‘You are not getting it back’: The wrong edible arrangement order accidentally ends up on a Missouri woman’s doorstep. Then the company shows up
A St. Louis content creator ended up with the wrong Edible Arrangements order at her door. Instead of receiving the gift she was supposed to get, she received an order of 50 chocolate-covered strawberries.
@stlaintbad, an “all things St. Louis” account owned by digital content creator Megan Estopare, posted the exchange on Nov. 25. Since then, the TikTok has garnered 580,000 views, with many fellow content creators urging Estopare to “call the health department.”
An awkward situation at the door
Estopare and her partner, Ian Aubuchon, were at home when they received an Edible Arrangements order. They knew they were supposed to get one, but did not know what it would include. Another person had placed the order as a gift for them.
They received 50 chocolate-covered strawberries, an exciting surprise considering the treats typically cost around $50 for just 12.
Within an hour, they got another knock at the door. This time, it was an employee trying to retrieve the arrangement.
By then, Estopare and Aubuchon had already snacked on the arrangement. It is unclear, based on the video, whether the company representative took the chocolate-covered strawberries back, but the situation made for an awkward exchange at the door.
Edible Arrangements: breaking FTC policies?
As one commenter put it, “that [is] so against health code.” Once a company delivers a product, even a non-edible one, it has legally given the recipient a gift, according to the FTC.
As Legal Beagle states, “If the unordered item was an incorrect fulfillment of an order the customer did place, you are legally required to send the correct item or refund the customer’s money in full–including shipping costs. You can ask the customer to return the item, but [they have] no legal obligation to do so.”
A company may request a return for non-edible items, but it generally should not do so for edible products. That is because a customer may tamper with the item, making it unsafe to re-deliver to another customer. St. Louis’ food code follows general FDA policies, meaning items “served” to a consumer may not be offered again for human consumption commercially.
Did the driver try to grab the order without Edible Arrangements knowing?
Some commenters theorized that it was not necessarily Edible Arrangements trying to retrieve the food, but the driver. This could make sense, as companies like Edible Arrangements generally follow health codes.
“They would not come back and ask for it back,” wrote one viewer. “This sounds like the driver is doing this on his own and is just trying to cover his mistake.”
Others said they had seen similar situations with driver-based delivery companies. “Doordash tried to do that to me once,” said one commenter. “I just straight refused. I had already opened it and touched the food. No way I was letting them give that to someone else.”
How bad are Edible Arrangements, really?
According to some commenters, Edible Arrangements are not worth purchasing regardless of the circumstances.
They claimed the company uses old or expiring fruit to fulfill orders. As one commenter added, “I used to work at EA and they use the cheapest fruit on sale. [We would] cut off the moldy parts. [Then they] made us dip it in chocolate.”
Another person replied, “This explains why I always get the most terrible looking fruit when I get these.”
The original commenter said she quit her job with Edible Arrangements after only two days due to what she described as overall unsanitary conditions.
The Mary Sue has reached out to Estopare for comment and to Edible Arrangements via email.
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