Grove Collaborative Avis 3 971

I made an order to try out some of their products. I didn’t sign up for subscriptions and months later I get an email saying my order has been processed. They automatically sign you up for a repeat order of previous products you have purchased and charge you using your original payment method. You then have to contact them to get a refund. They also save your credit card details without your authorization and to remove that card information I had to deactivate my account. It’s a bit sneaky and dishonest.

Lets start off by saying they screen their reviews all kidding aside removing any and all transparency. I read the terms and was baffled. If you bought the product at Target your review will not be posted. If you use CAPS it won't be posted. If you misspell it won't be posted. Customer service is atrocious. I bought some products that arrived beyond damaged since they don't factory seal their oils. Sent them pictures of the unboxing with everything soaked in two (possibly 3) bottles of oils, Wrote customer service. They won't replace the products. They won't refund. All they do is apply a credit for the bottles of oils to use on a future purchase. What about the rest of the damaged order? Oh you can just wipe it down. Really? So not only did I have to dump everything because it had super concentrated heavy smelling oil all over it but I have to purchase more oil and pay their exorbitant shipping cost? I am sorry that is the most I can do for you is what the rep said. She added that they are an eco-friendly company and that I can add the oils to my next order to reduce my carbon footprint... Or you can package your products correctly and spare us both the hassle. NEVER AGAIN!!!

Sure, the products can be nice, but the website leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They are one of those websites that puts the 'subscription service' part in unassuming font during the checkout process, or just tells you to read their terms and service for what looks like a normal cart full of items. You purchase your items, with a ridiculously high shipping, so you know they made their money through shipping. Then you forget about them, because you didn't know you subscribed to anything. The website itself never send you an email until the DAY BEFORE they charge you. If they want a better business practice, send an email a week before, reminding customers to check their box and order the things they actually need. Don't send a score of emails that are all ads for more products, hiding your actual important emails. So now I have a box on the way, that I didn't know about, a charge for THREE TIMES what I paid before, and a box full of THE SAME ITEMS that I had before. Since I'm probably gonna have to take the stupid box anyways, now I'm gonna be stuck with items I haven't used yet from the first box! I can't change it either because the reminder came WAY TOO LATE. I want to cancel EVERYTHING. There's way better ways to be green then 'subscribe' to this sleazy and terrible website!

Had a membership because I clean houses for a living and the monthly subscription was almost always late and this last month it got ‘lost in transit’ so they ‘sent another one’ but neither ever came in 2 months later, and they’re not working with us for a refund. 100% do not recommend.

If I could give this company a double zero review I would. I initially received a gift card from Lands' End for some "free" items from Grove Collaborative. I had to give them my credit card for shipping those free items to me. Consequently, Grove Collaborative has taken my credit card and personal information and are now using it to automatically bill me for a membership I didn't sign up for and to sign me up for auto ship of their crap. They promote themselves as a company that cares about the planet. The truth is they only care about the bottom line of profits for themselves by extorting money from innocent people! If you dare to buy anything from this company, they will bill you for stuff you didn't ask for and you can't remove your information from their website. It's a scam! Beware.

Had the same experience as Pam Engebretson (another reviewer on this page). She's spot on. They won't actually cancel you in the sense of getting rid of your account in their system, and your cart keeps filling with stuff you did not voluntarily go in there and select to buy. The subscription terms are not clear. You have to get into a whole song and dance to back out of things you didn't realize you had been streamed into signing up for and even then they seem to want to hang onto your information and account and not delete it?

I had a monthly subscription to Grove and each month I would change what was in my order. Each time I ordered stain remover it came opened and all of the stuff inside the box was dripping wet and gooey and gross. When asked for a replacement they already say ‘we want to reduce our carbon footprint so you can get it in your next order!
Meanwhile all the other products are disgusting especially soap products and I don’t have a replacement until the next order. This time it happened again but they also excluded my detergent! I was waiting on the detergent but with my wrong order all funky and no detergent I got the same message. Wait for next order! I’m done!! Don’t bother ordering online the Customer is not first!!

I really enjoyed your service, thank you

I have always used my grandmother’s silver for 40+ years and other dishwashing detergents never did what Grove Co pure power did.
Turned it yellow/black strange discoloration. Guess the chemistry is all wrong! Bad reaction!!!
Beware…..

My experience of Grove's Customer Service responsiveness and resolution to a fairly common problem nowadays - theft of delivered packages is exceptional. Customer Service offered to send a second replacement after I assertively noted that I did not receive the shipment. They were polite, thorough and resolved it satisfactorily - to me, the customer. They are concerned about their reputation and want customers to return.

My 4.0 star rating, less than 5 stars is based on Grove's (VIP and subscription) ordering issues which they are working on. Subscription items need to be separate from one-time ordering items. Too many times my subscription orders have contained items previously ordered as "one-time" orders resulting in an inventory of un-needed products.

Products and prices are ok. But it's tricky to cancel after the trial or first purchase because they are deceptive.
I canceled auto delivery on their website. But the confirmation email said I canceled my VIP which gave free shipping.
I continued to get emails. So, I checked out the website and sure enough, there is another order on it's way. I had to go to Paypal and cancel the autopay.
I have screenshots.
Reading all the other reviews, I see this is a problem with Grove Collaborative. I will continue on to complain to other agencies and websites.

Email response from Grove:
Hi Chris! I am very sorry for any confusion! It’s noted in the welcome series when you first enter our site that Grove accounts default to a flexible monthly shipment service and the VIP trial. It’s also noted during the checkout process that by placing the order you accept Grove’s Terms of Use, and you are subscribed to Grove’s flexible monthly shipment program. We offer a flexible service that can be changed or canceled at any time!
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The thing is, I read that before I agreed. And I canceled what I thought was my membership and autoship. But, it was only the VIP part. To cancel is not clear on their website.

