"Vital Choice SOLD-OUT to 1-800-flowers"

Vital Choice sold out to 1-800-flowers. Need I say more! I am sure the previous owner Randy H. made a fortune selling this company. Not only that the new ownership has raised their prices significantly on canned salmon, but is now asking to pay big shipping charges which previously used to be free over $99. After many years of being a loyal customer, I think I am done with Vital Choice!! For those who are searching for an alternative source, WILD PLANET canned Alaskan salmon maybe a good comparable brand, which I have personally bought a few times.

"RIP Vital Choice"

I used to purchase all of my seafood from Vital Choice. Since 1-800 Flowers got involved I found another source for seafood. Vital Choice offered excellent products and a fantastic Customer Service group if any problems or questions.
My past experiences with 1-800 Flowers were terrible. My last time they offered a few dollars off another order because they did not deliver flowers for a funeral yet insisted they did for days after the service.

"Broken-hearted... Another loyal customer who left so many…"

Another loyal customer who left so many great reviews-- I had to find a replacement for the fresh fish, and am still looking for a replacement for the delicious canned salmon. And the omega 3 oil! Broken hearted...

"We love the seafood from Vital Choice…"

We love the seafood from Vital Choice and are so pleased with their customer service and delivery. We give them 5 stars as an excellent rating.

Phyllis and Janet of Manchester Twp. N.J.

"Sorry to move on, but I am."

I've been a Vital Choice customer for years, and have previously provided 5 start TrustPilot reviews, hence I feel obligated to update that based on my most recent experience. It should be noted that my previous experiences with Vital Choice were before it became part of a larger 'conglomerate' early this year.
Last week I was working on an online order and had some questions on shipping charges, as things weren't making sense. I had two different items totaling around $290. Shipping was going to be $46.40, a far cry above the free shipping the former Vital Choice offered when your order exceed $99. I found shipping rates listed on the site as 15% of the order total for my order.
But that math didn't check out. Further, when I removed one item, but doubled the other, now with the order around $320, the shipping went down to $25.60. Hmmm. I clicked on the available chat function which appeared to be up and running, and offered my question. And waited. And waited. Finally the chat session indicated it was going to time out. I waited a bit longer and abandoned chat. It appears that while the chat function is available, it isn't staffed on a Saturday morning. So, instead I tracked down a customer service email and sent them the questions I had. I promptly received a response providing me with a link to the Harry & David shipping charges. I clicked on that, and found shipping listed as 16%, math that ties out to those shipping charges. It was also suggested to me that I sign up for their 'Celebrations Passport' program that "...offers free shipping on all orders, with any one of our family of brands...". Well, no it doesn't. I had read the terms and conditions of this passport program, and there are many exceptions to that blanket free shipping statement.
I responded back to customer service, with screen shots of what I was seeing on the shipping rates, and further, challenged them on the blanket statement of free shipping with the passport program. A different rep responded, this time providing me with a link to the Vital Choice shipping charges. Those were consistent with the Harry & David link earlier, but that meant that different spots of their website listed different shipping rates. Further, the rep did not address my specific question/example as to why when I increased the order amount, the shipping charges went down. Must not be based on order total, but I have no clue as to what they're trying for here.
So, I'm done being their customer; for good. After that last reply from them I told them so. I understand with any corporate transition there are training issues and learning curves, but the fundamental issue here is a lack of ability to identify something that should have been escalated beyond seemingly canned responses.

"Selling out to 1-800 Flowers made a…"

Selling out to 1-800 Flowers made a previously wonderful process into one of the worst customer experiences yet.

"I used to be a fan but no longer"

I have been ordering from Vital Choice for years; orders were always processed and shipped accordingly. I now see that they have been purchased by Harry and David and at first I thought nothing of it (although I have had issues with 1-800-Flowers previously) and was informed when ordering that my order would arrive on April 6th. I logged onto the site on the 5th to double check and saw the same message which I thought was weird since I hadn't received a notification and contacted the company and was informed that my order had shipped and was set to arrive on the 6th but suspiciously had no tracking number. On the 6th I contacted them again and was informed of the same which irritated me and since I had gone through this same scenario with 1-800-Flowers told then to immediately cancel my order and provide me with a refund since I knew that nothing had been shipped and I was going out of town and did not want to run the risk of frozen fish sitting on my doorstep to rot. The only good thing to come out of this is that I received my refund but I won't be ordering from this company again.

"Super Convenient Shipping, Exceptional Food Quality, Simply Delicious!"

Everything that I purchased from Vital choice arrived frozen, fresh and was delicious. I purchased 2 different kinds of fish, plus some amazing frozen blueberries, which were super delicious. I was actually somewhat surprised at the quality level of their fish, the cuts, texture and overall flavor were exceptional.

"Vital Choice is awful since being bought by FLOWERS"

Recently, Vital Choice was purchased by a conglomerate company called 1-800-Flowers. The Flowers people now seem to own Harry and David and many other companies that were once noted for superior product and service. Not now.

I have spent a small fortune several times a year, and a great deal annually, when it was only known as Vital Choice. I happily purchased fish from them because the fish is all wild caught rather than farmed. Very clean.

Whenever you placed large orders with Vital, shipping was free and immediate. They always shipped promptly and delivered on time. Now, since becoming part of 1-800-Flowers, you place an order, are more or less pushed into buying some new twenty dollar a year extra "passport" to "give" you free shipping, sort of like amazon prime, but then, your order gets lost, and even after a week, is not yet packaged or boxed to be shipped out. I spent a great deal of time this morning on the phone with the conglomerate, first with a woman who told me she couldn't help me because this was flowers, not vital choice. She was very poorly trained and somehow wasn't able or willing to look up at the banner and see VOTAL CHOICE listed in their conglomerate. Nor was she willing or able to look up my order though I gave her the order number. Then I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said that wasn't possible but that someone would call me later today. Then I disengaged with her and called Flowers again and got a better more informed person and explained that I had placed an order on March 30th and that as of today April 6th, their own software showed that my order had never been processed. There is no Fed Ex tracking number precisely because the order had never yet been prepared for shipment. This second woman was courteous but she said my package was shipped already and it was some goofy anomaly that she couldn't unearth a Fed Ex tracking number internally. She said that my package was due to be delivered to me today even though their system mysteriously had no Fed Ex numbers. I didn't believe it, as her explanation wasn't logical, but waited all day, at home, for the Fed Ex to arrive, but nothing happened. It is now ten hours later and the end of the day and I never received any Fed Ex tracking numbers from the Flowers-Vital Choice company either. They say they still can't provide anything but that they sure hope I won't hesitate to let them know how else they can help.

So my $160 Visa charge is somehow waylaid in something resembling suspended animation and furthermore, untrackable internally to them. This new company prides itself with excellence but I am very dismayed. My order was simply never delivered to Fed Ex. The new owners Flowers just forgot to package my order.

Customer service is now dismal and the considerably raised cost is prohibitive. So disappointed. I can no longer recommend this company to anyone, and there had been a time when I thought Vital Choice was spectacular.

"Great tasting & clean packaging"

Great tasting seafood that needs little seasoning. Clean packaging. Easy to order. However, it seems that each delivery has anywhere from 1-4 frozen packs that have air inside. I need to throw those away which is disappointing. To their credit, when I report this soon after arrival they give me a $ credit back. Still the cleanest, best packaged healthy seafood we can find. Always kind and professional on the phone. This is also refreshing. Thank you VC.