Chesapeake Crab Connection Company

This our go to place for crabs, shrimp, clams when we aren’t at the beach. I have never had a problem with size or bad smelling crabs. I do look at the crabs before they close it. They are always friendly and reasonable. We got a bushel of LG/​XLG and shrimp for Mothers Day. The crabs were fat and tasty along w/​the steamed shrimp.

I tried them yrs ago I called and asked for super jumbos they advertised as having I reserved a few doz but when I got home they measured 4in wide not 7 in as they told me. I just tried them again and same bait and switch, I will not use them again

Too bad that there are no NEGATIVE STAR ratings else i will place this POS company at –10! Ordered crabs for my son’s High School Grad party 6÷5÷15 and the icebox arrived perfect BUT the crabs were crumbled. Worst customer service and crabs taste old and spoiled!
here is my invoice OC21311 — call me if you have the guts to defend your product.
Advice for future customers NEVER EVER ORDER from this POS company! You are warned!
I will share this on Facebook

Picture it. Valentine’s Day, 2015. You want a special dinner with your honey so you spend over a hundred dollars for large male crabs, defined as 6 – 6.5 inches, point to point on the carapace. A very curt lady named Courtney calls you and asks if you want to reschedule their arrival because of predicted snow and when you say that, no, you want to take your chances, she denies any responsibility if they don’t arrive on time — even though they had ample time to ship them. Phew– they arrive, but upon opening the bag, we discover that only 4 of the 12 approach the promised 6– 6.5 inches. In fact, most were less than 5.5 inches, the size of their mediums. They tasted good, but were light, half missed both claws, and as mentioned, they were nowhere near large males. I will never buy from this company again– no matter how desperate I am for Maryland crabs. Rip off does not begin to describe this.

I ordered 24 crabs, 1 pound of shrimp and 50 little neck clams for a party. They were precooked and seasoned and shipped overnight. I had 0 problems with the shipping, processing or consuming these products. My friends thought they were delicious, we warned them up for a few minutes in a broil with sausage, potatoes and corn. It was a big hit, these were very nice crabs.

Agree with other reviews — got the groupon for this company and it was ripoff. I asked if I could pickup order and was told had to have it shipped. Would not recommend due to shady business practices

This company refused to honor my groupon voucher. I called to discuss this with them and spoke with «Courtney,» who raised her voice and was extremely rude to me, and told me she owed me «nothing.» I would recommend never doing business with this company; they are shady, fraudulent, and money-​hungry.
Aside from this, the products on the website all come with a $ 30 minimum shipping fee AND a $ 10.00 packaging fee, so you’re paying an extra $ 40.00 on TOP of already overpriced seafood. Stay away!

Worst customer service ever. Ordered seafood package for my parents & mussels were all spoiled. The stench was there before we even opened the box. Delivery was on Sat. Emailed to them in the afternoon. No response. Called on Monday, no one picked up the call so left voicemail message. No response. Tried on Tuesday finally got hold of someone. Told them mussels were spoiled, they asked for a photo. Now who would think of keeping the rotten mussels. Obviously it was already thrown away. Their reply no photos then no refund. What a rip off. I’m the idiot for not reading the reviews because then I would never in million years order from this company. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!

We have been getting crabs from Chesapeake Crab for about 10 years. We have always had great crabs, great service and a great price. We are about 45 minutes from them and it is well worth the trip.

