You might be curious how this topic relates to cooking. It’s like this: on November 14, 2008 I bought a 16-ounce container of sour cream, Food Lion brand. On November 15, I opened the container of sour cream to use it to make a dip. I was most unhappy to find a quarter-sized section of mold growing on the top of the previously unopened container of sour cream. My unhappiness turned to horror when I checked out the date on the container. The date was clearly stamped as October 15, 2008. Alright, I will admit I should have checked the date before I left the store.
But this was simply unacceptable to me. After stewing about it for approximately a day, I decided to complain. It was simply sour cream I did NOT keep the receipt so I decided my best option was to complain on the web site. So on November 17 I sent a complaint about the item. Today, I received an answer from Kelly Smoot, Consumer Research Specialist. It was a nicely worded apology.
The main paragraph of the emailed response follows: “It is extremely important to our company that you took the time to notify us of your experience with the Food Lion Sour Cream you purchased in our store. We truly appreciate the feedback we receive from you, our valued customer. Please accept our apologies for this incident, as it is certainly not representative of the high standard of quality we strive to offer our customers. We have forwarded the information in regards to the product you purchased to the appropriate individuals within our supply chain. You may be assured that all concerns are taken very seriously and are thoroughly reviewed. If, at any time, you are not satisfied with our products, please do not hesitate to return the item(s) and the receipt to the store, as our manager on duty will be happy to refund the full amount. We hope you will try this item again in good faith, and your next experience will restore your confidence in the quality of our products.”
In these days of tight economic times, it didn’t make me happy. I don’t make it a policy of complaining all the time about every little thing, but generally I have found that companies try to make things right with customers that take the time to complain. I’m not unrealistic. I wasn’t expecting a big dollar gift certificate with them begging for forgiveness. I did think it was reasonable to hope for a coupon for a container of sour cream of their brand.
How many of you keep the receipts of the food items you buy until you have consumed all the items? Personally, I didn’t think my problem had been addressed. So I responded to Ms. Smoot’s reply: “While I appreciate your prompt reply to my complaint, it did nothing to take care of my complaint. In the real world, people do not save receipts for consumables such as groceries; they save receipts for high dollar items such as cameras, computers, refrigerators. I am NOT impressed with how Food Lion handled the matter. In fact it triggered my memory of the expose that was done several years back on Food Lion.”
It will be interesting to see if my issue is dealt with or if all I will receive is a canned response of “we’re sorry”.
I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of the item when it was first opened. It would hardly be fair to take a picture now as more time has passed for the mold to continue growing. A picture now would not give an accurate view of what I found when the sour cream was opened.
Tags: food, Food Lion, Food Lion brand, sour cream