sold meat 3 days out of "use by date"

giz1972

I'm not going to mention any names as yet, because i want to see the outcome of the following.

I used a supermarket today to buy a fairly big shop. I haven't used this supermarket in years and i thought i would give it a go and see what experience etc.. i have shopping there, plus of late i've been online shopping to take away the hastle of it all.

I got the shopping home to my wife and she was pleased with the array of goods i bought and my thoughtfullness for the whole family differents tastes etc.. (seeming i'm a man).

My wife was about to cook the fresh meat i had bought and noticed it had a use by date of 3 days ago..

So off i go to this supermarket to speak to the manager about it.
I spoke to the manager away from other customer ears and all he wanted to do was give me a refund, no apology or anything.

So i quietly reminded the manager of the seriousness of selling this product and the potential fine and prosecution it could of leaded to.
The manager told me it was out of his hands to do any other, so i asked who did? the manager told me it was the area manager, who i couldn't contact.
At this point, i wasn't too pleased with where the situation was going, so i told him i had to make a couple of phone calls which may lead to me contacting the fsa or trading standards. I was serious, i did make a call to friend who works at a different supermarket to ask their policy on this serious matter and was given some advice.

The manager of this store, changed their tune and was able to contact the area manager and then produced a customer complaint form and for this area manager to contact me within 24hrs.(we will see)
The manger then said that things are checked everyday and the store have minumum staff and work hard and this is a one off.

Why couldn't this manager do this in the first place.
I explained that this shopping experience with this company as now left a bitter taste and probably be another few years before my confidence returns to shop with them again. I also told the manager that the way he handled the situation made me want to bring everything i bought, back to the store. I also said that i'm out of pocket for the cost of petrol, the time i could of spent with my children instead of the 2+ hrs messing around bringing the item back and trying to sort it out.
I told him that i wouldn't of made such a fuss if he was upfront with me in the first place with procedures.

Should i ask the area manager to be compensated for the hassle this has given me (at least my petrol back), then again would this restore my confidence with this supermarket?

Or am i being too harsh with the store with the situation and just put it down to experience and let them do it again unpunished.

DVardysShadow

Hmm, he presumably has the evidence now, so you are in a weak position. In this position with meat, Mrs Shadow and I would [and did] threaten to walk out with the evidence, unless we received a refund and reimbursement of our travel. This was a chicken apparently within sellby, but quite minging. They did try to fob us off with another chicken and did not understand that we did not feel like eating chicken that night ....

paddyrg

They offered to replace the meat, and any legal breaches are between them and the legal enforcers (not to be blackmailed with). Doubtless the area manager is ripping a strip off of the store manager, who is doing likewise down the chain, if the meat was 3 days past 'use by' then the 'daily' checks must have failed 3 times...

Gavin83

I don't really see what else you expected. They offered to refund the cost of the meat, surely thats the best solution possible in this situation?

halibut2209

The OP should be entitled to a refund of the petrol in returning the goods as it was a SOGA incident.

And given the fact that it was claimed that goods are checked daily and this was 3 days out, the OP should consider the good samaritan angle and pursue it through the relevant authorities to prevent this happening to anyone else.

I would hope that the OP is not after any further compensation to distress etc.

mo786uk

Report it to Trading Standards for info. If the same shop is a continual problem then they can use your complaint in helping decide whether to do anything.

Having worked for a large supermarket the managers usually want to deal with htings themselves. They don't want to call the higher managers because they are usually busy. In the supermarket I worked at you would have to go through about 4 layers of management before you got to the area manager so I guess it wasn't that chain. Supermarkets are a big beast, hence why they may not always be able to offer quick answers instore.

gordikin

giz1972, they did you a favour by selling the meat to you...supermarket meat would have had so much more flavour 3 days on. Bright red meat...yuch! Brown...is yum!

societys_child

Unless it was unfit for human consumption, I'm not sure how they could be prosecuted or fined.

Sell by/ use by dates are a guide. Obviously it should have been removed from sale though.

halibut2209

societys_child wrote: »

Sell by/ use by dates are a guide. Obviously it should have been removed from sale though.

Not true. They are legally not allowed to offer post sell-by-date goods unless clearly displayed as such.

mo786uk

I believe selling after the 'Use By' is a strict liability offence.

Its 'best before' that is not an offence unless the food is seriously nasty and unfit for human consumption

Halibut - I believe that goods can be sold after the best before date without telling the customer. It is common standard for shops to reduce the price to get rid of stock though. They cannot sell stuff that is unfit for human consumption which will probably be long after the best before date is finished.

The term 'sell by' has no legal standing in the UK. Only USE BY and BEST BEFORE.

halibut2209

Yes, you may have a point there. But you did say "sell by" in your post which would fall under the "best before" term.

It would be helpful to know what the "best before" date was, although I don't think there's much difference in fresh meat between the two (I'll have to ask Mrs halibut. She's the expert)

EDIT: re-reading your post. best before and use by may be synonymous, but "sell by" is a clear indication. I may be thinking of the "display until" vs "use by" issue. But "sell by" would be the same as "display until". So many terms!