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Metal spike in packet of crisps

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Need a bit of advice whilst eating a packet of quavers, i have bitten into a 2 cm of solid moulded plastic with a 1 cm sharp spike sticking out of it, the spike went into my gum causing it to bleed non stop for over 15 minutes. (Wondering if I should get a tetanus boost)

How should I, deal with this should I send it to Walkers? or someone like the food standards or my local council and let them deal with it after what it has done to my mouth I dread to think what it would have done to my stomach if I swallowed it or even worse if a small child had got that packet instead of me.

Can I trust walkers to deal with it and not ignore it or should I get a professional body to deal with it

Thanks for any advice
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Comments

  • Dave101t
    Dave101t Posts: 4,157 Forumite
    my advice is to watch what your eating.
    quavers are light little things, and i think i would of noticed a plastic item incl spike before i put it in my mouth!

    id take photgraphs and send these to walkers with a letter, send the same too the health and safety executive, and keep the originals for any response.
    Target Savings by end 2009: 20,000
    current savings: 20,500 (target hit yippee!)
    Debts: 8000 (student loan so doesnt count)

    new target savings by Feb 2010: 30,000
  • sotv
    sotv Posts: 100 Forumite
    Dave101t wrote: »
    my advice is to watch what your eating.
    quavers are light little things, and i think i would of noticed a plastic item incl spike before i put it in my mouth!

    id take photgraphs and send these to walkers with a letter, send the same too the health and safety executive, and keep the originals for any response.

    Thanks for the advice re the crisps and what to do,

    Re watching what you eat, do you inspect every crisp you put into your mouth? I have no idea how this was in the crisp, baked into it if so could have noticed it if I had been looking? or if hiding in the curl I doubt I could have noticed it till like I did actually bite into it
  • jbutcher
    jbutcher Posts: 14 Forumite
    Ouch! Kick up hell! Should get some money!
  • Harveycat_2
    Harveycat_2 Posts: 1,702 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    If you eat crisps anything like me when you get to the last few you scrunch them up whilst still in the bag and then pour the remaining bits straight out of the bag into your mouth?

    Then as you wondered how you'd spiked your finger which was bleeding you bit on the spike which you spat out in terror. The offending spike shot out of your mouth and straight into your cat's eye which died immediately (you can pick up a dead cat most places for evidence, just remember to spike its eye).

    ;)

    I don't know how so many of us survived when they used to put the little blue bag of salt in the bag.

    Despite this I never heard of the Heimlich manoeuvre until quite late in life.

    If they did this today you'd be stepping over people in the streets squirming about clutching their throats and gasping waiting for COMPENSATION to set in.

    Try telling that to the young ones today and they don't want to know!

    No wonder life is not so simple anymore.

    :rotfl:
  • Dave101t
    Dave101t Posts: 4,157 Forumite
    at east im not the only one with a hint of sarcasm in my post!

    but seriously, if this plastic thing was baked 'into' a quaver, then fair enough, but the way i eat quavers means it shouldnt be a problem.

    i like to shape my tongue to match the curl of the quaver, then widen the tongue to make it break, then eat it!
    Target Savings by end 2009: 20,000
    current savings: 20,500 (target hit yippee!)
    Debts: 8000 (student loan so doesnt count)

    new target savings by Feb 2010: 30,000
  • StumpyPumpy
    StumpyPumpy Posts: 1,458 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic
    Ok, I don't post very often but I will make an exception here...


    A bit of background first: many years ago I used to work for Walkers and actually wrote the computer system they then used for handling customer complaints (I will assume it has been superseded now) Also around the same time my brother was working in a Public Health Laboratory so I can claim to know more than a little about how the system works. I have seen many foreign objects that have appeared in packets, both accidentally and maliciously added - they can be scary but it hasn't put me off eating crisps.

    How you act is dependent on what you really want out of Walkers. If all you want to happen is for them to investigate and hopefully stop it happening again, send the object & the empty packet to Walkers (address is on the pack IIRC) and they will do that plus reimburse your costs and make a conciliatory gesture (I don't know what this is now, used to be a box of crisps or low value gift voucher) however, they will investigate it even if you don't get to hear the full results. If you want to push it further, inform Walkers of your complaint but keep the object. The most likely outcome then is that they will arrange a meeting with you and your local Walkers rep. You will cause more inconvenience to Walkers if that is your goal, and you will also be more likely to get more in the way of compensation. Finally, if you want to get a Public Health Officer (PHO) involved, you can either pass everything on to them and they will make a decision on whether to prosecute or not (though you will not receive any compensation direct from Walkers) or you can ask for them to be present when you speak with a Walkers rep. After you have made your deal with the rep, the PHO will then seize the object and do their job.

    I have deliberately missed out the "take back to the shop" option which will get you your money back and nothing else as it doesn't guarantee the object will be reported back to Walkers, who, believe it or not, will want this reported to them and take these incidents very seriously.

    The series of events above was valid when I worked there and I assume is valid now and for most if not all producers, though your mileage may vary with other companies.

    Apologies for the length of this post, I wanted to cover as much ground as possible.
    Hope you gum is feeling better.

    Regards


    SP
    Come on people, it's not difficult: lose means to be unable to find, loose means not being fixed in place. So if you have a hole in your pocket you might lose your loose change.
  • chalkysoil
    chalkysoil Posts: 1,662 Forumite
    similar thing has happened to me - bit into a sesame snap while driving and discovered a bit of metal (like the end of a stanley knife blade) stuck in my gum. Don't quite know how to go about complaining - to the manufacturer or to Poundland head office - whether to send the bit of metal off or keep it. I was so upset I did nothing for half an hour but sit in a layby collecting my nerves, it could've been a lot worse but I wonder where the rest of the blade went and who copped that. Anyone know of a template type letter I could read? Thanks.
  • Loonytoons
    Loonytoons Posts: 866 Forumite
    500 Posts
    God luck with complaining to Poundland. I complained in November after i ended up in hopsital after using one of their products. I received an automated reply to my email saying they would get back to me but have heard nothing since, other than regular emails to inform me of their special offers :mad:
  • zenseeker
    zenseeker Posts: 4,551 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I have deliberately missed out the "take back to the shop" option which will get you your money back and nothing else as it doesn't guarantee the object will be reported back to Walkers, who, believe it or not, will want this reported to them and take these incidents very seriously.

    I used to work in Customer Service in Morrison's, and I can confirm that 99% of the time we were told to just bin the complaint, and the object, because it wasn't worth bothering with (Managers words).
    We have removed your signature - please contact the forum team if you are not sure why - Forum Team
  • sotv
    sotv Posts: 100 Forumite
    I would like to thank stumpypumpy for his or her informative advice and have decided to send it directly to Walkers after having took a photograph for my own records, I have spoken to someone on there customer service line and they seemed very professional and promised to deal with the matter properly.

    As for the people saying they would have noticed the object I dont know how it was in the crisp baked or loose, I cant believe they look at every crisp before they put it in the mouth, I was watching tv at the time and just shovelling them in like i normally do, but after having a mouthful of blood for 15 minutes, I will definitely be more careful in the future.:silenced:
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