Found plastic in M&S food

gwhizz75

I just found a piece of plastic in a pre-packaged sandwich from M&S. It looks like it snapped off of something and is about an inch long. Should I take it back to the store I bought it from or write to head office? Which option is likely to get me some vouchers for "compensation"? This is mse after all...

CoolHotCold

This is MSE, but this is a consumer rights board so you're unlikely to find more advice from the regulars other then.

"You suffered no loss, inform HQ and move on"

I'd take it back to the store and get a refund or new sandwich, but I'm not a moneygrabbing expert.

unholyangel

What kind of compensation were you looking for? £5 voucher or so?

gwhizz75

Yeah, it's not unusual for companies to give out a voucher or something if you find a foreign object in your food (as a goodwill gesture). I just wondered if the store could sanction such a thing or if you have to go through HQ so that it can be tested etc etc.

Calm down CoolHotCold!! It's not like I'm trying to sue for millions but if I'm likely to get a voucher for the inconvenience of being unable to eat my lunch and the gross factor of chewing a lump of random plastic then excuse me but I'm going to go for that option!! It's hardly moneygrabbing... I did put compensation in speechmarks if you look closely...

Jeez.

neilmcl

gwhizz75 wrote: »

This is mse after all...

Money saving yes, money grabbing no.

bris

Your not going to be popular for this one, no one here wants to advise you on how you can best fleece the company for a £5 voucher.

If it was a concern for other peoples safety because of this then you would have got decent replies, but as it is you should just do what you think will get you the most money.

unholyangel

gwhizz75 wrote: »

Yeah, it's not unusual for companies to give out a voucher or something if you find a foreign object in your food (as a goodwill gesture). I just wondered if the store could sanction such a thing or if you have to go through HQ so that it can be tested etc etc.

Calm down CoolHotCold!! It's not like I'm trying to sue for millions but if I'm likely to get a voucher for the inconvenience of being unable to eat my lunch and the gross factor of chewing a lump of random plastic then excuse me but I'm going to go for that option!! It's hardly moneygrabbing... I did put compensation in speechmarks if you look closely...

Jeez.

You could always approach the store first, see what they say and if you're not satisfied, follow it up with head office? I suppose it depends what the manager has advised staff to do in these circumstances.

gwhizz75

Fleece the company for a £5 voucher? Are you actually for real?

A) We're talking about a FIVE pound voucher from a huge company called MARKS AND SPENCER. It's hardly going to cause them to go into administration.

I paid almost £4 for the blo0dy sandwich in the first place!!!

C) Don't you think that a brand such as M&S, with an excellent customer service reputation would actually want to offer a goodwill gesture to keep a valued customer happy and stop people badmouthing them?

I never said I was going to demand a voucher, or ask for anything. I wanted to know if they would be more likely to offer at the store or by writing to HQ. Surely if you had two options when taking something back, one would get you a £5 voucher and the other wouldn't, you would choose the option where you get a voucher?!

Thank you unholyangel for your reasonable, helpful responses. Frankly the rest are just a little bizarre... Hey supermarkets, put plastic in all my meals from now on and I'll be the bad guy for complaining. Fill my lasagne with horse meat while you're there!

lucy03

I personally think it's entirely fair for consumers to return food items they are not happy with in cases like this, and food with bits of plastic is certainly a good reason. Retailers will find the process useful, if they can identify why plastic has entered the product then that might be useful for future planning.

That also means that the consumer is, in my view, entitled to reasonable costs to be reimbursed. That would be something like the original cost of the product and something extra for reasonable costs involved for the inconvenience of the consumer.

I'd personally say if I wrote to M&S and mentioned the problem I wouldn't mention an amount I'd like, but I'd feel five pounds (if the sandwich was nearly four pounds) would be fair, and ten pounds in vouchers is likely what they'd send.

aileth

I found a shard of plastic in a Waitrose meal. Fired off an email and they said they wanted to launch a 'full investigation', such as me sending off the packaging, the shard, emailing them back with all sorts of numbers and expiry dates, date purchased, store purchased from, full photographic evidence.

I decided I really couldn't be bothered and at least they took the time to email me back Chances are if they're doing all that hoo-hah they probably would've lobbed me a voucher, but I'm incredibly lazy.

Hintza

gwhizz75 wrote: »

It's not like I'm trying to sue for millions

But if you thought it was worth millions you would be.....:mad: