Staying in Mumbai has been a challenge as I am far away from my parents and my family stays in another part of the state. Mostly you think about the big things when you move, "will I make friends?", "will I be able to adjust to my surroundings?", but there are little details that you have to deal with as well, and that includes the food situation. As most of you might know, I am born and raised in the U.S., so when it comes to food, I always have to err on the side of caution. That means only hot, fresh cooked street foods where I see my food getting cooked, and no unfiltered water, so nothing like pani puri from the street. In addition, I stay in a hostel at a school which is vegetarian, so as a hardcore non vegetarian I struggle to get my daily fill of meat which I don't have to spend (read:waste) time cooking, but can be guaranteed of the hygiene. So when a friend recommended Spicebox.in tiffin delivery service, I was more than intrigued. Most people in Mumbai have some sort of tiffin set up, whether it's their mother sending them a hot lunch in a tiffin from home, or an Aunty who has set up a home business, all these tiffins eventually travel through the complex system that is the Mumbai tiffin dabbawala's and land up exactly where they should. As I don't have any relatives in Mumbai, and I cannot be sure of how clean a home business might be, I thought that going with a packaged tiffin system would be a good place to start.
My Experience:
So I began by ordering a 2 week non veg tiffin trial (or what I thought at the time was to only last 1 week, as there is no specific information regarding the period of the trial on their website). They offer vegetarian, alternate, and full non vegetarian tiffins, which are very rare in Mumbai, few tiffins will give you non vegetarian food everyday. At the end of the week I was impressed by not only the sealed packaging but also the (relative) quality of the food and the time in which they delivered. Also, all the containers are disposable, which while not exactly environmentally friendly, are extremely convenient if the food is too much to consume in one sitting (which it often was if I was eating alone). So, at the end of the week I decided to order a one month tiffin which I placed that weekend itself. Then the problems began. The following Monday I received two tiffins, and while confused, I knew I couldn't do anything about it at the time as I had exams going and barely enough time to shower or eat let alone deal with sorting this issue out, so on Tuesday when only one tiffin arrived I was relieved. But again, and for the rest of the week I continued to get tiffins, so when at the end of the week I got call asking if I wanted to continue the tiffin, their customer service rep finally informed me that the trial was of 2 weeks and it had overlapped with the first week of my monthly tiffin. So essentially I lost 1 week of tiffins, along with the money, and at 120RS per tiffin (expensive by tiffin standards, even for non veg), I did not take this lightly. The customer service rep said she would look into it and get back to me but I never heard from them again. Then I continued to receive my tiffin for another three weeks, at the end of which I got another call requesting whether I wanted to continue the tiffin, and although I agreed I asked what had happened to the week of my tiffin that I had lost, would I be getting an extra week (which would show me good customer service on their part), they said it would not be possible as they only had two week trials on offer, not one week. I decided to forget it and move on, but this time instead of taking the large tiffin with 3 rotis, dal, non veg dish, and desert/salad, I took the smaller meal with only 3 rotis, dal, and the non veg dish. I might also note at this point, that they claim to not repeat dishes within 1 month and they give a different cuisine on Fridays. However, I found that the dishes were basically the same, and by different cuisine, this meant they included pav bhaji or kheema pav. So I had ordered another monthly tiffin, but this time smaller, so on Monday I went to check if my tiffin had arrived, and despite searching everywhere and anywhere they might put it, I couldn't find it. They had failed to deliver my tiffin, so I emailed them, but didn't get a response. However, on Tuesday, I did receive my tiffin, but it was large rather than small, which I specifically hadn't ordered so I wouldn't end up wasting food. After emailing them, they responded with a perfunctory apology, and a claim that there was "too much confusion" with my order. On Wednesday they delivered my tiffin properly, but again on Thursday I got a large tiffin and had to throw away food. On Friday, I simply did not receive my tiffin, yet again.
