Thrive Market Reviews
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I took advantage of the free trial and placed two orders with this company. Both of them arrived in good condition and the second shipment even arrived earlier than stated. I did find it difficult to order at the level qualifying for free shipping ($49). The prices were better than Amazon but their delivery times and minimum order levels in no way match the convenience. I emailed customer service canceling within the 30 day trial period and did receive an acknowledgement of my request and an offer to buy a 6 month subscription instead. Not intererested. Today I discovered my account was charged $59.95 anyway. I called, they said they will issue a credit (5-7 business days). I regret trying them given that any savings has been evaporated with the time I have had to put into this. Buyer beware.
First off, half of their product lines are available at most local supermarkets for the same or better price. Second, they treat cancelling the trial membership like a bad breakup. There are so many other sources out there that don't require a fee, I don't see any reason to put up with this company.
They force membership on you. I declined and they then charged me half price. I wrote again to decline. They said if I ever ordered from them again, they would automatically charge full price member fee with no refund. They have your credit card number, so you have no recourse. What kind of disreputable company works like this?
The same thing happened to me. They automatically charged my credit card without asking. I called my credit card provider and disputed the charge. My credit card company stopped the charge. Thrive Market had the worst customer service ever!!!
Why would you order from them again after canceling membership?
I am getting a new debit card because of this company. Probably a good idea for all of us.
First off, their prices are INFLATED. Perfect example, some of the higher priced items are simply not discounted and you have to add to cart to see the price. Even in the cart, the price is not discounted whatsoever. Furthermore, when you Google certain products and brands Thrive uses Google Adwords to have MISLEADING ads saying Save 25-50% off product XYZ and that product in fact has ZERO discount. Additionally, after reading literally hundreds of other complains about membership cancellation issues and billing trial members who have tried to cancel I can safely say I will not join. Lastly, they are heavily venture backed which isn't a bad thing but I have to wonder what these meetings are like now a year + into business with these blatant unethical business practices still in place if not encouraged. Remember $ talks, and spend your dollars elsewhere.
32 Oz Tin Star ghee for $32- enough said. Best prices and a lot of stuff that I can't get without driving 30 minutes each way. I've already made the fee back three months in on ghee and Epic bars alone, but I eat a lot of both lol.
I ordered 11/26 (Thanksgiving Night) and received my order 12/4 (Friday Morning). It took a total of 8 days to process & ship my order from their new warehouse in Batesville, Indiana to Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.
When I ordered they were giving 35% off on everything so I'm sure they were swamped with orders but still you'd think they would of hired more employees over the holidays to make sure everything goes smoothly like Amazon and other vendors do.
I also ordered from ThriveMarket back in June or July and it took 7 days to travel from their CA Warehouse to PVB, FL. I canceled my account back than as I was waiting for their new warehouse to open up in Indiana, as I thought it would be able to get me my orders in 2-3 days, but that has proven to be false (at least over the holidays) so I'll be canceling my account again.
ThriveMarket is great if you live in California/Indiana or states nearby but if you want your orders fast you might be better off just going to Whole Goods or using Amazon.
I must say even though I'm canceling my account once again, ThriveMarket has the best packing material I've seen of any vendor. They pack each order really well so nothing leaks or moves around inside the box. Opening a box from them is like unwrapping a gift each time. I do like that experience...
Daniel why would you cancel under the circumstances you stated in your review? It seems reasonable to think that they are trying to make better by opening up an additional warehouse and doing these type of huge logistical projects don't go as planned sometimes. I am a small business order and it just seems people have unrealistic expectations around the holidays or just in general and there is not enough grace and understanding in this world. I haven't signed up yet as I am wondering if there is a deep discount as they claim. We will use them to order bulk items that aren't needed asap. Just a thought as it seems they are trying to improve their systems. What is the savings experience when comparing the pricing? Is it worth it? Thanks, John
I admit I didn't read all the other comments below touting the same issues. However, I do stand on the fact that we need more grace in this world. Merry Christmas!
