Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics Avis 

I’ve been ordering from vitachoice for quite a few years but I noticed the salmon are now various sizes and cuts not uniform at all. Some of my boxes have odd shapes and lots of tails, even the copper river king.
One box of Chilean sea bass had some other type of fish mixed in! Granted they replaced the order but it’s become a hassle and I never know what I’m really going to get.
I plan to order my salmon and sea bass from someone else. Very disappointed in what used to be a very reliable source of seafood!

I purchased the King salmon and the copper river salmon, both expensive and marketed as the best salmon. Maybe my experience was not normal, given the reviews, but what I received was a bunch of odd pieces that looked like an inexperience beginner hacked off some salmon fillets all of difference sizes and shapes. Nothing like nice select cuts you would expect for the high price (and pictured). Plus, the taste was not the best. Based on what I had, I prefer what I get from my local grocery store and Walmart, better flavors and fat content, and of course a lot cheaper.

Come to Vital Choice Seafood for their:
- Sablefish
- Chilean Seabass
- Canned Sardines (in EVOO)
- Canned Mackerel (in EVOO)

Some of the BEST I have ever had!

Worst possible business practices. I had purchased seafood from Vital Choice in the past and loved the quality of the food, especially the sable, and the courteous services rendered, but once Vital Choice was purchased by another company and became part of a big conglomerate, the chaos began. For me, the bad experiences began with lost orders, missing orders, bad communications, thawed fish, etc so I cancelled my membership promptly. (I cancelled the extra cost subscription status they call PASSPORT). This was six months ago. I have never ordered from this company again. To my chagrin, late last night, Vital Choice ran my credit card and renewed my membership "as if" I hadn't already cancelled it last year. So I called them first thing this morning to complain and to insist upon immediate rectification and credit. The company shows itself to be located in Oregon but their calling is outsourced to a foreign country and after being required to give them personal information up front, it took a long time for the voice on the other end to say that they weren't allowed to help, and couldn't assure cancellation, they had to put me on hold and transfer me to another location, at which point I had to begin the time consuming process all over again. The people who staff the phones provide their first name only, and provide that with great reluctance. The woman (J) said that she is unable to identify what city she is working in, she only said she was part of FLOWERS.COM, and she also said that she was UNABLE to send an email documenting the fact that she cancelled my membership and yet would issue the refund for the $29.99 fraudulent charge. She informed me that I could expect something -- the refund? -- in ten days or so. I have zero faith in this communication process or in the integrity of a business culture that takes money without consent but will not rectify their own errors with speed and ease nor sufficient documentation. I cannot get any written documentation from them saying that my PASSPORT membership is cancelled and that they understand that they should never run my visa again to implement an automatic renewal.
Worst possible business practices. When you become a subscribing or PASSPORT customer, your credit card number is kept on file but even after you have cancelled the subscription, someone or something "forgets" and runs a renewal under the rubric of, oh, "automatic." Bad business practices. I called my bank to cancel my current visa credit card number and get a new number issued. Cannot recommend ordering from Vital Choice or the conglomerate of Flowers.com

ruined holiday! I always order from them for the past years and this was so awful, not same quality as before

I signed up for the Celebrations Service and paid the $19.99 to get shipping for one year. I just tried to place another order and was told they didn't have a record with 1800 Flowers (Celebrations Service). So I cancelled my order with Vital Choice. I had been a customer for several years when shipping was free. I am done with this company (Vital Choice). Just cancelled the order I was going to place.

I've read the past reviews. It all makes sense with being acquired. The website became a mess, customer service is yucky. Have been a biiiig fan for years. Going elsewhere now

As a previous customer I had no idea this company had changed. My 12 pieces of King salmon arrived a week late, thawed and a mess to dispose. Company offered to send me 6 pieces as a replacement, even though I paid for 12 pieces. The 6 pieces have yet to arrive. I won’t be ordering again…sad because the salmon was really tasty.

I could not believe the harvest date of my salmon roe. It was over a year old! The first batch they sent gave me food poisoning. I called the company and they said they would make it right and sent me a new batch. AGAIN. The expiration date was over a year old! I am terrified to eat it again.

My two boxes of fish were delivered 3 days late totally thawed out. I called vital choice, now celebrations, contracted out to Philippines. Waited about 10 minutes to talk to someone. Was told they could do nothing but ship again. I have no garbage can large enough for these boxes and live 45 min away from dump in my county. Will be looking for another seafood company in USA with customer service. I have been a customer for several years.
Beth T
Olympia WA

LOL! I have been a loyal customer for over 10 years.Since being acquired - as a previous Reviewer stated, we are now being forced to pay exorbitant prices in shipping, whereas previously any shipping over a purchase of $99, was free. This level of price gouging is egregious. I absolutely love the Ventresca tuna, but I will have to take my love elsewhere! Not at those prices!

