Found rusty screw in Tesco frozen Samosa

emmkell

While chomping into a Tesco Samosa, i felt a small solid thing in my mouth, thinking it was my tooth I panicked. Turns out it was a rusty screw, must be from the machine that made the samosas in whatever factory Tesco get to make them. I was lucky that it wasnt my tooth knocked out by the screw.

I have the screw and the barcode. Should I go back to the Tesco store I bought them in or would I be better to contact their overall customer service or complaints line. Just wondering if anything like this has happened to anyone else before?

filmbuffboy

Personally, for something as serious as that I would contact my lawyer first.

mike65

Lawyer? Oh please! at worst this will end up in Small Claims Court which doesn't need a solicitor.

Go to their online complaints service first, the local shop will either a) fob you off or b) suggest you go to head office.

customer.services@tesco.ie

Donnielighto

I'd love a free screw with my samosa, been about a month.


Otherwise use it for shelving.

mikemac1

Your local store will refer you to their email address
Everything goes to HQ in Clarehall, Dublin

Lawyer? Well you haven't hurt yourself or need expensive dental treatment so what do you need a lawyer for?


Email HQ with the barcode, best before date, just all the identifying details you can find and send it off.
They'll get back to you swiftly

emmkell

Will they send me loads of free samosas?

Newaglish

emmkell wrote: »

Will they send me loads of free samosas?

Unlikely but they will probably give you a voucher (which you can exchange for samosas if you are so inclined)

wmpdd3

Do you have more than just the screw and the box. If so return everything you have.

Re: everything going through Clarehall, you can make a quality complaint at any Tesco customer service desk.

CarrickMcJoe

emmkell wrote: »

Will they send me loads of free samosas?

No, loads of free screws..

Mr Magners

filmbuffboy wrote: »

Personally, for something as serious as that I would contact my lawyer first.

Why?

First port of call should be the point of purchase. They'll treat it quite seriously!

Del2005

emmkell wrote: »

While chomping into a Tesco Samosa, i felt a small solid thing in my mouth, thinking it was my tooth I panicked. Turns out it was a rusty screw, must be from the machine that made the samosas in whatever factory Tesco get to make them. I was lucky that it wasnt my tooth knocked out by the screw.

I have the screw and the barcode. Should I go back to the Tesco store I bought them in or would I be better to contact their overall customer service or complaints line. Just wondering if anything like this has happened to anyone else before?

I really doubt that any factory making food for Tesco's would have rusty screws on their machines, food preparation machines should always be stainless steal. Also most food processors have metal detectors at end of line to catch these, thought stuff can still get through occasionally. The screw was either in the indigents, doubtful with the processing requirements, or added afterwards by someone.

But definitely contact Tesco's and if they don't give you a satisfactory responds get onto your local health inspector.

filmbuffboy wrote: »

Personally, for something as serious as that I would contact my lawyer first.

And here's another reason why so many businesses are closing down.

mrjoneill

Your local HSE environmental officers would be very interested or as I once experienced with a supermarket a chicken that took to smelling and I got cheek from a little manager but I told him if I was not allowed take a pick of their meat counter I would be choosing that route and notifying his head office. Got him to do some grumbling and when I was finished with him in full view of his staff gave him a lecture on customer courtesy and what are good manners. Got a nice roast out of it.:P:P:P:P

john_cappa

filmbuffboy wrote: »

Personally, for something as serious as that I would contact my lawyer first.

I dont think he was being serious guys. Its called sarcasm lol!

Personally I would do nothing. No harm done. If you cracked your tooth different story.

sweeney1971

Contact your local Environmental Health Officer, keep what remains of the samosa, the screw, your recept. The most important thing to keep is the packaging as this will trace the samosa back to the time and place of production.Most suppliers to Tesco will be BRC and will have metal detection in place, looks like this one slipped through.

Magenta

mrjoneill wrote: »

Your local HSE environmental officers would be very interested or as I once experienced with a supermarket a chicken that took to smelling and I got cheek from a little manager but I told him if I was not allowed take a pick of their meat counter I would be choosing that route and notifying his head office. Got him to do some grumbling and when I was finished with him in full view of his staff gave him a lecture on customer courtesy and what are good manners. Got a nice roast out of it.:P:P:P:P

You sound like a right bully.

mrjoneill

Magenta wrote: »

You sound like a right bully.

Me???????????????... never.:(:(:(:(:(:(

Feathers

Fair enough, it's not something that you should bother getting a solicitor for (I doubt they'll contest the fact that they were in the wrong), but as a matter of interest, what do people think is a reasonable response to this from Tesco?

I wouldn't be surprised if all they offered was a voucher worth the price of the samosa & postage, and a half-hearted apology (& here I think is the reason why so many business are closing down!)

I'd say they'd want to give you a €100 voucher or similar, at least. A rusty screw isn't even good quality hardware, never mind food! If you emailed head office with this, what would you be happy with?

Magenta

Feathers wrote: »

I'd say they'd want to give you a €100 voucher or similar, at least. A rusty screw isn't even good quality hardware, never mind food! If you emailed head office with this, what would you be happy with?

You'd be looking at €20 max. If companies gave out €100 for every foreign body people claim to have found in their food, they'd be bust pretty quickly. I have friends in food safety and word spreads very quickly (among customers,that is) about which companies are the most generous with vouchers. There are people who send in bogus complaints just to get a voucher. Of course I'm not saying the OP is, but a lot of "foreign object" complaints are plants. A man in my town is known for "finding" things in food and basically trying to blackmail companies to pay him off, threatening press etc if they don't.