Hi John, in my first review on Page 3, I did a price comparison of what I saved:
http://www.paleoratings.com/thrive-market-reviews?page=3
You save a lot on your first order, when you first sign up... because they offer 15%-25% off for new users, and sometimes as high as 35% off (as we saw on Thanksgiving) as well as an additional $10 off if you have 10 friends you can invite via email.
Once your trial period is over and you pay the $60/yr fee you can't apply a discount code to your order unless they have a special going on so you will never be saving as much as the first time you ordered. Also some of their products are priced the same or higher than other vendors so they don't always have the lowest price.
For example Orgain drinks, which I buy semi-regularly on Amazon in packs of 12 for $20 (it changes price, but I never spend more than $25 for it when I order). Thrive Market only offers a 4 pack and they're priced at $9.45 each. I would be paying $3.35-$8.35 more on Thrive to get the same equivalent as Amazon which can deliver it to me in 2 days with a prime membership!
In addition to that and the fact that I don't live near one of their warehouses so it take 7-8 days to deliver the goods I don't find it worth becoming a member.
I recommend you sign up and do a price comparison to see how much you would save compared to Amazon/Vitacost/LuckyVitamins/SwansonVitamins/Jet,etc.
You can sign up for free btw, you don't have to put your credit card on file until you place your first order,so you can look at their prices for free once logged in. Look at retailmenot.com to sign up under a link that will give you 25% off your first order.
I've been waiting over 2 weeks now and my package has yet to ship out according to the tracking info. Only a label was created 4-5 days after I had placed my order! This company totally sucks. Time to do a chargeback.
Here's how to cancel your account so you don't get charged! It's real simple...
1. Sign in to ThriveMarket.com
2. Look on the right side panel under ACCOUNT and click CREDIT CARDS
3. Click EDIT under DEFAULT CREDIT CARDS
4. Change the credit card info, name, address to fake info.
This will easily wipe your credit card info off their servers so they can't charge you. You can't make the cc# all 0's or 1's, make it like 85746384616161 or whatever random numbers you come up with and it will work.
If you want to delete your account totally go to ADDRESS BOOK under ACCOUNT on the right hand side and change the info to fake info or delete it, than go to INFORMATION and change your name and email address to fake info. This will wipe your info off their servers as they don't save the old info.
I did the above after the first time I ordered and I was never charged after the trial ended.
Liars!
Doesn't work
Yes it does I put a old credit card in that doesn't have any money in n a random addres that's what u do
Doesn't work if you make up a cc number - says "enter a valid credit card number"
When entering CC information the system recognizes when a credit card number is not real. So I don't know how the person who offered this advice was able to do it unless they got lucky and entered a legit number that belonged to someone else, but I would think it would have to match the name and address info.
I entered an old cc # from a card that has been cancelled and it worked.
This is BS. You shouldn't HAVE to do this! You should be able to trust a company when they say they will cancel your membership if you let them know before your deadline. Yes, this may work, but you should NOT have to.
I clicked to purchase an item and just pay for shipping, a trial, one time item, I didnt even create an account that I can log into on their site? I just got charged a month later? I even have emails from them telling me to JOIN and click this button which I never did, so seems since I made a purchase(didnt even create an acct) they will automatically enroll you. And the links take you nowhere, nobody answers the number on the site, and no reply to an email at this point.
This site is purely for suckers who want to pay a membership to then get limited selection and overpay for food.
The worst selection, prices, customer service, ease of use, and you have to a membership to get that.
I only purchased one item from Thrive Market thinking it was just a regular normal store without hassles. Well, I received an email yesterday stating "Thank you for becoming a Thrive Market member ", and was charged $59.95. I was very angry and called my bank and they told me to contact the business and if I don't receive a refund from them to call back and they will take care of it. I already sent three emails requesting the membership be cancelled on their website. I logged in and tried to cancel the membership but there is no option to do so. Also, I tried deleting my credit card info but the only options are "Edit" and "Add new card". I do NOT like the fact that you cannot delete your credit card info. I think they won't allow you to do that so that they can charge you the membership fee! I couldn't believe that I saw on the BBB website that they are accredited and have an A grade. That will go down very soon as I plan on notifying them and submit a complaint plus I will also notify the Attorney General's Office tomorrow! This is very poor business practice and they know it. I will see to it that they do not get away with this!
