HomeChefReviews 113

We've been using Home Chef for almost six months now and love the service.
Compared to similar offers Home Chef meals are the fastest with the least pans and pots required to prepare the meals, easy clean up.
Ingredients have always been fresh. Even at outside temperatures of 90 degrees plus the food stays cool sitting outside all day. Recently they improved the meat packaging after we had leakage problems a few times in the past.
We did encounter missing items twice but it was minor things that we were able to substitute. We also received a credit from their customer service.
I wish the folder that comes with the first order was bigger. We like to keep the recipes and use them whenever we need a simple side dish.

I have ordered many meals from Home Chef. I liked the meals they offered because my husband liked the options given over some of the other companies we have tried. There were a few problems I encountered, such as, the steaks they would advertise as sirloin or filet were not those types of cuts. My husband is a butcher, so he knows what he's looking at. I never ordered the steaks on purpose, I would usually forget to pick my order and that's what they would send me or they would randomly charge me an extra meal, otherwise, I try to stick to other types of meat because of the false advertising and I can get a better steak elsewhere. Also, I had multiple account issues. I initially had my account set to 3 meals a week, but recently decided to switch it to 2. The first time I changed it, I was sent 3 meals instead of 2 but I figured since I didn't double check my order, I might have accidentally ordered an additional meal. The next time I ordered, I received 4 meals instead of the 2 but this time I double checked my order the Thursday before my card was charged and my order total stated it was going to be $39. I checked my bank account Saturday and realized I was charged $79 and noticed they added 2 more meals to my account. When I emailed customer service and explained, they basically just turned it around on me saying that the presets are for people who don't want to choose their own meals and that I chose additional meals. The customer is never right with this company. That is just one of 2 issues I had with customer service and both times I was basically made out to look stupid like I did not understand the ordering process. It's funny how I can figure out Blue Apron just fine, but Home Chef just is too complicated for my tiny brain to comprehend.

I ordered one delivery (2 menus) at a discount to try it once. The actual delivery was as promised and arrived very cold, on time. But it's too expensive in my book, and they charge your credit card about 5 days before you receive the food. I liked the food but it only comes in servings of 3 so with a family of 4 I wanted to cancel. Their website is a "train wreck". It doesn't offer you a log in on the home page. I had to search the web for advice from other customers about how to log in. When I managed that, the first headline said "sorry, we don't deliver to that zip code." Allegedly, you cannot cancel, you just "pause service." The calendar delivery tab does not offer a PAUSE service button. I was on hold for 11 minutes twice, finally was allowed to leave a "non-urgent" message that cut me off after maybe 15 seconds. I am considering paying my bank $30 to stop payment because I am getting food that I was not allowed to select and doesn't fit our dietary needs.

My wife received a gift certificate for mother's day. We ordered a 3 meal package. Upon arrival I opened the box and was greeted by two large heads of cauliflower that were covered with brown spots! I continued to unpack and was presented with assorted vegetables that needed extra cleaning and some that were not edible. One of these appeared to be dandelion greens - very bitter, looked limp and tasted stale. Even a can of condensed milk had rust! To top it off there were only 2 recipe cards included for 3 meals and one of the cards was incorrect! It was for a shrimp dish. We received pork, chicken, and beef.
I contacted the company and asked to have the gift card refunded to my niece, but they only offered a $20 credit toward another order. That is one meal at the most - even though they botched 3 meals.
This place is a disaster - they have poor products, inaccurate packers, and a bad attitude. The customer service response was very late and implied that they did everything they could and would take my feedback into their system for improvement. What about customer satisfaction? I paid for 3 meals and had to discard most of what was shipped.
STAY AWAY!

Subscribed to this service for a few months... 3 meals for two, every week. Most deliveries had one or more ingredients missing. Several times food was damaged or spoiled. It was well packed and still cold, so it was bad when it was put in the package. There's just no excuse for that. Got tired of having to go to my own pantry to make up for missing items. Also portions were always small considering the price. It's just not worth the cost or hassle, so I cancelled. They didn't seem all that bothered by losing another customer.

We tried Home Chef and actually enjoyed the menus and food. For the most part, everything was fresh-ish, although the fresh items don't last nearly as long as fresh items I purchase elsewhere or have delivered. I had a few instances of items either rotten or frozen, but only twice.
My issue wasn't with the food, it is with the website and the customer service. I needed to pause my shipment for the week so visited the website and paused the shipment before the deadline. The following week, a shipment arrived. I assumed I hadn't saved something or had done something to "unpause" my account, so once again, I went to the site and paused the account. I double checked to make sure it was paused before leaving the site. Later in the week, before the deadline, I again, returned to reassure myself that the account was paused-it still showed that it was. I don't remember if I looked at the menu for the coming weeks, or not, but when I left the site, my account said it was paused. The following week, I received yet another unwanted shipment. When I contacted the company, I was basically told "too bad." "You edited the menu (untrue) and unpaused your account" (also untrue, unless looking at the menus and/or making adjustments to future shipments, which I suspect, causes your account to automatically unpause. Other sites, you're required to actually select "unpause." The person from Home Chef was completely unconcerned, bordering on rude. I know of two other families who started using Home Chef on our recommendation. Due to the unwillingness of the company to even acknowledge that there might be an issue with the website; and the lack of anything resembling customer service, I canceled our account. There are other services out there that actually do have customer service. A good product isn't worth dealing with an untrustworthy company.

