There are companies that provide exemplary customer service, and there are others that don’t even understand the concept. This post is about Harrington’s of Vermont, one of the clueless firms—a company with churlish, quarrelsome representatives.
At the bottom of every page on their website, the company posts this message:
The Harrington’s Promise
All our products are guaranteed to be the finest of
their kind or your money back in full. That’s our promise!
Background.
In early December, Jacob and I were reminiscing about some holiday treats that our parents bought and received as gifts in the 60s when we were kids. We talked about boxes of petit four from Swiss Colony, nuts and pears from Harry & David, boxes of meat from Omaha Steaks, summer sausage and cheddar cheese spread in ceramic crocks from Hickory Farms, and assorted chocolates from Russel Stover. We both swooned a bit at the memory of port wine cheese logs rolled in sliced almonds.
Jacob and I buy our major Christmas gifts together—a major piece of art or two for our collection and a couple of small things for each other.
Jacob’s birthday also falls on Christmas day, so I decided to surprise him with a box of food memories. He’d talked about duck, summer sausage, and cheese spread in crocks with fondness, so that’s where I started my search.
My search was star-crossed.
I landed on the Harrington’s of Vermont website. They seemed to be the single source for everything I was looking for. I ordered a smoked duckling, a package of three cheese logs (yes, one was port wine rolled in almonds), and a package of two summer sausages that, according to the item description, came with a 12-ounce crock of spreadable cheddar. They offered to include a special greeting if the order was a gift. I asked for a birthday message for Jacob and entered the message. Their shipping charge was 25% of the total order.
Green mold, torn wrapping, a missing crock.
Watching Jacob open a run-of-the-mill cardboard box, I was shocked. There wasn’t a foam cooler box inside, just one palm-sized cooler packet. The packet and the contents of the box were all room temperature. The duck, cheese logs, and summer sausage were scattered on the bottom of the box under a single wad of brown wrapping paper. One of the cheese logs featured a patch of green mold under the clear wrapping. (Happy birthday.) The room-temperature duck was wrapped in heavy plastic wrap that was torn wide open at its rear end. (Happy birthday.) There was no crock of cheese included. (Happy birthday, Jacob.) We tossed everything in the trash.
I asked Harrington’s to support their promise.
They balked. They questioned. They were rude. They evaded. Harrington’s of Vermont refused to refund anything except for the prorated price of one log of moldy cheese and—after considerable back and forth—finally, the duck. After a chain of over a dozen emails and after this response from them, I’ve given up:
”During December, we are very busy and some
things are overlooked-this is one of them.”
What? We’re all ‘very busy’ during the holidays. Hire more staff, better manage your online presence, and fix your fulfillment chain, but don’t try to tell me your problems are something I must deal with.
I don’t enjoy writing negative posts about businesses, and I rarely do. I hope sharing my experience and frustration with this company might help you avoid future disappointment and aggravation. Please take promises like this one from Harrington’s of Vermont with a grain of salt:
Oh, and another thing: The birthday greeting I’d asked to be included for Jacob was printed on the invoice. Now, isn’t that classy?
