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Fellow Celiacs

I'm writing today to relate two polar opposite types of experiences
I am having with vendors of gluten free food - one seems to be
rife with incompetence while the other is a delight to deal with.

In both cases I initiated transactions through the Internet,
using secure sessions (SSL protocol) and providing my charge
account numbers for direct billing.

I have dealt with both vendors before and have found that
one offers consistently poor to very poor service while the
other is consistently excellent.

CASE NUMBER ONE - Dietary Specialties

I deal with Dietary Specialties in order to obtain the
BiAglut line of GF pasta, which seems more like real pasta than
real pasta does, and their own brand of small GF pretzels.

On one previous occasion I had used their website and never received
any product. On another occasion their website began returning
error messages before I was ever able to place an order.
On investigation it seems their website runs on a Windows NT server.
I am not responsible for their decision to use Microsoft software.

On October 14th I bravely placed another order through their website.
On October 15th I received an email message from an employee of
Menudirect Corporation acknowledging my order. This was a step forward,
the first time I had ever gotten them to acknowledge an order placed
through the web.

On October 19th I got another email from a different employee of
Menudirect Corporation, also acknowledging my order, as if it had
not already been acknowledged, and stating that the total for the order
would be $54.00.

On October 20th a charge for $64.00 was posted against my credit card
by Menudirect Corporation. On the same date an additional charge of
$14.30 was also posted against my account by Menudirect Corporation.
The total amount is now $24.30 more than $54.00.

Since then I have sent two email messages and made two telephone calls
to Dietary Specialties with no resolution. I have sent them, as an
attached file, a graphic image showing the incorrect charges to my
account and they continue to do absolutely nothing about it. In addition,
none of the food which I ordered 11 days ago has arrived.

Today, October 25th, I called my bank to dispute the excess charges,
since it has become obvious that the people at Menudirect Corporation
have no intention of correcting THEIR mistakes.

To the best of my knowledge they have not even shipped this order yet.
I have had no communication from them indicating it has shipped.

The reader is free to guess whether this company will ever see another
dime of my money.

---------------

CASE NUMBER TWO - Tastybite

I deal with Tastybite to buy their delicious Indian and Thai meals,
all of which are clearly gluten free because none of the ingredients
contain wheat, oats, rye or barley. I use them for lunches at work.
They never make my tummy hurt. I buy some plain rice from the nice
couple who drive their mobile food dispensing vehicle (roach coach)
to my place of employment, then I heat a Tastybite entree and pour
it over the rice. These entrees are in sealed foil pouches, they
require no refrigeration and are completely cooked. Many of their items
(all of the ones I purchase) are strictly Vegan (contain nothing of
animal origin).

Yesterday, on October 24th, I placed an order for several dozen of their
delicious meals. Early this morning, Monday the 25th, I received an
email message from United Parcel Service indicating that they have a
package which was shipped to me today.

Just so you do not think I made a typographical error, I placed the
order on Sunday and it was already shipped on Monday. I have not been
charged for this order yet.

In the past Tastybite has done such things as:
   Always shipping what I order
   Always shipping the next business day
   Sending me a free T-shirt, as promised, for taking an online survey

I like their products, I like their service, I like the design of their
website.

---------------

I'd be happy to summarize, for the list, the experiences that other
celiac families have had in ordering food for shipment to their homes.

Take Care!

Steve Rider
--
Stephen A. Rider
Author, Poet, Satirist, Queer
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http://www.slip.net/~srider