Allergic Reaction and now the company wants to gift me

June 30, 2014 06:36PM

I did a shop about 3 weeks ago at a grocery store/co-op on a road trip to a friends wedding. It seemed like the perfect shop to pick up some snacks for the road. Well in the bulk i bought trail mix and read the ingredients carefully to ensure there were no hazelnuts. Took a peek and didn't see any. Shop was fine...till I am on the road and i reach into the bag and am eating the trail mix by the handful. Guess what...some hazelnuts snuck in! I didn't have my epi pen on me but fortunately located a walgreens and they got me all squared away. the tightness and tingling was instant and i stopped right then and there before eating more.

Well i didnt die...but thought that i was fortunate and felt it was important to include on the report that there was definite cross contamination or mislabeled ingredients. The MSC semi scolded me saying if i have a allergy I should never purchase from the bulk department. This MSC also tends to always have a rude tone to their feedback. I just thought it would be good for them to know.

Well friday i got a email from the client apologizing for the cross contamination and offering me a gift card. Do you know if I am able to accept it?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2014 08:56PM by mysteryshoppinggurl.

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June 30, 2014 07:05PM

Why would you not accept it if it's from the MSC?

.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei

June 30, 2014 07:07PM

Yes, you can accept it and do with it what you wish. And if you are accepting the apology you SHOULD accept it even if you just throw it in the trash or give it to someone else.

June 30, 2014 07:08PM

Why wouldn't you be able to accept it?

June 30, 2014 07:15PM

I imagine the client was grateful you didn't die, leading to a serious lawsuit. I'd accept the card as long as it didn't come with a contract promising not to sue them over it.

Glad you didn't have a bad outcome from this and I'm sure you'll never buy from a bulk bin again. You can't bet your life that other people are perfect. The cross-contamination could have occurred from a customer who started to buy hazelnuts from another bin, then changing their mind and dumping them back into the wrong bin.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

June 30, 2014 07:39PM

I didnt know if anyone had seen any clause about not being able to accept gifts/etc from the client with regards to a shop...

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June 30, 2014 08:29PM

That's not what your OP says. Your OP says, "Well friday i got a email from the MSC apologizing for the cross contamination and offering me a gift card."

This begs the question, was the email from the MSC or the client?

If the gift card is from the client, but is being offered through the MSC, then there is no problem as the MSC is aware of the offering.

June 30, 2014 08:54PM

I love to buy in bulk at my local Roth's Fresh Market. I took a shop for a different store that I had never visited. I was surprised and delighted to see a huge bulk area. There were signs posted all around stating "No Sampling", but apparently it is not enforced. I watched a couple walk through produce sampling grapes, then into the bulk department. They'd open the snack bins and reach in with the bare hands, eat something, then reach bare-handed into another bin and sample from that - on and on down the line. I was disgusted. I had planned to purchase from the bulk area but changed my mind. What really got me torqued up was that there were employees in the area who witnessed this, but said nothing. If I hadn't been MSing at the time, I would have said something to the employees about it and would not have minced words.

Thank goodness Roth's has the type of bulk bins where customers cannot touch the food. You lift up on the dispenser and hold a bad underneath for the food to fall into. If a customer changes their mind, they can't put it back; they just leave the bag behind.

I'm sorry the OP got semi-scolded by the MSC. I probably would not have thought of cross-contamination in that manner. Live and learn, right? No more bulk trail mix.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

June 30, 2014 08:56PM

Im sorry i mistyped it was the client.

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June 30, 2014 09:06PM

it looks like you are ok to accept it. The shop was
already completed so this is not considered a bribe
to give them a better score.

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There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

June 30, 2014 11:03PM

I would accept it without hesitation. So sorry this happened to you. What did Walgreens do? Did they give you an epi shot?

June 30, 2014 11:52PM

Lesson learned... that severe of an allergy would be a great reason to skip anything where cross contamination is possible. Glad you got through it.

July 01, 2014 12:05AM

Did the offer of the giftcard come from the client via the msc or did you contact the client directly?

July 01, 2014 12:15AM

A naturopath told me one time to never, ever buy anything from a bulk bin because of contamination. I have seen children playing with them before. He also said never to buy carrots that have cracks in them because contamination can hide in them.

July 01, 2014 01:27AM

How did the client get your email?!? I thought this was anonymous for us???

O.o o.O

Happily shopping New England and beyond!!!!!

July 01, 2014 01:37AM

Kathee70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How did the client get your email?!? I thought
> this was anonymous for us???

I believe that just as much as I believe in the tooth
fairy and the easter bunny.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2014 01:37AM by techman01.

July 01, 2014 02:02AM

For the original poster. Please answer.

1. Did the offer of a giftcard from the client come via the msc?
2. Did you contact the client directly to tell them of the problem?
3. Did you receive an e-mail from the client, if so how did they get your e-mail address?

