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Original poster

how to complain about M+S food?

104 replies

cocoboots · 26/12/2017 16:20

Picked up Xmas food on 24th. Cooke did yesterday.
Boneless turkey crown was still undercooked well after 2.15hr cooking time
Caramel chocolate cheesecake tastes vile- way too sickly sweet (and we eat cheesecake a lot in our house!)
Salmon terrines were in a very soggy box that was falling apart.

I'm more bothered about the cost, these items were a treat, far more expensive than food i'd normally purchase and nobody was wowed by it.

I just spoke to someone on the live chat who told me to take the packaging and receptors back to the store. I no longer have the packaging and I only have the original email confirmation.

Is there any other way of getting something back for this? Even just a token food discount voucher for my next shop?

OP posts:
purplecorkheart · 26/12/2017 16:49

Hotel I agree with you on the size thing. I ordered that beef rump thing. Was very surprised when I collected it and saw the size. I am useless at looking a the weigh of meat and picturing the size.

RunningOutOfCharge · 26/12/2017 16:49

Was this for the friend who was hours late?

That will be why it was dried out/soggy cardboard

retirednow · 26/12/2017 16:51

I travelled nearly 10 miles to get to my 'local' M&S who were out of stock of three things I needed and had rung in advance to check they were in stock. I was really disappointed so rang them, they emailed me back just to say sorry and will pass this onto the store manager. I'm not sure they would be interested in refunding any money, I have gone off M&S over the years, I find them overpriced and not as good quality as they used to be. For 'treats' I prefer Waitrose who also have much better offers. I would never spend £13 on a cheesecake.

Beltane18 · 26/12/2017 16:53

Hotel, when you ordered, did it say the weight of it?

AlexaDoTheDishes · 26/12/2017 16:55

The turkey - are you sure it's not your oven?

Wet box - not important, plus are you sure it wasn't your other food/frozen stuff that got it wet?

Cheesecake - a matter of taste.

Chalk it up to experience and go somewhere else next year.

I wouldn't bother complaining

Soozikinzii · 26/12/2017 16:56

I bought a meat thermometer I have had one before but they're very fragile just really so I could tell if the turkey was done this year . It's such a nightmare when you've got visitors and now even though we got our crown from the local butchers it was rolled in a net type thing when I used to cook it on the bone so that's not even the same. £13 for a cheese cake does seem excessive . On a good note Aldi profiteroles were great

Coloursthatweremyjoy · 26/12/2017 17:05

I think the undercooked turkey is just one of those things really. I made my own nut roast and it needed much longer than the recipe stated and a higher temperature.

I get it's really annoying when you've paid so much though! I don't rate M&S myself.

PerfumeIsAMessage · 26/12/2017 17:06

I'm sure if you whinge enough, you'll get a refund and probably a voucher.

Which is what you're after.

Chancer.

Oblomov17 · 26/12/2017 17:09

She is indeed allowed her opinion. And it Is exactly expensive. I see no problem in putting this in an email.

Dailystuck71 · 26/12/2017 17:16

You cannot complain because you didn’t cook the turkey long enough nor because something was too sweet. Get over yourself.

RunningOutOfCharge · 26/12/2017 17:18

Op spent Xmas day on MN complaining

Sounds lovely ken it's a bit of a hobby

XiCi · 26/12/2017 17:19

I had the 2hr 15m M & S turkey crown and it was cooked perfectly in that time. I've no idea how on earth you could think it was M&S fault it wasn't cooked. There will always be variations in the cooking time due to differences in ovens. I checked it was cooked after the alotted time. If it hadn't been I would have just cooked it for longer.
Also had the chocolate caramel cheesecake and enjoyed it. It's pretty obvious from the name of the dessert that it would be very sweet. To complain about that is laughable.

Original poster
cocoboots · 26/12/2017 17:21

thanks Oblomov17 and whoever else hasn't been vile.

