I hoped that it wouldn’t come to this: calling a company out online to get them to see what I perceive as an error of their ways. I’m going to explain the situation and I’d like your opinion about this customer service issue, and if anything like this has ever happened to you.
I would insert a photo of me pulling my hair out HERE if I had one but how about this, where I had on my pink hair just for fun?
I needed a moment of levity before I launch into my rant about what happened with Food for Life.
You’ve seen their sprouted corn tortillas before on this blog in the post for my Mushroom, Kale and Lentil Soft Tacos. So you know that I truly like these tortillas. What I don’t like AT ALL is when I am getting ready to have a meal and pull my tortillas out of the refrigerator and open the bag to find that the tortillas are moldy. That really upsets me, especially when the bag has 12 tortillas in it and I’m only part of the way through — and to make it worse, I AM HUNGRY.
The first time that it happened, there were 3 tortillas left in the bag and I just tossed them, thinking that I had some kind of issue. So, when I bought the next package, I took about half of them out and froze them with waxed paper between the tortillas. That was easy.
Why I didn’t do it for the next bag, I am not sure, except that perhaps I expect the food to stay fresh for a week or so after opening the package. Well, the second time that it happened, I thought I ought to take some action. So I hopped on over to the Food for Life website and found the customer service contact info. I called the number. NO answer. So, I called again and a machine answered but I couldn’t leave a message. That happened 3 times. So, I figured that maybe sending a message on their contact form would work out better. And that’s what I did. I explained that I really like their products but that ending up with moldy tortillas just doesn’t work for me. I had no idea what they’d tell me but…
Two days later I received an email apologizing for the phone issues and containing 2 attachments,
Here’s what they wrote verbatim:
As for your tortilla issue, we are curious as to how you are buying them (frozen, refrigerated or fresh). This will have a huge impact on the shelf life of your product. We have attached two files that will assist you in dating your products and the estimated shelf life based on purchase state and storage. OK…
Somehow, I didn’t feel heard as there was absolutely no apology. So, I wrote another email and here’s what I said:
Thank you so much for this information. While it’s helpful to know, it’s actually not at all useful since I have already thrown away part of a package of moldy tortillas.
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Generally if I contact a company to let them know what I think, I don’t expect to get an explanation for why the situation occurs. I expect you to say, I’m sorry that happened and what can we do about it? I am not going to stop buying Food 4 Life products, except the gluten-free brown rice tortillas which may make better Frisbees than something to be eaten since they crack when you try to fold them, no matter what I’ve done.
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Your response served to do nothing but annoy me rather than soothe my rattled being because I couldn’t eat when I expected to because of moldy tortillas.
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I am not a customer service expert but I believe that you need some help in this department.
The next day (to their credit) I received a follow up email with this message:
Good morning,
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We are sorry that you did not find the information provided in the email helpful only more annoying. We are always glad to make our customers happy and we will send out a VIP replacement coupon to replace your tortillas, but we were inquiring in the first email as to how the product was stored when you purchased it to help us determine why this would happen to your product. Storage and temperatures affect our products and we were hoping to give you a reason why your tortillas would mold in the freezer. If you would like a VIP coupon, please reply to this email with your full mailing address.
So, I replied to the email with my address, expecting this VIP coupon to at least buy another Food for Life product. Today, I went to my post office box and opened a letter from Food for Life. In it 4 fifty cents off coupons on their products. I sat with the envelope in my hands a bit dumbfounded as to why they would consider giving me 50 cents off their products, something VIP. I looked again in the envelope certain that they had also put in a coupon for a FREE replacement product but NOOOOO.
So, here I call out Food for Life on their lousy customer service and their moldy tortilla issue. I can live with the latter as I already have a fix — I freeze them myself. But I cannot help Food for Life with their customer service, unless, of course, they’d like to pay me to do so. And no, I will not accept money off coupons in trade.
Have you encountered any customer service issues like this? I hope not but it happens.
Jill Nussinow says
Lois,
I am happy to hear that it wasn’t just me who has had a problem with Food for Life customer service or their products. Too bad that they make the tortillas that I really like, and no one else does.
