Passanante's Home Food Service Reports & Reviews (1)
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SCAMPULSE
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SCAMPULSE
If you know any contact information for Passanante's Home Food Service, help other victims by adding it!
Type of a scam Other
First, the way one gets drawn in. In my case, I was at an open-air market at a festival that was run by higher end clientele. After my experience, I realize this is their primary target—those they assume are wealthy. In that regard, it makes sense, because this is the type of scam I can see someone buying into if they are either a) wealthy, or b) elderly.
At the festival, they draw you in with a form and the promise of free samples. No samples were actually available at the booth. They kept saying it would be coming, but they never arrived for maybe the 4+ hours we were there. The event did go on for about another 4 hours after we left, but whether or not the samples finally came out, who knows. That probably should have been our first clue.
The next clue, is they call from a number already indicated by the phone company as a “spam risk.” The phone rep was clearly reading from some script, and could not answer basic questions like cost, approximate cost, general knowledge of terms of the agreement we’d see, none of that.
Then the rep comes with the free samples, which are supposedly farm to table, but when I asked why their website says they sell ballpark brand hot dogs as farm to table, they could not answer that. The samples are also not labeled, despite being sanctioned by the USDA and FDA. As far as I’m aware, food labeling is required by law. They cook the food in front of you, perhaps trying to show their hospitality, but it’s concerning that they’re literally feeding you mystery meat, and you have to take them on their word that they are a safe to eat product. Not only that, they mix the meats when they cook it! They put three different meats in the same pan. Any experienced cook knows, you just don’t do that unless it’s an intentional thing with the recipe for some reason, like fried rice, perhaps.
This business claims to have been in business for over 100 years, yet we’ve never heard of them until now. They also claim to be inspected by the USDA and FDA every day, which I’ve found hard to believe. They also claim to have never had a food recall, yet when I confronted them about reviews on ScamPulse.com about bad food received by customers within the last 2-3 years, they claimed it was a “bad batch.” How a bad batch is possible when they are supposedly inspected by the USDA and FDA every single day doesn’t seem to add up.
They also claim the animals are raised in humane conditions and showed us a video. That in no way proves that’s what the conditions are. I would have to see in person to believe it, especially given everything else that transpired.
Then the contract terms. These are the some of the most predatory contract terms I have ever seen. First, the rep refuses to let you even see the contract. They want you to be sucked in to their sales pitch, which if they did it correctly, they shouldn’t need to do a 2+ hour pitch, a great deal taken up by an endless PowerPoint presentation to explain why their food is so great. If you got someone willing to have the rep come to your door, they should assume they’ve got enough interest in the product to not even need an additional sales pitch. The fact that they will not tell you right away what their food packages are and want you more focused on how great their food is and how humanely it is grown is concerning.
Second, the food ordering. The “menu” they provide you does not have an itemization of how much each food item costs. The rep also cannot tell you something basic like how much food costs per pound, per item, nothing. Coming from a sales background where I have ethically walked away from certain companies because they are not being forward with customers, this clearly reeked to me as some kind of internal ranking system. Then the math made absolutely no sense. We gave them our monthly budget for meat only as a fraction of our entire grocery bill, as they pretty much only sell meat. They instead tried to focus on our total monthly grocery bill, break that amount by week, and then tried to use that amount to compare to their overall price, which was about $1500 base, as our cost savings over a 6-month period. But here’s where it gets even more crazy. They 1) only deliver every 6 months, 2) you are FINANCING this food. There is a 21% interest rate, BUILT IN to the cost. I got the rep to confirm this because I confronted them with another ScamPulse.com review indicating this. Then I asked them which third party lenders we are dealing with. They wouldn’t name them. Obviously, they are trained to not tell you. I think the rep wanted to be honest, but didn’t want to risk losing their job.
Then, the fridge. They try to sell you a fridge that’s about $3670, and that too, is under some unknown financing plan, and they tell you you’re paying monthly over the course of 3 YEARS. It’s not even a house or a car! That made absolutely no sense to me.
Then the terms of the contract. This rep is later told by their boss, they shouldn’t have shown us the terms. That is a HUGE no-no in the contract world. They were supposed to just tell us verbally the terms, and have us sign on the dotted line. There was no way in earth we were going to do that. The terms state, in part, that there is a 5% fee associated with a payment that is 10 days late, which I am assuming is on top of the 21% interest charge, which I didn’t even see in the contract. Then, it has blank lines where things get manually filled in. So, then if this is supposed to all go verbally, then the person is supposed to have no idea what they’re filling in where, and therefore no idea what terms are ultimately being agreed to. Also, upon cancellation, you have to return everything, food, fridge and all, in the exact same condition as you receive it. If not, additional charges will be imposed. That term is also quite concerning.
The financing of the food is what bothers me the most. Even if I hadn’t read on ScamPulse.com about the 21% interest rate and they never told me, they ask you to fill out a credit check form, and they ask for monthly payments, and financing in and of itself signifies there is some kind of interest rate involved. That alone destroys their business model.
This product is not a money saver. No one needs meat, 6 months in advance, and on a monthly payment schedule with interest. Buying from a grocery store in one go, ultimately saves more money. There’s no monthly plan; there’s no interest. There’s not even a credit check. Second, we can get more for our money buying at the store. Plus, that food is labeled. Two packs of 6 hot dogs per pack is not going to last a family 6 months, yet that is what they sell. 6 filet mignons would not feed even one person for 6 months, yet they sell that amount for 2 people. For 6 months! With interest!
Third, they underestimated how well we know our food. We cook almost every single day. We can tell if vegetables are fresh, or if they’re the exact same vegetables you buy in the frozen foods section. They were trying to pass off vegetables, same as you’d find in the frozen section at a grocery store, as farm-grown. No way. We frequent farmers markets. The quality was drastically different. Even the meat!
And the fact that the rep’s boss said not to show us the contract terms and only tell us verbally was telling. Clearly, they didn’t want us to know and truly understand the terms of the contract. They also want you to make your decision and sign same day. That’s also a huge red flag in the contract world. Especially for financing of this magnitude.
Please look into this company, its claims, and stop them from financially harming people. We were not fooled, but that is probably not the case for everyone, or they wouldn’t be still operating in this fashion.