This company is really disorganized. It had a good reputation until bought by 1-800 flowers. I ordered $300 of salmon and halibut for a special weekend with friends. Instead of sending this to me, its going to a place 3000 miles away....they can't differentiate between Nevada and New York. I would order from Wild Alaska company instead...their customer service has a better reputation

I have been a very long time customer. I miss the days when Vital Choice was a trusted name for fast delivery of quality wild caught seafood. However, ever since becoming part of the Passport delivery consortium the delivery of frozen seafood has greatly deteriorated. Once was the time that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Vital Choice to my friends and acquaintances. I don't think I would anymore. I have a monthly subscription for the delivery of 6oz Sockeye Salmon fillets. So far exactly half of those deliveries have been delayed resulting in wet boxes of thawed fish. Today is the latest example. My order was packed on Friday, given to FedEx with delivery for Sunday. Anybody that's in a shipping department should know that FedEx does not deliver on Sundays nor do they deliver on holiday days (in this case Monday, Labor Day). My order arrived this afternoon (Tuesday), with a wet shipping container, dry ice gone, and all the salmon totally thawed. All my orders are now shipped by Harry & David . . . what a catastrophe . . . Vital Choice's relationship with the lack of delivery service through Harry & David is ruining Vital Choice's once stellar reputation. If I wanted previously frozen thawed fish I would go shop at my local grocery stores. From many other reviews that have been posted here, this seems to be the norm now as to what to expect . . . so sad. At least my ruined deliveries have all been replaced without any hassle or extra charges. If this happens again, I will cancel my subscription and no longer be a customer.

Like so many others I had purchased from Vital Choice for about 20 years or so. No more. Sold out to 1800Flowers and I don't trust the quality & purity anymore. Sad.

We have purchased from Vital Choice for almost 10 years, and was ALWAYS happy that we had an excellent, trusted seafood source that also supported a small business. NO more. They were purchased by Flowers.Com; our package came from Ohio vs Alaska. You have lost our trust and a faithful customer.

What on Earth has happened to my beloved Vital Choice? It used to feel like quite a premium company that sold high-end products. But Randy Hartnell sold out big-time to 1-800-FLOWERS, America's favorite peddler of ugly bouquets, for god's sake! And now it's become a decidedly down-market experience to try to buy from them. 

Before, you used to get free shipping on orders over $99, but just now when I tried to purchase about $155 worth of fish oil, the shipping quote given to me was $25.99!!! For 7 small fish oil bottles...not even anything that needs to be cold-packed or kept frozen! So they have jacked up their shipping, WAY up, in order to sell you this Amazon Prime-like scheme where you buy into the Passport program for $19.99 in order to get free shipping for 1 year. So the Passport looks like a "steal" compared to the $25.99 one-time shipping cost, and you are then roped into buying products from them for a year to get your money's worth. 

1-800-FLOWERS and all their brands (Popcorn Factory, Cheryl's Cookies, Shari's Berries) are such a sad step down for Vital Choice. Who knows how long it will take for the quality of Vital Choice's products to also become lowest-common-denominator. 

I would like to find other companies that produce equally high products, but are not part of such conglomerates. Any recommendations here would be helpful.

The only problem we had was one package of tuna steaks that was spoiled. Otherwise, we've enjoyed all the items (shrimp, scallops, sole, halibut, tuna) we purchased. We will order again from Vital Choice.

I've been a customer for years and since they were bought I'm having histamine reactions to their products about three in four times. That ratio is too high for me to risk buying from them anymore. I hope they clean up their act but I have little hope from the 1-800-flowers people to care enough to fix things for people with health problems like mine.

Vital Choice sold out to 1-800-flowers. Need I say more! I am sure the previous owner Randy H. made a fortune selling this company. Not only that the new ownership has raised their prices significantly on canned salmon, but is now asking to pay big shipping charges which previously used to be free over $99. After many years of being a loyal customer, I think I am done with Vital Choice!! For those who are searching for an alternative source, WILD PLANET canned Alaskan salmon maybe a good comparable brand, which I have personally bought a few times.

I used to purchase all of my seafood from Vital Choice. Since 1-800 Flowers got involved I found another source for seafood. Vital Choice offered excellent products and a fantastic Customer Service group if any problems or questions.
My past experiences with 1-800 Flowers were terrible. My last time they offered a few dollars off another order because they did not deliver flowers for a funeral yet insisted they did for days after the service.