My third box just arrived opened and damaged. I called customer service and explained this is not the way I am used to seeing the packaging. It appears as if someone went through the ingredients. I requested she put a claim with fed ex, she refused and stated that it was "probably safe to eat" no one is going to tampered it! Really? Not for my family! I asked her to cancel my subscription and she was fine with dad. Great treatment of your customers Home Chef

Their business model is based on fraud and deception. Their cryptic cancellation process is designed to trap you into receiving orders for life. Once you give them your credit card number, they will scam you if you ever try to cancel. They're a vindictive company... sorry I ever got involved.

I've been using this service for about 6 months. I like the recipes and most turn out great; however, at least once a month I end up of missing ingredients or the ingredients (usually sauces) have spilled out into the packaging. I've contacted customer service several times and have yet to receive a response. I am now looking at other options.

Update (4/19/17) - I am getting responses not pretty quickly from customer service and they are applying partial credits when items are missing. Also, I was missing an ingredient for another meal just recently. :(

I love cooking and trying new recipes but hate meal planning and grocery shopping! I am so glad I gave Home Chef a try! It is definitely not a cost effective option to feed a family of 4 everyday. However, I have been getting 2-3 meals a week with just 2 servings. I plan home chef nights to replace date nights my husband and I would have normally went out to dinner. With 2 teenagers, there are at least 2-3 nights they are not around for dinner anyway. I love being able to come home from work and not have to think about what's for dinner. It's been fun trying new ingredients and have even discovered we like brussel sprouts! (A veggie I always thought I didn't like!) I tried another meal delivery service but found Home Chef to have more menu choices to choose from, simpler recipes and less messy prep. They are not lacking in flavor or quality though! The ingredients are always fresh. Sometimes the recipes seem simple, however they always deliver in flavor. We have not had a recipe we have not enjoyed. I have been ordering since the first of the year and plan to continue. I like being able to schedule 5 weeks in advanced and the flexibility of changing the number of servings and/or number of meals from week to week. I have referred 4 friends who have also ordered and enjoy it. Tonight we had a restaurant quality steak dinner for $20. Cheaper than dining out and I get the satisfaction of cooking without all the planning! Customer service has always been very quick to respond and answer questions. Thank you Home Chef for making cooking enjoyable (and doable) again!

My friend referred me so I was able to get $30 off the 3 meals I ordered so I went ahead and put in my credit card information for the following $30 charge. No big deal, I figured I would cancel it after the first week because I didn't want to spend $60 a week on the meals. I pressed the pause button on Friday morning at 9 am and it said "account inactive." The cutoff for pausing the account is noon so I thought I was fine. I just looked at my bank account and realized they actually charged me for another $60 worth of food... after I had paused the account. I called customer service and spoke with a very disrespectful guy who said it was my error and that they didn't see anything on his end showing it was cancelled. I said that is not possible because I had a confirmation email and further emails asking me to return. He denied that this correspondence occurred. I told him again that it did and he said sorry there is nothing we can do. I am very frustrated especially after reading that this has happened on multiple occasions to other users. DO NOT DO IT PEOPLE! While the $30 off sounds good, they will continue to charge you after you pause your account. Very poor customer service.

This is only an opinion since I have never ordered from HomeChef before.
I have a fridge full of condiments that don't expire for a long time that I will use over and over again for the next meal.
With HomeChef it doesn't seem like there will be any left overs for the next day.
I spend around $10.00 per meal and usually have left overs for two for lunchtime the next day.
For instance if I buy a tri-tip for $20.00 it usually feeds my husband and I for 3 meals. That's only 6.66 per meal. The remaining $4.00 from the $10.00 buys sides to complete the meal.
Therefore it seems like it would cost me more monthly if I used HomeChef service. Not to mention I would also have to pay their delivery charge.
My household income is $150,000, not a bad income, so I feel that I could afford this program if I ever needed from a convenience standpoint but I don't feel it offers enough value.
I probably haven't crossed all my t's and i's writing this but this is just my opinion...
Marle

To begin with: it looks like a good idea, they do the shopping for you.....all you do is cook. The reality is: you give them your credit card number in good faith and they "accidentally" charge you over and over and over. I've had to dispute 5 charges so far, and the kicker is......I haven't even placed an order yet. They caused me to get an overdraft charge and there customer service people stink SO bad all they did was apologize......$35 charge from my bank and all I got was a "sorry." SAVE YOURSELVES THESE HEADACHES PEOPLE!! DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD INFO! Even after my account was "canceled" I got TWO more charges for $19.70 each!!!

Our first meal were very plain and nothing special about it. I tried to cancel online but the button to pause the subscription wasnt there like it said it would on the help page. I called in and they said since I cancelled over the phone I wouldnt be able to see it but I told them that it wasnt there before I called and they asked me if I was on a desktop version of the site or on an app. They said the app wouldnt allow me to cancel but I told them im on a laptop. I couldnt cancel in time so they are billing me for the 2nd week which is fine but they sent me the same meal! I cant believe I have to eat the same meal 2 weeks in a row. This is really ridiculous.