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Previous: Same alarm used in two conditions | Main | Next: AOL headline
September 8, 2005 12:03 AM
Broken: frozen Thai seafood curry
Craig Fisher writes:
We bought this Grace frozen "Thai Seafood Curry" recently. Notice that little lump on top? That was the one and only bit of seafood (I think it was part of a scallop) in the whole meal.
Now let's look at the picture of this meal on their web site: I'm sure you agree that the two bear no resemblance. "Oily bean curry" would be a better description of their meal.
- - -
Update Sept 8: Christina from Grace's Kitchen writes back in the comments section that she personally addressed this awhile back...
I work at Grace's Kitchen and received Craig's email 4 months ago, and handled his problem to his apparent satisfaction, or so I thought...- - -
From: Christina
[mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 6:36 PM
To: Craig Fisher
Subject: RE: Product feedbackCraig,
Thank you for taking the time to write us. I am terribly sorry for your first experiences with our meals. Based on that photo & your description, I wouldn't call the curry meal anything else, and I can't imagine you are remotely impressed by our concept.
Our food company, in it's first year of business, has run into its fair share of mishaps. This is no exception. I have personally handled each complaint, comment, and suggestion, and I can tell you, we are eager to learn and make changes based on our customer feedback. We also pride ourselves on being a hand-made, hand-packed product, only there are downsides to this, as you know... ie. making such mistakes as measuring poorly and missing items in the meal. Let me assure you, we will discuss the packing of our meals this week - emphasizing consistency, quality control, and the expectations for each and every serving.
If you are willing, I would be very happy to send you free-meal coupons in effort to try and make this right. I can mail them as soon as you send me a mailing address. It is the least that we can do.
Thank you again for letting us know your experience. We rely on feedback to learn and to grow our business.
Christina
Their website photo: What it should look like.
This photo: What it looks like after the stomach returns it, express delivery.
Not Broken.
This crosses the line between broken- meaning nonsensical, stupid, poorly planned etc. and being a lying sack of crap.
Wow, that is pretty deceptive advertising. Is the picture on the box the same picture as on the website?
I agree with ron that it.... LOL sorry I couldn't resist. Every so often you see a double post, triple posts are fairly rare, but cmadler took us to the next level with a quadruple post. And somehow a post was inserted between #3 and 4, I'm not sure how that happened.
As to the topic of the day, it's totally broken! When the production and advertising company gives you an unrealistic expectation of what your product will look like, that is SO broken. Everyone does this though, think back to the movie "Falling Down" when Michael Douglas orders a hamburger that looks nothing like the display panel.
I agree with ron that it...no, wait. I agree with Manni that cmadler is uh, well, broke. So's the product of topic.
Sometimes it doesn't matter if it's broken or not; "frozen food differs from picture on packaging" is just not interesting. Dog bites man.
I agree with Rich...., actually I don't. I can settle for a little this doesn't look as good as what's pictured, but the food from the package doesn't appear to even contain the same ingredients as the picture.
I thought this was a pretty good submission.
I agree with ron that it crosses the line into 'lying sack of crap', but to me that is broken.
Thus the usual disclaimer on such packages: "Serving suggestion." Which means, in lawyerlingo, "How a 5 star chef might serve this meal if starting from scratch with the same basic ingredients, which may or may not actually be contained in this package."
Which is, IMHO, broken.
A little poking around the site reveals some additional information. This is not your traditional frozen meal. The ingredients are supposed to be individually packaged and portion controlled. The quality they aspire to is gourmet. And the meals require preparation, and are not simply heat and serve.
Possibly, the submitter was just a poor cook. But based on the submitter's description, it's more likely that Grace's Kitchen has a quality control problem. The ingredients don't appear to be portion controlled, nor would that combination of ingredients usually be considered gourmet.
Another interesting thing is that the menu link on the site doesn't have a listing for curry. Perhaps the product was a complete failure?
Addendum: Another thing I just noticed after exploring the menu link. The Grace's Kitchen site explains that they provide complete dinners for two. When you choose the dessert menu link, you'll find all the desserts are for four.
My father was a professional photographer. He
noticed the same sort of thing with frozen "TV"
dinners back in the 1960s, so he had some fun
with it.
He prepared each one according to the directions,
then carefully photographed them. He then
prepared a display with the package photo on the
left and his photo on the right. The labels
read "What They Promise" and "What You Get".
Perhaps it is time for someone to do it again.
If you like seeing more of this type of thing (examples of deceptive advertising), then check the back inside cover of any issue of Consumer Reports magazine. It's a feature called "Selling It" which always has stuff like this.
