Do You Return Food If It Goes Bad Too Fast, Or Tastes Bad?

Discussion in Food & Drink started by cluckeyo • Jun 10, 2016.

  1. cluckeyo

    cluckeyoActive Member

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    A big pet peeve of mine is buying a beautiful bag of oranges, only to bring them home and find they aren't really even edible. That sack of oranges might have cost me $5. This actually happened the other day and I returned them to Walmart. My money was cheerfully refunded. Milk can also be a big problem. Don't be snookered. If you get some bad food at the grocery store, take that stuff back for a refund!! Be sure to save your receipt.
     
  2. Corzhens

    CorzhensWell-Known Member

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    I have learned that lesson so many times before especially with fruits. There was a time that I bought a whole watermelon only to find at home that it was not ripe yet. My husband bought fresh durian which happens to be unripe. And so many other cases. Now what I buy are sliced watermelons covered by sanwrap so I can fully see the flesh if red or yellow. With the durian, my husband buys the frozen for it is guaranteed of quality.

    With meat products in the supermarket, I always choose carefully. But fortunately, the supermarket here sells quality meat and fish. However, I seldom buy fish there for fish in the wet market are better, they are guaranteed of freshness.
     
  3. Lushlala

    LushlalaWell-Known Member

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    I'm glad that that worked in your favour! I don't bother at all, mainly because I doubt it would get me anywhere around these parts LOL Even when I was living in the UK, I wouldn't have thought to do that, though. I think I'd be forever returning food items. But I have noticed that things like milk seem to go off way before the indicated expiry date, and that's beyond ANNOYING!!!
     
  4. Zyni

    ZyniWell-Known Member

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    I worked in a grocery store at one time, and learned that things aren't always kept at proper temperatures. Once, the delivery man dropped off our supply of milk, but the stock guys left it sitting on the dock for quite some time. I'm sure that milk went bad way before it's "best by" date, due to not being kept cold enough.

    I do take stuff back. Maybe not every single time, but I have done it several times. Food is just too expensive to have to replace like that due to no fault of my own.
     
  5. Ke Gordon

    Ke GordonWell-Known Member

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    I have taken back items a few times when I wasn't satisfied with how long they lasted. I have gotten a refund everytime, so I don't think it is that hard to do. This didn't have anything to do with expiration, but one time I had a piece of meat, some kind of roast I had gotten at the grocery store and that meat was basically inedible..It was all full of gristle, and bone. It was the worst I ever had. I wish I had taken that back!
     
  6. Lushlala

    LushlalaWell-Known Member

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    I know what you mean, @Zyni@Zyni! The other thing that happens here, is that people sometimes leave stuff they no longer need or can't afford to take right at the till. The checkout staff can't leave their station to return them each time this happens, and some of them like cheese, cream and milk need refrigerating fast. It can be hours before they're taken back where they belong, sadly.
     
  7. DreekLass

    DreekLassWell-Known Member

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    I have not ever returned food, except for one time when we found ants - dead ones - embedded within articles of toffee that we had bought. They refunded us straight away once we showed them the toffee. Other than that I don't taste food and then take it back because it was awful.
     
  8. Moroccanbeauty2266

    Moroccanbeauty2266Active Member

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    I never returned food that turned out to be bad after I bought it. But it happened to me many times before, especially when buying fruits. There would always be at least one in there that is already rotten. It gets quite frustrating because at the store you see a good price for so much but end up wasting money in the end. I also did not know that it was even possible to return it if it is bad. Next time I will bring it back and hopefully get the money refunded instead of throwing food away.
     
  9. DreekLass

    DreekLassWell-Known Member

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    I always check the stuff that I buy, which is why I could never really buy my groceries are online, because I need to be able to inspect my food. Some of the fruit in store is bruised and stuff like that, or has an opening., and those are the ones that are much more likely to rot. I would never take the fruit back unless it was under an extraordinary circumstance.
     
  10. isabbbela

    isabbbelaWell-Known Member

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    I don't remember ever doing that. My mom has done it a few times with stuff like milk and yogurt. She would get them still nowhere near the expiration date, and they would be bad. She would go back and return them. This never happened to me.
     
  11. DreekLass

    DreekLassWell-Known Member

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    Oh, well if you put it like that then yes, my mother has done the same thing. But it has never happened to me either. I think it's because it jut seems like too much hassle to take back food for that reason, even though it isn't, and we really should take the food back.
     
  12. DrRipley

    DrRipleyExpert

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    I'm not the one who buys fruits in my family so thankfully I haven't had to deal with this and usually the ones who do buy the fruits here knows what they are doing so I've never really had much trouble with it. I do have some experiences similar to this with restaurants though and fortunately nowadays it's much easier to just call them since most of the food places here already have delivery systems so they have a good communications system installed as well and these days they are much more keen and quicker to rectify the situation since a lot of businesses nowadays are much more careful because they don't want to get blasted on social media and risk gaining a bad reputation.
     
  13. gata montes

    gata montesActive Member

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    Fortunately - although I have absolutely no qualms about doing it if necessary - having to return food because it has something wrong with it is not something that I've ever had to do that often - in fact come to think of it - I've probably only had to do it maybe once or twice - both of which involved frozen vegetables that had very clearly defrosted several times before being refrozen and which on each occasion were happily resolved by the store - with a refund and a $5 voucher - to compensate for the inconvenience of having to return them.
     
  14. DreekLass

    DreekLassWell-Known Member

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    I have a friend who bought a load of bread, and it was in the bag that loafs of bread usually come in. She and her family ate the first few slices of bread no problem, and then after that there were holes appearing in the center of the slices. The deeper she and her family went the bigger the holes got, until they discovered a dead rat at the bottom of the loaf of bread. it was only small, but nevertheless a rat. She did not just take the bread back, I think there was a legal suit, and she won.
     
  15. purplepen88

    purplepen88Active Member

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    So true, I always save my receipts. You never when you buy produce what it will be like. I bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes only to discover half were mouldy. I promptly returned the bag and got a new one. Now I do a sniff test on potatoes to see if they are fresh. You can smell a very funky odour from a bag of potatoes when one has gone off. I've also brought back chicken that has gone bad too. I never have a problem returning food. I once found bone in deli meat and had to return it. I complained to both the store I bought it at and the company that manufactured the deli meat. I was refunded my money by the store and the company sent me $25 in coupons. Do not accept substandard food, always keep your receipt and return when they are not up to par.
     
  16. MissLibby

    MissLibbyMember

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    I have no problem returning bad meat or any other food that's not any good. Groceries are too expensive anyway and to buy something and then just throw it out is ridiculous. purplepen88, I always do the sniff test on the bags of potatoes at the store too. I'm sure that people look at me like I'm fruity when I do that, but I don't care. That's better than getting home with a bag of half rotten potatoes that I can't eat.
     
  17. sidney

    sidneyWell-Known Member

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    That hasn't happened to me yet, but I do remember being asked by my mom to return the bread that had mold to the bakery. My dad recently returned noodles that were already expired, they were the instant kind that are sold in cups in a small store, and the noodles were accepted.
     
    #17Jun 21, 2016
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2016