Company Sent Me A Check

[ravenwoodglass]

Both my DS and I became sick after eating some Peppermint Patties. He ate just a couple of the little ones whereas I ate quite a few over the course of 3 days. We both had a reaction that was clearly gluten and I called the company to verify that the candy was indeed free from CC issues. The person on the phone took a detailed 'history' of our symptoms and was very nice over the phone. She even put me on hold to call another office to get more info. Before I hung up she said someone might call me to ask more questions or give me a definate answer as to wheter something in the candy or a CC issue might be involved. I never got a call but yesterday I got a check and a letter. They said in the letter that they did not think their product was at fault but that the enclosed check, (for much more than the purchase price) was to compensate me for my inconvience. I should note that I did not ask for a refund I was only looking for answers. I did say though that if CC was a issue in the plant that it should be included on the label. I won't be buying any more of these as to me the check was a 'pay off' sort of thing and I could only conclude that there may really be a CC issue that they did not want to fess up to. What would you think if a company did this? This was a first for me.

[tarnalberry]

I would think that the company has a fear of legal action and used this move to difuse that possibility. I think it's worth letting them know that you weren't looking for compensation, and that you appreciate their concern and efforts (regardless of if you do or not, it pays to play nice, of course), but you're primary concern is that there is proper labeling on their products so that others do not have the same problem. Or you can just let it go. I don't know if I'd bother to cash the check... If it's something like 100 times the cost of a bag of the stuff (or more), it'd sure seem like a payoff to me, and that'd just sit with me the wrong way...

[queenofhearts]

Unless you are talking about an amount over $50, I wouldn't make too much of it one way or another... lots of companies will issue refunds on any sort of bad experience, simply because it's good customer relations. Yes, in one sense it is a pay-off, but they may be telling the truth about the cc issue & simply want to compensate you in some way for a bad experience.

I've had similar responses from companies on other completely unrelated types of complaints, & the amount of the refund/compensation is fairly unpredictable. I've had coupons worth many times the amount of the original purchase, but they may have figured that in this case you would prefer a check since you might be leery of the product.

[Michi8]

As queenofhearts mentioned, many companies offer reimbursement for product dissatisfaction. Kraft is one company that does this. Anytime there is a problem with their products (missing product, quality issues, damaged seals, etc) they will send a cheque or coupons that exceed the value of the product. When it comes to issues of potential product tampering (damaged seal) they will also send a courier to pick up the product and take it to a lab for testing.

Michelle

[gfp]

It depends...

Ideally I would send back the cheque and ask them the question again and say you are not interested in the money.

you could also get the product analysed and use the money to pay for it....

Make sure you send them a letter thanking them for paying a contrirution to have the product analysed and you are waiting for the results but would they mind sending another bigger one to cover your legal expenses. or suggest you could return the cheque and they could do the alalyses themselves. thus saving you legal expenses. since all you really want to know is if the product contains gluten!

[ravenwoodglass]

Ya'all make good sense. It just kind of surprised me as it had never happened before. I get coupons all the time because I call companies and ask about their products but that has always be before I used them. I doubt they feared any kind of legal action from me, I am one of the 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegear' types.

It depends...

Ideally I would send back the cheque and ask them the question again and say you are not interested in the money.

you could also get the product analysed and use the money to pay for it....

Make sure you send them a letter thanking them for paying a contrirution to have the product analysed and you are waiting for the results but would they mind sending another bigger one to cover your legal expenses. or suggest you could return the cheque and they could do the alalyses themselves. thus saving you legal expenses. since all you really want to know is if the product contains gluten!

If I was absolutely positive that this was what had gotten us I certainly would consider this. I have actually sent food into a lab once after I got salmonella at a local restaurant it can be quite costly here. I wish they would come out with a solution that we could put a bit of food into and it would change color and let us know gluten was there. They can do it with drugs would seem like they could do it with gluten. But our scientists would rather work on a pill.

