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Comment by atonse | Hacker News Reader

Ever since I got my FIRST Blue Apron box (two years ago maybe?), I felt they should've sold boxes in stores. I simply don't understand how they had such a blind spot for something so obvious.

We used Blue Apron on and off for 2 months and just got tired of it. We loved the food but sometimes we just wanted to have our native cuisine. But some nights, you want to try something new impulsively, which is where having them available in grocery stores would've been great.

Blue Apron also had seemingly slimy tactics (even if they weren't, they felt that way). Like for example, you had to cancel a week in advance for a delivery, but you could opt in for a delivery 2-3 days before the new week started. Also you couldn't just say "stop until I say start," but rather you had to login every 2 weeks to keep clicking "Skip delivery." All these things leave a bad taste in your mouth (pun fully, and proudly intended)

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I had the same problem. Companies should be forced to make cancellation as easy as registration.

When blue apron first started, you couldn't even cancel it through the web interface -- You had to send an email to request cancellation.

edit:

Blue Apron still uses these slimy tactics. I created a screenshot [0] of the Blue Apron cancellation page [1] (in case they change it.) Look at how difficult they make cancellation! The question is literally, "How do I cancel my account?" and the answer should be a simple button to cancel. Instead, the first paragraph tells you not to cancel, just delay, and then the third and fourth paragraphs are just additional needless text.

Then, when you email them to cancel, they don't actually cancel your account -- they send you a link to the cancellation page. Why do they require you to email them to get the link? Why don't they just put it on the FAQ page? The answer is that they're using slimy tactics to increase friction and demotivate you from cancelling.

[0] https://imgur.com/a/sJ16B

[1] https://support.blueapron.com/hc/en-us/articles/203146687-Ho...

We also canceled recently. The quality of both the ingredients, and the recipes, is quite high. Better than Hello Fresh, I think. We canceled because we built up a backlog of meals that we weren't always able to make.

There wasn't a click to cancel. We had to e-mail. They never replied to the e-mail. We escalated the tone of the e-mail, and eventually somebody canceled us and replied.

Honestly, I'm really impressed at the ability of their logistics team to get a ripe avocado to my house. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but in my experience when we buy avocados at the store they are not ripe, and are eventually ripe for about a day, then are overripe.

Here's what would be great:

1. Amazon buys Blue Apron. I get a Prime discount.

2. I get a notification sometime during the day with the meal of the day.

3. I remember we're both working, and I tap to purchase.

4. BA/AMZN Shipping and Logistics drops a meal at my house.

5. I cook dinner.

Do you still have to e-mail them for a link to cancel your subscription completely? That's the dark pattern I couldn't stand from them. Unforgivable.

I think you can click through to it now.

>Also you couldn't just say "stop until I say start," but rather you had to login every 2 weeks to keep clicking "Skip delivery."

Wow, I thought this "negative-option delivery" business practice went out of favor with Columbia House.

> Blue Apron also had seemingly slimy tactics

I've had similar experiences with Blue Apron and a couple of other similar businesses. They seem to rely on people forgetting and not caring enough to do chargebacks. It's turned me away from them for good.

Pretty much all of these meal services seem to prefer the default delivery option. I understand why the companies like to do this but it's a lousy pattern for anyone for whom these services are a very occasional thing.

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