Dolce Gusto online store - warning!

[jace88]

Dolce Gusto online store - warning! dolce-gusto.com.sg

One line summary of post:
WARNING: Do NOT buy from Dolce Gusto Singapore online store - no expiry dates!

EDIT for clarity: This post is purely in relation to my review / experience buying from the dolce-gusto.com.sg online store and has nothing to do with buying Dolce Gusto capsules from other retail outlets (e.g. Fairprice, Cold Storage, etc). This is not a review of the Dolce Gusto machines in Singapore either.


I just wanted to share my very negative experience buying from the Dolce Gusto Singapore webstore dolce-gusto.com.sg and hopefully help others avoid falling for the tricks in their business. In the interest of being fair, I will keep this post as factual as possible.

I purchased 30 boxes of capsules from the Dolce Gusto Singapore website ($357) during the Christmas period in order to get the free coffee machine promotion.

Whilst free delivery is included when you are spending this much, you are only able to select the date with an 8 hour delivery window. If you wish for this window to be shortened to say 4 hours, you need to pay a premium.

My boxes arrived at some point on 2 January with no call or heads up beforehand (i.e. you need to be at home when they ring the doorbell otherwise they will not deliver). With 30 boxes in sealed packaging (i.e. each capsule box was sealed with two others in a bigger cardboard box sleeve- i.e. there were essentially 3 boxes in each sealed sleeve; and then these cardboard sleeves were stacked in another sealed cardboard box), I did not have time to go through each of them to check the contents (let alone the expiry date).

About a week later as I was opening the sleeves and noticed some of the boxes particularly the green tea latte, I noticed that some were expiring on 10/05/2015. Furthermore, some more boxes were expiring in June. That means I have about 4 months to use them. Up until now, I still haven't opened every cardboard sleeve but the ones I have opened so far have found 7 boxes with short expiry dates.

I called up and emailed numerous times to discuss this with Dolce gusto since then and was offered 2x $20 web store credits. Given my problem was with the short term expiry, what I really wanted was either a refund or store credit to enable me to buy them again closer to the end of the year so that I still get my drinks.

The staff said it's too late for refund now so all they can do is offer store credit which I said no to (given 7 boxes of $11.90 each; $40 store credit isn't much compensation to me).

Some of the reasons given to me were that it is their policy to:
1. Continue selling products as long as expiry is greater than 4 months
2. Average expiry period is somewhere between 4 and 9 months.
3. First in first out inventory method- i.e. they ship their oldest stock first.

After a while going back and forth I got a phone call saying they had gotten management approval to make an exception and offer me 4x $20 credit online. I said I was fine with this and she added a remark that they can only be used one at a time. I said ok.

Then when I received an email on 4 February confirming the details it said minimum order was $100 in order to be able to use each of the $20 store credit (i.e. I need to spend $400 to get my $80 back).

Seriously what a joke. These guys position themselves as a premium brand but clearly my experience does not reflect this!

Hopefully this message will be heard by other prospective customers of Dolce Gusto Singapore online and will see this before they commit to making a large (or any) purchase with them. Save yourselves the hassle and buy it from your local supermarket instead- this way you can check expiry dates and know what you're buying. I'm a huge fan of their drinks which are convenient and tasty, and I know there are some environmental concerns, but I was just hugely disappointed by what happened with buying from them online.

I posted in the Dolce Gusto user club thread but wanted to make sure this message wasn't lost in the many pages of posts.

Please feel free to ask questions if you want more information. I just wanted to share this with people in case they are thinking of buying from Dolce Gusto online.

Hopefully one day they will get their act together and be clearer and more transparent about their expiry dates especially when customers like myself are buying lots of items.

 

[dnlei123]

I purchased 30 boxes of capsules from the Dolce Gusto Singapore website ($357) during the Christmas period in order to get the free coffee machine promotion.

That's probably their marketing gimmick to get rid of the old stock. It's like you are buying the machine+20capsules and they give u some going-to-expire-capsules.

 

[jace88]

That's probably their marketing gimmick to get rid of the old stock. It's like you are buying the machine+20capsules and they give u some going-to-expire-capsules.

I realised this too- but they should have been transparent about this as one would not expect to be receiving soon to expire goods even if it was including a free machine.

Besides, one would normally assume machines are cheap/subsidised to get you locked into buying the capsules over the longer term (like cheap printers with expensive ink).

 

[derrickgoh]

I don't expect the capsules to last forever but I agree 4 months is ridiculous. Especially if you bought so many boxes. I guess they will say the whole idea is for you to share with friends and MO and not to drink it all yourself!