I contacted grace's and here's what I received back.
>>> copy and basted below >
Based on the representative's quick response and her additional details, I actually have a pretty positive feeling about the company if not this particular meal. It just goes to show that being attentive to your customers and potential customers and attempting to improve their experience can make all the difference.
One other thing.. generally I try and find a contact form on every site that we talk about on this is broken so that I can make them aware of what's happening and get their side of the story. In the last 10 months, this is the first timee anyone actually bothered writing me back.
Has anyone other than Craig actually tried the food? I buy this stuff all the time and it is great. In my experience having the meals in the freezer allows me to put together a quick dinner with no planning. It's not the machine-made crap you get from every other frozen company - including Amy's.
I work at Grace's Kitchen and received Craig's email 4 months ago, and handled his problem to his apparent satisfaction, or so I thought...
If anyone wants to know how he responded in "real life", feel free to read our email conversation below.
Craig, I gave you my honest explanation, now you owe me yours.
****
Thanks for your response Christina.
I’d be happy to give your meals another try if you send some coupons. My address is:
##### ###th ave NE, Kirkland 98033.
Are Larrys Markets still stocking your product though? I didn’t see it there last weekend.
Regards,
-Craig
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Christina
[mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 6:36 PM
To: Craig Fisher
Subject: RE: Product feedback
Craig,
Thank you for taking the time to write us. I am terribly sorry for your first experiences with our meals. Based on that photo & your description, I wouldn't call the curry meal anything else, and I can't imagine you are remotely impressed by our concept.
Our food company, in it's first year of business, has run into its fair share of mishaps. This is no exception. I have personally handled each complaint, comment, and suggestion, and I can tell you, we are eager to learn and make changes based on our customer feedback. We also pride ourselves on being a hand-made, hand-packed product, only there are downsides to this, as you know... ie. making such mistakes as measuring poorly and missing items in the meal. Let me assure you, we will discuss the packing of our meals this week - emphasizing consistency, quality control, and the expectations for each and every serving.
If you are willing, I would be very happy to send you free-meal coupons in effort to try and make this right. I can mail them as soon as you send me a mailing address. It is the least that we can do.
Thank you again for letting us know your experience. We rely on feedback to learn and to grow our business.
Christina
I love Grace's products. No they don't always look just like the picture, but then again, I am based in reality and not some dream world where 'scrubbing bubbles' actually run around my bathtub cleaning. I would assume that Craig is disappointed with a lot of things in his life to harbor ill will for months before posting. Especially since Grace's seemed to respond quickly and replaced his food. What remedy would have pleased him?
I love Grace's products. No they don't always look just like the picture, but then again, I am based in reality and not some dream world where 'scrubbing bubbles' actually run around my bathtub cleaning. I would assume that Craig is disappointed with a lot of things in his life to harbor ill will for months before posting. Especially since Grace's seemed to respond quickly and replaced his food. What remedy would have pleased him?
Wow, I'm impressed! I think I've been here since pretty close to the beginning of This is Broken, and this is the first time I can remember a company representative actually bothering to post.
It bears repeating that there is more to the customer experience than just the product. I would say Grace's Kitchen seems to be keeping this solidly in mind: Kudos to them!
Before Joshua's and Christina's posts, I would have almost certainly avoided Grace's Kitchen products. With this indication that they actually seem to care about their product, I'm very tempted to try them just to see for myself.
Christina, just so you don't harbour too much ill-will toward Craig, bear in mind that often an item will be submitted to this site, and not end up being posted for months. My understanding is that the site owner has a large backlog of submissions. This could be the case here, and he may have submitted it at the same time as writing to you.
Wow. Everyone agreed that Grace's Kitchen was using false advertising when BAM! Joshua posts an e-mail from the company and everyone suddenly loves them. I honestly have no idea what to think - part of me says, "It's still broken," the other part says, "That is good!" and a third part realizes that I was just way too philosophical for myself.
There's a coupon on the web-site for anyone who wants to try the food.
http://www.graceskitchen.com/coupon.html
It's good stuff. Give them credit for responding. Try complaining to Stouffer's and see if they answer you.
