28 June 2010

Pringles

A recent complaint letter to P&G:

I found a pringle in a packet of your Prawn Cocktail flavour Pringles which appears to have extra material attached to it, from a packet which I purcahsed 2 days ago from my local Premiere on Wokingham Road, Reading. On the upper side is a large brown patch which looks a bit like chocolate and on the underside is a small patch with pimples and and a brown/blacky substance. I know that you carry out quality control very well but obviously this pringle seems to have escaped and I am not sure if it would be safe to consume. I have taken a couple of pictures and uploaded them [here].

I would be more than happy to post this to you for analysis or any other questions you would like to ask. I would like to query how this could have happened and would like to highlight that this pringle especially could be quite dangerous, especially to children, if consumed.

Kind regards.

Response:

Hello Robert and thank you for your email

I am sorry that you have been concerned about your recent purchase of Pringles and would like to assure you that although the object you have found is unpleasant looking, it is completely harmless.

The object is in fact a small piece of burnt chip. In the normal frying process the chips go through the fryer only once but occasionally a small piece may stick to the fryer and go through it a number of times. This piece of burnt chip then becomes attached to another chip and appears as the dark object you noticed.

In the hope that you will continue to enjoy Pringles with confidence, I am sending you a voucher which can be used toward a future purchase. Please allow 7 working days for this to reach you.

Thank you again for bringing this matter to our attention and please get back in touch if we can be of any further assistance.

We are conducting a survey on your level of satisfaction of the service you received. We hope you will dedicate a few minutes to help us improve our service to you. To participate in the survey please copy and paste the following link into a new internet browser:http://webcollect.viewscast.com/pgccib/?country=11

Kind regards,

Suzanne

Consumer Relations