Since the brand Gardenia become known here in the Philippines, my family became a loyal consumer of it. Why? Because they lived up to their mission to give us, consumers, the best quality bakery products. We haven't tasted a bread that you can eat without any spread on it until they were introduced to the Philippine market. My son, who is a picky eater is one testimony of how good they taste. Asked why he loves eating it? He will say that it is simply chewy, soft and delicious. For a three year old kid, he can finish 4 slices of the tasty bread in one sitting. And for a mom like I, who is having a hard time thinking what snack to give his child, surely this product is one big help.
Last May 16, 2012, I bought a Gardenia Tasty Bread at Robinson's Supermarket. As any of us would do, I checked the expiration first. The G-Lock stated that it will expire on May 21, 2012 which gives us 5 days to totally consume the product. Came day 3, May 19, afternoon, my hubby noticed that there were already molds in one side of the bread. He told me and asked if I can somehow report it to the manufacturer. Since it was weekend, I can't call their customer service and it was Sunday when I thought of looking for it on the web. I browse through their website and looked for a complaint sheet that I could filled up but there's none. I decided to used the comments/suggestion tab instead and started typing my inquiry.
Came Monday morning, I received a call from a girl who's name was Leslie from Gardenia. She asked me what happened and told me that they were investigating the matter. She told me to expect someone to dropped by our house to talked to me. That someone, came just a while ago. I didn't get her name since she only introduced herself to me as a personnel from Gardenia. It was a short conversation explaining to me that from the batch of bread that I bought, it was the only one that showed molds. She told me that it was more of mishandling the product that's why it happened. I told her that if it was mishandling or from the humidity level of our storage area, how come it only happened to us now. At the end of our talk, I asked if I will be informed regarding the result of their investigation. But unfortunately, since it was days passed the expiration date, they cannot validate anymore the result of it. She gave me a token instead, I assumed for the inconvenience that we encountered from their product.
I would like to say thank you for dropping by personally and the effort was well appreciated. Thank you also for the token even if I only wanted was an explanation why it happened. I never asked anything in return from my complaint.
Tips:
1. Always keep the receipt where you bought the product so that you can have an evidence that you indeed have a transaction with them.
2. Keep anything, be it in the label or in this case the G-lock, where you can see the expiration date.
3. Keep food items in their proper temperature.
4. In case that you have a problem with a certain product, it is your right to report it to the manufacturer, store where you bought the product or even to DTI.
5. Know your right as a consumer.
This is just my way of sharing my experience to my readers and no harm is intended to the company's name mentioned above. I am a loyal consumer/customer or their product and will continue to be one. Thank you!