In reply to anitsirK:
What exactly do you think Grace should have done? The guy complained, they responded personally, not just some computer generated “answer” that didn’t address the problem, and offered to replace the meal and make things right. The creep Craig, not happy with that, went online, and trashed this company to the whole world. Without bothering to mention that he had contacted the company and that they tried to make things right! That is why I think Craig harbors ill will Has Craig ever eaten at Denny’s, their food doesn’t look exactly like the pictures either. Get a life dude, it’s only a meal life is full of bigger disappointments
Sally: Calm down a bit there. I was pointing out that Craig may not even remember having submitted this to the site, because it may have happened several months ago, and *quite possibly* at the same time as he wrote an email to Grace. Christina asked for an explanation. I provided a possible piece of one. Obviously, she deserves more explanation, but anyone is free to voice their opinion on a product or company, regardless of how the company responds to their complaints. Quality control is/was obviously lacking at the time this picture was taken, and it may have been improved since. That doesn't mean that he has no right to voice a complaint, in whatever forum he chooses. It certainly doesn't make him a creep. I don't know him.. maybe he is a creep, but I don't think we can make that decision from this story, alone, given the general lag between items being submitted and being posted. :)
and it's my opinion that someone who receives compensation and still whines publicly about how 'it doesn’t look like the picture' is a creep. But that’s just my opinion.
Sally, please read carefully. HE MIGHT HAVE POSTED HERE THE SAME TIME AS HE EMAILED THE COMPANY. Sorry for shouting, but antisirk said this twice and you still have not given that a thought.
Howdy!
Oh yeah, I remember back in 1999 I saw a commercial for a Dallas/Fort Worth area supermarket chain called "Tom Thumb," where an attractive-looking bearded man was about to have store-brand vegetable soup. When he poured the soup in, it was nothing but water and a couple of peas! LOL
But seriously, the ad was telling viewers that the Remarkable (Tom Thumb's old store brand before Safeway bought them out) brand is far superior to that of other store-brand products at other supermarkets, like the national brand.
So, gosh, I am waiting for a reply...How about it Craig, when DID you orignally send that?
The silence is deafening
FORTY-FIRST!!!!!!!
JW- Copy and baste? This is bean curry, not a turkey.
Anyway, Erich, haven't the company reps posted a few times in the past? i can remeber off the top of my head the US Botanical Gardens guy who posted, and i'm sure there were others although i can't name them.
I second Sally. How long ago did Craig send this in? Maybe we should ask MH.
Are you there, MH? It's me, Bob.
I'd also like to, out of curiosity, pose a question to Christina, if you're still monitoring this thread. What's your position at Grace's? Are you VP of sales or something? I mean, you said "you personally" have handled every complaint/comment, so that'd imply you're like a VIP or something.
I left off Christina's address section when she posted her title is: Assistant Culinary Director.
I would think that she has quite a future in PR though. Her response back to me and this thread as well as her posting of what she had sent to Craig, completely changed the tone of this thread.
Oh and copy and baste, that's what happens when you're not careful with what spell check suggests a word should be.
Joshua, you seem to know whats going on there....when did craig originally contact this site about grace?
I surprised craig hasn't been monitoring his whinny post.
I still think he is a creep.
Care to prove me wrong?
Sally:
Calm down. take a deep breath think about changing your e mail address.and you try posting one. And talk to Craig. Get him on Oprah. Discuss your feelings. AND quit whining.
There, I'm done.
Good grief! Talk about a tempest in a teapot. I for one was not impressed with Cristina's grammar in her reply to Craig. I do agree Craig shouldn't have gone public until he sampled other products from tha maker. Free, too.
As a Salon rep I've answered two questions here at This Is Broken last year - one about Salon search and one about an HTML error on our signup page. (The latter got fixed in April, within about two weeks of the TIB post, as noted in the comments.)
This makes me curious: what organization has been featured the most times on TIB?
Woah! I haven't checked this site in a while and now I come back and find this little storm waiting for me!
OK, some responses:
1. Yes, I submitted this entry months ago, before I had received a response from Graces Kitchen. My bad, but I was very disappointed and angry at the time. This was the second faulty Graces meal I'd encountered.
2. Yes, I did also complain directly to Graces and they were responsive and did make amends in the form of coupons for additional meals. I took advantage of those coupons and am happy to say that the Graces meals I've had since have been great.
3. I believe Graces went through a patch where they had some quality control issues. It seems they are past that now and I recommend people (who have access to it) give them a try.
4. I don't think I'm a creep and nor do people who know me. :-)
5. I wish I'd known sooner that this had been posted so I could've added an addendum before the comment flood started. Oh well...
Anyone notice her "If you are willing" to accept the FREE coupon?
what is she gonna force you to accept somethin free?
coupon rape.
Comments on this entry are closed
Previous: Same alarm used in two conditions | Main | Next: AOL headline
First!!!!
Posted by: Faolan at September 8, 2005 12:31 AM