get in touch with me and they never did (I did not contact the store directly for this issue). If you have any issues, I would call the store directly. And make sure you always keep your receipt! Oh yeah, and don’t trust the weight of sashimi at the sushi area to be accurate!