Trader Joe's Salmon Comes With Delectable Organic Free-Range Worm
Reader David was eating his dinner of Trader Joe's Chimichurri salmon when he found an unexpected garnish: a rather dead and fully cooked worm. It was brown and roughly an inch long. He e-mailed the company, then brought the fish (and worm) back to the store for a refund. While the store supervisor's handling of the situation was stellar, the reaction from Trader Joe's corporate has been...nonexistent.
Last Friday (April 17th), he wrote to Consumerist:
The other day, I was enjoying some Trader Joe's Chimichurri Salmon. I have been eating this for the past couple years, and it is actually pretty tasty.
Needless to say, I was a bit perturbed when, on my second to last bite, I noticed a little brown thing curled up on the fish. After further inspection, I discovered the little brown thing to be some sort of worm.
Utterly disgusted, I sent an email to TJ's. This was Wed night. I have yet to hear back. However, not wanting to wait for a reply, I called the store and spoke to a wonderfully apologetic supervisor. He told me to, if possible, bring the fish (and worm) into the store so they could have their people research it. The following day, I brought our little friend and fish in and spoke with the same supervisor. He promptly refunded my money and told me to pick out any bottle of wine. While I was deciding on a bottle, he also brought over a bouquet of flowers. Certainly a nice gesture. I figure it is important to report on good customer service as well as the bad and wanted to inform your readers of how TJ's does value its customers. Or at least the individual stores!
This week, I wrote back to David to see whether he had learned anything about the origin of the worm, and whether other customers could be affected. Nothing from Trader Joe's yet. Hats off to the local store, but why, after more than a week, hasn't he heard back?
Post a comment
Comments:
In other parts of the world that is just a little extra protein.
I know it is Trader Joes fault for the worm being in the food but I applaud them for the stores response. Mistakes happen but the true worth of a company is how they deal with them.
Yeah, that's unpleasant. But then again eating raw salmon and seeing a live worm would have been worse, I suppose.
I am a former TJ's employee and believe me, corporate will take of the situation. It just takes a few days. The company prefers to handle the customer service aspect locally as much as possible. I still kick myself for leaving Trader Joe'S
Say it ain't so, Joe!
Fish do have parasites. I'm sure those packages are done by machine and nobody saw it. Good on the store for making it right. I remember fishing with my dad and as he cleaned the fish he'd point out all the parasites inside them. Thanks pop. Yeah, I still eat sushi. Whatever, life is short, something's gonna get you.
Trader Joe's is pretty awesome, all things considered. I'd be pretty disgusted if I found a worm in my food, but I like them (and their super-friendly and helpful staff) enough that I'd probably go back. Just not for the same food.
Actually, now that I think of it, was there any mention of what location?
Kudos to that one particular TJ's for being apologetic and professional about it. Kudos also to David for handling this well. In this sue happy day and age I can guarantee many others would have sued millions for "emotional distress."
I also agree with Laura's sentiments. After the Domino's fiasco, you'd think corporate higher ups would be extra sensitive to these kinds of news. Unlike the Domino's incident, this WOULD make me wary of buying any such product from TJ's.
Kudos to the TJ's store. They're very good about taking stuff back. As for the company, I'm very disappointed.
That's why I love that place. I was so happy when they opened up a new store near home that I can walk to.
Is it possible that this wasn't just good customer service, but maybe the manager had a lil crush on David here? I mean, wine and flowers? rawr. Throw in some KY and I'm game.
It's probably an anisakis parasitic worm. Not uncommon in anadromous fish like wild salmon. Being frozen likely killed it and rendered it harmless. Oddly enough, if it were farm raised, it would have been less likely to pick up this particular parasite.
That all said, you would have gotten a refund at any Trader Joe's. In fact, if you tried it out for the first time and didn't like it because of the chimichurri sauce, you could have brought it back and gotten a refund too. Hassle free refunds are a Trader Joe's policy. Even without a receipt.
like all PUBLIC corporate e-mail, No One reads that mailbox!
