I bought a poor quality Mars Bar today

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
Having removed sugar from my diet, I treat myself once a week to a small chocolate bar.

The caramel had oozed out and the wrapper was adhered to said caramel.
I wrote to Mars to let them know. Not to get a replacement, just to let them know there was a failing somewhere along the line.

I purchased this Mars Bar at Woolworths Dianella Plaza at 4.30 pm on Fri 22nd March.
The caramel had leaked? over the top of the Bar and completely adhered to the paper wrapping
I tasted it and there was a distinct taste of paper.
Included 2 photographs.
I am not returning it. Simply letting you know that this and others must have been a failing somewhere along the supply line.



 

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Don't you just hate when that happens?!
Keep your eyes peeled for a special delivery.
👀


Giant Mars bar - where to get one - Page 1 - Food, Drink & Restaurants ...

I know you like to cook, Brett. Check this out if you're feeling ambitious. 🙃🙂


Giant Mars Bar Recipe or Milky Way Bar - HowToCookThat : Cakes...
 
Well, you know that those Martians are aliens, and should be deported! Superman’s the only good one of the lot. Marvin the Martian wants to obliterate Earth to get a better view of Venus… 👽

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Bretrick said:
Having removed sugar from my diet, I treat myself once a week to a small chocolate bar.

The caramel had oozed out and the wrapper was adhered to said caramel.
I wrote to Mars to let them know. Not to get a replacement, just to let them know there was a failing somewhere along the line.

I purchased this Mars Bar at Woolworths Dianella Plaza at 4.30 pm on Fri 22nd March.
The caramel had leaked? over the top of the Bar and completely adhered to the paper wrapping
I tasted it and there was a distinct taste of paper.
Included 2 photographs.
I am not returning it. Simply letting you know that this and others must have been a failing somewhere along the supply line.



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Actually you’re in Australia. Mars has its own company in Australia.
 
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Damage during transport and distribution is a particular vexing problem for all shippers of goods, particularly food and produce. Most items are relatively inexpensive so we don't complain to retailers and many retailers accept poor quality from their suppliers and pass that on to their customers instead of insisting their suppliers deliver quality products. The end game is prices rise because of excessive shrink and easily remedied issues are never addressed.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Aha, you're in Australia-it's summer there. I was going to say your mushy Mars bar sounded like it was once melted. Maybe a long ride in a hot delivery van to your store???
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No evidence of the chocolate coating having melted. It appears to have been slightly crushed, as the top coating was broken all the way around, allowing the gooey caramel to ooze out.
 
A rather prompt reply from Mars Wrigley Confectionary Australia

I sent my observations on Friday and received this Response on Monday morning

Thanks for contacting us about MARS®. We’re sorry to hear about your experience and we appreciate the photos attached.
It seems like your product has been affected by excessive heat prior to your purchase. Confectionery moves through a long distribution system from manufacture to retail.
Sadly, it’s not possible for us to maintain control over storage conditions once products leave our warehouse. We’ll make sure we share your feedback with our Distribution Team for their awareness.
So that we can replace your product, we’d like to send you a e-gift card to use next time you’re shopping. Unfortunately, our Coles e-gift cards are currently unavailable however, if you’re okay with Woolworths, we’ll then send you a link and you can take your smartphone/device to the supermarket to scan it at the checkout.
We look forward to your reply.
Kind regards,
Vincent Saraga Sullera
Mars Consumer Care
 
Now if Mars would only do something about the price of their product! I know I’m dating myself here, but when I was a kid, a typical candy bar cost about 5 cents. Today, a candy bar costs close to an American dollar, and is smaller than they used to be! I’m less inclined to impulsively buy one because of this, even though a dark chocolate Mars bar is to die for! The fiends rope you in, then send their prices skyrocketing to Mars… 😾

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Bretrick said:
A rather prompt reply from Mars Wrigley Confectionary Australia

