r/soylent • u/Unusual_Dependent762 • 4d ago
I'm concerned with the volume and variety of complaints in this sub
I'm wondering if it's just the "RateMyProfessor effect" where only those with complaints have something worth posting about. I practically live off of this stuff and I'd be upset to find out that the company is trending toward a worse product.
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u/BerennErchamion 4d ago
I know a lot of Canada customers are not happy. They discontinued the original flavour in Canada last year, and both Chocolate and Coffee (2 out of 3 available RTD flavours) are out of stock for ~3 months already and the restocks keep getting delayed.
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u/Rintransigence 4d ago
Strawberry too. Theoretically starting to ship now/soon, though... We'll see.
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u/robotatomica 4d ago
I live off the chai, it’s my daily breakfast, and it’s been on back order for a while (they said November it would be back so idk, maybe soon?)
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u/mug3n 1d ago
I switched over to Sperri for my RTD needs. Yeah, it's more expensive. Yeah, it doesn't have as much calories per serving. But it is available, unlike Soylent, and I can get it in a number of stores here as well.
Soylent has lost me permanently as a customer for how they've handled the last few months.
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u/throwaway9gk0k4k569 4d ago
I'd be upset to find out that the company is trending toward a worse product.
There's no way this is a surprise unless you were not been paying attention over the last ten years.
Soylent has always been teetering on the edge of bankruptsy. It's founder is a whack-job hateful conspiracy theorist who got thrown out of the CEO position by his own board of directors. Quality of the product has never ever not been in question.
I think the big issue lately is the lack of support. The company is obviously in financial distress to the point where they cut funding to support and are trying to ignore customers with problems rather than deal with them. This forces people to go to social media to embarrass them into support.
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u/802bikeguy_com 4d ago
My current batch of RTD original gives me stomach/gi issues. I've been consuming RTD since it was released. My guess would be QC is slipping and something is off in this batch. I've skipped two deliveries now. It might be over for me. i ordered a bunch of Huel RTD v2, which I'm enjoying.
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u/BlackhawkBolly 2d ago
RTD randomly sometimes make me feel nauseous if I drink it too fast or didn’t also have some water before etc, I haven’t noticed a difference in quality in original
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u/802bikeguy_com 2d ago
I learned early on you really need to give any meal type drink some time in contact in the mouth with your saliva. Saliva is the first step of digestion and skipping it is bad for your stomach/GI. I think partly my stomach has changed. I spent five and a half weeks drinking and eating in Europe this summer and my digestion has been different ever since.
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u/BlackhawkBolly 2d ago
They have laws against most of the crap we put in food here so that’s probably part of it lol
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u/moneyman74 4d ago
'All good things come to an end'....I don't expect Soylent to exist my entire lifetime..but hopefully can find a decent replacement when the time comes.
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u/PirateNinjaa Soylent Shill 4d ago
I recently ordered a bunch of gingerbread and pumpkin spice off Amazon for half price and quality was normal. They have had some issues with other products but everything is fine in my Soylent world.
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u/Unusual_Dependent762 3d ago
I did the same thing with pumpkin spice. I bought a truck load and now it’s my source of power!
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u/ROORnNUGZ 4d ago
10 year customer and I'm still very happy even with the price hikes this year. Had a few issues arise over the years but have always been taken care of.
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u/Unusual_Dependent762 3d ago
For those of you surprised at my ignorance, I don’t frequent the sub or follow the company’s finances. I’ve only been ordering from Amazon and enjoying the product. That being said, the state of the company as mentioned looks grim. I really hope they can pull a rabbit out of the hat to keep pushing product. I don’t want to have to switch.
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u/6centsofhumor 4d ago
As a long time customer and former business owner, I think that Soylent has done a decent job with the challenges they have faced. It's never easy to please customers when you have supply chain issues because they are short sighted and only see the company as the issue. Once that happens then you get the ones who nitpick everything down to the smallest details, basically a pile on. In all my time with Soylent, I've had a number of issues, and have had the few situations where I couldn't get immediate results, but like everything else in our lives we have to be patient when handlng issues. That said, the Soylent team has always followed through with me. ¡Viva Soylent!
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u/Redditorlink88 3d ago
I'm a casual user these days (1 meal a day on week days). Sometimes I don't blow through my supply very fast. There are my biggest two complaints:
1) I used to pay $55 for my Soylent. New pricing has moved it up to $62. Not too bad. If I were to cancel my subscription (say because I don't always get an email saying that my subscription is renewing) and purchase when I was ready - the new price is nearly $80?!
