Goldbelly Review: Cookie Clubs

Goldbelly says it plainly: they believe in the emotional power of food, to create memories, make connections, or just deliver good old-fashioned comfort. Joe Ariel, founder and CEO of the company, started Goldbelly on a mission to bring regional favorites from small shops, local restaurants, and passionate chefs right to your doorstep. That includes cookies.

Way too light on details

Sounds great in theory, right? Unfortunately, Goldbelly is annoyingly vague when it comes to spelling out what you can expect in your cookie subscription. They say that each box will "serve 6-8 people", but come on: how many cookies can you eat in a sitting? We can eat a lot! It would be more helpful to know that if we're getting Minnesota's Humongous T-Rex Cookie Company's "GIANT" Cookies, that's just going to be 4 cookies for 8 people to share, or if we're lucky enough to receive NYC's famous Black & White Cookies from William Greenberg Bakery, we can count on getting at least a dozen. But, none of those details are provided, and those cookies we described are just examples of what you "may" receive. And when you're paying $49.95/month (with free shipping) for 3, 6, 9, or 12 months, you're probably going to want a little more detail than that.

Get your order in before the 24th for next-month delivery

Another aspect of Goldbelly's cookie subscription that we found a bit frustrating was the length of time we had to wait for our first delivery: nearly two months. That will depend on when you place your order, but as an example, if you pay for a subscription at the end of March, your first cookie box probably won't ship until May 17th and will take 3-5 business days to arrive. You'll have to get your order in by noon on the 24th in order for your cookies to start coming the following month.

Pop-up discount not valid on subscriptions

You might be tempted to give Goldbelly your email address and mobile number when you see the pop-up offering you a $20 discount on your first order. Unfortunately, that savings doesn't apply to subscriptions like the cookie club (according to the terms when you click next to "restrictions apply"), so you may want to keep your privacy intact for now.

Are they actually paying attention?

We just can't get excited about Goldbelly's attention to detail or commitment to customer service (or lack thereof on both counts). In the "More Info" section on the cookie club page, we scratched our heads wondering why they felt the need to tell us that last year's holiday orders would start to be sent in January of the current year... when that was well in the past. (And in another food category where we evaluated Goldbelly's offerings, they even spelled their own company name wrong in the customer service email provided).

Forget about refunds

You can also forget about getting your money back, as Goldbelly says they won't offer a refund unless there's "an error in the making of your order". So, if you get cookies that taste bad, or there's a carrier delay, too bad and so sad. The only exception seems to be if your order is affected by extreme temperatures, but they say those inquiries are resolved "on a case-by-case basis", and even then you may only get a replacement or a store credit.

Disappointing choice for a cookie club

The idea of Goldbelly is great, but the actual delivery is a disappointment. This extends to all of the subscriptions we've looked at here, not just the cookie club. Fortunately, there are lots of options on our list with similar small-business sourcing, with cookies from around the nation, who seem to take customer satisfaction much more seriously than Goldbelly does. They are kept from a lower ranking only by the fact that they have an "A-" and accreditation from the Better Business Bureau.

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On the Goldbelly website