DO NOT ORDER, DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM!
Long story short, I ordered a bushel arriving last Saturday and they smelled spoiled. I called and emailed immediately and again the next day but they didn’t respond till Monday! For God’s Sake, it’s spoiled seafood!
I couldn’t risk my family getting sick so I preserved them in the freezer to wait for their response. The crabs smelled SOOOOO BAD overnight even in the freezer and I had to throw them away as I headed out to work Monday morning.
This company policies are insulting to customers and there is no refund whatsoever. They’d send you gift card with your next purchase but will you pay more money just to get more spoiled seafood?
For you and for your family’s safety, don’t order from them. I’m very upset about what happened, and please don’t let the same thing happen to you. It’s just too much money and time for an absolute disappointment.
Here are the first couple emails back and forth between me and their customer service if you want to know what happened to me. Since I just copy-​and-​paste from my email, the earliest email is at the bottom.
On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 2:39 PM, Jiangyu wrote:
Hi,
I did cook a couple of them. It was because they smelled funny when I opened the box. They tasted fine so I put them away and gave you a call just in case. Are you trying to tell me, the crabs smelled bad because I put them in the freezer? That makes absolutely no sense. Freezing product is one way to slow the growth of bacteria, also a chance for me to find out what was going on until I get a response from you. If anything, freezing them made them spoiled slower.
I don’t see a point of arguing when this already happened two days ago, and you refuse to take any responsibility of this incident. You don’t need to send any gift card or free product. Best of luck to your business.
Jiangyu
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 23, 2014, at 2:00 PM, OC Customer Service
wrote:
Jiangyu,
We can not issue a full refund for this order. In the first email and voice mail that you left you stated you ate several of the crabs and they tasted good. After putting them in the freezer is when you encountered and stated they were bad. We have a no refund policy. We can issue you a gift card or offer free product on your next order. Please send pictures of the crabs you received.
Thank you
Chesapeake Crab Connection
On Mon, Jun 23, 2014 at 1:55 PM, Jiangyu wrote:
Hi,
I called earlier and didn’t get a chance to talk to your supervisor. I would not put the crabs in the freeze if they did not smell funny. And they smelled even worse the second day, even in the freezer (I can’t image how bad they would be if I had put them in the fridge). I was very embarrassed and disappointed since it was supposed to be for my whole family. As a customer, the best I could do when seafood doesn’t smell right is to call and email. There wasn’t any customer support when I needed, and I sure couldn’t risk in to asking my family to eat spoiled seafood and wait till they get sick to report this incident.
I open restaurants for my company and I understand things might go wrong once a while. I would’ve let it go if it’s a small purchase but it was $ 170 for something that we didn’t get to enjoy. I’d like a full refund of my purchase. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Jiangyu
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 23, 2014, at 10:27 AM, OC Customer Service
wrote:
Jiangyu,
Well in this email you stated you placed them in the freezer. We do not recommend freezing whole crabs. The crabs are 100% safe. When first opening the crabs they will smell strong as the are in a small enclosed box. You crabs were caught the day that they were sent out and steamed and place in the box and sent out right away. We do not except returns and can issue a refund for this matter as everything was ok. When the crabs are received you have to consume them within 48 hours.
Thank you
Chesapeake Crab Connection
Jordon
On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 4:00 PM, Jiangyu wrote:
Hello,
The crabs are bad. I emailed you yesterday and called you this morning. We opened the crabs yesterday and they smelled funny. We cooked a couple, but they tasted fine. This morning when we opened the freezer, THE WHOLE FREEZER SMELLED BAD! I’m very confused and disappointed. I can’t have my family eat them, what if they get sick?! I don’t know what to do with the crabs, but I can send them back to you if you want me to. If you want to send me another case, I’m not home till next weekend. But I’d rather have my money refunded to save the trouble.
I feel sorry about this. It could’ve been a pleasant experience.
Jiangyu
Sent from my iPhone

This company has the worst customer service. I purchased jumbo lump crab meat for a special dinner for my family to make my crab imperial. When the order came it said on the package lump crab meat. Not jumbo as I ordered. In fact i would call it picked crab meat as there was not a lump jumbo or otherwise in sight. I ended up driving 30 minutes to get jumbo lump from another place which is why I had ordered in first place didn’t want to waste over an hour on a day I waa cooking a celebration meal but there was no way I could serve what was sent. I left message with customer service and was instructed to send pictures which I did. Response was offering me a gift card that didn’t cover the cost of the original product. But as others have already said it would cost a minimum additional $ 45 to purchase and ship another package of jumbo lump. Thanks but no thanks and if you are thinking of ordering from them don’t

I don’t have any experience with shipping from the Chesapeake crab connection but I did get a chance to visit and despite the fact that they where not open for serving because they where expanding the restaurant the gentleman that we spoke to (Nick) was kind enough to heat up a soup and crabcakes for us. He was extremely sweet and I’m glad we stopped by… The crabcakes are delicious! And huge!

