I just got ripped off for over $3,000 by a scam artist by the name of Sam Pronio (owner of Pronios food service) while trying to purchase some healthy organic food (mostly meat) for me and my girlfriend. I started out being a little leery when Sam said theyve been around for 20 years and they didnt have a website but I liked this older gentlemen and I made the mistake to trust he had my best interests in mind. After a consultation with what kind of food and meats we wanted Sam left and accidently took the sheet that had everything we were purchasing with him. He said he would send it back when we received our first meat shipment which he did but there was several problems:
1. The meat on the sheet was not even close to what we ordered. There was many things we didnt order including much shrimp and fish and very few things we wanted like steaks and beef.
2. More then half of our meals were chicken patties and burgers which are obviously the least inexpensive items.in our consultation we told him we wanted to eat a lot of steaks and I didnt mind paying the premium for that but out of our whole order there was only 16 steaks! This means 8 nights of steaks a year for me and my girlfriend... They did tell me I can purchase more for more money but they said it wouldnt be at a discount like my other items...
3. Sam told us that we would be able to eat every day for a year for the $3,300 (that we had to pay all upfront) he was charging. After analyzing the sheet there wasnt even close to enough for a year even with all the cheap burgers and chicken patties.
4. Pronio also claims that their orders are fresh and top quality. He even pulled out little charts showing where they fish and how they have less mercury then stuff you buy in the store. Well too bad all they did was go down to the local GFS and purchase my order and try and resell it to us for a higher price... Thats right, the bags your food comes in is from a wholesale food store called GFS - only Pronios up their prices by 20-30% (Since they make you pay for a whole year shouldnt you be saving money?)
Although Pronios wont give you the prices you are paying for this year of meat they will give you the prices on veggies and fruit. Take their pamphlet with prices to GFS and compare the prices... Remember you are getting these exact same bags of fruits and veggies - they are in the same exact bags with the big GFS label right on them. (Note: GFS has nothing to do with Pronios food service scam, I talked with a manager and he said they have no connection and Pronios people probably just go in and purchase their food and resell it at a much higher rate.)
After talking to my parents they told me this is a popular scam that wholesale meat sellers try doing. They tell you are getting great high quality meat with no steroids or chemicals and then they tell you that you need to purchase a whole year of meat upfront. Then they take the sheet and sell you the same meat you can by down the road and charge you an arm and a leg. Youre probably asking Is this meat even organic or natural? Well thats really hard to prove (or disprove in this case) but after all the lying and price gauging Im not even going to risk whats in this meat... I am going to pay a little more money and go to the Pittsburgh meat market and deal with established meat sellers.
Bottom line, if you are looking for organic or natural meat dont fall for this scam. From what I learned there is a whole industry in Pittsburgh dedicated around selling wholesale organic foods and meats to unsuspecting individuals that dont know better.
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