What I now do, when I buy them is freeze most of them and put the rest in the refrigerator.
I can send you one of the 50 cent off coupons if you like. Or maybe you’ll be just as insulted as I was.
Lois says
Hi, Just wanted to let you know that Food For Life customer service is still bad and even worse than what you experienced. I tried contacting them via the phone, both numbers posted on their site don’t work. I’m still awaiting a response from the emails I sent, despite the claim that they will respond promptly. I’ve been buying their breads for years and promptly freeze their products. Despite my efforts, when I went to use their sesame buns, parts had turned black. I’m disappointed that a company that promotes itself as organic, is totally indifferent to their customer base.
Laura says
I worked for Dole Food Company in my 20s in the Consumer Response Department. I was trained well, despite me thinking there were a lot of nut cases out there. Jill, you should have received several free replacement coupons. One to replace the product and a few for the headache. Plus an immediate apology and a description on how best to store the tortillas to prevent future mold problems. Companies, if they are smart, track complaints. I could easily tell via our computer records if we had “repeat complainers” looking for free products. They’d either use the same name and different addresses or different names and the same addresses. In those days, a lot of people actually hand wrote letters, so we could tell if the handwriting was the same also. There are ways to ferret out people looking for free stuff.
Also though, if we are buying organic products, we do have to expect shorter shelf life. I recommend freezing lots of things that can be frozen just so that they last longer.
If I had received a “cents off” coupon, or several, I’d send them back with a bill for time wasted.
Laura
Jill Nussinow says
Ellen, thank you for your thoughtful response. I didn’t think that their first response was bad but a bit dismissive.
The document that explained the dates also told me to ask them at my local store when they defrosted the tortillas. They last 2 weeks in the refrigerator after thawing. Gosh, I forgot to ask them at my store. Why should a product take so much work? (Maybe I do have to learn how to make these at home.)
The cents off coupons are truly insulting. It would have cost them the same mailing to put a free coupon in the envelope. But maybe they think that bad press is better than no press.
As for your bookstore, I just love Copperfield’s and the people that work there. I encourage all my students to buy their books there instead of online through the site-that-shall-not-be-named or the local big box bookstores. There’s nothing like the customer service at Copperfield’s especially when you want to buy a special book or talk to someone who actually reads. But, indeed, not everyone cares about people in their job so finding people like you who do is so refreshing.
Ellen Skagerberg says
I’m in customer service, and I didn’t think their first response was terrible. I thought the follow-ups were much worse.
Every customer complaint is not equal. I work in a bookstore, and we occasionally have customers who come in with a worn book, saying they want to exchange it because they aren’t enjoying the book. We also have customers who want to exchange hardcovers that are 3 or 4 years old and now out of print, which they invariably received as a “gift.” We politely tell them the policy and explain why that book isn’t eligible for a refund or exchange.
I also can’t tell by looking at the customer if they are running a scam, such as the woman who was photocopying her receipt for an expensive book, coming back into the store, taking a copy of that book off our shelf, and then asking for a “refund” for it. (Yes, she got away with it several times throughout the company.)
Books are less subject to the vagaries of customer care than are food products. So if that company asked about storage and you said, “Well, I did forget to bring in the groceries and they sat in the car in 120º heat, but only for 5 or 6 hours,” it would make a difference in their response to you. (Honestly, we are given this kind of information when we ask customers questions such as that company asked you.)
When you looked at their shelf-life attachment, did your purchase fall into their window for freshness? If not, you could tell them that. “Your guidelines say these tortillas should stay fresh in the refrigerator for 10 days.” If they’re guaranteeing them for only 5 days, on the other hand, they’re going to be reluctant to make replacements.
But “cents-off” coupons to resolve a complaint is truly insulting. Let’s hope they have better customer service reps there, and you just got a bad one. That’s true at my bookstore as well; there are vastly different standards of customer service among the staff. If you don’t get satisfaction with us, ask to speak to an assistant manager or manager. Even then, customer service commitment varies, but you have a better chance of a fair resolution with someone who is authorized to skirt company policy.