@TEW:
it's not their fault, it was in the muscle of the fish, there would have been no way of knowing unless they individually cut up and dig around each piece of fish.
At least the store was nice enough to refund the fish
Full gas tank says they magically notice his email since it has appeared online. Anyone willing to see my bet or raise it?
@reynwrap582: I'm sorry, but I laughed so hard at that, my left arm went numb (from banging my elbow into the damned chair)
Kudos to Trader Joes for great customer service but it wasn't ALL done for the OP's benefit. The store now has the only physical evidence that this ever happened... In today's litigious society the store protected themselves from further damages... especially since the replacement fish, flowers and wine would be characterized as a settlement offer. Nice to see retail management with the foresight to take these steps though!
Does it really matter that he got a response from corporate or not? The local manager worked to make sure that he was far more than made whole.
As someone else stated, fish can have parasites occasionally, and in this era of automated packing no human may have ever been able to spot it. This is more like finding fruit with a worm inside than it is buying one of a million jars of contaminated peanut butter. If you bought an apple from the grocery store that happened to have a worm inside, would you be appalled if Safeway corporate never wrote back?
That said, TJs will accept anything as a return -- seriously, bring back an empty container of something you didn't think was tasty, and they'll give you your money back on the spot. In 5 years of shopping there I only found one thing I didn't love, and they gladly gave me the $2.75 I paid for it.
@Employees Must Wash Hands: Agreed. He was compensated more than in whole by the store alone. No response from corporate is necessary... anything extra would be double-dipping.
@fantomesq: However, I think it highly unlikely that the person reading the emails knew that the store handled the matter. Therefore, it seems reasonable to expect a response via email from corporate (perhaps advising him to contact the local store). After a week, I find it surprising that corporate did not follow up or email to make sure things were made right.
@TheObserver: You would think so, but no. It *still* can be very very difficult to convince brand managers that people on the Internets are discussing their brand and that people are listening.
Seriously this is dumb. These things happen. I worked in produce and we got LIVE geckos in ginger root. We had dead black widows in grapes. There is really no control over this with the amount of volume that comes in. Customers who whine about this sh*t really irk me. These things happen. If they are a trend, yes it's bad. But once off... seriously just get a new fish and it's done with.
@Randy Treibel: Its not like hes filing a lawsuit against TJ. I think the reaction has been completely appropriate. What exactly about it do you feel is overblown?
Chill out, people. It's a nematode. Perfectly safe once properly cooked or frozen. Kind of gross, yeah - but that's the risk you take eating minimally-processed foods. Personally I'd rather eat a visible, cooked worm than who-knows-what in a mystery-meat hot dog.
Fish have parasites. Trader Joe's has fantastic staff and management. Problem solved, on the local level, with class. What, really, do the corporate people need to say, "Did you enjoy your flowers and bottle of wine?"
You are right about that! I mean, doesn't the stupid FDA allow so many bugs in our grain anyway? If we don't see it I guess it's ok?
I still love TJs.
@jennieguzman: Yes, government food inspection agencies have a listing of how many bug parts per amount of item something is allowed to have. You can probably find it on their web site if you dig around a bit.
So yeah, stuff like this happens in the food supply. You're complaining that the corporate office did not respond satisfactorily with information, but the customer-facing part of the company did right by you. I think by consumerist standards they did exactly the right thing: owned up, apologized, and properly compensated.
I appreciate that you included the positive portion of your experience along with the negative. But, I feel like this large graphic picture still has the effect of SMEARING Trader Joes. It invokes a gut reaction, which can't be counter-balanced by the dry narrative of how the company responded.
Further, I feel semi-assaulted as a reader. This isn't going to put me off Trader Joe's salmon. It is going to put me off of ALL salmon. Probably for awhile. And I am NOT grateful that you chose to share this particular element of your suffering.
@fantomesq: On the Internet, no-one knows you're not an attorney. Well, except for those that do.
