I have gone back and forth about writing a review for Local Roots. First off, the produce and other items available as add-ins are across the board fantastic as a general rule (thus the two stars, instead of one); however, the customer service and reliability is abysmal. I have been a customer of LR for about three years now, and this will be my last season. I really really don't want to quit, because I want to support the organization as a whole (minority female-owned business!), but at this point, I spend time every single week trying to get in touch with them to fix one or more problems, as described (in part!) below.
As another review noted, LR changed a pickup spot without warning during one of the 2020 seasons, and required customers to either switch to another pick up spot (none of which were remotely close to the UES), or pay full price for home delivery. (They ultimately gave a discount on the delivery fee to half price after a lot of complaints.)
This occurred within a week or two after the driver for my pick up location was in an accident on the way to the drop off, while driving during a massive storm in the city, which was forecast well in advance. All customers were waiting in line on a blazing hot day outside of the location for well over an hour and a half (including a pregnant woman in line behind me). The only notification that LR sent us about the situation was one email at the beginning of the pick up time, saying that the driver would be slightly late (I believe 15 minutes was indicated as the delay). There was never any update, the in-person pick up contact had no information, and no response came from any of the emails that we sent to the CS contacts. Unsurprisingly, there is not a phone number to call either, so you are at the mercy of when Kiera or Camryn (or Wen Jay) responds. Which is usually at least a day later for most issues. Wen Jay finally responded late in the afternoon on this specific occasion, and the response was massively inadequate. Not that an apology would have helped at all, but Wen Jay was actively rude in correspondence back (and obviously there was no apology about the issue itself). Personally, if I had known the delay was going to be well over an hour, I would have gone home and come back.
I currently receive home delivery boxes, and there is an issue AT LEAST once every other week if not more frequently - those vary from one (or more) items being left out of the box, the box showing up really late, or the box not showing up at all. On the one day that my box did not show up at all, I was not provided any notice the day of (only notification was the tracking suddenly updating to "delivery issue - delivery could not be made"). No one responded to my emails asking about status that afternoon/evening. The next day, I received a new tracking email mid-day, and then finally a response to my prior emails, saying "please see our tracking email which should resolve your problem!" Basically, if you are reliant on knowing exactly when your items will show up and what will be included, that is not guaranteed. While both Camryn and Kiera are nice and cheerful in responding, the timeliness of CS responses is beyond terrible.
Additionally, when refunds are given (which I note are solely store credit), the amount is incorrect not infrequently, both too high once in a while and too low more frequently. They will correct that upon notice, but it happens obnoxiously regularly. Also, when they first converted to store credit only, no advance notice was given of the change.
Overall, pros - amazingly produce, high quality eggs, butter, milk, mushrooms, cheese and meat (one note - hopefully they have removed the add-in garlic, because it was a literal joke the small size for the price); cons - massive inconsistency in timing and reliability of deliveries, frequently incorrect fulfillment of orders, and terrible customer service. For the cost of the subscription, personally, I have hit the point where it is absolutely not worth it to me to deal with the frustration. (I would feel less frustrated with the constant hiccups if they were a newer organization, but they have been in business for over ten years now.) read more
