Hale Groves

Terrible customer service. They sent my oranges to the wrong address and I still not get my money back

It is only fair to update my review based on my interaction with Alex, the president of Hale Groves. Alex contacted me personally in an effort to right my poor experience. We corresponded on a Sunday, and by Tuesday, a credit was posted to my account and a shipment of tangerines for my parents was arranged. They said there was 1 moldy piece of fruit, but the rest were ok.
Now, my poor experience was over a year ago, and i attempted to get my money returned after canceling the service for many months without success. I do appreciate, however, Alex reaching out and correcting the situation very quickly. I wish the boots on the ground possessed his commitment to service. I’m pretty convinced that shipping fruit isn’t the best idea, however, it’s nice to know that Alex cared enough to right the wrong for me!

They have the best orange juice that you can buy over the counter end of story. They are pretty expensive everything in the store is a little pricey. Which is understandable because they are seasonally open store. They make a lot of their own products which are very delicious they have a lot of their own grown oranges lots of different varieties of citrus categorized by variety type some citrus trees that you can grow your own soft serve ice cream and never forget free samples!

I’ve received 2 gifts from Hale Groves now. The first one was fine.
I received my 2^nd one last week. It was a bunch of oranges. Some were really squishy and some had mold on them. The few I’ve attempted to eat were either mushy and tasteless or dried out and tasteless.
Not good quality produce and I’m sure it wasn’t cheap either!

I love this place. Just moved here from Orlando and this business is one of those that says small town, friendly, good choices, etc. try the swirl orange and vanilla dreamcicle ice cream. Good fresh fruits and veggies are available as well as juice. Nice jellies and local honey also.

I called this place because USPS delivered a gift to me that was supposed to go to a few blocks over, but I’m not familiar with this area and didn’t know exactly where the house was.
I did the right thing, tried to be a nice person, and called them to let them know this happened. I was told to keep the box, and it would be reissued to the correct recipient.
Someone at this company gave out my home address to the intended recipient and sent them to my house to pick up the box. These strangers showed up to my house multiple times asking for their stuff. What kind of responsible company gives out personal information without permission like that? Seriously?
Such an unprofessional company. Impossible to speak with a supervisor.

Great place for fresh orange juice and all grove related foods. Also their fish dip is excellent, and it’s just fun to walk around there.

Chris, thanks for the reply. I may not have been clear, but this occurred LAST SEASON. I’ve not ordered from Hale since December of 2014, and that order shipped in Jan of 2015, I didn’t mean to imply it just occurred.

I grew up in this town, 1^st grade through high school. Coming back I wanted some oranges to bring with me to Colorado. I’ve always avoided Hales in favor of some of the smaller growers. I didn’t have time so I stopped by Hales. First thing upon walking in I thought «where are the oranges?» A strange question to ask at an orange shop… Then I was directed to their display. First bag I grabbed my fingers went through, then I noticed the stench of rotten oranges and there were fruit flies everywhere! I have to say this was a horrible experience and I will continue, next time I visit, to go to the smaller local growers like country side. Won’t be going in there again!
Hale groves, as a past local, please clean this place up!

I ordered oranges as a Christmas gift for my parents. This was a huge mistake. I am embarrassed at the product they received! Brown, mushy, rotten oranges is NOT what I ordered. Customer Service let me know that they would be sending a replacement product to my parents NEXT month. Terrible experience. Don’t waste your money, send something else.

This is a review for their mail order fruit. If I could give it zero stars, I would. We receive a fruit shipment every year from a relative for Christmas. The fruit has never been good. Visually, the fruit is blemished, scratched and often bruised. Flavor wise, also not good. I can easily get better produce at my local market for a quarter of the price. This year, our shipment included rotted pears. Not just bruised, but rotten. Apples were bruised and scratched, and the oranges were mushy. I tried to call to complain, and an automated message said to leave my number and they will call back. They never did. I messaged through Facebook and I only got a reply that «they have forwarded my message to customer service». I have not received a follow up. Please save yourself the disappointment and find another company to order from
UPDATE: someone got in touch with me and sent a replacement. Not any better. Pears were rotten, apples contained rotting bruises. Oranges were scuffed, scratched and unappetizing looking.

Don’t waste your time ordering fruit from Hale Groves. Worst customer service I have ever encountered. My order has taken the scenic route and after two weeks still has not been delivered. I contacted Hale customer service about my order and never received a response.
NEVER AGAIN!!! If you want fruit order from Harry and David, at least they care about their customers.