In my case it was my own fault, I did not notice the expiry dates and because I had to order at least 10 boxes to get free delivery, I have 3 boxes which technically have already expired.

But heart pain to throw so I'm still drinking it. Yet to lao sai so fingers crossed. But because I am trying to finish them pronto, I use more capsules. Normally 1 milk & 1 tea/coffee will give me about half a mug worth of drink. So since I'm in fast forward mode, I use 2 milk & 2 tea/cofee and get 1 overflowing mug of drink instead. For the 1st milk & tea/coffee I use 3 bar and for the 2nd pair I use 2 bar.

Still have one more box of green tea to finish. Urgh!!

Last time I buy online sia. Only problem is some flavours are online exclusives apparently like the chai tea latte.

 

[dnlei123]

I realised this too- but they should have been transparent about this as one would not expect to be receiving soon to expire goods even if it was including a free machine.

Besides, one would normally assume machines are cheap/subsidised to get you locked into buying the capsules over the longer term (like cheap printers with expensive ink).

Marketing gimmick have no transparency. They are meant all out to take advantages.

 

[jace88]

Marketing gimmick have no transparency. They are meant all out to take advantages.

I would differentiate between marketing gimmick (e.g. buy X get free Y) with misleading and deceitful practices of selling products which have a much shorter useful life than expected. It's equivalent to goods not being of merchantable quality since they won't last as long as one would expect.

I think my proposed remedy to Nescafe of either refund me (and pick up the boxes themselves if they want) or give me new boxes when I want them is fair.

 

[derrickgoh]

I would differentiate between marketing gimmick (e.g. buy X get free Y) with misleading and deceitful practices of selling products which have a much shorter useful life than expected. It's equivalent to goods not being of merchantable quality since they won't last as long as one would expect.

I think my proposed remedy to Nescafe of either refund me (and pick up the boxes themselves if they want) or give me new boxes when I want them is fair.

You said it yourself, they want to get rid of expiring stock. That said, no way they will take it back. They will also not refund you as that means even more money wasted for them.

Lesson learnt. Next time buy off the shelf where you can see the expiry date. I think even if they lower the minimum quantity from 10 boxes to 5 to qualify for free delivery, I will not bother simply because I can't see the expiry date.

4 months to go is useless to me as 5 boxes is 40 cups worth. If you are using those 2 in 1 (as opposed to milk separate from tea/coffee) like Cafe Au Liat or Cortado then its worse as 5 boxes is 80 cups!! Who the hell can drink 80 cups of tea or cofee in 4 months? Even if I drink one cup a day, that would still take me almost 3 months!

 

[jace88]

You said it yourself, they want to get rid of expiring stock. That said, no way they will take it back. They will also not refund you as that means even more money wasted for them.

I still think the Nestle Dolce Gusto online store conduct is very misleading/deceitful. Whilst the free machine was good, they really should have mentioned expiry dates or anticipated expiry dates. Even now looking at their T&Cs there's no mention of expiry dates so one can only assume (however misguided) that the expiry dates would be reasonably consistent with those in stores of nearly 12 months.

4 months to go is useless to me as 5 boxes is 40 cups worth. If you are using those 2 in 1 (as opposed to milk separate from tea/coffee) like Cafe Au Liat or Cortado then its worse as 5 boxes is 80 cups!! Who the hell can drink 80 cups of tea or cofee in 4 months? Even if I drink one cup a day, that would still take me almost 3 months!

Haha the other thing is I don't think I can drink that much green tea latte. I bought it thinking it would be nice if people come over but I wasn't expecting such short term expiry dates on the Dolce Gusto products.

 

[jace88]

Just an update- it's been over a week and am still waiting for Nestle Dolce Gusto Singapore to call me back. They promised to call me back at 10am last Thursday (i.e. the Thursday a week before CNY) but still haven't heard back. Wonder if they've forgotten or are hoping I'll forget if I keep sitting back and doing nothing.

Seriously not impressed by the rubbish customer service from Nestle Dolce Gusto.

After all their fluffing around and then surprising me with the 4x$100 minimum order spend per each of the four $20 coupon we literally have gotten nowhere.

 

[jace88]

Just received an email from them not on the topic of whether what they did was deceptive or improper conduct (which nestle dolce gusto staff have already openly agreed to on the phone) but the reason why they won't refund or credit me further is because they can't process refunds to credit cards and web store cannot be changed to enable each of the $20 store credit to be used without a $100 purchase first. What a joke.

Greetings from NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto®.

Thank you for your support towards NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto®.


Please accept our sincerest apologies

Firstly we would like to apologize for the inconveniences caused.


Kindly be informed that we are unable to refund you by Cash or Credited back to your credit card.