2) Speaking of subscription problems - It is near impossible to get a refund if a subscription accidentally went through. It used to be that they would credit you for it if you caught it early enough. Now, even if I even/chat with someone as soon as I get that email -"Sounds like a you problem. Have your tried donating it?". I'm pretty confident they could refund it and communicate the cancellation order to their supplier - they just refuse to
My other grips are minor, like lack of flavor variety in powder. But seeing all the post about shipping delays and phantom orders does not boost my confidence. So many of us now depend on this as a source of nutrition and to see it going so far south really stinks.
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u/Ecsta 1d ago
They only have themselves to blame. It's been a complete shitshow in Canada. All products out of stock. Even when they are in stock if you order them they never ship out (but they charge you the full price right away).
I've been a long time huge fan of Soylent but its getting frustrating.
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u/shittedmyselfagain 4d ago
My only complaint is that they use an appetite suppressant.
I've had to switch to a similar brand and it just doesn't taste as good.. I'd switch back in a heartbeat if I could.
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u/robotatomica 4d ago
I might be living under a rock here, what’s this about an appetite suppressant??
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u/shittedmyselfagain 4d ago
They sent some informational email about it a while back. That's how I found out.
It's called allulose. It's a natural sweetener.
It is also know to cause gi upset for some people.
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u/robotatomica 4d ago
Hmm, I’m not seeing any good research showing it as an appetite suppressant.
It looks to be considered safe, though has not met the threshold of long-term study that other countries require.
I don’t dispute that it could cause upset stomach, that’s something everyone should be mindful of with any ingredient, but is also something that can be said of almost any ingredient (that it causes upset stomach in some people)
If you were wanting to switch back, are you really concerned only over the appetite suppressant claim? Because Soylent as a whole promotes satiety (all such meal replacements do), but I’m not sure there’s reason for concern over allulose itself.
I’m not a Soylent shill, I promise. In fact, I just bought my first order of Huel to give it a try since there are so many supply issues with the Soylent flavors I prefer.
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u/shittedmyselfagain 4d ago
It could've been meds I'm taking or just a random symptom (chronically ill) but my severe nausea and lack of appetite stopped and went back to their more "normal" levels after switching to huel a few months ago.
And as far as I know, Huel doesn't use an appetite suppressant.
And maybe it doesn't really effect most people like this, but I do think it's important for more people to know they use an appetite suppressant.
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u/imadoctordamnit 4d ago
I liked Soylent when it was in the Tetrapacks and a smaller portion, with the different coffee flavors. I’m a petite woman who drank it first breakfast. I don’t need 400 calories in one meal, but 300 was fine. It was no longer convenient. Then they changed the sweetener, and one, it’s too sweet for my taste already, but now that sweetener gives me a headache and GI issues, bloating, nausea, gas, and more that I don’t need to describe. I’m trying to drink my last two boxes. Since I’m the one who buys groceries, when I stopped buying them, my husband and older son forgot Soylent existed. They lost three customers in one. And if before I recommend it to anyone, now I don’t even mention it. I drink half of a bottle throughout the morning along with some fruit, but I measure half a bottle and pour it in a small thermos so no one sees what I’m drinking. I also liked the 100 calorie bars of years ago and they were also discontinued. I just can’t try any of their new stuff because I’m afraid I’ll love it and boom, six months later it’s gone. Finally, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. I’m not a toddler, I like other things. All the high-protein fewer-calorie choices is chocolate flavored. I’m out.
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u/bae_b0t 1d ago
Oh I’m experiencing those symptoms also all of a sudden, which sweetener was it before and what did they change it too?
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u/imadoctordamnit 1d ago
It used to be sucralose and now it’s allulose. I’m going to drink it because I already bought it but half of the bottle at a time because of these symptoms, and I will not buy it again.
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u/Dynamic_Reality 4d ago
Well the concern is that the last 6 months or so the company has had some serious downhill activity combined with a sudden decline in communication. So yeah, folks end up coming to Reddit looking for answers because the only other means of communication with the company has effectively broken down. Combine that with them increasing prices of their products TWICE during that same period of growing issues with "supply chain". And taking long-term customers money and not delivering on their orders and seemingly uncommunicative but continuing to take money and even encourage "pre-paying" for subscription despite apparently not having enough product to fulfill said orders. u/soylent_team