M&S out of date meat displayed and sold

RogerBareford

misimp said:

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I would just say that perhaps it would be best if they repealed the law.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

I'm quite surprised how big a deal you are making of them breaking the law when the staff just made the same mistake that you did.

Just think the staff need to check thousands of items each day to make sure they are still within date, you only had to check a small number in comparison, and even you missed it so you are being quite hard on them!.

I personally don't think it's that serious because the date is clearly displayed and i thought that everyone checks the dates on every item to make sure they get the one dated for when they plan to use it. Yes it's the law but it's not like they were hiding the date so in reality the vast majority of people wouldn't be effected by this mistake.

I know you said earlier you were in a rush as you wanted to get in an out quick. But then you could have just chosen to shop at quieter time if you're that concerned.

So i would say it's absolutely right that you have informed them about it, it's a shame they can issue a voucher for the value remotely and they should definitely inform the store about this. But i don't see this one incident being legally investigated, a good use of resources.

maisie_cat

MalMonroe said:

It is illegal for any shop to sell out of date food and you CAN actually complain about this to Trading Standards, you just have to do it via Citizens Advice, which isn't a bad thing, see this link -

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

I would do that. But before I did I'd phone M&S complaints again, ask to speak to a senior member of staff and advise them that you are not just being awkward, it's not legal to sell food that expired the day before in this country and that you WILL be chasing this matter if they are unwilling or unable to help you.  

We all know that trading standards are under extreme pressure, and personally I would prefer they used their resources to investigate dangerous & fake consumer goods that might burn somebody's house down.

misimp

OK, I get the picture

Why am I making such a big deal?

They either don't know or don't care about the difference between 'best before', 'sell by', 'display until' and 'use by' labelling

Probably because, as I pointed out earlier, for all I know ALL fillets on that display could be from the same batch

I would have expected that the store would have been contacted and that stock checked, not a shrug of the shoulders and being told that it was MY responsibility to check that they were complying with the law

It was this cavalier attitude that caused me to mention the law and TS, since the implication is that they either don't know the law or don't care, if the customer doesn't bother checking the label and the stuff is sold, all well and good

I am not for one moment suggesting that this is store policy, but if it were my business I would make damn sure that that stock was checked PDQ to make sure that it wasn't an ongoing problem and that the law was not STILL being broken

sheramber

if you had returned to the store they probably would have checked all the rest of the stock but the you didn't. You used an off site facility who cannot do that.

My tea last night consisted of fresh gnochi dated use by 17 th December and vegetable sauce use by 7 th December. I am still here without so much as as hiccup. Both items have been stored in my fridge for weeks.

We survived for generations without any dates on our purchases.   Maybe if we followed that practice we would  have a better immune system.

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

Trading Standards have no powers to  get your money back. 

RogerBareford

misimp said:

OK, I get the picture

Why am I making such a big deal?

They either don't know or don't care about the difference between 'best before', 'sell by', 'display until' and 'use by' labelling

I'm sure the staff do understand and care about the dates, and this is probably just something they missed on this occasion.

Probably because, as I pointed out earlier, for all I know ALL fillets on that display could be from the same batch

I would have expected that the store would have been contacted and that stock checked, not a shrug of the shoulders and being told that it was MY responsibility to check that they were complying with the law

It was this cavalier attitude that caused me to mention the law and TS, since the implication is that they either don't know the law or don't care, if the customer doesn't bother checking the label and the stuff is sold, all well and good

I am not for one moment suggesting that this is store policy, but if it were my business I would make damn sure that that stock was checked PDQ to make sure that it wasn't an ongoing problem and that the law was not STILL being broken

How do you know that the store wasn't given your feedback from the call so they could check the stock?

Most companies will give feedback from all complaints to the store and just because they didn't explicitly tell you this it doesn't mean they didn't do it.

Brie

I'm on the OP's side with this.  it's not always easy to tell what the date is whether it's a best before or a use by.  My OH has too frequently brought home things that are on the cusp - because he doesn't have his glasses with him and can't see things properly.  I know he could ask someone but often there's no one available other than another customer which is a tad embarrassing.  

And apologies cost the store nothing.  Time and again we've run into a "it's not our fault" attitude when it would be better customer service to say "sorry, let me get you a different one" or "sorry if you can't get back to the store - send me proof and I'll get it sorted and send a message to the store to check".  Doesn't mean they actually have to send a message to the store of course but it keeps the customer happy.

