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 concerned that 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