5/24/20

Whole Foods - Prime Now: How to Return/Refund an Item

Six bags of groceries arrived one Sunday morning from a Whole Foods and Amazon Prime Now delivery.  One of those bags contained a beautiful green baby watermelon. It looked fine on the outside, but when we sliced it open it was spoiled and rotten. What to do?

This was our first time we had a problem with an item delivered through this Whole Foods delivery service. We went through the steps to get a return or refund:
  • Sign in to your account on the Amazon Prime Now website (https://primenow.amazon.com). In the upper right of the screen, click on "Your orders". Look for the order date that had a problem, and click "Return/Refund".

  • Then, check the box next to the item that was bad, and provide a reason for the return.  The reasons given as options might not match your problem exactly, so just choose one that fits best.  For my Whole Foods watermelon I chose "item defective or doesn't work".

  • Next, a message will tell you the result.  For my watermelon, I didn't need to return it.  Instead Whole Foods Amazon Prime went right to refunding the cost of the watermelon.

11/10/19

Where to Order Thanksgiving Dinner 2019

To save time this Thanksgiving, you can order fully-prepared Thanksgiving dinners for take-out. Just place an order, schedule a pick-up time, then heat, and eat. Most of these take-out dinners include a main dish and sides, some include rolls and dessert.

Here’s where to order Thanksgiving dinner in 2019 (click each for more info):

Thanksgiving Dinners from Restaurants
  • Boston Market. Take-out turkey or ham dinners. Offers Thanksgiving catering too. Restaurants open on Thanksgiving (in 28 states)
  • Buca di Beppo. Turkey dinners to-go. Open on Thanksgiving. (in 26 states)
  • Cracker Barrel. Turkey and ham dinners to-go. Restaurants open on Thanksgiving (in 43 states)
  • Luby’s. Turkey, ham, or prime rib take-out dinners. (TX, OK, AR)
  • Marie Callender’s. Complete dinners, including dessert and coffee. Restaurants open Thanksgiving Day. (western US)
  • Mimi’s Cafe. Thanksgiving dinners to-go. (western, southern, mid-west US)
  • Shari’s. Turkey and ham dinners. Many pie choices at extra cost. (CA, ID, NE, OR, WA WY)
Thanksgiving Dinners from Grocery Stores
  • Bashas. Take-out turkey or ham dinners. (AZ)
  • Costco. Partnering with Schwan’s to ship Thanksgiving to your door. (nationwide)
  • Food City. Turkey and ham dinners including sides. (GA, KY, TN, VA)
  • Fresh Market. Turkey dinners. Unique dessert options at additional cost. (eastern US)
  • Gelsons. Many to-go dinner options. (Lost Angeles area)
  • Giant. Turkey or ham dinners for 4-6 people. (in MD, VA, DC, DE)
  • Giant Eagle. Turkey dinners for up to 6 people. (in IN, MD, OH, PA, WV)
  • Hannaford. Ham or Turkey Thanksgiving dinners. (in ME, NH, NY, MA, VT)
  • Harris Teeter. Turkey, ham, or prime rib dinners. (in in GA, SC, NC, TN, VA, FL, MD, DE, DC)
  • H-E-B. Turkey or ham dinners. (TX)
  • Hy-Vee. Dinners for 4+ people. (in IL, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, SD, WI)
  • Ingles. Thanksgiving take-out. (in AL, GA, NC, SC, TN, VA)
  • Kroger. Turkey dinners to-go. (in appx. 34 states)
  • Lucky’s Market. Turkey dinners and a la carte items. (in CO, FL, IA, IN, KY, OH, MI, MO, MT, WY
  • Meijer. Turkey dinner with several side dishes. (IL, IN, KY, OH, Mi, WI)
  • Price Chopper. Turkey and ham dinners with pie. (in CT, MA, NY, NY, PA, VT)
  • Publix. Turkey dinners. (in AL, FL, GA, SC, TN)
  • Raley’s. Turkey or ham prepared dinners. (CA; includes Bel Air and Nob Hills stores)
  • Save Mart. Turkey or ham dinners with side dishes. (in CA, NV)
  • ShopRite. Turkey or ham options. (in CT, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)
  • Sprouts. Turkey and ham dinners for 2 to 8 people. (in AZ, CA, CO, GA, KS, NM, NV, OK, TX, UT)
  • Stop & Shop. Ham or turkey dinners to-go. (CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, RI)
  • Wegmans. Turkey and ham dinners, including pre-carved options. (NY, PA, NJ, MD, MA, VA)
  • Winco. Turkey dinners with sides and pumpkin pie. (AZ, CA, ID, NV, OK, OR, TX, UT, WA)
  • Whole Foods. Regular, organic, vegan, and gluten-free Thanksgiving choices. (national)
If you can’t get to the store, you can cobble together Thanksgiving dinner from Amazon's offerings, delivered to your door.

Though they don’t offer complete pre-cooked dinners, Aldi and Trader Joe’s have Thanksgiving foods at decent prices.

Wherever you decide to order, hope everyone has a delicious Thanksgiving dinner in 2019.

8/2/19

Was Buying Chairs from Amazon Warehouse Risky?

We were in the market for a 12” kid chair - hoping for natural color solid wood, but not too expensive.  I was seeing options $50+ per chair for these tiny pieces of furniture.

I checked Amazon Warehouse, where you can get used and damaged items at lower cost.

There was a 2-pack of solid oak kid chairs listed there for $22!  They normally sell for $105, and have great reviews.

However, the condition description made me pause.  It read:

“Acceptable: Large cosmetic imperfection(s) on the interior of the item.Item will come in original packaging. Packaging will be damaged.”

Amazon warehouse grades it’s items by: 1) Like New, 2) Very Good, 3) Good, 4) Acceptable.  So these kid chairs were graded as the worst condition on that list.  So this purchase was a risk.

The great thing about Amazon Warehouse, though, is that many items are covered under Amazon’s excellent return policy.  Some things may not be, of course, so double-check before purchasing.

They chairs arrived in a huge Amazon box (picture 1), that contained another beat-up box (picture 2), that contained two beautiful chairs (picture 3).  Though the second box was damaged, the chairs were not, they were in perfect condition.

In this case the risk buying from Amazon Warehouse paid off.  We now have these beautiful oak chairs for only $11 each.