I had a similar situation - went into Sainsburys which is currently the only store selling cherry Airwaves gum.  Which has a best before date on the package.  OK unlikely to kill me even if it's ancient but it's less pleasant the older it gets.  So spotted in the local shop that the gum was way beyond the date - like 18 months.  And pointed it out to someone who said "oh I'll check that with the manager." Which was fine.  2 weeks later back in the same shop they still had boxes of the stuff still way way out of date.  So I messaged their customer service team who basically gave me the "so what?".    I responded and pointed out that my local Tesco tended to discount it's gum when it was within a couple of months to the end date so would be looking there instead in future.  And then got an apology and a message that they would talk to the store management.  

lincroft1710

You will usually get a much better response in store.

Over the years on several occasions, I have found an out of date item on Tesco's shelves and brought it to the attention of the store staff. I have always been thanked and the staff member has rigorously checked all the identical items on the shlf and removed out of date items.

To the OP, be very wary of shopping at Morrisons. My local one often has items a day past their "best before date" and the store staff have stated it is still "in date". I have knowingly bought such items which were drastically reduced in price and have lived to tell the tale. 
 

misimp

sheramber said:

if you had returned to the store they probably would have checked all the rest of the stock but the you didn't. You used an off site facility who cannot do that.

My tea last night consisted of fresh gnochi dated use by 17 th December and vegetable sauce use by 7 th December. I am still here without so much as as hiccup. Both items have been stored in my fridge for weeks.

We survived for generations without any dates on our purchases.   Maybe if we followed that practice we would  have a better immune system.

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

Trading Standards have no powers to  get your money back. 

It is not my responsibility to return to the store and ask them to check their stock

Had it been possible to phone them I would have done so. It is not possible to contact the store directly by phone - that has to be done from their office, so I contacted their office. Seems entirely reasonable to me

I am perfectly aware that TS cannot order a refund. I did not raise TS until they declined to sanction the refund (ie put me back in the situation I was  in before - no meat, but my money in my pocket)

It would have cost me time and around £8 in fuel to return to the store, I asked for a refund and would have happily given them the meat back next time I went

Strangely when I mentioned TS, they were suddenly profusely apologetic and sent a £10 voucher via Email, stated that they have now  contacted the store to check the stock and claim that they thought I was complaining about the 'sell by' date (neither 'sell by' , 'display until' or best 'by dates' appear on the  packaging, just the 'use by' date - which incidentally should NOT be consumed after expiry

It would APPEAR that it was only the prospect of an enquiry by TS would not be a good thing that suddenly providing a refund was indeed 'no problem'

Had that been the first response there would be no need for all this. Just common sense and good business practice really

Seems that displaying or selling o-o-d food is a 'complete offence', in that there is no defence - any excuses are just considered as mitigation, all the more reason for them to have sorted it out without a fight

I would assume that you have never had the misfortune of suffering from food poisoning , you may be a little less flippant if you had

Of course, I could always shop at cheaper stores, or those which specialise in selling food past it's 'sell by' (though not 'use by') dates.........but you do expect a little more when paying top whack, don't you thin?

misimp

RogerBareford said:

misimp said:

OK, I get the picture

Why am I making such a big deal?

They either don't know or don't care about the difference between 'best before', 'sell by', 'display until' and 'use by' labelling

I'm sure the staff do understand and care about the dates, and this is probably just something they missed on this occasion.

Probably because, as I pointed out earlier, for all I know ALL fillets on that display could be from the same batch

I would have expected that the store would have been contacted and that stock checked, not a shrug of the shoulders and being told that it was MY responsibility to check that they were complying with the law

It was this cavalier attitude that caused me to mention the law and TS, since the implication is that they either don't know the law or don't care, if the customer doesn't bother checking the label and the stuff is sold, all well and good

I am not for one moment suggesting that this is store policy, but if it were my business I would make damn sure that that stock was checked PDQ to make sure that it wasn't an ongoing problem and that the law was not STILL being broken

How do you know that the store wasn't given your feedback from the call so they could check the stock?

Most companies will give feedback from all complaints to the store and just because they didn't explicitly tell you this it doesn't mean they didn't do it.

Clearly they hadn't....but they have now once TS was mentioned

misimp

@Brie

Thanks.

Yes, it's all kidd'em, but it  smooths the waters if they give the impression that they give a dam