How do I review a meal-prep company’s complaint and refund history?

Begin by asking whether there is a log at all. If complaints are kept in an inbox, a notebook or the owner’s memory, ask the seller to help rebuild a record from emails, messages, payment refunds and online reviews. Read the records yourself rather than relying on a summary.

Sort what you find. Group complaints by cause: late or missed delivery, food that arrived warm, wrong items, taste or portion concerns, dietary mistakes, billing problems. Then look at timing. Do spikes line up with a new menu, a new driver, a heat wave or a supplier change? One-off problems tell you little. The same issue repeating tells you something is not fixed.

Next, look at how the owner responds. Were customers answered quickly? Were refunds fair and consistent? Did anyone follow up? Ask whether any complaint involved illness or an allergic reaction, and ask your lawyer how such matters should be raised with the seller. Check that refunds in the records match the payments in the books. After you buy, expect customers to test you with their first problem, so handle it well. Ask for the oldest records too, so you can see whether problems were getting better or worse over time.

Key takeaways

• Ask for the log and read the actual entries, not a summary.
• Group complaints by cause and look for ones that repeat.
• Check that the refunds in the log match the payments in the books.
• Ask for older records to see whether problems are shrinking or growing.