It would be difficult to convince a judge that this was a knowing relinquishment of a right to sue. Under your theory, OP might be precluded from collecting damages in regards to the replacement value of the merchandise. But what are we talking there? 8 bux?
@TEW: Trader Joe's isn't in the business of preparing or packaging food. They outsource it, and slap their label on it. So, they are responsible for broad oversight. But, it's naive to think that Trader Joe's corporate has any particular expertise in regards to the packaging and processing of frozen salmon...
@jenjen: Sashimi and sushi are awesome. Perhaps, I am tired from studying for tomorrow's exam but the worm in the photo seems to be one I would find in the garden and not as a parasite in fish.
Where and why did anyone get the information that this was sushi? It seems to be a cooked/prepared salmon dish.
Also, why shouldn't corporate respond?
I work for a grocery store at the moment while going through college, and I am utterly amazed at the level of customer service the store gave you in refunding your money, letting you pick a bottle of wine, and giving you flowers for your trouble. I thought my grocery store always tried to go above and beyond when there was a problem (giving some extra store credit or something in adition to the refund, or another similar item of higher value to make up for it), but this store really seems to value it's customers.
Kudos to the store, not so much I guess to the nonresponsive people you emailed..
@jenjen:
Just avoid the swordfish, if you can help it. I made the mistake of having the swordfish steak at our wedding rehearsal. Made for a memorable night before our wedding, let me tell you. >_<
Most likely a report was filed about the incident. Why would corp need to contact him when the local supervisor took care of it? If anything it looks better for the company as a whole, and nothing some executive can write in a form letter will amount to what the store itself did.
I'm all about going above and beyond to make a customer happy... but wine and flowers? There is a thing call taking compensation too far.
Just out of curiosity, and as someone in the business of providing customer service, I had a question. Does everybody here generally agree that free stuff is what makes good customer service? I always thought a heartfelt apology, a refund, and taking steps to correct the issue in the future were considered customer service. In this case people seem to have more praise for them throwing a couple freebies at him and seeing him out the door.
@Radi0logy: Other people's opinions here. They act like TJ should give him a BJ or something ofr his troubles.
Once we bought some fresh cod at a local grocery store and as I was getting it ready to cook I noticed a worm poking out of it. It was wiggling too. My husband drove that fish right back to the store. They refunded his money but were not too nice about it.
There have been a few times I've taken things back to Trader Joes and each time they've been awesome about it. I love shopping there. Wow - wine and flowers? That's above and beyond, but it doesn't surprise me at all.
Back in the day, I had a boyfriend who was a manager at Burger King. He told me that if a customer found any foreign object in their food while eating at the restaurant, he was instructed to first, in a very nice and low key manner, get the the thing away from the customer and into the manager's/franchise possession.
Maybe in the future you can save the gross pictures for the article itself, and not on the home page? People without strong stomachs (like myself) don't click the link to articles I know are going to be offensive to me. But having it pop up on the home page doesn't give me any choice.
@Kenneth Murray: Coming from somebody who also works customer service at a grocery store, people LOVE free shit... even if it's stuff they won't ever use.
Knowing that, I'm not about to throw in all this free shit. They can either get their money back or grab another one.
I will say that the c/s person at TJs did go above and beyond what was necessary. I'd probably get yelled at if I did some shit like that at my place.
The union I'm in (UFCW) tells us not to patronize certain companies that are non-union (Whole Food, Honda, Toyota, Trader Joes, etc). But you know what? If you can treat people like human beings without a union breathing down your neck, I think it really shows in the employees' attitude and demeanor.
+1 for trader joes. I'm so happy my friend told me about them. Now I just wish they'd open one closer to my house!
@jenjen: Haha yeah, my dad did the same with me actually. It didn't make me scared of eating fish (I feel pretty safe about sushi), but seeing flukes wriggle out of pockets in the fish muscle did make me seriously reconsider eating any fish I'd caught myself.
Please tell me the white stuff by the fish is rice...
I need a grocery store like that.