Bamboo Toilet Paper ruined my plumbing. I have iron pipes on a sewer system and my whole house is messed up now. Screw this. Avoid plastic not by a dumb membership you’re going to forget until you have 8 containers of dish soap, but by avoiding plastic

I was getting ready to write a negative review for shipping items I didn't order, but the Customer Service team was able to turn a negative experience into a positive. Kudos to them!

I am an big online shopper since I do not have time. I was interested in eco friendly products. I got excited by their deceitful practices of putting free samples and then ordering some not free products to meet the minimum. The quality was meh. Then I started getting emails about my next shipment that I never ordered. It was hard to get into the account at first and then edit the items THEY put in my cart as a monthly subscription that I NEVER signed up for????? I removed those but lets see if they come up with some other sneaky stuff to rob us off?? Highly disappointed in their pushy stealthy practices. Have never encountered any thing like this before- akin to modern day robbery. I have no words for it !

They have a minimum requirement for orders I was trying to buy two things which added up to $18.00 and I couldn’t checkout unless I spent another $4 for a “free -gift”
No thank you

I like Grove products and fast shipping. What I don't like is the order that showed up at my door this morning I did NOT order, but was sent items I'd ordered previously. I'm on a fixed income, what if that had caused an overdraft at my bank. I know it kept me from getting other items I needed because the payment was declined. Directions should be clear, I shouldn't be roped into getting items I'm not ordering..sorry.

I was sent a link for a 'free gift' from Grove by another service provider. The promise of a 'free gift' was obviously a lie. I tried to claim it, but then it turns out I need to purchase something first. Which I don't intend to do. However, since trying for the so-called free gift I have been bombarded by junk mail from Grove and it is impossible to get them to remove me from their mailing list. Grove claims one can 'easily' reach them by email - a lie. There is no email addressed published and the 'contact' page does not work [one can't send anything off]. '

First- the initial shipment of samples and free gifts are a bunch of things no one ever needs. Second- they secretly sign you up for monthly subscriptions for those samples you don't need. Third - they send you 3 or 4 emails a day. Fourth - they make it extremely inconvenient to get off the email & subscriptions list. Fifth - just when you think you are freed from this scam, they signed you up for a $20 monthly fee you knew nothing about!

I was excited to learn about Grove's sustainable products so I immediately signed up and placed my first order.

Getting through the ordering process seemed to take forever, wading through multiple free offers and upselling choices I had to make decisions on in order to move forward.

The shipment came, but the main item I was wanted the most, the bamboo paper towels, were missing. (The other products I received were great.)

My main complaint is that I somehow inadvertently agreed to monthly auto-shipments, that had I understood what I was agreeing to, I never would have done. The fact that I was signing up for monthly auto-shipments, as it was pointed out by customer service, does exist in two places on their website.

The problem is that it's designed to be bypassed, easily glossed over, and to fly under the radar and be overlooked. Had it been prominently displayed, I wouldn't have agreed to it.

There is an art to this. I design UX (user experience) as part of my job, so I know --and I missed the auto-shipping. It's a manipulative (and unethical) tactic to make more money. They know that a certain percentage of people won't go through the time and energy-consuming effort I just did to cancel, and they'll make that much more money.

No where on the entire site could I find a way to cancel my membership. The only option I found was to "Turn Off Monthly Shipments", which is different than cancelling.

I wrote customer service asking how to cancel. They sent a link. The link went to the "Turn Off Monthly Shipments" page, not to a cancel button, as requested. At this point I was 20 minutes in, searching for where I must have missed the cancel button, and getting more frustrated by the minute that I will never get these minutes of my life back.

I wrote again, and received back what seemed to be a personalized response to my issue only to see at the bottom of the email, boilerplate instructions (again) for how to turn off monthly shipments or to cancel.

Refusing to give up(!) I called customer service, told them I had their website open and asked them to walk me through the site to the location of their elusive cancel button. She ignored my actual request and lead me to turn off monthly shipments. Now I was officially ready to scream. It was through gritted teeth, as polite as humanly possible that I told her to unequivocally CANCEL me, which she finally did. And it had to be done on her end. As an end user, I was never able to find a way to cancel on the website-- she wasn't either.

If you sign up with them and want to cancel, don't waste your time like I did looking for a way to canel, just call and make them cancel you. They'll try hard to get you to just turn off your monthly shipments, and you'll have to insist on cancellation. There's a reason they don't want cancellations. Grove went public in June of 2021. Stakeholders look at those numbers. Those negative numbers can be avoided if people are willing to just turn off their subscription, vs. cancel them. More manipulation to skirt how their performance is actually stacking up.

Unfortunately, this is a business model that's growing in popularity. I'm writing this because it would be a travesty to allow this model that works mainly by wearing people down until they throw in the towel and just accept their fate to buy more product, to succeed. This simply cannot be allowed to become "the new normal".

It's a shame, because what Grove is doing is actually great, and necessary. But there's a problem with HOW they are achieving it. To me, that matters. So now I'm looking for another source of bamboo paper goods, ignoring attractive marketing and looking to buy from a company with strong business ethics where I will will be given the opportunity to make clear choices with 100% transparency; no covert manipulation.
As a consumer, and a human being, I think I deserve that much.

--By the way, it's clear in all of Grove's empty conciliatory responses to people just like me I'm reading here, they couldn't care less. Proof of which is that they are still operating with a lack of integrity and don't seem to have changed a single thing in their business practice.

Excellent array of items and quick shipping. Also fast response to questions. I plan to continue to purchase what I need from this company. I'm glad to support businesses directly rather than through Amazon.