Huel has mistakenly put through my same order twice, I only ordered once- to try the new huel black edition, but you have charged me twice (2 x £50) and are sending me two orders of two bags each. I only made one order of two bags, only want one order of two bags and definitely only want to pay for one order of two bags!
Taking twice the money (2 x £50) has put me into an unarranged overdraft which will incur charges, please refund the extra money taken straight away???
Best wishes
the Huel customer service team are working over the holidays so I would suggest you call them on 01296 678516 to get a quicker response rather than waiting for a reply here which may take some time - hopefully they can sort it out for you.
Hey @Milly123,
Thank you for your phone call just now, it was lovely to chat with you.
As explained, we haven’t taken 2 unauthorized payments for the Black Edition. On the 24th, after the first order processed, you updated your next charge date to the 25th, which lead to a second order being placed the next day.
If you do not wish to receive the second order, you are welcome to refuse this upon delivery or return it to us for a full refund.
Have a lovely day.
Thank you for your reply Phil - Huel do not make any customer service number available on their website so it is interesting they do have one. I just spoke to a woman named Olivia, who said she was the head of Customer Service experience. She was rude, frequently talking over me when I was explaining that Huel taking two lots of money instead of one had not been authorised and had left me in a really difficult financial position.
They said the mistake was because I updated the subscription date, when clearly this was because I wanted the order on the updated date not the original date, not to be dispatched on both dates?!!
Hi - the contact options including the phone number are on the bottom of the FAQ page
When you create a subscription, it triggers an immediate order and dispatch.
So you created an order on the 24th.
The ‘next delivery’ option in your subscription refers to the next delivery… so if you changed this from a future date to the current date, you triggered another order.
So - you did actually place two orders, whether you intended to or not. Both are system automated - no one has manually gone in and placed two orders or taken money from your account (except you).
I think the solution offered is reasonable - simply refuse delivery of one of the orders and you will be refunded in full.
As feedback for Huel: I think it could be made clearer within the subscription area, what orders have been placed and what ‘next’ delivery means ie the one after the order that is triggered by the subscription.
This isn’t the first time someone has accidentally created two orders in this way, so there may be a way to make it clearer on the website.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but sounds to me like @Milly123 created the subscription then tried to change the dispatch date after it had already processed.
Huel, this is why your subscription-updating UI needs to make it absolutely crystal clear what is happening. Here’s a good principle to abide by: any time a merchant takes money from a customer, it must be clear that this is what the customer explicitly intended. The intention can be expressed in various ways, such as confirming to it in a very clear UI, or saying so in person, or whatever else. But the intent must be there, in the user’s mind. The current subscription UI fails this criterion.
Do not penalize users, especially not financially, for your UI inadequacy.
Here’s another example of the subscription UI being unclear: Setting a subscription shipment date to today's date
Imagine you text a human with a request saying “please change my next subscription date to [xyz]” and they text back saying “k”. Or you make this request in person and they make a vague acknowledging grunt while continuing to play Candy Crush on their phone. Seems rude doesn’t it? You don’t really know whether they’ve understood your request, how they’ve interpreted it, whether it’ll work as you intended, etc. That’s what the website is like today.
you have the option to either change the next (pending) despatch date and/or the next subscription due date separately - it seems much clearer now than it was previously.
This is clearly an unhelpful and sarcastic response, given how rude you were on the phone to me just now.
I updated my subscription date preference at the time of ordering, so it is nonsense to say my order was dispatched before I updated the subscription date. I clearly do not want a duplicate order of both the original and the updated dates, one day apart. This duplicate money taken was not authorized, as I updated the subscription date at the time of ordering, so this order clearly related to one single delivery. If Huel’s online system is slow/experiences a delay, this is not the fault of the person making the update, who is inputting the request at the appropriate time. This is clearly a glitch in the system.
You have left me in a very vulnerable financial position, as taking this money unauthorised has put me into an unarranged overdraft, which will incur further charges. I needed this money for life essentials in the financially tight time after Christmas.
Furthermore on the phone you were patronising, testy and rude, frequently cutting me off/ sounding bored, when I was explaining the really difficult situation this has put me in.
This is appalling customer service to receive from a company which prides itself on generating a “community” of “hueligans”. I have been a loyal customer for some time, and like the product, and planned to keep using it despite the recent increase in price, but your attitude has genuinely got me looking for alternatives. I don’t want to support a brand that treats its customers like this.
This sounds even more confusing. What’s the difference between “next (pending) despatch date” and “next subscription due date”? In particular, what does the latter mean?
Infinity, I agree; the fact that this is even an issue of confusion and contention shows Huel need to re-evaluate their system; instead of defending it when it has clearly caused upset to customers. A very poor attitude to customer service, a field I have worked in for some time, and not encountered such a bullying attitude for quite a while.
when the next subscription delivery will be after the pending one.
Thanks for your input “Bee”; I created the subscription and amended the day for dispatch at exactly the same time, so this clearly relates to one single order. The fact there was a delay in Huel processing this request does not mean I didn’t input it at exactly the appropriate time; it is a fault with Huel’s system which I am now being financially penalised for: not impressive.
Still not quite clear. Let’s say today’s date is Jan 4. Let’s say one has a weekly subscription, and an order was shipped on Jan 1, with upcoming shipments on Jan 8, Jan 15, Jan 22, Jan 29, etc. In this situation, in your terminology, what is the next (pending) dispatch date and what is the next subscription due date? Can one change both dates independently and what effect will that have?
When you created the subscription, you set the dispatch date in stone. You only have the option to edit the date of the next shipment after the one you already ordered.
I’m not saying this is a good and clear system, but that is how it works.
if an order shipped already on the 1st then it isn’t pending so the next one will be the 8th - from what I can see on the new system you can change either date providing it hasn’t shipped yet - my next payment is due tomorrow but then I looked on system just now the option to change that is still there.
So it sounds like in this case the subscription date was changed - not the next delivery date - in effect bringing the next subscription forward.
The fact that two orders were generated when I had absolutely no intention or knowledge of doing so, and read the form thoroughly, means that even if what you’re saying is the case, this information was not readily evident. This led to me “ordering” a product I didn’t want and money being taken without my knowledge or consent/knowing authorisation. This feels like being conned if I’m honest. It has certainly put me in a vulnerable financial position, £50 is a lot of money to me, even if that seems hard for some of you to understand. Part of Huels appeal is its cost-efficiency, so people on very low incomes like myself are customers who cannot at all afford for a mistake like this. Given that it is a known problem, for Huel not to make re-evaluate their system and instead adopt a bullying approach to customers is not acceptable - the customer service agent may have been appropriate in language and tone on this message board, but I can assure you she was not when she spoke to me on the phone.
Funny that they are nowhere to be found on the “contact” section of the website- where people will be looking for contact information. Another convoluted presentation of information by Huel, it would seem.
This was not at all clear; that is the point. I had no awareness of a duplicate order or duplicate charge, until the money was gone unexpectedly from my bank account.