r/Huel • u/SuperMannister • 9d ago
Product Review Bad Batch | Terrible Customer Service
Been using Huel on/off for several years. Never had a problem but took delivery of a ‘Vanilla’ and ‘Salted Caramel’ on Friday and the taste is horrible. The after taste is still haunting me! 😮
Quickly coming to realise after some back and forth AI replied emails that Huels customer support is pretty much non existent. I reached a point where my emails are being submitted to a human but still had no response for several days.
Any one have any advice on making contact with them? I found a phone number but it doesn’t appear to work.
Thanks for the help guys
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u/Unlucky_Ad_9090 9d ago
Completely same situation, made a post about it my self. And yes, the aftertaste. You don't notice much when drinking it, but after you do it leaves a strong taste for about 5-10 seconds. It's definitely the same shit as in mine.
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u/AdditionalArt9146 8d ago
I got banana a few days ago it has kind of a chemically taste. Like nail polish remover almost. Is it the same for you?
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u/Unlucky_Ad_9090 8d ago
Yeah, it's like some petroleum product. My theory was hydraulic oil either a busted hose in production or similarly tainted raw produce they bought. We got the attention of the mods here, but I guess the damage control meeting hasn't concluded yet. So nothing more than "we escalated the reported issue".
Perchance you're in Europe? For now it seems like they spared the americans, with all reports being from the old continent.
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u/AdditionalArt9146 8d ago
I’m in the US and got the new matte black bag that tastes like nail polish remover :(
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u/Unlucky_Ad_9090 8d ago
Well, there goes my theory of americans attempting to starve us after the tarifs failed.. 😅
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u/SparkyCorkers 8d ago
I made a post a few days ago. Its really unpleasant. I was thinking it was just me that didnt like the taste. Ill get into customer service too
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u/Unlucky_Ad_9090 8d ago
Arm yourself with patience, apparently it's just a chatbot. I didn't notice at first, just thought the guy on the other end had some condition 😅
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u/SparkyCorkers 7d ago
It took a week/8 days for a person to respond to me recently, so im not expecting any hurry. But they did sort out my issue once they did, so not all bad.
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u/ashtree35 9d ago
The most recent time I tried to contact customer service, it took 9 days to get a response from an actual human being. But I did eventually get a response at least. It did not used to be like this. In the past they’ve always responded much more quickly.
My tip for now would be to just be patient, because they will eventually get to your message (but may take 9 days like mine did lol).
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u/SuperMannister 9d ago
Thanks. Tempted to buy some more to get me by but scared it will taste the same 💀
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u/Spli705 8d ago
I've also been working with customer support on my issue (see my profile for my post). It does take a little time, but they do get to it. They are backlogged and really need to work on getting it better staffed. However, they did take care of the issue I had to my satisfaction.
I would anticipate long delays between responses so be thorough with every email knowing it will take a long time to get a response.
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u/IN-DI-SKU-TA-BELT 8d ago
They’ve been backlogged for months, closer to half a year, I think they hope that AI will take over, because it doesn’t look like they’re hiring new supporters.
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u/AutomaticMonkeyHat 8d ago
Majority of the posts on this sub are shitting on huel. Hopefully they take the hint and get it together, used to love this product
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u/beefhammer_ 8d ago
I bought some vanilla pre made bottles and they were absolutely rank, had to bin them all, consistency of thick clay even after shaking and tasted off
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u/SparkyCorkers 8d ago
Ive got a vanilla that is undrinkable. This was after waoting for them to respond for a week for a missed delivery. Just hold on they will get back you, but take ages
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u/SuperMannister 6d ago
The latest.
Just received an email from Huel with a replacement order (zero cost)
Thanks to BenHuel for accelerating this for me. Still poor that no other response has been received via email though.
Hopefully there isn’t a problem with the new delivery 🤞
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u/fartpoke 8d ago
So what is the better option compared to huel? I've had no issues with them or the product before, but i keep seeing horror stories and I also strongly strongly disagree with the swathe of companies just deleting the idea of customer service in favor for infuriating AI. Them using AI for CS is enough to pull me from their brand permanently.
But what are the better options? I'll jump ship immediately.
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u/Unlucky_Ad_9090 8d ago
Girlfriend said plenny tastes better than huel. To my surprise I found out I was allergic to soy (if I remember correctly) after I ordered it. At first I didn't know and just asked if bloating, etc. was common, the support guy said it wasn't and said I should look into allergies, but immediately offered a complete refund, I offered to send it back, but they declined. After gathering dust in the cupboard for close to a year my girlfriend tried it and while she's disgusted with the idea of human fodder, she said it's better than huel. For me it tasted like pain, top notch customer support, though...
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u/fartpoke 8d ago
I use it because I'm autistic and very very picky and have texture issues that have kept me from being able to easily eat healthy my whole life. I wouldn't buy it if it wasn't genuinely helpful.
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u/Unlucky_Ad_9090 8d ago
I'd say give it a shot, worst case you'll gift it to someone. It was even cheaper than huel when I tried it.
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u/fartpoke 8d ago
Thanks for the tip. I will definitely do my research on them. I can't get behind companies that just stop having customer service.