Evaluation:
Spicebox.in has a lot of work to do not only with their customer service, but they need to improve whatever ordering system they have in place. When I got phone calls from them, I did not pick up as they came from unknown numbers, and upon searching them on Truecaller, there was no indication that they were related to Spicebox.in . Despite many emails to their customer service I got hardly one or two responses. If Spicebox plans to expand and collect quality customers they could do themselves some good by looking at the model of many American companies, who apologize for their mistakes, while Spicebox leaves their customers to fend for themselves. All in all, not a good experience, and while I have emailed them to try and cancel the remainder of my tiffin, I doubt they will agree to give me a refund, as that is what they have shown in the past.
Information:
Order via spicebox.in, payment can be done online or via Delhivery in which they come pick up the cash for a nominal fee; veg, non veg, and alternate tiffins are available; two sizes; the service is currently only available in Mumbai
My Experience:
So I began by ordering a 2 week non veg tiffin trial (or what I thought at the time was to only last 1 week, as there is no specific information regarding the period of the trial on their website). They offer vegetarian, alternate, and full non vegetarian tiffins, which are very rare in Mumbai, few tiffins will give you non vegetarian food everyday. At the end of the week I was impressed by not only the sealed packaging but also the (relative) quality of the food and the time in which they delivered. Also, all the containers are disposable, which while not exactly environmentally friendly, are extremely convenient if the food is too much to consume in one sitting (which it often was if I was eating alone). So, at the end of the week I decided to order a one month tiffin which I placed that weekend itself. Then the problems began. The following Monday I received two tiffins, and while confused, I knew I couldn't do anything about it at the time as I had exams going and barely enough time to shower or eat let alone deal with sorting this issue out, so on Tuesday when only one tiffin arrived I was relieved. But again, and for the rest of the week I continued to get tiffins, so when at the end of the week I got call asking if I wanted to continue the tiffin, their customer service rep finally informed me that the trial was of 2 weeks and it had overlapped with the first week of my monthly tiffin. So essentially I lost 1 week of tiffins, along with the money, and at 120RS per tiffin (expensive by tiffin standards, even for non veg), I did not take this lightly. The customer service rep said she would look into it and get back to me but I never heard from them again. Then I continued to receive my tiffin for another three weeks, at the end of which I got another call requesting whether I wanted to continue the tiffin, and although I agreed I asked what had happened to the week of my tiffin that I had lost, would I be getting an extra week (which would show me good customer service on their part), they said it would not be possible as they only had two week trials on offer, not one week. I decided to forget it and move on, but this time instead of taking the large tiffin with 3 rotis, dal, non veg dish, and desert/salad, I took the smaller meal with only 3 rotis, dal, and the non veg dish. I might also note at this point, that they claim to not repeat dishes within 1 month and they give a different cuisine on Fridays. However, I found that the dishes were basically the same, and by different cuisine, this meant they included pav bhaji or kheema pav. So I had ordered another monthly tiffin, but this time smaller, so on Monday I went to check if my tiffin had arrived, and despite searching everywhere and anywhere they might put it, I couldn't find it. They had failed to deliver my tiffin, so I emailed them, but didn't get a response. However, on Tuesday, I did receive my tiffin, but it was large rather than small, which I specifically hadn't ordered so I wouldn't end up wasting food. After emailing them, they responded with a perfunctory apology, and a claim that there was "too much confusion" with my order. On Wednesday they delivered my tiffin properly, but again on Thursday I got a large tiffin and had to throw away food. On Friday, I simply did not receive my tiffin, yet again.
Evaluation:
Spicebox.in has a lot of work to do not only with their customer service, but they need to improve whatever ordering system they have in place. When I got phone calls from them, I did not pick up as they came from unknown numbers, and upon searching them on Truecaller, there was no indication that they were related to Spicebox.in . Despite many emails to their customer service I got hardly one or two responses. If Spicebox plans to expand and collect quality customers they could do themselves some good by looking at the model of many American companies, who apologize for their mistakes, while Spicebox leaves their customers to fend for themselves. All in all, not a good experience, and while I have emailed them to try and cancel the remainder of my tiffin, I doubt they will agree to give me a refund, as that is what they have shown in the past.
Information:
Order via spicebox.in, payment can be done online or via Delhivery in which they come pick up the cash for a nominal fee; veg, non veg, and alternate tiffins are available; two sizes; the service is currently only available in Mumbai
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