fish4home.co.uk Avis 4

We have used a number of fish home delivery services and Fish4home is definitely the best. The delivery time is faster than others and the fish arrives well packed and very fresh. The quality of the fish/seafood is better than other companies in the same sector. We now only use Fish4home.

I ordered 10 frozen dressed crabs, which were shown in the listing as dressed crab-meat in the shell with the meat of a claw resting on top.

I received 9 crab-meat lying in a scallop shell and one crab-meat in a crab shell. They were individually packed in a sealed plastic pouch. None were frozen nor even cold. The package contained insulation and a fairly substantial amount of freezer-pack stuff to keep them cool. That stuff was also completely defrosted, though I could feel that it was slightly cold. There was some brown liquid oozing out of the crab-meat into the pouch. The label was marked 05:02 hrs and it was delivered by DPD around 09:00 the next day, so 28 hrs in transit.

I took a chance to eat one of them, as I figured it had probably been frozen and hadn't long been defrosted. It tasted OK, but not like the normal frozen dressed crabs I buy - a bit more like supermarket crab-meat. I can't say whether the taste was because they were not fresh or whether it was inherent in the product. I didn't die. I didn't want to re-freeze the rest because it's not recommended. On the plus side, there was quite a lot of crab-meat on the shells, and the weight was as described, even considering that the product was defrosted, so no paying for ice.

I contacted Fish4home by email and showed photos. They told me to dispose of them and they'd refund. The refund arrived about 10 days later.

In summarry, I would say that fish4home meant well, but the arrangements for transport are not very well organised. 28hrs on a hot summer day is asking too much.

Been buying from fish4home for a couple of years now and the quality has generally been good. I've always noted that there is an excessive amount of ice on products though. It's described as a 'glaze'. If this is a glaze, I'm a Martian! The dictionary describes a 'glaze' as "to give a coating of ice to (frozen food) by dipping in water." Rather different from being encased in an iceberg. You would be very naive indeed not to assume that the vastly excessive amount of ice is a deliberate ploy to falsely increase weight and inflate profit. I recently thawed 11 jumbo raw prawns. Straight out of the bag with ice (sold at £14.99 per kilo) , they weighed 262g. When thawed, they weighed 156g. So a whopping 40% is just water. This means that £14.99 paid for just 600g of prawns, and the true cost for a kilo is £25. Deceitful at the least, fraudulent at the worst. Rip off by stealth. And the scallops have deteriorated hugely. Used to be white and plump, and I could easily slice them in half horizontally. The last lot thawed to a grey colour, and are so thin and limp you would need a mandolin to slice them. Shame. What I originally thought was a super new supplier has become very disappointing.

ORDER #2647
Arrived leaking, stinking and nearly defrosted.
Not prepared to risk re-freezing shellfish.
Certainly not prepared to risk eating anything from punctured packaging.
Waste of money.