If you were really unscrupulous...

diddlydi_3

Lindyloo2 wrote:

It will be interesting to see what compensation they come up with. No matter what it is, I will never buy similar products from them again!
You're right- they did blame the supplier immediately, but as you say the buck stops with them!

I guess that you are talking about Marks&Spencer( "large clothing & food retailer")
There was an interesting post earlier on this forum by Ozualdinho on 18/08 saying how serious certain companies take complaints like this.
Have you noticed if they have taken the product of the shelves?,it may be a one off,but it could also be a disgruntled employee contaminating their food.

edda

ozvaldinho wrote:

I reccomend talking to the manufacturer direct in the first instance. If they're not interested, call your local Environmental Health department at the council...they're obliged to investigate.
If you find something really offensive and the company concerned doesn't take it seriously, then call a newspaper or local tv...they deserve all the negative publicity for 1)not treating their customers right and
2)not having proper hygiene systems in place.QUOTE]

Unfortunately, in my case, I couldn't talk to the manufacturer - the prawns were from Honduras and the scallops from Argentina! (I didn't read the packet until after I got food poisoning - neither place is well known for seafood as far as I am aware).

I know shellfish can be unpredictable, but you can't avoid eating everything you like just in case something goes wrong. I realise that I should have reported this to the local environmental health dept, but I rang M&S because I wanted to help prevent it happening to anyone else and I thought they could react to it more quickly. (How wrong can one person be - it took 4 weeks for them to tell me there was insufficient residue in the pack to analyse).

NB - the item is still on the shelves and they have classed it as 'an isolated occurrence. However, like other contributors, I am steering well clear of all similar food products for the forseeable future. I hope that it never happens again, but I would bypass the supplier and report it to environmental health if it did.

luvabargain

I got fed up of buying boxes of the little round Ritz crackers and finding between 10 and 20 broke every time! Wrote and complained asking that they improve there packaging and received £4.00 of money off vouchers and the assurance that they'd pass the comments on to the relevant department.
Well worth 10 mins and the price of a stamp.
I'va also had loads of opened crisp bags in multipacks , very annoying , will try complaining about those next.

The comments about a snail in the peas, urrgh!! just had some for my tea, made me wonder what I've ate as I didn't really take too much notice what was on my fork , I'll look closer next time, LOL!!

zoescrims

Originally i bought something from Boots and realised later it was o.o.date,i complained to head office and got 25.00 in vouchers for what cost 5.00!,so sometimes its worth buying dusty old products at the back of the shelf,as many stored dont rotate stock although they should.
Zoe

ozvaldinho

Edda,

Big food companies are never going to admit poisoning you! If they did, you could take out a civil claim for distress, loss of earnings etc.

The Environmental Health teams are obliged to investigate all notified cases of food poisoning, especially if you have a confirmed diagnosis of something like salmonella or campylobacter. They'd ask for a food diary, which would help narrow down the possible sources. They can sometimes identify the illness by the 'onset time', the time between eating dodgy food and getting ill.

I've witnessed first hand how bad food safety standards are in South America and South-East Asia. I'd only ever eat this kind of seafood hot, after cooking it from frozen.

I worked for M&S some 10 years ago, I honestly don't know if their standards are good, better or worse now. _pale_

Mandles

I have just complained to asda as we got a cooked chicken home to find all its inner bits & pieces still inside cooked...it was gross! Hoping to get something back. I had all the stuff come out of a wet nappy, i thought it was sugar but i never complained...i will now he he!

System

I always write to the company about baby stuff 'cause I'm paranoid it's not safe for my little one. Got 2x£10 from Pampers for faulty nappies and some from Organix too because it was supposed to be Strawberry puree but was green!! More like pear or apple or something. Turned out it was ok, it wasn't red/pink because of being organic and no nasties added!

Smiley_Mum

I remember years ago I came across a small bolt packed within a block of dates that my mum was going to use for baking. I've also had what looked like a block of wax in a packet of cheese and onion crisps, think it was KP. Never complained but... I had a pet gerbil which was housed in a Rotastak cage which cost a flipping fortune, like £13 for a starter kit and that was about 25 years ago so not cheap.

http://www.petfoodstore.co.uk/acatalog/Rotastak_Traditional_Round_Cages.html

Anyway it kept chewing through everything, the anti gnaw rings on the ends of the pipes they crawled up/through etc, the works, everything got chewed. I kept complaining and the company kept sending me new parts for the cage. Granted it was a hamster cage, I didn't think a gerbil would have gnawed through it but I did get umpteen cage parts for long enough until my dad thought I was going a bit OTT with the complaining about the cage etc. Oh well...

Oh, I did have some toasted bugs in my Kellogs cornflakes once, don't know what they were but they were well toasted up. Didn't complain there either, just don't eat Kellogs cornflakes anymore.

Complained to the company that makes Lilt about a bottle I had bought which tasted odd, I sent it back in the prepaid box they sent me and they told me later that the contents had fermented and that's why it tasted strange. They sent me £2 to cover the costs...

Lindyloo2_2

Lindyloo2 wrote:

On Monday, I bought a tub of prepared vegetables from a well known food and clothing retailer. I microwaved them for 4 minutes and served them to my family. Imagine my horror when spooning out my share, to discover a juicy worm, at least half an inch long. It stood out from the surrounding shades of orange, green and white because it was a purple colour. I must admit, it made me feel sick.
I took the tub back yesterday and customer services are going to send it to head office for analysis before contacting me. I got a refund for the product but I wonder what level of compensation they will offer me for this?

Just to update you, today I received an apologetic letter plus £15 in M&S vouchers! Must admit though, nothing could persuade me to buy prepared vegetables there again.

purplegirluk1

Have sent back to Mars on several occasions chewy misshaped malteasers and they send money off vouchers, even when i said it was my 3rd letter. I do send the packaging. - very good at explaining how they go wrong.

Oh I LOVE those chewy malteasers!! Its the highlight if my day if I find one in my bag, funny how one many trash is another mans treasure and all that!!