Tesco sold me out of date baby formula!

mummy_to_3_and_a_half

Merry xmas one and all

I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on what i should do, as the post states, Tesco have sold me out of date SMA baby formula?
I bought 6 half litre cartons to last over the xmas holidays for my now 11 day old baby (was just 6 days at the time) There was only the 6 cartons of this size on the shelf that were supposed to be part of a multipack and this was the size i wanted, so the shop floor manager just put them through as groceries for the correct price.
A day and a half and 2 cartons later did i just stumble across the sell date, 3 of them were Dec 4th 2010 and one carton Jan 2011! Hubby went through the dustbin to check the other 2 and to our horror baby had finished one carton that was Dec 04 2010 and the other was another Jan 11.
Hubby went straight to Tesco the next morning armed with the receipt and the milk, Customer service bought over the manager of that department, he was more concerned by the fact they had sold milk split from its packet! Duty manager was appalled took the milk from hubby and said it would be investigated and proceeded to offer him £20 goodwill gesture to "spend in store today!" which hubby declined.
Where does that leave me now, what with tesco having the milk so i really have no proof anymore, although i have a ref number for customer services.
A very good friend of mine works in this Tesco and has said to me when the store manager heard about this he too was disgusted that it had been allowed to happen.
Any advice on how to proceed with tesco on this matter would be greatly appreciated x

MrsBartolozzi

What exactly do you want them to do?
The date was a best before not a use by so they haven't broken any law and is highly unlikely to have harmed your baby. You were offered some compensation which you declined and Tesco are investigating. What else? You'll probably get an apologetic letter from Tesco in a couple of weeks, maybe including a money card. Could you be a bit more specific about what you want please?

JodyBPM

Is your baby feeling well?

If so, I don't see your problem? It was an unfortunate accident, and Tesco offered you a goodwill gesture of £20 which you refused (why?). Of course anything could have happened to your baby, but it didn't, so all is well. Personally I am suprised that you didn't check the dates yourself before giving them to your baby.

It sounds as though they are doing an investigation, to ensure that this doesn't happen again, which is surely the outcome that you wanted? I can't think what other outcomes apart from a baby that is well (which you have) and an investigation to ensure it won't happen again (which they are doing) that you would want.

The matter is closed now, surely.

mummy_to_3_and_a_half

Hi, thanks for your reply,
I am unsure as to what i want really, maybe some reassurances as to it not happening again. I have bought many things from this tesco (which is a huge tesco, that sells almost everything!) that have been up to 3 months out of date, and also mouldy in the past!
Just to clarify though i did NOT get compensation, my hubby didn't accept it.
How can i be sure it wont have harmed my bub? why do you have to be so strict in cleaning and sterilising everything just to feed him milk that given the long dates on the cartons has probably sat there for a good year or so?

Tigsteroonie

What kind of reassurances do you want? I am pretty sure that Tesco will investigate, and will write to say that they'll do their utmost to ensure such a situation never happens again. Will that be sufficient for you?

What Tesco cannot do is invent a time machine, transport you forward five years, and invite you to look at their records proving that the error never recurred. So you really don't have much choice but to accept whatever they do.

No doubt your OH will be much more careful about checking sell-by & use-by dates when shopping in future.

HappyMJ

Scandalous...go to the papers. Take 'em to the cleaners. Would someone please think of the children.. £20 sounded to me like a good offer considering it is just a BB date. I imagine the baby is fine formula a week or two past it's BB date won't make baby sick. You would have smelt it going off before giving it to baby anyway and baby would have been refusing it if it were really bad. Read this article http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/greenock/articles/2010/10/25/406494-familys-outofdate-milk-shock/

lauren_1

There are a lot of things that probably are still good for a month or 6 past their sell by date, as for UHT and tinned stuff you would be surprised what a few preservatives and addatives can extend their life too.

I think in the uk our laws only allow a period of 6 month maximum period of 'sell by' but that doesn't mean its even remotely spoiled. 'Use by date' is the important one to look for

If your baby shows no sign of illness with in 48 hours then I would assume he and the milk was ok.

HappyMJ

mummy_to_3_and_a_half wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your reply,
I am unsure as to what i want really, maybe some reassurances as to it not happening again. I have bought many things from this tesco (which is a huge tesco, that sells almost everything!) that have been up to 3 months out of date, and also mouldy in the past!
Just to clarify though i did NOT get compensation, my hubby didn't accept it.
How can i be sure it wont have harmed my bub? why do you have to be so strict in cleaning and sterilising everything just to feed him milk that given the long dates on the cartons has probably sat there for a good year or so?

So why keep shopping there?

marywooyeah

I think the title should be "I bought out of date formula, not tescos sold me out of date formula" if you know that you have bought things from there before that were months out of date and were mouldy, then surely you would be careful to check the dates on things? especially something like baby milk!
I think your OH was unreasonable to refuse the £20, which is a lot IMO as they could have just offered to refund the cost of the milk, and as he declined you are unlikely to get anything now.

LillythePink

Given that you haven't said that your babe is being sick/pooing a lot etc, I would say that if the milk was off, you would have known by now.

With things like this, it will probably go straight through them - or even straight back up.

It's a bit like you eating something dodgy - you certainly know about it quickly!

Yes, it is worrying that a major chain is selling out of date milk - so their stock control needs reviewing - but at least you know about this issue now so will probably look for the dates first.

Sambucus_Nigra

mummy_to_3_and_a_half wrote: »

I have bought many things from this tesco (which is a huge tesco, that sells almost everything!) that have been up to 3 months out of date, and also mouldy in the past!

Stop shopping there then. You're an adult - make a decision for the good of your family.