Web Shop credits can be utilized with at least $100 purchase and limited to 1 code per purchase.

Please accept our sincerest apologies as we are unable to make changes to Webshop system.

We appreciate your kind understanding


We apologize again for the inconveniences it might have caused you and we look forward to your patronage again.

Thank you and we look forward to your continued support. Have a nice day!


Warmest regards,
Your NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto® Team

 

[derrickgoh]

Just received an email from them not on the topic of whether what they did was deceptive or improper conduct (which nestle dolce gusto staff have already openly agreed to on the phone) but the reason why they won't refund or credit me further is because they can't process refunds to credit cards and web store cannot be changed to enable each of the $20 store credit to be used without a $100 purchase first. What a joke.

Ever asked them why they can't refund to credit card? Recently I ordered an item from an online US store and despite choosing the correct item, I noticed the confirmation email had the wrong item.

I emailed them and they apologised saying the item was no longer sold and they should have removed the link to the page but they didn't. Nevertheless they will refund to my CC. Will wait to see my next month CC bill but since they said they will refund I believe them.

So again, why can't Nescafe do it?

 

[Successor.]

Since you drink coffee oftenly, just clear it asap lor.
Coffee won't cause any serious problems as long as the capsules or packaging unopened. Just that the effects of the coffee will deteriorate once export date over.

 

[jace88]

Since you drink coffee oftenly, just clear it asap lor.
Coffee won't cause any serious problems as long as the capsules or packaging unopened. Just that the effects of the coffee will deteriorate once export date over.

I'm actually more concerned by the fact that the products affected with the short expiry date were the Dolce Gusto green tea latte which includes milk powder capsules. Obviously nothing is guaranteed to taste good after the expiry date so it's more just a waste of $1 per drink. Unfortunately buying 30 boxes of 8 drinks each just for two people (although really it's mainly me) means that it's highly unlikely we'll be able to finish it within the short time frame.

Lesson learnt not to buy from the Dolce Gusto online store in Singapore, and to just buy from Cold Storage or Fair price instead where you can see expiry dates in advance.

 

[derrickgoh]

Since you drink coffee oftenly, just clear it asap lor.
Coffee won't cause any serious problems as long as the capsules or packaging unopened. Just that the effects of the coffee will deteriorate once export date over.

I beg to differ. I had several boxes of expired capsules too (my fault, nothing to do with Nestle). I notice the colour of the milk is more yellowish than before. Could be my imagination or could be the milk started to go "off".

If its a coffee only capsule I guess its fine but if its those 2 in 1 (coffee + milk in one capsule) or 1 + 1 (1 coffee/tea + 1 milk), I would be concerned simply because of the milk.

Again, it could be my imagination. Or maybe its because I drank too much green tea (heart pain, don't want to throw even though expired, rather whack as much as possible). Or maybe really something wrong with the milk capsule. But my stomach started feeling funny.

In the end I junked it and started on my brand new unexpired cafe au lait. Which sucks BTW! These 2 in 1 one CMI sia! Back to the 1 + 1 types!

 

[derrickgoh]

buying 30 boxes of 8 drinks each just for two people (although really it's mainly me)

Good luck. Confirm drink until LS.

 

[Successor.]

Probably you could share it with your friends and family?

Over CNY, when your relatives visit you, you got offer them the drink?

 

[tekster]

The moment i received my capsules, i checked every box wrt expiry.

Can only say ts is kum gong.

Btw, my capsules had 1 year to expiry.

 

[jace88]

Probably you could share it with your friends and family?

Over CNY, when your relatives visit you, you got offer them the drink?

Unfortunately not many relatives here (I just moved to Singapore) but I plan to just bring to office and share before they expire as we have a machine there. At least won't go to waste.

Next time ill be smart and either only buy a small quantity (quite difficult as dolcegusto have minimum order of $100) or buy in cold storage. Pretty disappointed still given the capsules are cheap stuff for them and I'd be surprised if Nescafé in Australia wouldve even bothered debating me on this issue as it would've been cheaper and easier to just offer me replacement to keep me a happy loyal customer

 

[jace88]

Hmm in an interesting turn of events, they've offered to send me six new boxes of capsules (presumably with a longer expiry date) of my choosing. It's been 8 days since they offered this to me and I accepted; and haven't really heard anything since... hmm!

 

[derrickgoh]

Hmm in an interesting turn of events, they've offered to send me six new boxes of capsules (presumably with a longer expiry date) of my choosing. It's been 8 days since they offered this to me and I accepted; and haven't really heard anything since... hmm!

What if the expiry date is the same?

On the topic of capsules, have you tried cafe au lait? IMO it sucks!