Tuesday, March 21st
2023 Fruit Basket Company Reviews
Shari's Berries
- About 60 fruit baskets and arrangements to choose from
- Prices range from $39.99 to $159.99
- Part of the 1-800-Flowers family
- Lots of options for various occasions and "just because"
- Save money with Passport program ($29.95/year)
Shari's Berries is part of the 1-800-Flowers brand family, which also includes The Popcorn Factory, Wolferman's Bakery, and two other fruit basket stores in our review (Harry & David and Fruit Bouquets). You'll see a lot of crossover items as you shop any of the three sites, and it doesn't really make a big difference where you ultimately make the purchase. However, the user experience varies, so we'll give you an idea of what you can expect when you use Shari's Berries as your jumping-off point when shopping for fruit baskets.
Might take a while to find what you're looking for
Shari's Berries doesn't offer the most intuitive shopping experience. On their main Fruit Baskets page, there's absolutely no way to shop by occasion, contents, or price range - or even to sort by best-sellers, low-to-high (or high-to-low) cost, or anything else. It could take you quite a while to scroll through the ~60 arrangements on offer - but it'll go faster if you enter the delivery zip code to weed out anything not available in your recipient's area. Still, not being able to use filters to find occasion-themed products or even to sort items by price makes for a longer timeframe to get the fruit basket selected and your order placed.
Explore your options for saving money
There are a couple ways to save money here. If you provide your email address, Shari's Berries will give you a 15% discount on your first order. Just look for the pop-up as you browse the site. Also, almost every fruit basket is designated as "Passport Eligible" . No, you're not sending these gifts on a whirlwind world tour: the Passport program gets you free standard shipping and reduced-price expedited delivery, rewards points on every order, and no service charges for a full year with an annual fee of $29.99. This applies across all of the brands in the 1-800-Flowers family, so if you do a lot of gift-giving, the Passport program is well worth the money. Since most Shari's Berries deliveries have a standard shipping fee of $13.99 or more, the Passport would pay for itself in 2-3 orders.
Select delivery date and gift message
When you go to the checkout stage of your purchase, you'll see the default delivery date; placing our order on a Friday, our first date for standard delivery was the following Wednesday, with Tuesday arrival for an extra fee of $12.99 and next-day for just $14.99 more. That's also where you can enter a gift message - or use any one of several pre-written "suggested messages" by theme if you've got writer's block.
50,000+ one-star reviews?!
What do people think about ordering from Shari's Berries? As you'd guess, most of their customer feedback relates to their famous chocolate-covered strawberries and not necessarily to fruit baskets. Truth be told, there are more than a few unhappy Shari's Berries customers: in one place alone, we found over fifty thousand one-star reviews, describing problems ranging from incorrect or missing deliveries to horrible experiences with customer service. The only upside is that because the company is backed by 1-800-Flowers, you can trust the "100% Smile Guarantee" to eventually provide a reshipment, comparable exchange, or refund if something goes wrong with your order.
We would avoid buying fruit baskets here
Shari's Berries already wasn't doing well in terms of customer satisfaction. And, because the shopping experience is so clunky, we prefer going through the Harry & David site for baskets or Fruit Bouquets for cut fruit arrangements instead - accessing the exact same products (and then some). This is absolutely not our go-to for fruit baskets.
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With so many people trying to "eat clean" these days, fruit baskets are a fantastic option when you're struggling to decide what to give someone as a gift. Chocolate? They might be allergic. Nuts? Even more so. Gift cards? Boring. But fresh fruit? Everyone loves a juicy peach, ripe pear, tangy orange or crunchy-crispy apple!
What can you expect when shopping for the right fruit basket for your lucky recipient? Some retailers focus just on fresh produce, and you'll see boxes laden with the winter's best grapefruit from Texas and Florida, carefully-wrapped apples from the Northeast, or a variety mix of several different kinds of fruit. Yummy! Other fruit baskets offer an assortment of pieces of fruit and treats like cheese and crackers, chocolate-dipped pretzels, and much more. The sky's the limit when it comes to the options you'll see when you start browsing fruit baskets.
Fruit Basket Company FAQ
Continued from above...
Fruit baskets are also a great way to show you care. Not only are they healthy, they're tasty and can be a special way to charm anyone on your gift giving list. However, when you're trying to decide which fruit basket to give, the choices can seem a little daunting.
Feeling overwhelmed? Don't worry. Here are some criteria you can use to choose the right supplier for your order, whether you're buying it as a treat for yourself or giving it as a gift:
- Number of Fruit Baskets. How many choices are there? Some stores have dozens of arrangements to choose from, making it more likely that you'll spot the perfect one for your occasion. Others may offer just a handful of fruit baskets to consider.
- Variety of Items. What can you get with your fruit basket? Is it just fruit, or are there arrangements that have sweet or savory items to complement the produce? Can you customize the basket with add-ons of your choice, like a stuffed animal or even a floral bouquet?
- Price. Does the retailer have fruit baskets within your desired budget? Will you get a good value for what you spend? Is shipping included?
- Reputation. What do previous customers say about the fruit baskets and the company's customer service? It's not uncommon for fruit to occasionally spoil en route or for pieces to arrive damaged, so how does the retailer handle it when there's a problem? The best ones will make it right with a refund or a reshipment - and without any hassle about it.
To help you find the best fruit baskets for your next gift-giving occasion, TopConsumerReviews.com has evaluated and ranked today's most popular online providers. We're sure this information will make it easy to buy a sweet-and-healthy treat that will delight your lucky recipient!
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