Twinkleberry

Fattoria La Vialla

27 Dec in The Cottage | Comments (4)

Have you heard about the organic farm in Tuscany?  Fattoria La Vialla is  a  treasure trove of delectable things to eat and drink, run by a family of Italians. I first came across one of their brochures a number of years ago and ordered some pasta, just out of curiosity. The box duly arrived and we were hooked, since then I have also bought cheese and  pasta sauces – which are sublime and a hamper as a Thank You gift for a friend – who was delighted with the contents.

The farm looks idyllic, with happy, smiling workers and family members all working side by side, doing what they love. It could all be a clever marketing campaign, run by a savvy PR firm……who knows…. all I can say is that I like the idea of it and the produce has been great.

I decided to get a selection of things this christmas, mostly as gifts for some of my foody friends and some wine for us. I was unusually organised and placed my order just before the end of November, requesting delivery to take place within the first week of December. I ordered another box of wine seperately – anticipating the amount of partying we were going to be getting up to. The first week of December came and went. My order of the box of wine arrived. The second week of December passed and I started to get a tad concerned, so sent an email, asking for confirmation of delivery. I heard nothing back. Some more time passed and I sent another email – again with no reply. I tweeted them… nothing.

Eventually I gave up and phoned the farm. The lady who took my call was helpful and confirmed that my order had been despatched in November and assured me that it would be delivered before Christmas. The courier had told her that they had tried to deliver to us, but that they couldn’t find us and that no one was home on the  second time they tried to deliver – strange since we both work from home and it’s exceptionally unusual for both of us to be out at any one time during the week, we also never received a notification that anyone had attempted a delivery.

I waited patiently – but again after a week phoned, to get the same story. Eventually after 4 phone calls  to Italy and with 3 days to go to Christmas I was told that the courier would  contact me to confirm delivery – no phone call. I phoned again on Christmas eve – to be told that I was not going to receive my order in time and it would only be delivered on the 29th.

So at the very last minute, with no time to speak of,  I was left in the lurch on a number of gifts, a hamper and a box of wine. I was not happy. My experience is this – Fattoria la Vialla have amazing produce for sale – I can’t fault them on quality, but in terms of customer service when something goes wrong with an order – I have found them to be lacking.  “Not wanting to bother the courier” to chase up a delivery is simply unacceptable in my opinion.

P.s. – Wednesday 29th, Thursday 30th and Friday 31st came and went, with no delivery.

4 Comments »

  1. We had a similar delivery situation with a pallet load of food gifts ordered for Christmas presents. The courier company told us that they had tried to deliver on 17th Dec but no one home, which was untrue. Eventually a lorry driver phoned us on 23rd Dec to say he had our pallet but couldn’t get down our road as his lorry was too big (confirming our suspicions that they hadn’t tried to deliver before!). The driver was actually very helpful and we eventually met him in an industrial estate where he offloaded our order so that at least some of our Christmas presents were on time! The gifts were fantastic and all our recipients have been really pleased with the contents and I think that it is a real shame that such a good service from the farm have been let down so badly by a British courier company . Do not let this put you off ordering

    Comment by Karen Heddon — January 15, 2011 @ 7:41 pm

  2. Hi Karen, Thanks for leaving your comment. I couldn’t agree more, they are worth buying from – and how sad to be strung along by a British courier company.
    As I had not received anything by Monday 10th Jan, I rang the farm again – this time they suggested resending the whole order, which I look forward to receiving sometime next week. I do think however, that all the “chasing up” was done entirely from my side. Not once did the farm bother to phone or email me to check that my order had arrived or to give me any information and I would have appreciated a little bit of customer service from them.

    Comment by jenni — January 16, 2011 @ 12:56 pm

  3. Hi – I am waiting on a food delivery from this company. I do not have any contact details for the courier. Do you have any contact details so I can chase up?

    Comment by Geraldine — December 1, 2011 @ 12:08 pm

  4. Hi Geraldine – No, I’m really sorry, at no stage was I able to obtain courier contact details. Good luck with your order….

    Comment by jenni — December 1, 2011 @ 12:58 pm

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