I was on the hunt for a creative birthday gift for my father, as neckties and home depot gift cards were getting a little tired. Perusing Groupon one day I came across the deal by CCC. I thought it would be a fun little gift to send to my dad who lives nearly 3,000 miles away from me. I also thought if my sister wanted to chip in a little (hey, they’re pretty pricey on there!) I would not protest. Without checking first, we both purchased the Groupon on our own separate accounts. The next day, I called customer service right when they opened and was met with the answering machine several times. I tried back thirty minutes later and the manager picked up on the first ring.
I explained the situation and asked if we could possibly combine the two Groupons. He didn’t even make me beg! He agreed to my demands and let me know they are able to accommodate ‘special circumstances.’ He also apologized for not getting to the phones quicker. Apparently a snow storm had kept most of his employees from making it in that day. After we took care of the entire order on the phone, he sent me a personalized email and even agreed to add a little card into the package upon request. So nice! Amazing customer service. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone.
The delivery horror stories of past Unilocalers made me so nervous about the packages impending arrival. No need, though. The package arrived right on its scheduled date at 9 am. My dad was so surprised and thrilled! It made me feel all tingly inside hehe. My dad said the crabs were ‘delicious’ and that he loved the creative gift idea.
Had to knock off a star for the price. I understand mom and pop places tend to be pricier, but dang! The shipping alone set me back 50 bucks! And your Groupon is not able to go towards shipping and handling fees.

The CHEAPEST shipping is $ 35!!! For ANYTHING (and most of the things on their website are way overpriced anyway). I live within the one-​day shipping zone since I live in the same state and it was still $ 35. THEN they also charge their own $ 9.99 packaging service (yes, they charge you for packaging their own products to send it to you) which is ON TOP of the shipping and handling charge. So whatever you buy, you’re paying at least $ 45 more to even get it. They also recommend you purchase their $ 4 shipping insurance, and from what I’ve read in the other reviews, you’ll probably need it because if you don’t get your package or it’s damaged they won’t send you another.
I bought a Groupon, but after seeing all the added charges (which are on top of their already ridiculously high prices) I canceled it. Oh, and their website is a joke because it’s pretty difficult to use.

I would like to give negative stars. After seeing this on the Today show, I wrongly assumed they could handle Christmas orders with great customer service. In fact, they can’t do either.
I payed $ 36 in shipping plus $ 4 in shipping insurance for a gift to be delivered on Sat ¹²⁄₂₁. It never showed up. They never sent me a confirmation tracking email. I’ve spoken to them twice today and been hung up before getting my tracking number. Over $ 150 and 10 phone calls later, and I’m no better off. I’ve never received worse service from a company.
Do not do business with them!

I bought a Groupon for Chesapeake Crab Connection (
) to have a bushel of crabs shipped to a bachelorette party we were throwing in Big Bear, CA. We all live in LA, but a bunch of us, including the bride-​to-​be, are from MD. I thought surprising the bride with a bushel of MD crabs, especially in the Summertime, would be a great idea. I bought the groupon and ordered the crabs way in advance for a Saturday delivery. On Friday morning, as I was preparing the last few things on my to do list before departing for Big Bear, I got a call and an emailing Chesapeake Crab telling me that unfortunately, Fed Ex would not deliver to the Big bear area code. I was losing my mind over it since we had planned all the food and the festivities around the crabs for the weekend. I spoke to Matt and explained the situation and he started brainstorming ideas of how we could make it work. Over the next few hours, I was in communications with Matt and all of our attempts were failing. I was devastated, but he did not back down. As I was on the road to Big Bear, I spoke to Matt and his boss, John. Together, they found a way to get the crabs delivered, on a Saturday, to the rural lake house we had rented! The crabs were a great surpise and a huge hit! We had a few mid-​westerners and even a Canadian who had never eated MD crabs before and they all loved them! Thanks so much, Matt & John for coming through for me and my friends! I really appreciate that kind of customer service. I will be ordering from your company every time that I order crabs from 3,000 miles away from where I grew up!

This company is a rip off, even with a groupon. We ordered 18 crabs for a total out of pocket cost of approx $ 80 and when the crabs came, they were tiny ones that no restaurant would serve. They looked like they were taken from the reject pile. $ 80 for 18 tiny crabs is a rip off in my books. Never again.

My mother in law ordered some crabcakes for us that they shipped incorrectly. They were shipped from PA on the ¹²⁄₂₈ a Friday and we got them on Wednesday ½. 6 days later. No dry ice, they were not even cold anymore. So we cannot eat them and my MIL is out a good bit of money. We called them to try to get a resolution and they basically told us they could not help and blamed Fedex saying that Fedex does not deliver on Saturday or Monday. Ugh!!!