[gfp]

Ya'all make good sense. It just kind of surprised me as it had never happened before. I get coupons all the time because I call companies and ask about their products but that has always be before I used them. I doubt they feared any kind of legal action from me, I am one of the 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegear' types.

If I was absolutely positive that this was what had gotten us I certainly would consider this. I have actually sent food into a lab once after I got salmonella at a local restaurant it can be quite costly here. I wish they would come out with a solution that we could put a bit of food into and it would change color and let us know gluten was there. They can do it with drugs would seem like they could do it with gluten. But our scientists would rather work on a pill.

You can there is a company near Chester (Deeside) that does home test kits but they are expensive and only work to 20ppm.

Also my ex-wife works for

Open Original Shared Link

She used to be in the food lab but is now head of inorganics (so far as I know..haven't spoken in years)

First result from google! (not really trying to advertise)

[RiceGuy]

If that happened to me, I'd definitely feel it is a payoff to keep me quiet. I'd think they are trying to prevent a lawsuit. But really it depends on how much the check is worth. You'll have to decide that one for yourself.

I doubt they feared any kind of legal action from me, I am one of the 'you catch more flies with honey than vinegear' types.

Yeah, but do they know that for sure?

[VydorScope]

Bah

First off, I have to say, cash the check. Its fiarly comon to issue a refund in a case like this, and I would think nothing of it. Now you said it was higher then the purchase price, that is to be expected since they would have had to GUESS what you paid, and prlby paid based MSRP or there abouts, which no one ever pays in store.

I have recieved checks from company (not food related), the last one came from toy due to a toy that we recieved that was in perfect working order, but my monster of a toddler broke it. They sent us replacement value for it, with out us sending in the toy, or recites or anything. For them its a tax write off + a happy customer. Thats a FAR better return on investment then a TV add, and MUCH cheaper.

[eKatherine]

I read a story about a man who bought a six pack of beer that had sediment in it. His wife, who just happened to be an FDA food inspector, thought they ought to complain and called the company up first thing in the morning. They told her they would send somebody by to pick up the beer, and in a few minutes a company vice president knocked on the door to get it. They were pretty impressed, but not as impressed as when there was a knock on the door the next week. It was a beer delivery truck - actually a semi - dropping of 12 cases of beer.

No really, the story was written by the woman it happened to.

Edit to add: Hey, my memory's not too bad. I found the link: Open Original Shared Link

[Guest nini]

eKatherine, LOL, I was reading some of those other posts on that site and OMG reminds me of the time I found a cockroach in my MOUTH after taking a bite of chinese food... Oh it was so disgusting. I just never ate there again, but I should've tried to get compensation for pain and suffering!

[key]

Keep the check, call again and ask what the issue is with CC? Tell them you are concerned that this will happen to other people and see if they can put, " processed on shared lines with wheat products". I see this quite often. It wouldn't hurt to ask again, but why not keep the check. You aren't going to sue them and you suffered from their inaccurate labeling!

Monica

[gfp]

eKatherine, LOL, I was reading some of those other posts on that site and OMG reminds me of the time I found a cockroach in my MOUTH after taking a bite of chinese food... Oh it was so disgusting. I just never ate there again, but I should've tried to get compensation for pain and suffering!

Personally I hate cockroaches.... I have lived in many 3rd world countires and I really hate them BUT they are not going to harm you if theyre cooked. You can't really sue because of your sensibilities??? I mean people in china eat them all the time...

Open Original Shared Link

Sells "The Compleat Cockroach" complete with breeding tips and recipees.

Now personally I don't fancy trying the critters but I have eaten locusts and they aren't bad.

However even my cat wouldn't eat a raw cockroach... and he actually learned not to kill them (since he then had to clean himself)... you could see him.... cat instincts saying kill..kill.kill... and him mewing pitifully in self control.

ooops: Forgot to say my other suggestion....

You could write back and say you will not accept the money as you are only interested in the gluten-free status but if they insist they can make the cheque payable to your charity of choice.