M&S out of date meat displayed and sold

Pollycat

MalMonroe said:

Whilst I agree that accidents do happen, I'm fairly appalled by the attitude of M&S as well as some responders here.

I too accept that mistakes happen.

It would have been the comment by the M&S complaints line that would have annoyed me.
Although I do check 'use by' dates before putting anything in my trolley, it really is not my job to check that items are still in date.

However, in the circumstances, I would have taken the meat back to store although I do understand why the OP is reluctant to do this.

donnac2558

I notice quite a bit in my local larger food hall that I spot items which have a use by or best before dates which expired the day before.   I point it out to the staff and usually took sorry but before of staff shortages it takes them longer to remove items.   As said mistakes can happen.  

As a date checker, all fresh food I buy especially from M&S even rummaging in the back of the fridge to find good use by dates. Most of my friends and I regularly say M&S have terrible use by dates on fresh food.

misimp

I agree with all the comments - as I say, I was annoyed so had a vent.

At the end of the day they were breaking the law and I was a little surprised that no-one appeared concerned enough to contact the store and get them to check the shelf to ensure that any other o-o-d meat was removed. There is no way for customers to contact the store direct other than visiting in person. I would have thought that ensuring that ensurig that noone else 

My wife is usually picky and does check dates , on this occasion she didn't - she is out of practice, we intended using it within a short time and we wanted to get in and out as quickly as poss

One point though. In the present circumstances I would have thought that having numerous shoppers picking items off the shelf, looking at the dates and then putting them back and checking another one would not be helpful in reducing the potential to spread infection. The less you handle, the less the risk. 

Momanns

What do people think happens overnight with these items? So if it was one day earlier it would have been absolutely fine but at the stroke of midnight a steak suddenly becomes unusable?

With all that is going on in the world and the hunger faced by some in this country, I think some perspective is needed when talking about Trading Standards and the like. 

pulliptears

Momanns said:

What do people think happens overnight with these items? So if it was one day earlier it would have been absolutely fine but at the stroke of midnight a steak suddenly becomes unusable?

With all that is going on in the world and the hunger faced by some in this country, I think some perspective is needed when talking about Trading Standards and the like. 

I must admit my first thought was I'd have sniffed it then either cooked it or frozen it for later.  I rely on my nose and eyes rather than printed dates that can vary massively depending on storage anyway.

It's annoying, but I couldn't get excited over it.

IvanOpinion

It is easy for anyone to forget to check a date, I have done so on several occasions.  But I also think it is fair that the store ask you to return the item otherwise they would find a minority belonging to a dishonest sub-species eating the product and then claiming it was out of date and demanding a replacement in perpetuity.

They could maybe do what a printer supplier did with me several years back and require me to provide evidence the item could not be used before sending out a new one (I do love a good baseball bat printer opportunity).

sheramber

I do not think you are being unreasonable  to bring it to their attention but   expecting  a complaint line to refund you on the  strength of a phone call is unreasonable.

You said you wanted a refund or exchange.

You spoke to somebody in an office , not on an  M& S shop. How could they exchange the item?
That could only happen by taking the product ,with the receipt, to the shop.

How would the complaints line  confirm  the situation.. Anybody could phone up and make that claim. 

A gift card would mean you still had to go into the store to redeem it.


As a point , I was in two supermarkets today and neither were busy. In fact they were quieter than normal. The only queue was the cigarette counter.

  people handling goods  to check them or get a closer look and then putting them back is common place.  I do it , when buying meat ,as I want the leanest available.

I also look for latest date   available when buying fresh produce,.  

GraceCourt

The short summary of this should be:  Marks and Spencer commits offence by selling out-of-date food, unhappy vulnerable purchaser reports offence online to Trading Standards, gives story to local paper... (and maybe, TS Officers consequently make spot checks at offending branch and find further offences).

misimp

Again, I agree

I would just say that perhaps it would be best if they repealed the law. Little point in having these rules and regs if noone com-lies with or enforces them

As regards 'anyone could make such claim' I supplied 6 photos of the meat and the receipt. If I returned to the store I could show them no more than the meat and the receipt.

Surely in this day and age it is not beyond the wit of a large company to send a credit note attached to their E mail reply in the form of a gift voucher. They regularly send unsolicited vouchers for money off/discounts via Email

I am not asking for anything other than what I paid for or my money back. 

I consider it very poor policy to put the onus on a customer if I commit an illegal act - sorry if you find that to be unreasonable

IvanOpinion

misimp said:

As regards 'anyone could make such claim' I supplied 6 photos of the meat and the receipt. If I returned to the store I could show them no more than the meat and the receipt.

There is a difference, you would be placing your meat in the hands of an assistant at the store and they would immediately refund you.

That still does not mean that you did not buy it a couple of days earlier and forgot to use it so bought another one and then took the old one back for a refund - some people actually do have nothing better to do with their time - but in reality that is much less likely.

Yes they made a mistake, maybe at a busy time the checker had not quite reached that shelf; maybe they had been called away by other customers looking for things; maybe they just missed it;  but equally so did you and they have offered you a solution.

I hope you can sort it out over the phone/email but we all have to accept that sometimes mistakes happen.  I have seen it many times and, if I spot it, I just go to the nearest member of staff and tell them, other times I have to take things back because I also made a mistake in not checking the dates. 

Having said that is it definitely off?  Being a lazy type, I would give it a sniff, and if it passed that test, throw it in the pan and eat it anyway - assuming the little blighter is not scampering about in the fridge.