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This deeply disturbed owner has perhaps the single worst business skills I have ever encountered. If you order on the web from him and there are problems he will visciously attack you rather than work toward any reasonable solution. After ignoring your attemtps to reach him through every means possible (voicemail hell, ignore your email, etc) he will completely refuse to help at all. BE WARNED! THIS GUY IS A FEW PLATES SHY OF A WHOLE SET AND SCARY!
Document everything. Report him to the Better Business Bureau in Illinois (where you can see that you are one of many).
Use your credit card company to dispute his charges. Maybe if enough complain he can be cut-off the Web before more are bamboozled by his "welcoming" website.
I have ordered many items from Chef Depot and they always deliver my stuff quickly. Recently I purchased roll top chafing dishes, utensils and spices. Everything is great for us.
thank you! Chefs
chefdepot.com is the website. We have ordered from them for over 10 years, always a pleasure,
Ordered Mikasa flatware set in the Zena pattern. Set was clearly shown on their website. They shipped a different set. We had several discussions about why they did not send what i had ordered (out of stock). they responded with "Ok, sorry. The patterns changes from the mfr. we did not list the pattern. It does say that patterns and styles vary.
You are welcome to return it. Send back to address on the box", I ask that they pay the return shipping as it was their mistake. they refused to pay it. I sent them the following: "Went back to your web site by googling Mikasa Zena. Arrived at a picture and description of the Zena product. Clicked on add to cart and then checkout, Went through your checkout procedure up to the CREDIT CARD PAGE. I stopped there as I don’t want to order another set. NO WHERE IN THE CHECKOUT DID I SEE ANYTHING ABOUT PATTERNS VARYING, THE PRODUCT NUMBER WAS THE SAME AS SHOWN BELOW THE PICTURE. Using your checkout procedure I believed that I was ordering Zena as I saw nothing that indicated I was not ordering Zena. My position is that I placed an order for Mikasa Zena which I did not receive. Therefore I do not feel that I should be responsible for the cost of returning the set". They again offered a refund but no shipping costs. I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge. they held up the payment. i did ship the set back to them but they would not agree to refund my money by telling the credit card company that they never received the set. I produced proof that they had so the finally agreed to the refund but no money to cover shipping. i filed a complaint with the BBB which turned out to be a waste of time. Since he did not make any effort to resolve the case or refund the shipping we could not resolve the complaint. So the BBB closed it as showing the case closed in his favor. end of story. buyer beware. So much for the BBB's reputation and rating accuracy. They give the Chef an A+ when it should be an F.
The better business bureau is an organization of businesses that represents businesses not consumers. As such, bbb's actions and decisions will always favor the business. It is, as you point out, a total waste of time making a complaint to or trying to resolve a dispute through bbb. The most significant thing the bbb actually does do is political action and lobbying to whittle away the meager, existing, consumer rights and protections.
I ordered some products online, fish bone tweezers, tongs, and shears. The shears did not come as pictured they were a completely different color(pictured silver-came black) the tongs were scratched all up the side, like they were dropped on gravel. And the tweezers were barely packaged in the box. I have ordered almost my whole set of knives and utensils from them and never had a problem before this. I called and took them almost a week to return the call. Then we were emailing back and forth with them proceeding to tell me nothing is wrong. After about a week of that I called. I Talked to the owner and he continued to lash out at me telling me I was wrong and there was nothing wrong with the products. I asked him to please not raise his voice at me that I don't appreciate being spoke to like that, he then yelled back " we'll there is nothing I can do for you, email our help desk" then hung up on me. I returned everything I bought from them. And wouldn't you know they didn't even refund me the whole amount, about $30 less. I tried calling and email them for about two weeks. I finally just got fed up with it and decided it was a life lesson I had to pay for. The a**wholes name was Greg.
DON'T EVER BUY ANYTHING FROM CHEF DEPOT
I REPEAT NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM UNLESS YOU WANT UNPROFESSIONAL RUDE YOU KNOW WHAT'S HANDLING YOUR EXPENSIVE TRADE TOOLS
I called Chef Depot about a damaged product and the lady proceeded to tell her co-worker what a "jerk" I was. I don't think she realized that she hadn't put me on mute and I could hear everything. The gentleman who later told me he was the owner said he didn't have time to "deal" with my problem and to send him an email. Apparently this week was the busiest week for them and I guess they didn't have time to handle a customer's issue if they weren't spending money. Never have I faced such rudeness in my life. It was so blatant that I thought maybe I had dialed the wrong number.
Needless to say, I will NEVER deal with them again. When I make a purchase, I expect good customer service. This is a small operation (from the sound of things) and they do not care about the service after the fact. Unbelievable. It would have been one thing if I was actually being rude or yelling or something else but I was very cordial.
Be warned.
Just to let you know, the posting of the persons who are telling Chef Depot should be trust worthy are their friends. Kind of weird that everybody who complains then get a message afterwards telling how wonderful this company is. Same case to me, "Greg" has no idea of what is customer service. Filled a complain to BBB and he is lucky we will not push it any further.
It seems the tracking number they provided does not exist and the items have not arrived (and they probably will not). At this point it really doesn't matter. If the response to my call is "yes sir, lets try to solve this" that will have been fine. USPS screws this many times.. but instead he jumped back defensibly before i even told him what i wanted. After he told me he did not have 5min for me but only 30sec because he is to busy; i told him i needed to confirm the tracking number. After complaining about.. he hung up and never told me the tracking number. Incredible.
