Hemstrought's Bakeries — Restaurant in City of Utica

Well, let me fill in about my experience. What I did was send half moons to a good friend for the holidays, he loves them and lives in the west. I tried to call several times but no one answered the phone. I went to the store. I was told by one of the employees, I believe he was a baker. He told me it was the host of the half moons plus an additional $20 to ship them. They only ship products on Monday and Tuesdays. The other option was to ship them myself, which I looked into and found it was more involved with having to get the right sized box, packaging and then shipping, so I decided to use the Hemstrought's services. I went back to the retail store with the completed form. They don't charge you at that time. They don't when they put the order together and shipping is completed. Two things about this process. You have to write down your credit card number on the form and they have it. Not a very secure process and you don't get a receipt or know the exact amount until they are done and shipped. That is not the best process either. When I did get the bill shipping was DOUBLE what they told me. Not very happy about that, but it is what it is as they say. Everyone was helpful, but unaware of how the shipping of products worked. I did try to check on my orders a day or so after they were supposed to be shipped. I called several times on multiple days. No one answered the phone, but on a few occasions they picked up the phone and hung up on me. I understand that it is the holiday season, but you can pick up the phone and hang up. I have always enjoyed their products as I grew up eating them. A little more transparency would be nice. 1/3/24 Update. Just found out from my friend they finally received the half moons I sent a week before Christmas that I was told would take three days and would arrive before Christmas, NOT! If things were beyond their control, I get it, but before Christmas when I called many, many, many, times and no one answered how was I to check. Finally after Christmas when I did get someone on the phone that young lady (who was very nice and pleasantly with me) had no idea how to help me and could only take a message to give to those who handle the shipping of products call me back, which never happened as well. Anyway, on a few days I did get a notice that they had just shipped, so from there I tracked them. My issue is if this was going to take this long why aren’t people told to give it an extra week. As a matter of fact I was there the week before getting all the details and was told the upcoming week would fit my time frame better, that is why I waited. Not very good business or customer service. All it takes is communication. Needless to say I won’t be doing this again with Hemstrought’s. And to others, make sure you ask question and understand how...

After ordering dozens of cookies, and spending hundreds of dollars over the last 4 years I will NEVER do business with this place ever again. Here’s why:

11/30/23: After I placed my order Janice called me and told me the 2 pairs of earrings I ordered were out of stock and they would not be shipped. I told her to go ahead and just credit the $40 ($20 x 2) back to my card.

12/15/23: I called back and spoke to Janice after the order arrived and there was a mistake with the coconut cookies (I ordered chocolate bottoms – was sent white bottomed) and to add this $15 to the credit for the out-of-stock earrings ($40) she told me about, bringing the total credit to $55. She said that she would process the credit of $55 for the canceled earrings and the mistake with the coconut cookies TODAY, and that the credit would show up in a few days.

12/22/23: The $55 credit she supposedly processed last week was still not showing up, so I called back and Spoke to Jeff (very nice, helpful) said that they have been crazy busy and that Janice is processing the orders and credits now that the shipping rush for Christmas is over. I asked him to take a message and have her call me ASAP as my credit still was not showing. I never got a call back.

12/28/23: I called back AGAIN and spoke to Jeff. I told him I wanted to speak with Dan the owner, as this is now 2 weeks later and nobody has processed my refund or even bothered to call me back or return a single email. Jeff said that he will pass the message on to Dan and that Janice works out of a different office. I told Jeff I would call Janice at the number that came up when she called me about my order. Of course, nobody answered that number, but I left a message with that voicemail anyway. I then decided to send a message on their facebook page, and never got a reply from that, either!

Later that night I decided to open a case with my CC company as have gotten nowhere with this company due to their incredibly poor level of both competence and customer service.

Today is Friday 12/29/23, and I still have not gotten a SINGLE CALL, returned email, or facebook message. I am absolutely appalled by the lack of anything resembling customer service from this company. The fact that I have called 3+ times and never gotten a call back, and then sent numerous emails and have not gotten a single reply...

I placed an order over the phone for halfmoon cookies and was told that, given the amount I needed, it would be most cost effective to order two cases. I was told that each case cost $42 and consisted of 6 packs of 12 cookies. I ordered two cases, assuming that I would be getting a total of 144 cookies for $84. When I went to pick up, the lady working told me that, due to packaging shortages, instead of one of the cases consisting of packs of 12 cookies, that they would be in packs of 4. She stated that the owner gave the go-ahead to sell them in smaller packages, despite the manager not wanting to do so since it was costing more in packaging. This wasn’t an issue with me, as I was under the impression that I was still receiving the total of 144 cookies that I had ordered. It wasn’t until I opened the cases later in the evening that I realized I was only received 120 cookies. In the midst of the packaging confusion, I was shorted half a case of cookies. I assumed this was an honest mistake and called the following morning. The guy I spoke to admitted that there have been packaging issues and seemingly wanted to make the situation right. He said he could have the missing cookies ready for pickup the same day. It wasn’t until the end of the phone call that he subtly mentioned that I’d have to pay an additional $20 for what I was lacking. When I questioned him and explained I had already paid what I was told they would cost, he said that I only paid for what I was given and that he was actually charging me less than the MRP for the half case I still needed. Since I live nearly 40 minutes away, it wouldn’t make sense to make a second trip to the store only to pay an additional $20 for cookies that I was under the impression had already been paid for. I’m really disappointed in the customer service I experienced. In the future, I’ll be sure to do...