July 01, 2014 02:05AM

Two thoughts,

1) I have no hesitation to suggest that you accept the gift. It is a company trying to make amends for a reported problem of potentially serious consequences for both you and future customers. The only oddity is that they learned about it from a mystery shop report instead of a nasty letter from the dissatisfied customer, the local Health Department, or a lawyer's letter demanding a large payment.

2) If the contact came directly from the client I would be scolding the MSP. They should NEVER provide shopper's contact information to the client but act as an intermediary in such instances where the client wants to contact the shopper. Now that the client has your contact information, they likely have you made as a shopper and you probably lose that client for your business.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

July 01, 2014 02:45AM

Yes, if the contact came directly from the client I would be scolding the MSP as well.

A few years ago we did a restaurant that was pretty bad all the way around. It was noisy, crowded, the food was bad and the service worse. At one point a passing server took care of a long overdue clearing of empty plates and asked if we would like dessert. We ordered it through her. Our server showed up shortly and was surprised to find our plates gone. We told her another server had picked them up. She offered dessert and we told her we had already ordered with the other server. She got snippy and wanted to know what we had ordered and we told her. The passing server soon brought our desserts and we were enjoying them when our server showed up with another order of our desserts. The passing server returned to our table and the two had angry and loud words. It was unpleasant, we didn't need to be in the middle of their brawl and it got included in the report.

Several weeks later a gift card to the restaurant arrived in a company envelope and I was about to ream my scheduler when he said that the company sometimes did that when a shopper had a wretched time and that they sent it to the MSP which addressed the envelope and sent it along to me. So check with your MSP.

July 01, 2014 01:29PM

Flash, sometimes I think you have Cettie experiences, only tamer!

July 01, 2014 02:05PM

I once had an experience with a local pizza company. I was told to order delivery 30 minutes before they close. The employee on the phone told me they had stopped delivery for the night. I advised the msc. They told me that the pizza place wanted to give me free pizza. I declined. Then the owner of the pizza place emailed me and apologized. That was strange, I thought. The very next day they put coupons in everyone's mailbox on my street. Coincidence?

July 01, 2014 02:26PM

1) the gift card came from the client
2) I did not contact the client directly to tell them of the problem.
3) The email situation...I am STILL trying to figure that part out...

I have been boggeled how they got my email address, especially since it is not one that was even tied to my account....I am just boggled by the situation.

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July 01, 2014 04:58PM

Yes, and talking with MSC about it would only drudge up the old issue, but you probably need to talk with someone in management.

On the other hand, the last thing the MSC wants is to make the Client unhappy by dissing their compensation/gift to you.

I would think about it carefully if I wanted to keep my contract with the MSC.

Just snoopy...how much was it!?

July 02, 2014 07:38PM

I'd just politely contact the MSC and tell them the card was offered, that you don't know how the client got your email since at no time did you provide it to them, and ask if you're able to take it.

Reeks of politeness and compliance but if they did in fact inappropriately provide your email, should cause some consternation on their end about their handling processes.

July 04, 2014 05:33AM

A couple of years ago, I did a cosmetics shop and got a severe allergic reaction to the eye makeup, most likely mascara. I had three opthamology visits, three prescriptions, and a whole lot of pain and thinking I was going to end up blind. (Vision was blurry and white gunk pouring out of my eyes). MSC was somewhat sympathetic, but didn't do anything. I contacted the department store (Nordstrom) who gave me $200 towards dr. bills but would not admit any fault. Now NOrdstrom wasn't really the client, because the client was the cosmetics company I would think, but the MSC didn't do anything on my behalf, and if I remember right, may have suggested I contact the store. They were certainly aware of it anyway, and I kept in touch with the scheduler regarding the problem. I now see the shops with big bonuses up to $40 (I foolishly did it for $10, hey, I was new) and I am so tempted, but just can't do it, even if I told them no eye makeup.

July 05, 2014 07:18AM

@57carol
I really feel badly for you, and it must have been awful and expensive. I hope you are better by now.

July 05, 2014 07:48AM

Mary Smith xoxoxo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @57carol
> I really feel badly for you, and it must have been
> awful and expensive. I hope you are better by
> now.

oh yes, fine. Thanks for the kind wishes.

July 05, 2014 04:51PM

The client would not know your name unless from the MSC so it would be OK, it is always difficult.

I had a burger not made right so I sent it back, ( I don't like Mayo on a burger) they did not charge me for burger and I did not take a picture, they would not pay for my shop. It was 75.00 so as you might guess I don't shop for them anymore and I always take pictures of my food. You can pretend to be texting and make sure you have the phone on mute ( on most phones that turns of the shutter sound) and the flash is off.

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Allergic Reaction and now the company wants to gift me

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