La Posta Market

July 30, 2014
 
Ms. [redacted]
Revdex.com
4747 Viewridge Ave., #200
San Diego, CA 92123-1688
 
RE:      Consumer Concern – ID #[redacted]
 
Dear Ms....

[redacted],
 
We are in receipt of your letter dated July 17, 2014 regarding the above referenced consumer complaint.
 
La Posta Market is a medium sized grocery store that has been serving Imperial Beach residents for over 40 years. We pride ourselves in being very cost competitive and offering our neighborhood patrons a wide selection that includes a full Meat Counter, Juice Bar, Fresh Produce, Homemade Tortillas and Mexican Pastries, and a Full Service Hot Food Counter.
 
Our Meat Manager has worked for La Posta Market for the past 22 years and has 40 years of experience working with meat. Our Butchers in Meat Department serve the majority of our customers individually at the meat counter by selecting and individually wrapping the majority of the meats we sell to our customers. By having this type of individualized service, we hope to reduce or eliminate any negative feedback regarding our meats, however, we have always had a liberal meat return policy. Any customer who brings a receipt and the product that they are unhappy with within 24 hours of purchase is given a full refund. Although rare, if there are multiple returns or complaints on a specific item, our policy is to pull the entire batch and contact the supplier with our concerns.
 
The consumer who made the report against us over concerns with her Chicken was given a full refund for her Chicken. Additionally, we do not feel that her concern regarding us selling “expired products” was accurate. We tried to explain to the customer that the date she was reading on the label was clearly marked as the production code, rather than a “sell by” date. She was insistent that this was not the case. We then suggested she try to contact Fortuna Sea Products, Inc. to talk to them about their packaging labels. Not having their direct phone number, we then suggested she try to “Google” the name to get a phone number for them. Our suggestion was not meant to be insulting or rude, we were trying to help her to get the answers she was looking for. Please understand that we purchase the majority of our grocery products from Unified Western Grocer, we do not deal with each individual supplier and/or manufacturer directly so we do not have contact information readily available for all of the manufacturers of the products we sell.
 
We have no control over the packaging and/or codes that suppliers use on their packaging.  Similarly, there are other products that are sold that show “born on” dates as well as numerical codes. We certainly understand the frustration and confusion these alternative dates cause for the consumers, however, we have never had a complaint about the freshness or quality of this particular product.
 
Given the recent concern from the customer, we have sent an email to Fortuna Sea Products, Inc outlining the issue and asking for clarification on the “production code” meaning. I have attached a screen shot in order to verify that we emailed our concerns to them.
 
I have also attached a photo of the Imitation Crab Flakes so that you may verify that the packaging states “production Code” rather than a “use by” date as suggested in the customer complaint.
 
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require additional information.
 
 
 
[redacted]
Administrative Asst.
La Posta Market, Inc.

Review: I have not had this problem once or twice it has been more than that. Yesterday I bought some chicken that stunk really bad, and today I bought some imitation crab that according to the owner of the place does not expire and told me to google and call the company. He was very rude and disrespectful!!!Desired Settlement: For this business to be investigated and make sure that they are not selling expired products and that they take some customer service classes it would benefit them a lot.

Business

Response:

July 30, 2014

Ms. [redacted]

Revdex.com

4747 Viewridge Ave., #200

San Diego, CA 92123-1688

RE: Consumer Concern – ID #[redacted]

Dear Ms. [redacted],

We are in receipt of your letter dated July 17, 2014 regarding the above referenced consumer complaint.

La Posta Market is a medium sized grocery store that has been serving Imperial Beach residents for over 40 years. We pride ourselves in being very cost competitive and offering our neighborhood patrons a wide selection that includes a full Meat Counter, Juice Bar, Fresh Produce, Homemade Tortillas and Mexican Pastries, and a Full Service Hot Food Counter.

Our Meat Manager has worked for La Posta Market for the past 22 years and has 40 years of experience working with meat. Our Butchers in Meat Department serve the majority of our customers individually at the meat counter by selecting and individually wrapping the majority of the meats we sell to our customers. By having this type of individualized service, we hope to reduce or eliminate any negative feedback regarding our meats, however, we have always had a liberal meat return policy. Any customer who brings a receipt and the product that they are unhappy with within 24 hours of purchase is given a full refund. Although rare, if there are multiple returns or complaints on a specific item, our policy is to pull the entire batch and contact the supplier with our concerns.

The consumer who made the report against us over concerns with her Chicken was given a full refund for her Chicken. Additionally, we do not feel that her concern regarding us selling “expired products” was accurate. We tried to explain to the customer that the date she was reading on the label was clearly marked as the production code, rather than a “sell by” date. She was insistent that this was not the case. We then suggested she try to contact Fortuna Sea Products, Inc. to talk to them about their packaging labels. Not having their direct phone number, we then suggested she try to “Google” the name to get a phone number for them. Our suggestion was not meant to be insulting or rude, we were trying to help her to get the answers she was looking for. Please understand that we purchase the majority of our grocery products from Unified Western Grocer, we do not deal with each individual supplier and/or manufacturer directly so we do not have contact information readily available for all of the manufacturers of the products we sell.

We have no control over the packaging and/or codes that suppliers use on their packaging. Similarly, there are other products that are sold that show “born on” dates as well as numerical codes. We certainly understand the frustration and confusion these alternative dates cause for the consumers, however, we have never had a complaint about the freshness or quality of this particular product.

Given the recent concern from the customer, we have sent an email to Fortuna Sea Products, Inc outlining the issue and asking for clarification on the “production code” meaning. I have attached a screen shot in order to verify that we emailed our concerns to them.

I have also attached a photo of the Imitation Crab Flakes so that you may verify that the packaging states “production Code” rather than a “use by” date as suggested in the customer complaint.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require additional information.

Administrative Asst.

La Posta Market, Inc.