Feathers

Magenta wrote: »

You'd be looking at €20 max. If companies gave out €100 for every foreign body people claim to have found in their food, they'd be bust pretty quickly. I have friends in food safety and word spreads very quickly (among customers,that is) about which companies are the most generous with vouchers. There are people who send in bogus complaints just to get a voucher. Of course I'm not saying the OP is, but a lot of "foreign object" complaints are plants. A man in my town is known for "finding" things in food and basically trying to blackmail companies to pay him off, threatening press etc if they don't.

DO you think that's decent compensation though for a screw that you could've swallowed? & the inconvenience of not having the food to eat then, having to head to the post office & post back a bag of samosas, etc. etc.

dudara

No more off-topic posting. Stick to the original topic.

dudara

wmpdd3

More and more with brands its vouchers off rather than money and a call from the qa dept about the incident and a follow up letter. This is often accompanied with photos from the line showing how it happened or how it couldnt have happened. With own buy, its usually a store gift card. Acceptance of the card closes the case.

Newaglish

Feathers wrote: »

DO you think that's decent compensation though for a screw that you could've swallowed?

You can't get compensation for potential damages that haven't happened to you.

Feathers

Newaglish wrote: »

You can't get compensation for potential damages that haven't happened to you.

So if you went to restaurant & they brought you out a bowl of soup with a screw in it, you'd be happy with just a new bowl of soup? You might not legally be entitled, but I'm talking about restoring customer confidence in your product/service. & regardless, inconvenience should be compensated.

Mr Magners

Feathers wrote: »

So if you went to restaurant & they brought you out a bowl of soup with a screw in it, you'd be happy with just a new bowl of soup? You might not legally be entitled, but I'm talking about restoring customer confidence in your product/service. & regardless, inconvenience should be compensated.

In that case any restaurant worth their salt would give a replacement bowl of soup and not charge for it at the very least.

In this instance Tesco will probably compensate with some extra store credit.

inconvenience should be compensated.

:rolleyes:

the_syco

emmkell wrote: »

While chomping into a Tesco Samosa, i felt a small solid thing in my mouth, thinking it was my tooth I panicked.

Goto your dentist, tell him what happened, and get him to check your teeth. Send the bill to Tescos.

sweeney1971

The most important thing to keep is the evidence, ie the Samosa, screw and the packaging with all the codes on. Use this as a bargaining chip with the Supermarket and see if you can get a food voucher or something. They need to get hold of your evidence before the EHO's do.
Lab Testing will prove where the screw came from ie either in the making of the samosa or put there on purpose.

BRC Grade A supplier to major Supermarket.

Feathers

Mr Magners wrote: »

:rolleyes:

So is the rolling-eyes for the fact that it's samosa or would you disagree with it in general? If your Christmas turkey was gone off when you went to roast it on Christmas morning, would you be happy to get the price of it back plus £10 voucher?

The food you're buying in the bag of samosas isn't intrinsically worth the cost price, you're paying for the fact that when you're having your snack/starter/party food, you don't have to put in the effort yourself — i.e. paying for the convenience of having it pre-made.

As a matter of interest what compensation would you be happy with in this case? Say, for arguments sake that the samosas cost €2.

Mr Magners

Feathers wrote: »

So is the rolling-eyes for the fact that it's samosa or would you disagree with it in general? If your Christmas turkey was gone off when you went to roast it on Christmas morning, would you be happy to get the price of it back plus £10 voucher?

The food you're buying in the bag of samosas isn't intrinsically worth the cost price, you're paying for the fact that when you're having your snack/starter/party food, you don't have to put in the effort yourself — i.e. paying for the convenience of having it pre-made.

As a matter of interest what compensation would you be happy with in this case? Say, for arguments sake that the samosas cost €2.

My rolleyes was for the whole idea that inconvenience should be compensated for. Life today is full of inconvenience, I don't believe that people should be compensated for it. Its life... **** happens just get on with it.

Seeing as you asked a direct question. I think a €10 Tesco reward card and an apology would be more than adequate for the OP's rusty screw.

You used an example of the turkey on Xmas day. Yeah you'd be disappointed and pissed off but would you let it ruin your whole day? I certainly wouldn't.

Feathers

Mr Magners wrote: »

My rolleyes was for the whole idea that inconvenience should be compensated for. Life today is full of inconvenience, I don't believe that people should be compensated for it. Its life... **** happens just get on with it.

Seeing as you asked a direct question. I think a €10 Tesco reward card and an apology would be more than adequate for the OP's rusty screw.

You used an example of the turkey on Xmas day. Yeah you'd be disappointed and pissed off but would you let it ruin your whole day? I certainly wouldn't.

I don't mean I sit arounding moaning about being inconvenienced — of course it's a part of life & for the most part you should get on with it. & no, I wouldn't let it ruin my Christmas day. But if you're specifically buying convenience food, that's part of what you're paying for.

If I buy a sandwich for lunch, it's well over-priced but it means that I don't have to make it myself — I'm paying them to have more free time. If it's gone off (or has pieces of metal in it!) & I have to spend my free time chasing it up that's more of a hassle to me that the price of the stamp itself. If I didn't value my free time, I wouldn't have bought the over-priced sandwich to begin with