I had issues with a return and the customer service was non-existent! I tried to delete my account, but there was no option to do so. I tried to remove my credit card and there was no option to do that either. I emailed them and they told me that they could not delete my account until it expired. When it did expire I go an email that they had charged me for another year. I called my credit card and disputed the charge. My credit card provider denied the charge. I will never join again! They are crooks!!!
Thrive is much less than it markets itself as.
1. In order to get the benefit of their "low prices", you have to order a LOT to offset the $75 membership fees. Unless you shop weekly, it isn't worth it.
2. And then, ironically, the shipping costs will offset any savings, especially when you order often, which you'll do to offset the costs of membership.
3. They carry lots of questionable foods that contain varying degrees of healthy ingredients(look out and read carefully!), and many that are owned by large parent conglomerates(Green and Black, for example, which is owned by Kraft), which is hidden from you.
4. Their customer service is famously bad, unresponsive and canned.
5. They pay celebrities and bloggers to promote them all over the web. Their launch approach was to give equity to bloggers etc in order to get them to talk them up--so, quid pro quo.
6. Their "one-for-one" charity play is facetious. In copying TOMS shoes, they supposedly give a free membership to lower income folks for every new membership signed up. But the sad reality is that these lower income folks can't afford to shop here to begin with. I doubt there is transparency that shows the success of this program—its purely "charity washing."
7. Their aggressive marketing and promotional pushes (eg free memberships, and cancellations) are questionable and often not substantiated and you can find comments about this all over the web.
8. Watch out!
I shop with Thrive Market quite often, for $59, not $75 per year. I save a great deal, and I'm able to find products I can't find in Miami's brick and mortar stores. I am pleased with customer service, too. Sorry if anyone had a negative experience, but my experiences have always been very positive.
Shop less often/order several items and you'll soon hit the $49 level and free shipping! What's so hard to figure out about that? I find the prices better than local overall, and love the reviews to guide my choices for less familiar items (you don't get that at local markets!).
Carrie, how's it working for Thrive Market? Can you tell whoever is in charge of memberships to reimburse my $59.95 that I was charged for a membership when I KNOW I cancelled my membership before the trial ended.
They have been in business for a year. I placed an order then wanted to cancel it the next day before it was shipped. Customer service said: orders cannot be canceled or modified after they are placed. They said that they are working on making that option available. Working on that option for a year? Wow. They also have a lot if coupons all over the Internet and none of them work for current customers. Once you are in, you are in.
I've made such changes, with just a phone call. It's been successful when I needed to do it.
you are a liar. they will not, under any circumstances, allow you to cancel an order once it has been placed and before it has shipped. it just happened to me today. worst online purchasing experience I've had in 20 years.
sorry, I was responding to person that responded to you saying that, in fact, they do make changes in terms of cancelling an order after it has been placed.
Thrive seemed really cool at first, but unfortunately I came on some rough times and could no longer afford/justify the membership. The real problems came once I tried to cancel. I had cancelled online, then earlier today received an email saying my card didn't go through for the membership fee (I guess good thing I'm too broke for it to go through :/)! The email said they would attempt to run my card two more times (again, I'd already cancelled AND received conformation of my cancellation!), so I called in to get it taken care of. I'm going to be honest that at the end of the call, I got frustrated and hung up after they couldn't find my account through my email, but the very nice customer service rep (Adrienne, sorry I was rude at the end!!) found my account AFTER I hung up and cancelled, so at least customer service is legit!
Seriously though, screw you Thrive. I had definitely planned on starting my membership again, but after this shadiness, can't say I have any desire for these fools to have my card on file again....
They'll keep charging your credit card.
To be safe cancel that card.
