Green & Blacks - Useless Customer Service

BatOutOfhell

I was given a Green & Blacks mini bar selection box at christmas and loved the Burnt Toffee one so much that hubby gave me two full size bars a week later for my birthday.
The full size bars both tasted awful - really bad taste and no pieces of toffee just stuff that tasted like large sugar crystals - really really unpleasant.
So I took the time to complain to G&B via their website and asked if this was a production fault or if the full sized bars were meant to be this way. Here's the reply - note the lack of the word SORRY.

Thank you for your email
Both the sizes of Green & Blacks Burnt Toffee have the same recipe. The shape of the product may influence how you perceive taste for example if you put a smaller bar in your mouth with smaller sections and allow it to melt it will deliver a different experience to biting a chunk off a full size bar.

We are glad you enjoy our products and hope you continue to do so.

Thank you once again for taking the time to contact us.

I replied to this pointing out that they hadn't even apologised and asking for a proper explanation rather than blaming "mouth feel" but I haven't had a response.

Absolutely crap response to my complaint - so I'm now boycotting Green & Blacks and will take every internet opportunity to share my experience. Don't buy the full size Burnt Toffee Chocolate Bar - it's rubbish.

Anyone got any ideas as to how we could help them improve their customer service and get the message?

mattyprice4004

I've pointed them in the direction of this thread.

tinkle

Why should they say sorry?

tinkle

Are you after some free choccy??!

Azari

copa_feela wrote: »

Why should they apologise just because you didn't like it?

Because their products should be consistent.

Burnt toffee should not just be large sugar crystals.

Green & Blacks products are usually good according to my g/f to whom I give an occasional bar, but they do suffer from the occasional bad bar which does not match the quality of other instances of that particular flavour.

I find their email informative and polite.

It may well be but it does not address the problem.

And it is always good policy to apologise to any customer who is dissatisfied with one of your products. Particularly if, as here, it is obvious said customer is a 'serial' purchaser.

Azari

copa_feela wrote: »

Now think about that again - what is burnt toffee?

An overcooked mixture of butter and sugar in which the sugar has become partly caramelised.

Quite different to simple sugar crystals.

No, it is not. If the customer is wrong, there is no need for the retailer/ manufacturer to apologise.

But to anyone who actually knows the difference between sugar crystals and toffee, it is fairly clear that the customer was not wrong. :rotfl:

bcl999

Just a thought but it's maybe due to the fact that the mini bars would (necessarily?) have far smaller "lumps" to the extent that they weren't really discernible to the OP whereas the standard size bar has the standard size "lumps".

Anway, it's all Kraft now isn't it? They'll taste like Crunchies in a couple of years. I use to love Cote D'Or chocolate. Kraft took them over and they taste like all the rest now.

BatOutOfhell

tinkle wrote: »

Are you after some free choccy??!

NO - I wanted to know if all bars of burnt toffee chocolate were gritty like the two I had purchased. I was quite specific in my question to them.#

copa_feela wrote: »

Now think about that again - what is burnt toffee? :T
No, it is not. If the customer is wrong, there is no need for the retailer/ manufacturer to apologise.
The OP has bought a grand total of three products from G&Bs, hardly a serial purchaser!

I only mentioned three bars in this instance but I WAS a serial purchaser before this incident of what I believe to be poor quality.

copa_feela wrote: »

I have had this chocolate (and unlike the OP, I am a serial G&Bs buyer), and the "burnt toffee" looks like clumps of sugar crystals, which is also what my very own burnt toffee looks like!

Maybe the OP should buy some more to confirm that her chocolate looks the same as the rest?

I WAS a serial purchaser and have no intention of wasting my money on any more bars of burnt toffee if they are going to taste like the two I have just had.

To those of you who were a little rude to me earlier in this thread. Can I point out that I am the customer here, I took the trouble to write to complain about product I was not satisfied with. The least they could do was say that they were sorry I didn't like it, whether I am a "serial purchaser" or not. Every customer counts.

And all I did was ask how I could bring this to their attention and get them to improve their customer service. I wasn't asking for a debate on whether I was right/wrong serial/occasional purchaser.

ince

I'm sorry (get it) there is absolutely no need to apologise just because you complained.

I'm sure the quality control at the factory is sufficient for them to know if there is a problem with a batch or not.

If you don't like the product don't buy it. Just becuase you did not like it doesn't mean there was anything wrong with it.

Sounds like you wanted some freebies. (something for nothing)

Azari

BatOutOfhell wrote: »

To those of you who were a little rude to me earlier in this thread. Can I point out that I am the customer here, I took the trouble to write to complain about product I was not satisfied with. The least they could do was say that they were sorry I didn't like it, whether I am a "serial purchaser" or not. Every customer counts.

Absolutely.

Unfortunately there are people here who haven't got the vaguest clue about decent customer service.

Can I ask?

What was the texture of the 'burnt toffee' pieces in the mini-bars?

Or was it just a flavour, rather than identifiable chunks?

If so their explanation might be correct and complete as they might necessarily have to grind the pieces smaller for the mini bars.

Not much consolation if the effect is completely different in the mouth, which is why any decent company would have apologised as your experience with their product was unsatisfactory because of an issue with consistency.

LittleVoice

I can well believe the two sizes of chocolate were different in texture.

I've experienced something similar not G&B but the white Toblerone. I loved triangles from the small 100g bars and bought a large (400g I think) bar. Not the same feel in the mouth at all. (And I certainly wasn't "biting a chunk off a full size bar" but breaking off a triangle to eat.)

I haven't contacted them but if I had I too would have expected to see the word "sorry" somewhere in the reply. Not that they had to apologise for their product but that they were sorry to learn that I wasn't as pleased with it as they would hope.