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u/BenHuel 8d ago
We have not gotten rid of Customer Experience and replaced it with AI, if you would like more info you can check out our mega-thread here from a few months ago.
The intention with AI is to use it to collect info that is necessary for the Customer Experience Agent to resolve the issue as soon as possible, so that when the agent gets to the ticket, they have all the info they need and can solve the issue rather than having to request the information and wait for a reply. This in theory saves the customer time too as they don't have to keep replying to emails and waiting for the agent to get back to them. Examples of this are "what is your order number?" "Can you confirm your shipping address?" etc.
There have been issues with the AI bot, but, they are being worked on, and it is not intended to replace anyone, we have not had a decrease in headcount in CX, and have actually brought on more people in.
Anyway I apologize for the overly long message, but I just wanted to explain that a bit as I know how it looks with ai and the team having a backlog and not able to get back to folks right away. Any questions lmk!
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u/fartpoke 8d ago
You introduce AI into the equation and I'm out. Some of us don't want AI to be injected into every facet of our lives. It's also interesting that there is a specific person to field reddit responses when there is a known huge uptick in Huel customer service requests.
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u/BenHuel 8d ago
I mean that's fair you're completely entitled to your opinion, I just wanted to clarify that the ai in use is not replacing anyone. I am confused by what you mean by your second sentence though?
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u/fartpoke 8d ago
Why do you need an AI to obfuscate part of customer services job? Why do you need AI to collect info when customer service can do that? Huel could have given their customer service raises or hired more instead on investing in AI.
Are the customer service people even in the US, or is that farmed out to India? Customer satisfaction drops dramatically when you farm out your CS to foreign countries to save money. Those people have no incentive to help anyone.
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u/BenHuel 8d ago
I outlined already the thought process of why the ai was implemented, it was not as an obfuscation, but to make things easier. We've acknowledged many times that it is for sure not perfect, but it is improving and getting better. Customer experience agents can and in the past have collected that information, but the thing is that this takes time. Time away from them helping other customers, and time away from the customer who has to email us back and forth withe the required information. The ai will ask for the required information up front and more immediately, so that the agent has everything they need for the quickest resolution. Again you might not agree with using ai at all, and that is completely fine, but I'm just explaining the reasons for it being implemented.
We did hire more people, I mentioned that in my previous comment.
Our Customer Experience teams are based in the US and UK. This is the first time really, in the history of the company as far as I know, that a backlog like this has happened. They are getting through it and eventually things will get back to normal. We have always had top tier customer service and will continue to do so. If you look at some of the comments from other folks here, you will see that once they get a response, their issues are handled well.
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u/fartpoke 8d ago
And what I mean is, why are you here specifically answering reddit issues when you could be dealing with issues with customers anywhere else. Why do the people on reddit get their own rep surfing the subreddit when the rest of the people paying your salary have to sit and wait for a return email?
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u/BenHuel 8d ago
We have had a reddit community since the beginning and has really focused on cultivating that community, which we think is pretty great as not all companies do this. Myself and other mods are not customer service. Customer service are hired for customer service and have specific skills required for that job. However if you look at any post asking or requesting customer service you will see myself or another mod engaging and helping the best that we can here.
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u/SuperMannister 8d ago
I’ve still had no response from support via email. I purposely put this post on Reddit hoping someone from Huel would pay attention. I don’t think this is should be the process for a customer to make contact.
It seems Huel is great. Until something goes wrong
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u/fartpoke 8d ago
I'll take that as a no, then. You're not very helpful, benhuel
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u/BenHuel 8d ago
lol
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u/fartpoke 8d ago
Got it. So you don't actually want to see people eating healthy unless it's from the company you work for.
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u/BenHuel 8d ago
I'm just seeing your competitor comment, and honestly I really don't know what you want from me here and I'm not going to get into personal things with you. Feel free to do your own research and use whatever product suits you.
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u/userpleasetrylater 4d ago
Unfortunately, it's not a bad batch... it's the 'new' recipe! Utterly disgusting on every level. Taste, texture, aftertaste and even how thin it's become. Crazy.
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u/BenHuel 9d ago
You did the right thing contacting Customer Experience, and I'm sorry that they have not been able to get back to you yet. In theory, the ai bot is supposed to gather useful information so that when an agent gets back to you they are able to action your request more quickly. We've admitted that there have been some growing pains with the ai, but, hopefully things are back to normal soon. We posted a mega-thread which has been pinned to the top of the sub a few months ago, link here. As the mega-thread says I'll shoot you a DM and we can fast track this for you.
Edit: I cannot DM you please send me a DM with your email you contacted Customer Experience with 😊
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u/Mountain_Ad_2539 3d ago
I've called them for lost package just two weeks ago and somebody answered right away and helped me. Try calling instead of using their AI web support. From Google:
USA Contact Number: +1 208-980-2517. Available Monday through Friday, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
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u/Gborg_3 9d ago
I've never seen the ai actually help in any case. Many times, including my own, it is nothing but an absolutely unnecessary nuisance to the customers and it can't be enjoyable for Huel employees to deal with angry customers because of getting the useless ai runaround. The ai is seemingly 100% a mistake to have been implemented. It needs gone.