Hotel Chocolat Assorted Chocolates

I do not recommend Hotel Chocolat Assorted Chocolates. I received VERY bad service in my opinion as I have not yet received my Easter eggs (too late for Aunty to explain why they had been forgotten), not yet had a reply from my emails as far as I am aware so I called and they were unhelpful I feel. I cancelled my Chocolate tasting membership and wrote them a letter - not yet had a reply it seems! Do not recommend!

Some of the most dreadful service I have ever personally experienced! They have not yet delivered Easter Eggs to my nieces (2 and 3 years old), then did not contact me as far as I am concerned, despite several emails and calls. Eventually I did speak to someone who reluctantly offered me a discount on my next purchase, but, when I tried to claim this discount, they said they did not know of the offer I feel. I hasten to add, I was a Chocolate Club member... one would have thought their service might have reflected this... But no. I even wrote to them, suggesting they at least apologise. That was three weeks ago... Still nothing as far as I am aware therefore I do not recommend Hotel Chocolat Assorted Chocolates.

This review is based on Hotel Chocolate (not choc tasting club)

I've been using Hotel Chocolate (HC) on and off for a few years usually as gifts. For Christmas 2005, every single person on my Christmas list got HC chocs as gifts. They have a huge range, and since starting using them in 2004, the range has grown. Now in fact they even sell chocolate based perfume and balsamic vinegar! The chocs are of a very high quality. They point this out all over the site and in their marketing material, but the costs are reasonably high. Personally though, I would now rather pay the prices they charge just for the quality of the chocs alone. I can't stomach the greasy rubbish sold as chocolate in most high street and convenience stores now. HC do a pretty good job of informing you about how chocs are made, from source right up to the finished product, which I found quite interesting. They offer discounts if you order more than one product, also same address discounts and a discount if you are a member of the CTC. One thing I find quite irritating is that for a company that seems to be trying to be ethical (it helps out small cocoa plantations etc) is they send out a lot of marketing material and glossy brochures. In the run up to Christmas this year I received 6 of exactly the same brochures of their Christmas range. One would have been more than sufficient. I've now asked to be taken off their marketing list. I figure I'll save at least one tree over the coming few years, and I will just browse their website when I feel like ordering something, which incidentally is very easy to navigate and has every bit of information I need on it. You can pay bills, place and track orders and view special offers as they come up. Recommended as a treat.

This review is based on the Chocolate Tasting Club arm of Hotel Chocolate

I've been a member of Hotel Chocolate's chocolate tasting club (CTC) on and off for nearly two years. The idea is simple enough; every month you receive a box of chocs, sent through the post to your home address. The chocs themselves are wonderful. High quality chocs from various chocolatiers around Europe. The box comes with detailed tasting notes and a short newsletter. You can set up your preferences for delivery from every month, to every two months, three monthly, six monthly, or chop and change whenever you feel like it. You can also order extra boxes if you like that monthly box for the same cost. Every month is a different selection. You are encouraged to complete a score chart, either by returning the score card supplied or entering your scores on the website.

In the newsletter each month are the scores from the previous month. At the end of the year they usually produce an extra selection box, including highest scoring winners from the year. The box isn't cheap - £16.95, which includes postage. CTC members also receive a 5% discount from Hotel Chocolate stores and online. After trying their chocs I find it very difficult to now stomach the mass produced so-called chocolates on sale, including those from supposed quality chocolatiers such as Thorntons.

My main problem with them hasn't been the quality of the chocs, but with the delivery patterns. When I first started, I signed up mid month and received the chocs a few days later. This gradually slipped down to the beginning of the month. I also used to pay on receipt of the chocolates by cheque. They then started an incentive with a discount off your next box if you signed up to autopay, which essentially meant they debited the cost of the box when they dispatched the chocs. This worked for a while, but on two occasions now I've called mid month and deferred the chocs until a following month, and on both occasions, chocs have been dispatched at the end of the preceding month that I requested, and the cost debited before the start of the month. This month I called mid January and requested that the chocs be deferred until March (I had previously asked for the February selection). On the 26th of January I received a box, and when I called to ask why, I was given a vague answer about the box already being dispatched for February. My answer was, it was still January, so why had I received it? They said because people wanted to receive the boxes before the start of the month they requested. To me, this is not a satisfactory explanation, especially since I had called over a week ago and my account wasn't debited until January 23rd, which was after I had called to defer. To their credit, they did credit the money back to my account, and I sent the chocs back (at my own cost though). I've now cancelled the CTC because this keeps happening, and I have gone back to ordering the occasional box from Hotel Chocolate as a treat. (And no doubt my waistline and butt will thank me).

Very dissappointed for the reasons stated.

Spent well over £100 and waited over 2 weeks for delivery.

I will not use this company again.

Hotel Chocolat. Original. wonderful assortments - rich dark chocolate; smooth milk chocolate; tasty, not sweet and insipid, white chocolate.

Original flavours - the usual strawberry and peach, but also lavender, and lots of alcoholic flavours which actually taste different from each other. Includes bios of the people who make them!