What's the gift?

Well, it sounds like Quaker did right by the customer. Sounds like good customer relations. Mistakes inevitably happen - what differentiates companies is how they respond to their own mistakes.

Also, what was the special gift for the 7 year old???

@nagumi: A pony.

Sounds like pretty good customer relations to me.

I have nine horses who constantly are trying to steal any kind of granola from me. I propose they send the little girl a pony, he would probably like the stuff more than she does.

I hope James keep in contact with The Consumerist to tell what the special gift for his daughter was. I hope it's something good, and not some crappy sticker or anything.

The gift?

I think it was a chainsaw. Or a Bag O' Glass...

Watch the gift be a wooden plank with a piece cut out.

@nagumi: A couple of those creepy Quaker mannequins from last year's granola bar ad run.

Never waste a good crisis.

This is great, but that second letter is a little weird, no?

"Peggy, Supervisor" doesn't actually acknowledge that, in fact, a coupon does him no good at Costco, just that their first offer was not "to his satisfaction." The letter just makes him sound extra picky about his compensation.

Oh well, it's all taken care of.. and free pony!

.. right?!?!

@veg-o-matic: At first, I was going to complain that he could simply take the coupon to another store. But, since he got the 4 pounder at Costco, there aren't any other places to get that much with one coupon.

Costco will accept returns on almost anything without question. (There are a few limits for computers and other electronics.) James should take the granola back for a full refund at Costco, then buy a replacement box from Costco. (Maybe he should check the manufacturing codes before he buys a box to ensure that it comes from a different run.) He'll still have a coupon, which he can use at a regular grocery store for an additional (yet smaller) box of granola. It seems like a pretty easy problem to solve.

@paulrules: You, my friend, almost made me ruin my keyboard with used coffee. Well played.

Years ago I bit into a stick in a Snickers bar. It hurt. Maybe they share a manufacturing facility with Quaker granola?

While I realize he was taken care of, and that these things do happen, it still makes me look at my food funny for the next few days.

And I still haven't been back to TGIF.

@Wombatish: And it would have been nice had they taken the "sending this to our quality control guys" thing a little more seriously.

Like maybe called him. Or sent him an envelope for the stick bit.

At least they asked for the codes off the bag. A lot of times they don't even bother with that.

'cause I mean, yeah, this time it's sticks.. but next time?

That happened with me when I ate one of their breakfast squares. I dont think they sell them anymore but I asked them if the wood was part of the fiber.

They sent me a coupon for another box. I used it and ate it. No wood in that one.

@veg-o-matic: It's probably a form response. They did the right thing so it hardly matters.

@mythago: No, I definitely agree, it's not a big deal. It's just something that stood out to me, that's all.

Carry on.

@veg-o-matic: Hey at least it's not like they're going to sue Quaker for a gazillion dollars as per usual in these cases....right?

@albokay:
Did you et the coupon or the box? I suppose they both have plenty of fiber.

@missing_piece: Wouldn't "used" coffee be... urine?

Just take it back to Costco. All those warehouse clubs have excellent return policies (in my experience) and will give you a refund.

This kind of thing is why I don't trust manufactured food products. BTW, Alton Brown has a really good granola recipe.

I eat oatmeal almost every day (the house brand, not Quaker. An extra hull or stick in the cereal box is just NBD. This stick happened to be way larger than most, but so what? Welcome to the real world of cereal grains and where they come from. Most foods from the grocery store are so processed you might never know there was a piece of lumber in it. If the wood went through processing with the rest of the grain, it should be clean, and obviously, if it made it into my mouth I would have spit it out. Then I would have finished eating my cereal.

I'm not usually one who thinks the consumer overreacted, but in this case I do. I don't know what he was looking for from Quaker, but the apology, gift, and a full refund (which he apparently can get from Costco) should certainly take care of him.

@HelloSailor_GitEmSteveDave: Wouldn't that be the perfect white elephant.

Good customer service from Quaker.