Thrive Market has been so disappointing for us. My sister and I both have Celiac disease and were very excited when a friend told us about the selection at Thrive Market. Upon the arrival of our first order, we continued to be impressed until my sister realized that the gluten-free granola she was eating had "barley malt" as an ingredient (which is not gluten free). After speaking to two customer service representatives at Thrive, we have decided to cancel our membership. Customer service was willing to refund us $0.02 for this purchase, not making it worth our while to have contacted Thrive at all. We were sadly disappointed with our experience and will not be sharing their service with our gluten free networks, as we would hate for someone else to become ill due to mislabeled produces and then receive minimal refunds. I sent this same review to Thrive over a week ago and have not been contacted by their Customer Service department. This morning I tried to cancel our free membership and was not surprised that the process is more complicated than it should be. I was unable to simply end our relationship with Thrive - instead, they say they will be in contact in the next 24-48 hours. All I want is for the headache with this disappointing company to be over.
For those people who say Thrive won't cancel their membership, there is a way around this. Simply call your credit card company and explain the circumstances, cancel out that card and have them re-issue you a new number. I have had to do this in the past, and I have to admit I smirk a little when I get a message from the company saying they are unable to complete a transaction. Awwww!
I am loving Thrive Market. My orders come really fast and I've ordered some large ones. Also, I was pleased that they took the time to actually personalize my statement from my last shipment by handwriting, "Thank you" on it. Who does that anymore? And for those that have a beef about the membership fee, read the reasoning behind it. They use that to give service to those in need. Your membership fee covers the price of some healthy food for those who normally would not be able to afford it. Maybe I have just been lucky to have a good experience with them, but I actually have no complaints!
you probably work for Thrive and this is your attempt to stem the tide of a huge number of complaints, including many to the attorney general. this is a scam organization.
After all the hoopla on all the Paleo sites (great PR and marketing arm Thrive!), I finally broke down and used a 25% off coupon at Thrive today. While shopping, I compared prices to Vitacost.com. The prices were always within a few cents in Thrive’s favor. But Vitacost doesn’t have a membership fee, always has sales and coupons, and carries tons more brands and items that I use, in more sizes as well. (Such as the Honest Company.) So, while I was happy with my order price, I will not be extending the trial membership to a paid one.
Also, seeing that a few of the Paleo gurus are investors in this company, and that they had given so many Paleo and Health-oriented sites affiliate links, I feel like all the overboard cheerleading for this company is inappropriate. They have good prices, yes. But if I'm going to pay a membership, they've got to carry many more items, do a better job on shipping (judging by all the unhappy reviews), and get their infrastructure together.
I assume with these razor-thin or negative margins they have with all these coupons and offers and PR, that they are bleeding money right now. Let's see how long they stay in business.
Do not use! Terrible Customer Service
Agree!
What happened?
Thrive wouldn't let me cancel the membership- I asked for a cancellation January 13 and 18 (2016) and they still charged me the $59.95 on the 19th anyway. Just wanted to warn everyone. This is apparently a big problem for them.
I just placed my 4th order yesterday, and it arrived today. It appears that each of my orders have arrived quicker than the last, so maybe they are working the bugs out of their shipping, based on some of the reviews I have read.
All of my items have arrived intact and well wrapped. And for most, but of course not all, items - I can't beat the price, even on Amazon, and certainly not at my local stores.
I have never had to speak to customer service, so can't speak to that, but as they are still relatively new compared to sites like Amazon, it's possible that they are still working on that as well.
I have had nothing but a positive experience.
They have two warehouses, and one of them happens to be in Indiana, right by Ohio, so that is why your items arrived so fast.
I'm in NorthEast FL and still waiting for my package to arrive which I ordered 6 days ago (on Thanksgiving night). According to the FedEx info it hasn't even been shipped yet.
I have had 3, and soon my 4th order arrive. I've had nothing but good luck. Prices are great and since I live rural, this is a terrific option for me since my nearest natural grocery is an hour away. Items came perfectly packaged, order was accurate. Shipping did take longer, but I wasn't on a deadline so didn't matter. As they are adding another location shortly, I look forward to a reduction in shipping times. For me Thrive is well worth it.