I sent my observations on Friday and received this Response on Monday morning

Thanks for contacting us about MARS®. We’re sorry to hear about your experience and we appreciate the photos attached.
It seems like your product has been affected by excessive heat prior to your purchase. Confectionery moves through a long distribution system from manufacture to retail.
Sadly, it’s not possible for us to maintain control over storage conditions once products leave our warehouse. We’ll make sure we share your feedback with our Distribution Team for their awareness.
So that we can replace your product, we’d like to send you a e-gift card to use next time you’re shopping. Unfortunately, our Coles e-gift cards are currently unavailable however, if you’re okay with Woolworths, we’ll then send you a link and you can take your smartphone/device to the supermarket to scan it at the checkout.
We look forward to your reply.
Kind regards,
Vincent Saraga Sullera
Mars Consumer Care
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Good response. They acknowledge that the bar wasn’t their mistake. It was the stores mistake but they honour your complaint anyway. That was mighty decent of them.

If I found a bar not right, I’d just eat it anyway and leave it. Some people complain only be generously compensated. To get the bar replaced is fine. To expect more is considered scamming.
 
I take it that it would have been more trouble than it's worth to return it to the store (?). Once when was on vacation in Atlantic City, N.J., our timeshare shuttle bus took us shopping to the next town over...Brigantine. I always bought groceries from the Acme supermarket there. I bought something from the deli or fruit department (forgot which) that turned out to be no good.

There was no way I was getting back there before I left for home so I called the manager and told him of the bad product and that I would not be able to get back there for at least a couple of months. He gave me his name, told me to bring the receipt, tell the customer service rep that I had spoken with him about the issue and a credit would be issued next time I visited the store...whenever that was. During that time, I was going quite often. Next time I went that's exactly what happened.
 
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I admit, this wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest. It's a candy bar, a treat. It's also very cheap.

I was more surprised when I read the caramel had adhered to the wrapper, and that gave the bar a paper taste. Paper? Surely they're not still using paper wrappers out there, are there? It's all plastic wrappers here.

I sometimes watch videos on Youtube of angry people, and they're hilarious. Seeing someone wreck a store because their burger didn't have pickles in it is as good an illustration as you need to know the fabric of society is broken.

In my life, I can only remember two out and out disasters of this type, but found when opening cans. The first was a can of peaches, but when it was opened it was full of drowned bees. Urgh. The second was even worse - a can of meat balls, which when opened, included huge clumps of someones hair.......
 
VaughanJB said:
I admit, this wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest. It's a candy bar, a treat. It's also very cheap.

I was more surprised when I read the caramel had adhered to the wrapper, and that gave the bar a paper taste. Paper? Surely they're not still using paper wrappers out there, are there? It's all plastic wrappers here.

I sometimes watch videos on Youtube of angry people, and they're hilarious. Seeing someone wreck a store because their burger didn't have pickles in it is as good an illustration as you need to know the fabric of society is broken.

In my life, I can only remember two out and out disasters of this type, but found when opening cans. The first was a can of peaches, but when it was opened it was full of drowned bees. Urgh. The second was even worse - a can of meat balls, which when opened, included huge clumps of someones hair.......
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Well, if you would just complain a little bit more, and LOUDER, you could get free stuff too! Like the "Sharper" that you bought that was already dry. You paid good money for it, and it is false and sloppy advertising. We need to stand up and tell them who they are working for! :)
 
VaughanJB said:
I was more surprised when I read the caramel had adhered to the wrapper, and that gave the bar a paper taste. Paper? Surely they're not still using paper wrappers out there, are there? It's all plastic wrappers here.
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Mars Australia changed to paper wrappers last year.
As part of their sustainability journey.
Doing this will eliminate 360 tonnes of plastic,
 
A follow up to my response to Mars.

Thanks for your reply and for providing us with the additional information.

Your concerns and feedback are important to us, and we appreciate your efforts to let us know about this. We've shared the available details with our Distribution Team for their awareness.

As a gesture of goodwill, we will arrange to send you a physical voucher via post. Kindly note that we're unable to replace vouchers that are either lost or stolen.

Thanks again for reaching out, and we hope you'll continue to enjoy our products.
 

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