Joy of Organics Produce Buying Club

This whole experience was such a disappointment I don't even know where to start. I joined the Davie group. I was led to believe that this was local, fresh produce, but it isn't. We got things from Chili, Mexico, Peru, and other countries, as well as all over the US. Most of the fruit was unripe, hard as rocks. The worst part is that everything is refrigerated, which means many of the fruits NEVER ripened and ended up in the compost. And of course it ruins the flavors of eggplants and tomatoes. When I mentioned the refrigerated, unripe fruit, she said she was sorry I was "challenged" by the fruit, as if it were my fault.

Then the venue was changed to a place that was not convenient for us to make our pick up. I sent a nice email stating this, and asking to end my membership, and for my deposit back, since the venue change was out my control. She got very nasty and said that she "never refunds money" and that I could just go to the new venue and get the last pickup. I told her that it was a violation of contract law to change something like that and refuse to return the deposit. She just flatly refused to refund my $49, kept stating that it was "in the agreement." Sorry, but you can't just change venue like that and expect people to just drive all over town. That was NOT part of the agreement. We are older folks and don't have the means or the energy to go to court over it, although I sort of wish we had. My husband ended up driving way out of his way to get the last pickup. (Which included tomatoes so hard they could have been used as baseballs.)

Oh, and although this isn't a dealbreaker in itself, her email habits are maddening and drove us nuts, as well as others in the group. She sends a constant stream of repetitive email reminders IN ALL CAPS for days before the last payment day, even after you've paid! As well as this are recipes and all kinds of forwards, like everybody used to get back in the 90s and early 2000s? Some files were so huge I had to sit and wait for them to load, and I have a fast machine! And no way to opt out (I asked). If you want to be a member, you just have to put up with this nonsense.

Apparently, this is a nice person as long as you don't cross her. As soon as we complained, she got quite nasty to the point of irrationality. When I told her I wished to leave the club over the venue change she accused me of not caring about my food and stated that I should be willing to drive out of my way. Sorry, but you are NOT the only source for produce in this area, and certainly not the cheapest. We were signed up with another supplier within a day. As for the quality, I can get better at Wall Mart. Seriously.

Just to follow up, I cannot recommend more strongly that you look elsewhere in south Florida for your organic produce needs. There's several excellent choices out there that supply good, local produce and know how to handle it for best quality.

I have all emails to prove my statements.