Firstly, I’d like to point that I’m a massive fan of Huel and have had a recurring subscription for years.
However, I recently saw this thread on twitter about how you have turned off the automatic 3 day reminder emails for a subscription:
I do think is a horrendous move by Huel. It wreaks of opportunism and greed. You’ve clearly had a few people get their reminder emails and then cancel which I do understand from your POV but to not even announce this change (unless I have missed it somewhere??) seems very underhanded and dodgy.
I’ve seen the discussion around this, and I understand why it’s raised eyebrows.
I want to be clear that this wasn’t done as some sort of move to catch people out. It was change as part of how subscriptions are managed within the account area. I get that not everyone will like it but it wasn’t done with bad intent.
Where I do think the fair criticism sits is around communication. A clearer heads-up probably would’ve helped it land better, even if the reaction to the change itself might still have been strong. That feedback has definitely been heard and passed on internally. I want to also say, along with the feedback here, socials, Reddit etc we’re collating all feedback and passing it onto the relevant teams.
If you’d built your routine and expectation around those reminder emails, I can see why removing them feels like something’s been taken away. I don’t agree with framing it as greed or underhanded. We don’t make these changes to make things worse for customers, even if not every change lands perfectly.
I appreciate you saying “do better.” That comes from caring, and that matters. Like I said, we hear you and we see your comments and i’ll continue to pass on the feedback
For those of us who don’t use socials or have accounts with X etc so can’t view most of the content there and rely on this forum and official emails from Huel to keep up with the news, what has happened? And as things currently stand, will I not be receiving a reminder email 3 days before my next sub order is about to go through?
I do understand that the account page has been updated etc and perhaps I am alone in this but I almost never login to my account. I have my subscription set up and that’s it. Why would I be regularly logging in to tinker and change when I’m happy with my products?
The 3 day Email was always appreciated because I could then check my stock and see if I needed to amend or put the order back etc… in-between the 2 months of my delivery I wouldn’t log in to my account once and so whilst the new account features may be able to do the washing up, it seems a bit wasted. I do acknowledge again that I may be alone in this and perhaps others are logged in all the time so I am just giving my honest feedback.
And my main gripe was also that this change was seemingly done without any communication at all… people are only finding out about it when their orders turn up which doesn’t seem right at all and I can see absolutely no benefits as to why it has been turned off, even if the new account bit the best thing ever.
I do also want to reiterate that I love Huel. I have had a regular subscription for 10 years. I think your products are great and I’ve always found the CS, on the few times I’ve needed them, super helpful and I applaud what you’re doing but this change doesn’t sit quite right and I’d implore you to reconsider. Or at the very least, maybe ask/tell your customer’s before making such a change in future.
I just cancelled my subscription after 5 years and mentioned this as reason. This doesn’t make sense as a deliberate change. I often want to adjust either date or the product selection, now that’s not possible anymore unless I set my own reminder in my calendar every single time. I doubt anyone was annoyed by receiving a reminder.
While I am also incredibly disappointed by the choice to remove the reminder email, I am most frustrated by the lack of communication via the same medium (i.e. email) in a timely matter so that people could prepare. I relied on the emails to make any last minute change to my subscription including adding or removing products I don’t need as frequently.
Every other subscription service I use sends reminder emails. I truly cannot understand why the decision was taken to stop sending them apart from trying to catch people out. I don’t really want to continue to support a company that treats its customers this way. I will stick around for a little while to see if the emails are restored or at least made optional but otherwise will be cancelling my subscription as well.
You won’t be receiving the 3-day reminder email anymore.
We’ve changed how subscription management works, and reminder emails are no longer part of the process. You’ll find your next order date in your account, with this you can pause, skip or edit it there at any time before it processes.
10 years, an og! Thanks for sticking with us so long.
And you’re right, if you’re happy with your subscription and it just ticks along in the background, you wouldn’t be logging to check it. I do get that lots of people used the reminder email as their trigger, and removing that does change the rhythm people were used to.
I get it, I do. This is a piece of feedback that has come up quite a lot. A clearer heads-up probably would’ve helped it land better, even if the decision itself might still have split opinion. This feedback has repeatedly come up so it’s something I continue to feedback.
I appreciate the way you’ve framed this and your whole message. Restassured that I’m in the thick of it and giving you guys as much information as I possibly can when I can, but again thank you
I get you. For you it’s not just “I hate the change” it’s more about reliability and routine.
On the communication side, like I’ve said before, I can see why people feel blindsided. Even if the reaction to the change itself might still have been strong, a clearer heads-up probably would’ve helped people prepare and decide what they wanted to do with their subs.
I know it might look like it was done to catch people out, but I genuinely don’t believe that was the intent behind it. You don’t have to agree with the direction, but I don’t think it’s fair to assume bad faith when that wasn’t the motivation.
And of course, you’re right to think about whether a subscription still works for you that’s your call. I can’t make that decision for you. All I can do is keep feeding the reaction back and be honest with you here
Thanks again for your reply, Mark, but you have sort of confirmed my point. What is the rationale for removing this other than clearly hoping to get another order out of people? You literally just said why would anyone check their account if they are a regular subscriber as it just ticks along in the background. The 3-day reminder emails are all automated, they take up no additional staffing time, so my question again is this: What is the business case for turning them off if it is not to hope that people forget about the subscription and you get another order out of them before cancelling?
I would probably respect the answer more if it was simply a case of: ‘A lot of customers took out a subscription but then when the reminder came through they cancelled and we lost a lot of revenue because of it. Therefore, we have removed the reminder in the hope that people don’t cancel and it helps our bottom line’. The subterfuge is probably what has irked me more than the process itself, even if I can see absolutely no benefit for the user for having the reminders removed.
Ithink because I’m in the thick of all the comments, it can come across like I know everything but that’s not the case. I didn’t make this decision. I’m not sat in the meetings where strategy or business decisions are made, and I’m not going to pretend I have the inside scoop. What I will say is that I’m here for you guys to be your voice within the community
This change sat under the wider move to centralise subscription management in the account area. That was the logic given. You don’t have to see that as a benefit; clearly, you don’t, but it was never presented as “let’s sneak an extra order out of people.”
I’ve asked plenty of questions internally myself, and the answers I’ve been given are the ones I’m sharing with you here.
I can’t give you a detailed business case because that’s not the information I have. What I can say is I don’t believe this was done as subterfuge (had to Google that one, by the way). I understand it might feel that way if you can’t see the upside, but I’m not going to confirm a motive I don’t think is fair or true.
I get why you’re questioning it, Russ. I’ll keep feeding your comments back and being straight with you here best I can.
Thanks again for your response, it is much appreciated. I don’t, for one second, hold you personally responsible and the fact you are questioning and holding the power that be to account is good so kudos for that
I will leave it now as I know you are the fall-guy being sent out to defend something with seemingly no benefit at all for the customer which is very un-Huel like so that is why I raised my concerns. Hopefully, it is just a blip and not an on-going trend, but to the fellas upstairs, you’ve dropped the ball here. Please pick it up in good time and all will be well.
(Subterfuge is a cracking word by the way, try to sneak it into your feedback to the big cheeses )
Please pass on my thoughts that this is an ABSOLUTE WHOPPER of a decision.
I cancelled my sub earlier for fear of getting an unexpected order, and was rewarded with a 10% discount code for my next sub, which obviously I would never have received had I not cancelled.
)