Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Snack-gate Update 2
Received letters and/or emails from Aldi and food product company. More apologies and offers of refund and replacement, which we did. We got the snack package, as promised, with dried fruit mix (yum), mixed berry mix (this actually should be almonds, but we prefer this anyway), and wasabi mix (which isn't just wasabi peas, but a trail mix with other stuff, and it turns out my mom doesn't like this one... whoops.) So that was nice, and we used the box and included shipping label to ship the Fusia trail mix bag with the chunk of machinery in it back to them. And that's the end of it, I believe. We're still shopping at Aldi and eating its products. And hopefully they'll pay more attention to quality control. ;P
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Snack-gate Update
Finally got a response to the complaint today.
First, a rep from Aldi called. They received the inquiry, are sorry this happened, and are now looking into it. The guy, Mike, actually thanked me for including photos (heh) and said he didn't know what it was exactly. He asked me to describe the incident, the package, and the object. He said he would pass it along to the maker of the product, which would get back to me soon. He also asked how my mom was doing, and I told him she felt better but still has a bit of rash around her chin (she's sensitive to allergies, but some foreign inedible substance is the only cause we can think of). He said he would send my mom a letter so that she can go to the store and get both a replacement and a refund. He ended by saying we can call him if we had any other questions and concerns or if we didn't hear from the other company in a week.
Then a few hours later, I got a call from a rep from the manufacturer/distributor (America Food Import something). He apologized a lot and asked the same questions. He also asked for the product code so that he could find which batch it was and when it was made. I gave him the code from the bag, and I asked if there had been any other complaints like this. He said no, and that they didn't know there was anything wrong or missing from their packaging plant, which is in Minneapolis, Minnesota (I asked).
Apparently, this had never happened before and they were all as curious as we were about what the object was and how it ended up in the bag. ^^; But, he said based on the photos, he thought it looked like a piece of a bucket. I said, "what?" He explained their factory has buckets that pour the different snack mix pieces into one place. (I still don't know what it is. o_0) He asked if we still had it, and when I said yes, he requested for us to send it to them so that the plant can find out more. They're going to send a prepaid box for us to package it all in and send back to them.
In addition, he wanted to send us a replacement for the product. The problem is that they don't make the Asian trail mix often (special/seasonal item), so he named a few of the other snack products that they make and asked me to pick. I said dried fruit mix, I guess? He said he would actually like to send us 3 bags, so I also chose salted almonds and wasabi pea mix. He'll send it all tomorrow.
So that was a good, appropriate response. They were both nice and took the issue seriously, sounding genuinely concernedthat they might get sued with customer satisfaction. And even though this is a big "points off" moment, we'll still shop at Aldi and love it. In fact, Mom just did so today. ;P
First, a rep from Aldi called. They received the inquiry, are sorry this happened, and are now looking into it. The guy, Mike, actually thanked me for including photos (heh) and said he didn't know what it was exactly. He asked me to describe the incident, the package, and the object. He said he would pass it along to the maker of the product, which would get back to me soon. He also asked how my mom was doing, and I told him she felt better but still has a bit of rash around her chin (she's sensitive to allergies, but some foreign inedible substance is the only cause we can think of). He said he would send my mom a letter so that she can go to the store and get both a replacement and a refund. He ended by saying we can call him if we had any other questions and concerns or if we didn't hear from the other company in a week.
Then a few hours later, I got a call from a rep from the manufacturer/distributor (America Food Import something). He apologized a lot and asked the same questions. He also asked for the product code so that he could find which batch it was and when it was made. I gave him the code from the bag, and I asked if there had been any other complaints like this. He said no, and that they didn't know there was anything wrong or missing from their packaging plant, which is in Minneapolis, Minnesota (I asked).
Apparently, this had never happened before and they were all as curious as we were about what the object was and how it ended up in the bag. ^^; But, he said based on the photos, he thought it looked like a piece of a bucket. I said, "what?" He explained their factory has buckets that pour the different snack mix pieces into one place. (I still don't know what it is. o_0) He asked if we still had it, and when I said yes, he requested for us to send it to them so that the plant can find out more. They're going to send a prepaid box for us to package it all in and send back to them.
In addition, he wanted to send us a replacement for the product. The problem is that they don't make the Asian trail mix often (special/seasonal item), so he named a few of the other snack products that they make and asked me to pick. I said dried fruit mix, I guess? He said he would actually like to send us 3 bags, so I also chose salted almonds and wasabi pea mix. He'll send it all tomorrow.
So that was a good, appropriate response. They were both nice and took the issue seriously, sounding genuinely concerned
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Surprise Snack Attack
Last Wednesday, I bought a bag of Fusia Asian Trail Mix for my mom who loves this snack mix. But when she opened it and started snacking today, there was something in the bag she did not like. She found a broken piece of machinery in the bag!!
She had eaten about 1/4 of the bag before she discovered the chunk of some factory equipment. We have no idea what it is, looks like a piece of plastic and metal tube. A couple of hours after she stopped eating, she started feeling dizzy and unwell. :( [Update: A few hours later, Mom started getting a rash around her mouth and chin. Not sure if this is related, but we can't think of what else could have triggered it.]
We love Aldi and its products, and we don't want to cause trouble, but this is a serious health hazard. I wrote to them and asked them to please look into this issue and check their factories' quality control! ><
A few more pics of the offending mysterious object:
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