It looks like it could be a piece of wood splintered off from a pallet, maybe it came from the box and fell in the bowl when he was pouring it. Regardless of how it got there it seems like quaker did a good job handling the situation

@chgoeditor: That all assumes that he wants more granola though. I'm not sure I would.

Was this a high fiber granola?

Isn't the real criminal here James, for making his kid eat raisins? Nature's candy? More like nature's fruity dehydrated turd.

That's why we stopped buying our granola at Home Depot.

I've found apple stems in my Quaker oatmeal before, I didn't find it "too" out of place as it was the Apples & Cinnamon oatmeal, but it threw me off my game for a minute.

@Ihaveasmartpuppy:

When I was in high school, we found glass in the ketchup bottle a couple of times. I don't know what happened there; perhaps a bottle broke on the line and it fell in and they didn't get it all. Lucky it was in chunks and couldn't fall out into our food and get eaten.

My mom took the ketchups back and the store gave her a refund.

@crutnacker:

Maybe she likes them. Lots of kids do.

@nagumi: Yes.

What tweaks me out is that they said "in the interest of good consumer relations", and not "because you found a dirty stick in our crap and that's screwed up, sorry".

In other words, "if we thought we could get away with it we'd just start selling bags of dirty sticks labelled 'organic granola', but since you spoke up, here's your money, i guess".

@bohemian: I don't like getting rained on, so I never go outside, ever.

Well wood *IS* natural.....

I once complained to Earthbound Farms about the quality (or rather, lack thereof) the baby spinach I bought at Costco. I filled out a form on their website, giving them all the information about the purchase. In the mail I received from them a Costo Cashcard worth $10 (the spinach was less than $4) plus good coupons for Earthbound products I could use at the grocery store, and a guide to which produce it's really important to buy organic (as they absorb anything used on them and it can't be washed off.) There was a simple note of apology and the standard line about quality and customer satisfaction being very important to them. I think that was a better response than James got from Quaker. Overcompensate with what can be used at the place of purchase, plus encourage further patronage of their products in that and other stores

@kmw2: I disagree. So he returns the 4-pound box to Costco and gets a refund. Who's forcing him to buy a replacement box? No one. He's out nothing and his daughter wasn't hurt. So, yeah, he has a coupon for a free box. He can pick it up at his local grocery store and donate it to a food bank if he really doesn't want to eat it.

I hate this "they owe me" mentality. They've apologized and given him a coupon for a free box. What more do they really owe him?

@Steeldrumhero: That's what I was wondering. Perhaps a whittling knife? O.o

@nagumi: Another piece of wood?

I don't understand the complaint. You wanted all-natural high-fiber food and you got it. Consider the wood a bonus!

Now everyone will want a piece of wood in their granola too.

/snark

@HogwartsAlum:

In the case of a hazardous material entering the chain (i.e. glass), the rule is for the entire batch to be disposed of. It was likely a broken bottle that went unnoticed.

Also, it is a better idea to send a letter to the company, at least in addition to returning the product. The company will likely follow up on the claim, possibly destroying/recalling the batch number. The grocery store will simply dispose of the product and say nothing.

@razremytuxbuddy:

I think that repayment was all they wanted - perhaps even just an apology. I believe the "your coupon isn't useful at Costco" comment wasn't *necessarily* a "send me money* statement ("WTF good is this going to do me?!"), just a statement of fact ("FYI, Costco doesn't accept coupons").

Well-behaved consumer, good response from company. This is how things should work. They answered the concern (though perhaps not as effectively as one might *wish*), repaid the customer and, when informed that the form of repayment wasn't redeemable, sent a form which was.

I'm a bit of the opposite opinion: I think the the majority of these stories involve an overblown reaction from the consumer and/or a terrible response from the company, but this isn't one of them.

@wardawg:

Every time I cut up an apple, I find all these seeds and some hard cylinder in the center. Where's the quality control on these things?!

Wood...the ultimate roughage.

@Steeldrumhero:

I believe it was one of those mint-flavored toothpicks. ; )

@wardawg: [willwm.files.wordpress.com]