PetFoodDirect

Full review
Prior to the recent MENU Foods contaminated wheat gluten from China crisis I was a regular - $50+ a month customer of Pet Food Direct.

Their service was slow but I attributed that to their not having enough employees to handle the traffic generated by so many customers attracted to their low prices especially their regularly offered 22% discount coupon. When this coupon appeared each month in an e-mail either from National Pet Pharmacy, the same company under a different name, or Pet Food Direct I placed my order and assumed most of their regular customers were doing the same - hence the wait.

The pet food crisis hit and I discovered how naive my assumptions about this company had been.

I decided to try a different brand of dog food even though my dog had been thriving on his food. I was concerned because MENU Foods served as their cannery and feared a possible cross contamination occurring in one of the plants despite wheat not being an ingredient in his dog food.

I placed my order with Pet Food Direct and they, per usual, immediately charged my credit card. Three weeks later, I called them as the order had not come and his food supply was getting low. They assured me and sent me a confirmation e-mail that the food was being shipped the following day and I should get it within 4 days.

Four days later instead of 60 pounds of canned dog food - UPS delivered a 6 pound bag of treats.

I called Pet Food Direct and was told that they knew something was being shipped but Customer Service had no way of knowing what part of an order would be sent. They stated further that the food I had ordered was on back order and they did not know when it might come in. I asked if it had been in three and a half weeks prior when they took my order and collected the money from my credit card.

To their credit - or at least the honesty of the person in Customer Service - she stated that they had not had it in when I ordered but that was not unusual. They take orders in anticipation of being able to get it from their distributor. I then asked when they had been planning on notifying me that the food I paid for had no anticipated delivery date. She said that their policy was to wait as eventually the food would arrive at their warehouse. The backlog , however, was so long now that they were no longer accepting orders on their website for that particular brand.

I then decided , since my dog still needed food and they had my money and would only issue a partial refund as the cost of the biscuits including shipping fees would be deducted from the total, to order his previous brand.

They accepted the order and at my insistence - sent someone to physically check on the stock being in. Needless to say his usual flavor wasn't there but they did have his brand in another flavor. We agreed that they would send one case of food and refund the difference.

I will admit that the total seemed greater than normal but I was a bit brain fried from the knowledge that this company so cavalierly charged me for a non-existent product that the real change in price did not hit home until later when I was searching for a replacement pet food site.

The price jump was $6 a case.

I no longer shop at Pet Food Direct. I shop at The Hungry Puppy now. I ordered food from The Hungry Puppy on Wednesday and I received an e-mail confirmation that it is being delivered tomorrow.

At $6 less a case in price without a coupon - The Hungry Puppy delivers my dog's food in 2 days whereas Pet Food Direct never took less than 3 weeks. Since both companies are located in the same state - I can only surmise that, unlike Pet Food Direct - The Hungry Puppy makes sure they have the product in stock before they accept an order for it.

Buyer beware!! Pet Food Direct may not be the lowest priced nor the wisest choice to buy from.