Grove Collaborative Avis 

Products and prices are ok. But it's tricky to cancel after the trial or first purchase because they are deceptive.
I canceled auto delivery on their website. But the confirmation email said I canceled my VIP which gave free shipping.
I continued to get emails. So, I checked out the website and sure enough, there is another order on it's way. I had to go to Paypal and cancel the autopay.
I have screenshots.
Reading all the other reviews, I see this is a problem with Grove Collaborative. I will continue on to complain to other agencies and websites.

Email response from Grove:
Hi Chris! I am very sorry for any confusion! It’s noted in the welcome series when you first enter our site that Grove accounts default to a flexible monthly shipment service and the VIP trial. It’s also noted during the checkout process that by placing the order you accept Grove’s Terms of Use, and you are subscribed to Grove’s flexible monthly shipment program. We offer a flexible service that can be changed or canceled at any time!
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The thing is, I read that before I agreed. And I canceled what I thought was my membership and autoship. But, it was only the VIP part. To cancel is not clear on their website.

Bamboo Toilet Paper ruined my plumbing. I have iron pipes on a sewer system and my whole house is messed up now. Screw this. Avoid plastic not by a dumb membership you’re going to forget until you have 8 containers of dish soap, but by avoiding plastic

I was getting ready to write a negative review for shipping items I didn't order, but the Customer Service team was able to turn a negative experience into a positive. Kudos to them!

I am an big online shopper since I do not have time. I was interested in eco friendly products. I got excited by their deceitful practices of putting free samples and then ordering some not free products to meet the minimum. The quality was meh. Then I started getting emails about my next shipment that I never ordered. It was hard to get into the account at first and then edit the items THEY put in my cart as a monthly subscription that I NEVER signed up for????? I removed those but lets see if they come up with some other sneaky stuff to rob us off?? Highly disappointed in their pushy stealthy practices. Have never encountered any thing like this before- akin to modern day robbery. I have no words for it !

They have a minimum requirement for orders I was trying to buy two things which added up to $18.00 and I couldn’t checkout unless I spent another $4 for a “free -gift”
No thank you

I like Grove products and fast shipping. What I don't like is the order that showed up at my door this morning I did NOT order, but was sent items I'd ordered previously. I'm on a fixed income, what if that had caused an overdraft at my bank. I know it kept me from getting other items I needed because the payment was declined. Directions should be clear, I shouldn't be roped into getting items I'm not ordering..sorry.

I was sent a link for a 'free gift' from Grove by another service provider. The promise of a 'free gift' was obviously a lie. I tried to claim it, but then it turns out I need to purchase something first. Which I don't intend to do. However, since trying for the so-called free gift I have been bombarded by junk mail from Grove and it is impossible to get them to remove me from their mailing list. Grove claims one can 'easily' reach them by email - a lie. There is no email addressed published and the 'contact' page does not work [one can't send anything off]. '

First- the initial shipment of samples and free gifts are a bunch of things no one ever needs. Second- they secretly sign you up for monthly subscriptions for those samples you don't need. Third - they send you 3 or 4 emails a day. Fourth - they make it extremely inconvenient to get off the email & subscriptions list. Fifth - just when you think you are freed from this scam, they signed you up for a $20 monthly fee you knew nothing about!

I was excited to learn about Grove's sustainable products so I immediately signed up and placed my first order.

Getting through the ordering process seemed to take forever, wading through multiple free offers and upselling choices I had to make decisions on in order to move forward.

The shipment came, but the main item I was wanted the most, the bamboo paper towels, were missing. (The other products I received were great.)

My main complaint is that I somehow inadvertently agreed to monthly auto-shipments, that had I understood what I was agreeing to, I never would have done. The fact that I was signing up for monthly auto-shipments, as it was pointed out by customer service, does exist in two places on their website.

The problem is that it's designed to be bypassed, easily glossed over, and to fly under the radar and be overlooked. Had it been prominently displayed, I wouldn't have agreed to it.

There is an art to this. I design UX (user experience) as part of my job, so I know --and I missed the auto-shipping. It's a manipulative (and unethical) tactic to make more money. They know that a certain percentage of people won't go through the time and energy-consuming effort I just did to cancel, and they'll make that much more money.

No where on the entire site could I find a way to cancel my membership. The only option I found was to "Turn Off Monthly Shipments", which is different than cancelling.

I wrote customer service asking how to cancel. They sent a link. The link went to the "Turn Off Monthly Shipments" page, not to a cancel button, as requested. At this point I was 20 minutes in, searching for where I must have missed the cancel button, and getting more frustrated by the minute that I will never get these minutes of my life back.

I wrote again, and received back what seemed to be a personalized response to my issue only to see at the bottom of the email, boilerplate instructions (again) for how to turn off monthly shipments or to cancel.

Refusing to give up(!) I called customer service, told them I had their website open and asked them to walk me through the site to the location of their elusive cancel button. She ignored my actual request and lead me to turn off monthly shipments. Now I was officially ready to scream. It was through gritted teeth, as polite as humanly possible that I told her to unequivocally CANCEL me, which she finally did. And it had to be done on her end. As an end user, I was never able to find a way to cancel on the website-- she wasn't either.

