Piece of wood found in burrito!

MrFibble

Hello! Could someone please give me some advice. 
I bought a burrito from a well known supermarket last week and, whilst I was eating it, I was disgusted to find a 3cm long shard of wood from said burrito had pierced my gum. Obviously this caused a bit of shock and discomfort. The aggravating fact is that I have autism and, as a result, have a very tortuous relationship with food at the best of times. This incident has made things 100 times worse where I am doing a CSI job on everything that I eat and chewing excessively. 

When I complained to the supermarket via their customer service I was asked to return the product packaging and offending object to the store. I did this and was offered a replacement of the burrito with no apology or acknowledgement of the injury neither physical nor psychological.

I called the customer care line again to ask for a corporate email address so that I could escalate my complaint and was told that the only people I could deal with were those at customer care. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told that they were all busy. 

Has anyone else had a similar experience? What did you do? What should I do?

Any constructive replies would be greatly appreciated.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Environmental Health at local council OP.

MyRealNameToo

By returning the packaging and the foreign object they can most likely identify the supplier and production date to try and workout how it got into the food. Customers arent informed of the outcomes but supermarkets do take it seriously and work with suppliers to lower the risks. I know at a yogurt factory all the pots after being sealed have to go through x-ray to see if a nut or bolt may have fallen off the machinery into one of the pots unnoticed... doesnt happen often but often enough to pay the cost of scanning and clearly 6 packs with a problem all get chucked. 

Normal process is to give the customer a refund and/or replacement product. Sometimes there is a token payment in vouchers (like £5) for those that make enough fuss about having to have made a special trip to return it etc. 

What outcome do you actually want? Life happens and whilst various machines are used to try and filter out objects the reality is occasionally stuff makes it through. They dont have a Time Machine to undo what actually happened and ultimately you sustained no actual material injury or loss. 

eskbanker

MrFibble said:

What should I do?

What outcome are you looking for?

Bue21

Unfortunately by returning the item to the store you have restricted your options somewhat. Normally I would suggest you contact Environmental Health for the area where the store is located but they are unlikely to be able to assist you without the actual food/item as evidence.
In your position I would google an email address for the CEO and send them an email giving all he details you have including any photos if you have them. Alternatively you may be able to find out if the supermarket has a primary authority (a local authority who work closely with the company) and send the details to them).

sheramber

You could have gone to Environmental Health . They would investigate manufacturer but would not get you any refund etc.

You could have contacted the manufacturer direct and would probably have got a better outcome.

My husband broke a tooth on a rock hard crisp. Walkers were very good and paid for private dentistry to repair the tooth. 

They advised that the hard bit was a lump of hard potato due to a failure in manufacturing  process. 

Brie

Any complaint like that I take photos to identify the product and the problem (not always possible if already swallowed!) and email that to the relevant complaint team.  Normal result is a thank you for the information, a refund and a bit more. 

Just about broke a tooth on some posh popcorn a year back and I got a refund and a several packets of their various flavours.  I sent them another email to say thanks and that I'd be buying some of their other products as they were so good (lentil crisps - never had those before!)

CliveOfIndia

MyRealNameToo said:

Normal process is to give the customer a refund and/or replacement product. Sometimes there is a token payment in vouchers (like £5) for those that make enough fuss about having to have made a special trip to return it etc. 

What outcome do you actually want? Life happens and whilst various machines are used to try and filter out objects the reality is occasionally stuff makes it through. They dont have a Time Machine to undo what actually happened and ultimately you sustained no actual material injury or loss. 

^^^^ This.

eskbanker said:

MrFibble said:

What should I do?

What outcome are you looking for?

And this ^^^^

What resolution are you looking for?  You've brought it to their attention, they will take it up with their suppliers to try and ensure it doesn't happen again.  No production line is perfect, mistakes do unfortunately happen.  Hopefully fairly uncommonly, but that's life.

If you'd suffered an injury which required you to pay for medical attention, then yes of course, you could legitimately make a claim for that.  But in reality, a refund and perhaps a token goodwill gesture is probably all that you can hope for.

singhini

MrFibble said:

Hello! Could someone please give me some advice. 
I bought a burrito from a well known supermarket last week and, whilst I was eating it, I was disgusted to find a 3cm long shard of wood from said burrito had pierced my gum. Obviously this caused a bit of shock and discomfort. The aggravating fact is that I have autism and, as a result, have a very tortuous relationship with food at the best of times. This incident has made things 100 times worse where I am doing a CSI job on everything that I eat and chewing excessively. 

When I complained to the supermarket via their customer service I was asked to return the product packaging and offending object to the store. I did this and was offered a replacement of the burrito with no apology or acknowledgement of the injury neither physical nor psychological.

I called the customer care line again to ask for a corporate email address so that I could escalate my complaint and was told that the only people I could deal with were those at customer care. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told that they were all busy. 

Has anyone else had a similar experience? What did you do? What should I do?

Any constructive replies would be greatly appreciated.

Why did you have to complain?
Why couldn't you just bring it to their attention so they can inform the factory who could look into it?  
You should do what you want to do (to get whatever result you are looking for). 
I wouldn't bother doing anything.

Aylesbury_Duck

How much are you after?

PennysIntoPounds

While I agree with others that unfortunately these things do occasionally happen, it is upsetting not feeling listened to and feeling fobbed off.

I think you've done the right thing in returning it and can be assured that manufacturers will take it seriously, even if the supermarket hasn't given that impression!

You could escalate this if it's important to you that the situation is acknowledged, by going on the shop's livechat, contacting them via social media, or searching online for an address for the complaints department or the CEO.

But be aware that you might just stress yourself out more than is proportionate by prolonging it as an issue in your life. Is there someone you could speak to like a trusted friend or your GP to help get your relationship with food back on a more even keel?

Also bear in mind that the odds of it happening to the same person twice in quick succession must be extremely low, so if anything I would advise enjoying your replacement burrito and the rest of your food even more!