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Sunday, February 16th
Harry & David offers a variety of gourmet foods, from their signature Royal Riviera Pears to chocolates and baked goods. Founded nearly 100 years ago, they've built a reputation for high-quality treats that are often given as gifts or enjoyed during special occasions. With a broad selection of items available for delivery across the country, they make it simple to send something tasty to someone you care about. Whether you're looking for a thoughtful gift or just want to enjoy something special, Harry & David has been a popular choice for many. They're also part of the 1 800 Flowers family of brands, so you'll spot options from many of their "sister” sites in the inventory, like Wolferman's and Shari's Berries.
Partners with many bakeries
What's really interesting to us is how many of Harry & David's cakes are sourced from other bakeries we evaluated. Not only will you see the brands in their own family, but also ones like Send A Cake and Bake Me a Wish. Just keep in mind that you might be adding a layer of customer service if you order cakes from those vendors through the Harry & David site.
Pay attention to availability
Finding the right cake here is really easy: we love that Harry & David has options that no one else does - like ice cream cakes by Carvel - and that you can use the filters to indicate your price range and occasion that you're celebrating. And, as you browse, it'll be easy to see which cakes are available to ship now and which ones have a wait. We were a little surprised to see some classic options, like a carrot cake and a confetti cake, not available for shipping until two months in the future - but with about 50 cakes to choose from on the Harry & David site, there were plenty of alternatives. As a side note, we didn't spot any offhand that were gluten-free, so you might need to buy your cake elsewhere if that's a necessity.
Check out each cake's reviews
One of Harry & David's best-selling cakes is the Ultimate Chocolate Cake. Priced at $69.99, it lands right in the middle of the cost spectrum here ($24.99 to $105+). It's a layer of brownie fudge cake and another of New York-style cheesecake, separated by a decadent fudge filling. Across 220 reviews, it averaged a fantastic 4.6 stars. Reviewers said it was a practically sinful sweet treat, and a few people mentioned that they were repeat buyers. We also like seeing that Harry & David reps take the time to respond to any less-than-favorable comments with an apology and an offer to make things right.
Watch the shipping
Pay attention to the shipping details, once you've finally chosen the right cake to send. On that Ultimate Chocolate Cake, for example, the details said that express two-day shipping was included, so only the regular shipping and processing charges would apply. That cake was fulfilled by Harry & David directly, but you may encounter differences when choosing a dessert that's coming from one of their partners. We were charged $19.99 for shipping on the chocolate cake, and it wasn't clear if it was eligible for the Celebrations Passport program: when you pay $19.99 for the first year (and $29.99 in subsequent years), you get free standard shipping across all of the brands in the 1 800 Flowers portfolio... on eligible products. Keep an eye out for that too.
Use the gift-giving tools
As you'd expect from a company that specializes in gift-giving, there are a lot of tools in the checkout process that can make your life easier - and your recipient's more joyful. You can opt for a reminder for this occasion next year, add a free gift message, or include a personalized and printed greeting card (for $4.99). We didn't spot any add-ons or upgrades when we ordered this cake, which is unusual for Harry & David: when making previous purchases, we were usually tempted with extras like Moose Munch or balloons.
Feedback is usually positive, but not always
How does Harry & David do in consumer opinion? To start, the company has an "A+” rating from the Better Business Bureau - which is what you'd hope to see from a retailer that's been around for over a century. Feedback is a little more mixed elsewhere, ranging from a 1.2-star average across 950 ratings on Trustpilot, up to the 4.2-star average on Google ratings that came from over 16,000 reviews. Some of the reviews left within the week leading up to this evaluation were deeply unhappy, referencing sympathy orders that not only didn't arrive in time for the memorial service, they arrived over a week later. Time and again, recent reviews expressed big-time frustration with orders that had no updated delivery info and then came well after when they were needed. In other words, you can order that birthday cake... but will it come in time for the party? That's not a given with Harry & David.
Good enough but with some room to improve
We're willing to give Harry & David an above-average rating, largely because those ratings on the individual cakes they sell are really positive. That means that at least some of the time, the cakes are arriving and they're delicious. And, this company is big enough and well-connected enough that you can expect that, sooner or later, they'll apologize and make things right in some way. On the other hand, there are several bakeries on our list who take care of all of the baking and fulfillment in-house, and they're doing a much more consistent job of getting their cakes where they need to be - on time. We'd suggest keeping Harry & David as a backup choice, but look at its higher-ranking rivals first.
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