OP posts:
Sirzy · 26/12/2017 17:22

Surely you knew it was overpriced when you ordered it and you weren’t forced to spend that much?

I never follow the cooking times on packets for joints of meat as they always seem to vary so much to the roasting method I have used all my life so I am not changing now.

Not liking something is a shame but as others have said just the name of the cheesecake makes it sound sickly sweet

ThisIsNotARealAvo · 26/12/2017 17:23

I agree that M and S was not the test I though it would be. I ordered a stuffed pork joint and a stuffed turkey roulade thing, plus some startery things and some macarons.

The pork was really salty, so was the turkey. They both just tasted of salt and garlic. The macarons which were quite expensive, as macarons often are, are hard and you can't taste the difference between the flavours.

Nothing actually wrong with any of it, but not as nice as I was expecting. It did all look very nice when it was cooked though. I guess the adverts don't lie in that respect.

Original poster
cocoboots · 26/12/2017 17:24

RunningOutOfCharge
I didnt spend 'Christmas day complaining on mums net'
I spent maybe 15-20 minutes out of a 12 hour day with a dilemma over my guest.
Get lost.

OP posts:
soundsgreektome · 26/12/2017 17:25

We had a M&S turkey crown, cooked it for exact time, in a holiday cottage oven - cooked to perfection.

Also had chocolate salted caramel cheesecake - lovely. But if you ate it all in one go - it'd be sickly. It would serve 12 people easily. How much did OP have?

I loved all our M&S lunch. Easy, and tasted spot on. Expensive perhaps, but going to a restaurant and feeding 5 of us would have cost more.

RunningOutOfCharge · 26/12/2017 17:27

Nah coco I'm not going to 'get lost'

Your whole thread is still available....Wink

Gileswithachainsaw · 26/12/2017 17:28

I don't think a cheesecake could ever be amazing enough to warrant spending 13 quid.

It's sugar butter cheese and chocolate and mass produced, just how good could it possibly really be in all honesty?

MistyMinge · 26/12/2017 17:30

Of course you can have an opinion on the food and tell people whether you enjoyed it or not, but I don't think anything you've mentioned is complaint worthy. They can't be held accountable for the way you cooked the turkey or you finding a desert too sweet. As for the soggy box, it's one of those things. Presumably you ate the salmon terrines?

Bumblina · 26/12/2017 17:30

People are being pretty rude the OP here.
I'm sure if most of us spent a lot of money on a special christmas day menu and it wasn't up to scratch and disappointed our guests we'd be likely to feel like complaining too!

RJnomore1 · 26/12/2017 17:35

I had the turkey crown too and it was cooked tobronzed perfection in 2hr 15. Also lots of meat, no idea why someone else was tiny. Said serves 6 but would easily do8 and we are big eaters.

The salmon box being soggy sounds like a condensation issue to me. If it was like that when you collected it then complain but if not then it's the way you've transported and stored it.

I don't think you'll get too far complaining a dessert is too sweet 😬

PickAChew · 26/12/2017 17:35

Turkey cooking isn't their fault. The turkey that was just cooked after 3 hours in my current oven at 180 would have been overdone after 2 1/4 hours in my old oven at 160. The instructions said 2.5 hours at 160. Old oven was too fierce, current oven doesn't have the best seal around the door.

Wheelywheel · 26/12/2017 17:37

M&s are very good at refunding on food that you didn't like, as long as you still have the packaging

PandasRock · 26/12/2017 17:39

I didn't think the M&S food to order was up to standard this year, either.

I've used it for years, always been perfectly happy.

This year, my turkey crown didn't cook properly, never had that problem before.

The Rudolph pudding was nice to look at, but was over sweet (and of course a pudding can be over sweet and sickly). It just tasted of sugar, it even of chocolate.

The Black Forest pudding was likewise disappointing. Overly sweet, with not as much dept of taste as I would expect.

I may well go elsewhere next year, after using M&S for Christmas food for at least 8 years.