James sent us his correspondence with Quaker.
He first wrote:
My 7 year old pulled a 2 inch sliver of WOOD out of her bowl yesterday morning, which I am very glad did not end up in her mouth. This would be the very first time we have tried this product, from this months Costco coupon, and now I have 4 pounds of Granola that no one wants to go near. How can I get a replacement or a refund? How would have this gotten in to the bag? Are there wood mixing paddles in the process anywhere? This is all too bad because they really liked the taste until she found the wood.
James:
We're very sorry about the experience your daughter had with our Natural Granola Oats, Honey & Raisins cereal and understand your concern. Your family's well-being is very important to us and we're relieved to learn that your daughter wasn't injured by the object she found in her bowl.
To begin, we're sending full value coupons to replace your purchase; they should arrive in about a week. Also, we're sharing your report with our quality assurance team. However, we need to request additional information from the package; please e-mail the additional code information following the Best Before Date found on the bottom of bag (in fold).
Next, be assured that many safeguards are in place in our plants to prevent foreign materials from coming into contact with the product. Screening equipment and inspection procedures should prevent an occurrence such as you reported.
Finally, James, we hope you'll accept our apologies, again—as well as our thanks for the chance to respond to the situation. Hopefully we've done so in a way that satisfies your concerns and questions, and allows us to keep you as a valued consumer. We know you have a choice of brands and always appreciate your choosing ours.
Geri
Quaker Consumer Relations
He responded:
Hello-The (see attached) Best before date:
Aug 30 09 A(or R)B BBI don't think Costco accepts coupons so I am not sure what good that would do me there.
Thanks-James
James:
Thank you for contacting us. We are sorry to hear that you were not satisfied with the response to your previous contact regarding Quaker Natural Granola Oats, Honey & Raisins.
We always try to understand each consumer's concern, and then provide high quality service. It appears that in your case, your concerns and expectations were not completely understood. We appreciate that you let us know, so that we can further improve our service in the future.
An adjustment for any product that does not meet our high standards of quality is usually made in the form of a coupon of equivalent or greater value for another product. Thus, coupon value to replace the product was previously included with additional value to compensate for your inconvenience. Since this form of compensation was not to your satisfaction, we are enclosing a refund for your purchase in the interest of good consumer relations. Additionally, we are sending a special gift for your 7 year old.
Mr. _____, we hope you'll accept our apologies, again—as well as our thanks for the chance to respond to the situation. Hopefully we've done so in a way that satisfies your concerns, and allows us to keep you as a valued consumer. We know you have a choice of brands and always appreciate your choosing ours.
Peggy
Supervisor
Quaker Consumer Relations
Thanks, now I can't get the image of a creepy Quaker mannequin out of my head ;)
]]>We walked into a building and they were grinding WOOD into flour. When you see the word CELLULOSE listed in the ingredients, you are eating ground up wood.
]]>I believe it was one of those mint-flavored toothpicks. ; )
]]>@wardawg:
Every time I cut up an apple, I find all these seeds and some hard cylinder in the center. Where's the quality control on these things?!
]]>I think that repayment was all they wanted - perhaps even just an apology. I believe the "your coupon isn't useful at Costco" comment wasn't *necessarily* a "send me money* statement ("WTF good is this going to do me?!"), just a statement of fact ("FYI, Costco doesn't accept coupons").
Well-behaved consumer, good response from company. This is how things should work. They answered the concern (though perhaps not as effectively as one might *wish*), repaid the customer and, when informed that the form of repayment wasn't redeemable, sent a form which was.
I'm a bit of the opposite opinion: I think the the majority of these stories involve an overblown reaction from the consumer and/or a terrible response from the company, but this isn't one of them.
]]>In the case of a hazardous material entering the chain (i.e. glass), the rule is for the entire batch to be disposed of. It was likely a broken bottle that went unnoticed.
Also, it is a better idea to send a letter to the company, at least in addition to returning the product. The company will likely follow up on the claim, possibly destroying/recalling the batch number. The grocery store will simply dispose of the product and say nothing.
]]>Now everyone will want a piece of wood in their granola too.
/snark
]]>I hate this "they owe me" mentality. They've apologized and given him a coupon for a free box. What more do they really owe him?
]]>In other words, "if we thought we could get away with it we'd just start selling bags of dirty sticks labelled 'organic granola', but since you spoke up, here's your money, i guess".
]]>Maybe she likes them. Lots of kids do.
]]>When I was in high school, we found glass in the ketchup bottle a couple of times. I don't know what happened there; perhaps a bottle broke on the line and it fell in and they didn't get it all. Lucky it was in chunks and couldn't fall out into our food and get eaten.
My mom took the ketchups back and the store gave her a refund.
]]>I've found apple stems in my Quaker oatmeal before, I didn't find it "too" out of place as it was the Apples & Cinnamon oatmeal, but it threw me off my game for a minute.
]]>It looks like it could be a piece of wood splintered off from a pallet, maybe it came from the box and fell in the bowl when he was pouring it. Regardless of how it got there it seems like quaker did a good job handling the situation
]]>I'm not usually one who thinks the consumer overreacted, but in this case I do. I don't know what he was looking for from Quaker, but the apology, gift, and a full refund (which he apparently can get from Costco) should certainly take care of him.
]]>@albokay:
Did you et the coupon or the box? I suppose they both have plenty of fiber.
Carry on.
]]>They sent me a coupon for another box. I used it and ate it. No wood in that one.
]]>Like maybe called him. Or sent him an envelope for the stick bit.
At least they asked for the codes off the bag. A lot of times they don't even bother with that.
'cause I mean, yeah, this time it's sticks.. but next time?
]]>And I still haven't been back to TGIF.
]]>@veg-o-matic: At first, I was going to complain that he could simply take the coupon to another store. But, since he got the 4 pounder at Costco, there aren't any other places to get that much with one coupon.
]]>"Peggy, Supervisor" doesn't actually acknowledge that, in fact, a coupon does him no good at Costco, just that their first offer was not "to his satisfaction." The letter just makes him sound extra picky about his compensation.
Oh well, it's all taken care of.. and free pony!
.. right?!?!
]]>Never waste a good crisis.
]]>The gift?
I think it was a chainsaw. Or a Bag O' Glass...
]]>I have nine horses who constantly are trying to steal any kind of granola from me. I propose they send the little girl a pony, he would probably like the stuff more than she does.
]]>Also, what was the special gift for the 7 year old???
]]>