Has anyone here heard of Agostino Passanante?

[mugs]

My friend signed up for their service, and I'm concerned he might be getting ripped off. Apparantly what they do is they look at your grocery receipts and tell you what they could supply at a lower price. Then you place an order for 6 MONTHS worth of groceries and they deliver it to your door.

Of course no one has room for 6 months worth of food in their freezer, so as luck would have it these guys sell industrial-sized freezers as well. They sell the freezers at an enormous markup, and if you don't buy the freezer from them you lose the lifetime 35% discount on the food. So my friend has a dilemma - if he buys the freezer from them, he'll have to stick with this company for a long time to justify the cost of the freezer. But if he buys the freezer elsewhere, he can walk away after 6 months if he doesn't like it. I suggested that he buy the freezer elsewhere, and if he likes it after 6 months, he can sell the freezer for a small loss, buy the more expensive freezer to get the discount, and save money from then on.

My question is - has anyone used this service before, and what has your experience been like? Positive? Negative?

Cliffs notes:
Read the first and third paragraphs

 

[mugs]

Anyone?

 

[ravana]

I think this service kinda sucks because of the freezer thing. Best of luck to your friend.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: ravana
I think this service kinda sucks because of the freezer thing. Best of luck to your friend.

Yeah, I think so too. I think there's NO way he'll save money doing this vs. Costco, and there's huge potential for this to cost him a LOT of money.

 

[Darthvoy]

Does he have to buy the freezer from them?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Darthvoy
Does he have to buy the freezer from them?

No, but buying the freezer gives you a 35% discount on the food. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if it's a scam. You have to stick with the service for a couple of years to recover the cost difference of the freezer from them vs. freezer from retail. This company could just disappear and he'd be SOL. They ONLY deliver food to you every 6 months, which would give them plenty of time to close up shop and disappear without you knowing about it.

Edit: Nevermind, I found them on the BBB and they have a satisfactory record. I still think it's a terrible deal though.

They're charging $2200 for a freezer that is $500 at Sears :Q

 

[chrisms]

Too much hassle. Food isn't that expensive

 

[BooGiMaN]

why would you want to be stuck eating the same food for 6 months?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
why would you want to be stuck eating the same food for 6 months?

They have a lot of variety, like a grocery store.

 

[HappyPuppy]

In the long term your friend is going to get scrooged.

 

[Kipper]

All I'll tell you is that frozen food is inferior to fresh food. If you have a Korean market near you, shop there and you'll never set foot in a traditional supermarket again.

The food is cheap, VERY fresh and most of all, different from the traditional fare you'll find in your local supermarket.

 

[TechnoPro]

Judging by their website, they appear reputable enough.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: TechnoPro
Judging by their website, they appear reputable enough.

If you could judge a company on their website, I'd judge them pretty poorly based on the number of errors.

lib/db.mv: Line 51: MvFIND: Runtime Error: Error reading from 'Merchant2/00000001/blst_ses.mvx': lib/db.mv: Line 94: MvFIND: Runtime Error: Error reading from 'Merchant2/00000001/blst_ses.mvx':

They also go by the name of Home Food Services of PA. I've determined that they ARE a reputable company based on the BBB, but I think it's still not a very good deal. I compared some of the prices to the local grocery store, and they aren't that great even with a 35% discount. Oh well, his money not mine.

 

[TechnoPro]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: TechnoPro
Judging by their website, they appear reputable enough.

If you could judge a company on their website, I'd judge them pretty poorly based on the number of errors.

lib/db.mv: Line 51: MvFIND: Runtime Error: Error reading from 'Merchant2/00000001/blst_ses.mvx': lib/db.mv: Line 94: MvFIND: Runtime Error: Error reading from 'Merchant2/00000001/blst_ses.mvx':

They also go by the name of Home Food Services of PA. I've determined that they ARE a reputable company based on the BBB, but I think it's still not a very good deal. I compared some of the prices to the local grocery store, and they aren't that great even with a 35% discount. Oh well, his money not mine.

Unless this friend has a large family and they eat a lot of meat, the deal is not great unless, of course, the convenience factor is crucial.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: TechnoPro

Unless this friend has a large family and they eat a lot of meat, the deal is not great unless, of course, the convenience factor is crucial.

Him, the wife and a baby. I calculated that they'll have to use the service for 4 years to for the amount they save with the 35% discount to equal the price difference between the freezer at Sears and the freezer from this company. And that's assuming that the prices are better than grocery stores, which I don't think they are. You can get great deals if you know what you're doing. Oh well.