Wished I had read Hale’s reviews before ordering a couple of client gifts last Friday.
Email shipping confirmation showed that a Fedex label was created on Monday, ¹²⁄₁₄ @ 5:43am and status will be updated once shipment begins to travel. Well, I’ve checked every day to get an update as to when it would be delivered or at least shipped.
Today, Thursday, I called and spoke with their customer service rep, Lauren who gave a non-​sensical answer. I asked to speak with a supervisor (didn’t get her name) who didn’t care to listen but instead talked over me. After I told her my shipping experiences with various large reputable companies (e.g., LL Bean, Williams-​Sonoma, Amazon) where UPS, Fedex, USPS will show when a package is picked up and Hale’s shows no progress for the past 4 days, the Supervisor’s stern non-​caring response, «still on the truck.»
Before hanging up the phone, I told her I would stick with large reputable firms like Harry & David’s. I hope my client gifts arrive within this week and that the fruit is fresh not rotten as others have experienced.
Buying from family-​run businesses are great in theory but more often than not, there’s little accountability when something goes awry.
Judging by all the negative reviews, the owners don’t really care despite the one response back from them to one negative Unilocal reviewer. Money over customer service and satisfaction…

The citrus… Oranges, tangerines, and ruby red grapefruit and look beautiful. Everything else is kind of expensive i.e. $ 12.99 for a jar of jam? $ 10.99 for a small jar of pickles? C’mon! This stuff should be half that price, maybe that’s why every time I drive by the parking lot is empty. I like the nostalgia of the place reminds me of a roadside attraction from the 1950s. But they have to get a hold of those prices.

I have ordered with Hales for years but no more. Both this year and last they have made mistakes in the addresses of recipients putting in the wrong city on three different orders causing gifts not to be delivered. I have spent hours on the phone trying to correct the errors only to see the fruit shipped to the right street address in the wrong city. Last year the fruit that was delivered was partially rotten. The quality and customer service have slipped. Next year everyone is getting checks. No more hassling with Hales.

My order hasn’t even been delivered yet, but I was so put off by my customer «care» experience that I was prompted to write this review. The person at Hale Groves made me feel stupid for calling to ask about the status of my order (which I had to do because there were no shipment notifications/​tracking numbers sent proactively) and actually gave me attitude when I expressed dismay that the shipment would arrive later than I had expected. Even if the oranges are fantastic when they arrive, I won’t order from here again. Lots of competition in the field and I’m sure at least some of them understand it’s not good business to be rude to customers.

If I could give them –5 stars, I would. Not one decent piece of fruit in the whole order! What wasn’t rotten was dried out and tasteless! NEVER WASTE MONEY ORDERING from these RIP-​OFF ARTISTS! I was so embarrassed to have sent them as gifts!

I enjoyed visiting Hale grove. The fresh squeezed OJ is really good. I liked all the different little gifts and odds and ends they had around. Candy, honey, soaps, oils, I came a little to close to closing time to really browse around– my daughter tried the creamsicle ice cream cone and said it was good. I’m glad we stopped in. Looking forward to visiting Hale Grove next time I’m in Vero.

This is a great place to stop and grab an ice cream or a drink while picking out fresh beautiful florida oranges. You can buy them in several different sizes from a ¹⁄₈ bushel to ½ buchel all pre packed. I especially like their orange marmalade and their corn relish. Both are so tasty. They also have all sorts of produce and sweets for sale too. I cant wait to get these oranges home so I can put them in the refrigerator and hand press cold delicious orange juice in the morning in my juice o mat.
Thanks Hales Groves!

Every year for the holidays I like to ship Florida citrus to friends and family that live up in the Great White North, and for years I have been shipping my fruit from Hale Groves over on the east coast of Florida.
My Dad is a big fan of Honeybell oranges, which are not oranges at all but rather a very sweet cross between tangerines and grapefruit, and only grown in the Indian River area of Florida. Honeybells are only harvested after Christmas, and the season is up by early February. My sister prefers naval oranges and ruby red grapefruit, and those types of citrus are also grown in the Indian River section of Florida.
In the past I had tried a couple of different citrus growers and packers, but finally settled on Hale Groves due to the excellent quality of their citrus and their outstanding customer service. This citrus is straight from the groves, and not prettied up with special coloring or sprayed with a wax coating. It is «right off the tree» fresh and delicious. Each year I receive a catalog in the mail, along with a reminder notice of last year’s invoice. I can place and track my order online, and I receive an email notice of when the boxes of fruit are shipped and received.
This past year I finally had the opportunity to drive over to Sebastian, FL and visit Hale Groves. You’ll find their facility along US 1 just north of Highway 60, Vero Beach and in the Indian River area of the state.
Their packing facility offers tours of their groves and the facility, and they have a large farm store where you can see and taste the various types of citrus grown in their groves. They offer many different types of citrus for sale along with freshly-​squeezed juices and soft-​serve citrus ice cream. The main room of the farm store also had fresh apples, herbs, and locally-​picked vegetables like corn, squash, onions, asparagus, celery, peppers, and more. A second section of the store showcases lots of «Florida general store» type of products such as local honeys, candies, relishes, jams, jellies, preserves, and flavored fruit butters.
Fantastically-​fresh citrus to ship to your friends who live up north, and a great place to visit and see their groves and the farm store.