Zingerman's Mail Order — Local services in Ann Arbor

I ordered their 6 month bacon club which is advertised as free shipping - that's not true. Their 6 month club costs $199 which is $33.16/month and for that you get 1 package of each bacon per month. If you then go to their catalog you'll see that 1 package of Nueske's Applewood Smoked Bacon costs $19. A couple cost more than $20 and a few cost closer to $15, so the average price for what you get is around $20 even, so that's $13 shipping baked in to each monthly shipment. Not necessarily unreasonable as far as shipping charges go but they advertised free shipping which is clearly a lie.

I saved money by just placing an order for all of the items in the club shipped all at once and saved considerably, however I really didn't care for the bacon I received. I found out that I really don't like thick sliced bacon (prefer thin) and ALL of these cuts are thick. I found most smoked and salted beyond reason, my bacon lover son refused to eat it and I managed to choke it down. When I told Zingerman's I didn't care for the Nueske's they did send me something else, but I just didn't care for any of them and instead of fussing more I'm just going to call this one "curiosity satisfied" and not order anything else.

So while their customer service is very cheerful and helpful that doesn't make up for the fact that the shipping charges are deceptive and I just didn't like the product.

Update: I will note that upon hearing of my dissatisfaction Zingerman's customer service was really great and refunded my entire order, I can only praise them for that. I just can't recommend the...

Outstanding customer service!

It all started as a simple plan - send a gift basket to a friend, timed to arrive the day before they left to drive home for the holidays, so that the basket would be shared with the whole family. UPS got delayed and the basket wouldn't have arrived on time, so Zingerman's arranged to have it returned and to ship a new order to the family residence. I was impressed, since they certainly not at fault for the UPS delay. Then my friend's plans changed and I had to contact Zingerman's with a new shipping address. No problem there either. I have come to believe that the customer service people are...

Daniel was extremely helpful when I called to order a gift basket this morning! I was in a hurry and didn't have time review the large selection of items to customize a basket. He explained items with detail & experience- really well done. I let him know the reason for the gift, the number of people, and the need to have it delivered before 5:00 pm today. The gift basket was apparently delivered early & the timing worked-out perfectly for the recipients. We love to eat at Zingerman's when we're in Ann Arbor & I will definitely use this service to send gift baskets...