If you sign up with them and want to cancel, don't waste your time like I did looking for a way to canel, just call and make them cancel you. They'll try hard to get you to just turn off your monthly shipments, and you'll have to insist on cancellation. There's a reason they don't want cancellations. Grove went public in June of 2021. Stakeholders look at those numbers. Those negative numbers can be avoided if people are willing to just turn off their subscription, vs. cancel them. More manipulation to skirt how their performance is actually stacking up.

Unfortunately, this is a business model that's growing in popularity. I'm writing this because it would be a travesty to allow this model that works mainly by wearing people down until they throw in the towel and just accept their fate to buy more product, to succeed. This simply cannot be allowed to become "the new normal".

It's a shame, because what Grove is doing is actually great, and necessary. But there's a problem with HOW they are achieving it. To me, that matters. So now I'm looking for another source of bamboo paper goods, ignoring attractive marketing and looking to buy from a company with strong business ethics where I will will be given the opportunity to make clear choices with 100% transparency; no covert manipulation.
As a consumer, and a human being, I think I deserve that much.

--By the way, it's clear in all of Grove's empty conciliatory responses to people just like me I'm reading here, they couldn't care less. Proof of which is that they are still operating with a lack of integrity and don't seem to have changed a single thing in their business practice.

Excellent array of items and quick shipping. Also fast response to questions. I plan to continue to purchase what I need from this company. I'm glad to support businesses directly rather than through Amazon.

I was very excited when T-mobile partnered with Grove for T-mobile Tuesday. The deal was if you ordered $20 worth of product from Grove, you will receive a free starter kit. The order was "shipped" and was damaged in transit. Grove "re-shipped" the order and it was damaged in transit again. I never received my order. I will never order from Grove again. I've never had the same order damaged in transit twice. Seemingly, at the same exact location. Seemed like a scam to me. They did seem apologetic and did really seem to care if I would return as a new customer.

It was so hard to cancel the VIP subscription in 2020, that I reached out to their customer service in 2020 to remove my account information. Yet in 2022, I found out they never removed my credit card information as requested and we’re going to charge me again. Since I had my account removed, I didn’t realize that they charged me $19.99 in 2021. They acknowledge the account removal email from 2020, but tried to claim that I signed up for a free trial, months after I had my account information removed. I have all the Grove emails from 2020 plus, there is no email that I signed up for a trial, and no invoice email that they planned on charging me. Nor have I made a purchase since the beginning of 2020. They refuse to refund the $19.99 from 2021. They claim their company is unable to process refunds?? I’ll ensure there are no charges this year. I do not recommend doing business with them, and would never provide them a credit card. I have no complaints regarding the products, but they aren’t worth the “Grove customer service experience”. In response to the below comment from Grove- The only thing that was unclear was why Grove charged an account I closed, and charged my credit card when my account information was supposedly removed, and no additional orders were requested.

Kind of a sneaky way to do business. I got the first order for about $30. Then a month later I get a text saying my order is being processed. I didn't check on it right away as I am busy with other things in my life. Then I get the notice from my PayPal that I just got charged $97+ for my order! That got my attention. I went in to see if I could stop the order and refund my money. I found no clear way to do this. I did promptly cancel all future subscription orders and end the Auto-Renewal of the VIP membership. I just searched for the refund-return policy and it just gives you an endless loop of the Terms of Service page. So, my best guess is they hook you in with the $30 order and sign you up with the subscription for 3 times the cost and they don't want to give up your cash. Don't do as I did and instead read ALL the fine print. This is a crappy, sneaky way to do business. If the products were so good there should be no need to automatically enroll you in a subscription-based service from the get-go.

I was excited to try this supposedly zero waste option. Key word, try. I do not want to commit to getting a box every month. It took quite a bit of finagling to make sure that didn't happen. I wanted to be able to use bottles that I already have. Zero waste and all. But no, their products are designed to be measured with their bottle, and there is no way to know how much water to add without it. Then they kept adding free gifts. I didn't want a stone soap caddy. I want to continue to set my soap on my sink. This is not something I would use. It is waste. But there was no way to not get the free gifts. All I wanted was to try bar shampoo and conditioner. If they want to offer free gifts, great! But they need to make them optional! And then, after I thought I was done with all that, more than a month after recieving my bloated order, I got an email that I almost didn't open because the headline looked like junk mail. It said that I would be charged $20 for a VIP membership, which would give me stuff. I went in and cancelled it, and then went back to double check and it was still there, so I went through the process again.
All of that negative stuff said, I have been enjoying what I actually went on to buy. Their products are good, but the membership system really needs to be adjusted. I would love to have a standard purchase option. I get that memberships are more profitable, but I would be far more likely to join happily if I could try it with no strings attached first.

I have really enjoyed getting my Grove box! I have also been happy with the quality of the products.

Customer service completely incompetent and rude. Hopefully “bots” and not jerks who can’t do their job.

I Love Grove but I have a lot of product right now and will order again starting January.

I'm very satisfied with the selection of products available through Grove Collaborative. I like to visit Grove first when I'm looking for an alternative to something I've been using that won't bother my asthma AND to find products that will reduce our carbon footprint. Thanks for collaborating, Grove... and the earth will thank you, too some day!

Love Grove! Great products, fast shipping, fantastic customer service.