**UPDATED. Garden Grocer...very disappointed

[ChrisNY2]

I'm sure they are getting slammed with cancellations and are trying to maintain some sort of profit.
Yes, it's awful. Like the $20/case for water in Houston.

Too bad they don't value compassion during a massive weather crisis over money.

I don't know - it seems that the compassion is owed to the owners and employees of Garden Grocer - who will probably lose a lot of business and have to be concerned for their personal safety living in the hurricane area. It sucks for those of us in warm dry areas who have to cancel, but not so much that the Floridians owe us compassion.

 

[MisplacedUnderwear]

@ChrisNY2 Businesses aren't people. All my positive energy is flowing toward the people who work for Garden Grocer, but aren't companies with bad policies supposed to get punished by the marketplace? I thought that's how capitalism is supposed to work...

Just for what it's worth, and I know they don't have all the same items, I tried Amazon Prime Now on my most recent trip and it was fabulous. I ordered from my phone at the airport while waiting for my flight and my order was at Grand Floridian before I was. Obviously it avoids issues like the one OP ran into because there's no need to order until you're already on your way to Orlando. Also, if you already have Prime for other reasons, then using Prime Now is substantially cheaper than Garden Grocer in terms of minimums and delivery fees. It's not exactly the same service, but for some (like me) it is a great alternative to GG!

 

[RossK]

To be fair to Garden Grocers and others... They have to go out and buy what you've ordered, some of which will be perishable, so the business incurs a loss - even with a 25% restocking fee, they are likely to incur a loss. The business deciding to do a full refund is a goodwill gesture and imo shouldn't be expected. This is exactly what travel insurance is for, to protect you against losses should something like this happen. If you decide to take a gamble and not purchase travel insurance, it isn't the businesses fault. For a small business like garden grocer, its much more difficult for them to absorb losses like this than it is for Disney. I wouldn't expect a full refund, but would be very grateful if they offered it.

 

[Allison]

@ChrisNY2 Businesses aren't people

In the case of a small business like Garden Grocer, this is incorrect. The business is the people.

I agree with RossK. This isn't a case of GG charging some kind of crazy fee to a local who has lost everything. People who cancel should be prepared to pay the restocking fee.

 

[maxiesmom]

@ChrisNY2 Businesses aren't people. All my positive energy is flowing toward the people who work for Garden Grocer, but aren't companies with bad policies supposed to get punished by the marketplace? I thought that's how capitalism is supposed to work...

I don't agree they have a bad policy. I think it is rotten of people to expect that a business waive all fees when something happens. Do people not read terms and conditions, or do they really think they are exempt from them? Great that Garden Grocer is waiving the restocking fee, but they don't have to. And people shouldn't have expected them to from the start.

They are going to lose money because of the storm, no question. I'm not on board with the expecting to lose even more, and I'm certainly not on board with calling them out as being mean or wrong.

 

[PetePanMan]

Garden Grocer did the right thing but I also see their side - they and their staff (as with other businesses throughout Florida) will be significantly impacted by storm.

 

[LilyWDW]

I don't agree they have a bad policy. I think it is rotten of people to expect that a business waive all fees when something happens. Do people not read terms and conditions, or do they really think they are exempt from them? Great that Garden Grocer is waiving the restocking fee, but they don't have to. And people shouldn't have expected them to from the start.

They are going to lose money because of the storm, no question. I'm not on board with the expecting to lose even more, and I'm certainly not on board with calling them out as being mean or wrong.

And to be blunt... you book during this time of the year and there is always a chance that a storm like this could happen. That's part of planning a trip in the fall. You need to take this into account when booking services and if you should have insurance and the like.

I am on the side of there being NO way I would ever expect them to wave the 25% restocking fee. They don't control the weather.

 

[soniam]

I have had nothing but poor customer service from GG, so I quit using them. I hope the OP's issue gets resolved. They shouldn't have to pay the restocking fee. I bet GG wasn't delivering yesterday anyway or even had enough groceries for all of their orders without cancellations. They don't keep perishables around for days; they go to a local grocery store to buy them as close as possible to the delivery date. It sounds like a lot of the grocery stores were already running low on food.

 

[Allison]

They are going to lose money because of the storm, no question. I'm not on board with the expecting to lose even more, and I'm certainly not on board with calling them out as being mean or wrong.

I agree. I think GG is going to be affected more than a person being held responsible for a stocking fee they agreed to when making their order. I hate the shaming factor that social media has created for businesses. People go online and disparage businesses as soon as they don't get what they want and in some cases before a business even has time to properly respond.

 

[Best Aunt]

I believe that a business needs to honor what it chooses to post on its own Facebook page. In Garden Grocer's case, that was this:
"If you decide to cancel your order, there won't be any cancellation fees and you will receive a full refund."

Since that's what they chose to post, they should not be charging someone a re-stocking fee.

They also posted this on their own Facebook page on Saturday Sept 9: "We wanted to let everyone know that we will be closing today at 3:00 p.m. Est. and hopefully reopen Tuesday, September 12, 2017, at 7 a.m." So it sounds like they won't be making some deliveries anyway.

 

[maxiesmom]

I believe that a business needs to honor what it chooses to post on its own Facebook page. In Garden Grocer's case, that was this:
"If you decide to cancel your order, there won't be any cancellation fees and you will receive a full refund."

Since that's what they chose to post, they should not be charging someone a re-stocking fee.

They also posted this on their own Facebook page on Saturday Sept 9: "We wanted to let everyone know that we will be closing today at 3:00 p.m. Est. and hopefully reopen Tuesday, September 12, 2017, at 7 a.m." So it sounds like they won't be making some deliveries anyway.

They did honor it. I'm not at all surprised that someone didn't know about the posting. Stuff like that takes a while to get around the office. Maybe someone missed the memo. But they did end up honoring what they had posted.

 

[awalker1015]

I believe that a business needs to honor what it chooses to post on its own Facebook page. In Garden Grocer's case, that was this:
"If you decide to cancel your order, there won't be any cancellation fees and you will receive a full refund."

Since that's what they chose to post, they should not be charging someone a re-stocking fee.

They also posted this on their own Facebook page on Saturday Sept 9: "We wanted to let everyone know that we will be closing today at 3:00 p.m. Est. and hopefully reopen Tuesday, September 12, 2017, at 7 a.m." So it sounds like they won't be making some deliveries anyway.

This. Period. I am all for small business, but if they made a public post they would issue full refunds in this specific situation, that is what needs to happen. Any action otherwise erodes trust and will impact their future business.