Complaint Review: Colorado Prime Corporation - Farmingdale New York

After being bombarded by DAILY telemarketers, we agreed to meet with a Representative to learn more about Colorado Prime Foods.

The telemarketer insisted that no purchase was necessary, but just for taking the time, we would be given a $100 gift certifiate to Wal-Mart.

With a small child and baby on the way, we considered the fact that $100 would buy alot of diapers/formula etc, and agreed to set up the "one-hour or less" consultation for a Sunday afternoon.

Upon his arrival,Ed Jones was already running 20 minutes late and we informed him of our intention to leave for an appointment in less than an hour. We also stated up front that no purchase would be made that day, we only required an overview of services.

We also inquired about the gift certificate.He had conveniently forgotten to bring it. He promised to fax it to us the next day (Faxed gift certificates are like faxed checks-don't expect to get it cashed).

It became quite apparent that our sales rep was less than professional, after inquiring as to whether or not we smoked (no), and THEN asking if he could smoke in our new house!

After answering all of their silly questions about our buying/eating habits, we were told that 6 mos of food for our family of four would cost a whopping $2087!

Considering that our family of four consisted of 2 adults, a 17 month old, and an unborn infant, we decided to pass on this "wonderful bargain". It became apparent that this is all a numbers game, and they try to confuse you with all their percentages/discounts/numbers. He made more unprofessional comments, eluding to the fact that he could tell we could afford it.

He then brought out the big guns and began offering all sorts of discounts on this and that, throwing in a freezer that we didnt need, offering big screen tv's/dvd's etc.

When that didnt work he became rude, pushy and basically refused to leave until we agreed to some sort of contract. After 3 hours of listening to this and missing our dinner with friends,we finally caved and agreed to a split order, or getting a delivery every 3 months.

The final tally (after an appliance discount that we didnt purchase) came to $1667 for six months of food. He was finally leaving and we would get our food after a payment of $734? No way was I going to pay for 3 mos of food that I had yet to see, plus the other 3 mos that would come with the initial delivery!

After many whispering phone calls to his manager, we were told we could pay the driver upon delivery. The food arrived in a non-refridgerated rental truck that had driven 4 hours to make the delivery.

I was uneasy about the food, but told that it was hard frozed when they left and it would be fine. Only the items that could be split came with the order and after tasting this supposedly "superior" quality, we cancelled the remainder of the contract.

They could have sued us for this breach, but we have considered the fact that they know they have bilked us for enough money and don't want to press their luck that any of it could actually be returned to us for these seedy practices.

We are still kicking ourselves and each other for relenting and signing. Bottom line - Go with your gut. We should have known that our agent was representative of much more....The funniest part is that all this took place in August of 2001, and we are still receiving calls from CPF about when we want to reinstate our service.

Sallie

Gainesville, Georgia
U.S.A.