He did called back.. to question me that i was not in the system which i found even more incredible. Recommendation for next person you scam "Yes sir we have confirmed the tracking number and i am sorry USPS has given you this wrong information". Just 2 sentences its what is needed to make this work.
Well, I was in the gray area about Chef's Depot but only because I read the emotional complaints listed here. I was really fearful I was about the be 'AD" with the purchase I had already made. However I did order two pretty expensive knives from Chef Ed on Forth of July. He returned to his station of the Fifth to have these beautiful MESSERMEISTER knifes sent and I recived them on the 6th of July. Now that seems about the best one could ask for. In fact, I am pretty amazed and very happy with my purchase being very fond on having and using 'quality tools of the trade", I will be coming the the Chefsdepot.com site often to see what they might have. I already have six of seven items on their clearance list that are really enticing. I no longer have a fear of the "unknown" as they are a known company to me now and I am a "very happy chef". From my first experience I would conclude these was a GREAT EXPERIENCE and I AM VERY PLEASED. Thank you to CHEFSDEPOT.COM. I give the a AAAA+++++ rating and for every slice of every Turkey, Roast, Filet Minon etc.I make, and everything slice, I will think of them.
I have a gift certificate signed by the owner, dated 5/1/10 and valid for one year. Its for $100. I sent them an email (March 2011) to see how I could use it and no one responded. (there is no way to enter a gift certificate on line) 4-1-11 I called to buy an item and they said they are no longer accepting their gift certficates. They said if I wanted to buy something for $250 or more they would take off something. How's that for customer service? Such a dissapointment! Stay away from chefdepot.com
I am in total agreement with posted writer. If you order from this egomaniac and you are one of the lucky ones who gets the order, count your blessings. But be forewarned if ANYTHING goes wrong with the order you are up the proverbial creek. If you actually expect anything more than him (the owner) putting your package in the mail to you…forget it! Anything beyond that is your responsibility, which he will not only tell you immediately but treat you as though you are stupid for expecting anything more. My item (a knife sharpener) never arrived. I was told it was the Post Offices fault and I had to take it up with them. It was insured, but even after more than 7 calls and three emails, I never got anything from him; not my sharpener and not my refund. I wrote the BBB (BBB Complaint Case#[protected](Ref#36-[protected]-[protected]-3-200). For the poster who wrote they checked Chef Depot out with the BBB of Chicago but found no complaints, please go to: http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/housewares-retail/chef-depot-in-downers-grove-il-16004168#ratingdetails and see the results. They have an F rating and have 14 complaints filed against them.
Horrible experience. The owner sold me on a product that was crap. Get this, when I called I was told by the owner that it's after hours I I need to send an email. He spent 30 minutes on the phone to sell me and less than 60 seconds when I had a problem
I called Chef Depot regarding a damaged item. They reshipped the item immediately and I didn't need to do anything else. They were extremely kind and sent a free bench scraper just for the inconvenience.
I agree strongly with the posted reviewer. I bought a cutting board from Chefdepot.com and it came to me defective (with an unfinished fuzz like surface). I called and talked to the owner (Jesse) who instead of resolving the problem sent me a sanding kit so "I" can try and resolve the problem. The kit didn't work and the product was clearly defective. He sent my complaint (with photos attached, which he insisted I needed) to the manufacturer of the board instead of again resolving my issue personally. A month later he calls and says he still never received any photos to send to the manufacturer, wtf? He became very rude and started yelling at me at which point he handed the phone to his assistant (lady) whom told me to call the manufacturer and deal with it myself. I promise you I would never do business with this guy again. I would very highly recommend you shop elsewhere. I believe if you buy something from someone and it arrives broken or not to manufacturer spec, the company which sold it should provide resolution. This company will NOT.
I have ordered poultry shears. By mistake selected wrong item. Wrote email to chifdepot. Chifdepot promissed to fix the order, but they did not do it. It is understandable - could happen. But what is inacceptable - the item I have received is made in China while according to information on cifdepot www it is made in USA.
Chefdepot website states free shipping on purchases over $99. I was charged $9.99 shipping on a purchase in excess of $115.
The complaintent suggests we check BBB in Illinois. There are actually 3 sites: chicago, central Ill and southern Ill. None had any information, derogatory or otherwise, about chefsdepot ( or chefs depot). I checked the url and the business name. So, I have to question the complaintents assertion that "many" complaints have been made to BBB in Illinois. If I'm checking the wrong sites, let me know and I'll post a correction. For now, though, it seems that the claim is false. Makes you wonder about the other claims made in the post.
I have ordered from Chef Depot many tiomes and I am always pleased with the products they sell. The staff is very informative on the items too.
Chef Henry
I work for the Disney World Hotels. My Company has been purchasing from Chef Depot for over 10 years and have only positive experiences.
I guess you cant please everyone.
This customer ordered parts for equipment that he purchased from another supplier. The parts did not fit his older style. He tried to return the parts to us 5 months after purchase. This does not comply with our return policy.
You are so right! My family had the same experience. He is completely unreasonable. He is so angry and will not listen to you at all. I would never buy from them again. BEWARE of CHEF DEPOT!