Van Houtte Cafe Hair in Food

Van Houtte Cafe provides hair mixed inside salad

On Friday December the 9th 2011 I was going to lunch as I do on most weekdays. I passed by the Van Houtte Cafe in Place Ville Marie and decided I would give them a chance at my business. Boy was this a big mistake because Van Houtte Place Ville Marie sold me a salad with a hair in it. I ordered the three salad combo to go. I get back to my desk and start eating the three salad combo only to find a hair in one of the salads. Needless to say I was not too pleased with this discovery I take the salads back to the Van Houtte Cafe in Place Ville Marie that provided me with the salads with a hair inside.

They offer me my money back which to me is an insult as I decided to do business with Van Houtte Cafe in Place Ville Marie and it is Van Houtte Cafe in Place Ville Marie who sold me an apple salad with a hair inside it. I got to my desk before I discovered the hair in my salad that Van Houtte Cafe in Place Ville Marie sold me. So it was a complete waste of my time to do business with Van Houtte Cafe in Place Ville Marie. Van Houtte Cafe PVM not only sold me a salad with a hair in it but they wasted my whole lunch hour now that I had to go back and deal with the situation of Van Houtte Cafe PVM selling me the salad with the hair inside. Van Houtte Cafe PVM did offer me to prepare me another meal but why would I accept this? Van Houtte Cafe PVM already sold me one salad with a hair inside, how can I trust any more of their salads? By this experience for all I know all of the Van Houtte Cafe PVM lunch salads include hairs in them.

The worst part of it all is I had passed by this Van Houtte PVM location on many occassions seeing this Apple salad that looked good and I had been tempted to try this Van Houtte PVM apple salad for sometime and when I finally did try the Van Houtte Place Ville Marie apple salad it contained a hair in it. The Van Houtte PVM staffed claimed that they do not make their own salads and since the salads are premade that the situation was beyond their control. How is this my problem as the customer? I am the one affected by the hair in the apple salad that Van Houtte Cafe PVM sold me. They should go back to their supplier and request compensation so they can compensate me the customer properly. Needless to say I did not accept the resolution that Van Houtte Cafe PVM staff provided me for the hair that was in my apple salad so I decide to take my concern of the Van Houtte Cafe Place Ville Marie hair in my lunch incident to the Van Houtte head office.

I am provided the information of a Pierre who is described as the regional director of the Van Houtte Cafes. I explain to Pierre the situation which is quite simple, that when I purchased a chick pea salad, apple salad and couscous salad as part of a salad trio from the Van Houtte Cafe Place Ville Marie which were all packaged in the same container the apple salad had a hair inside it. Pierre confirmed to me that the policy of Van Houtte when a hair is in a salad is to refund the customer or prepare a replacement meal. I explained to Pierre that this made me concerned, as if the Van Houtte Cafe PVM selling me a salad with a hair in it is an isolated incedent they can certainly offer a little bit better than a refund of my money or a replacement meal given the size of their Corporation. This made me think that this is indeed not an isolated incedent as if Van Houtte Cafe is only willing to provide nothing more than my money back for Van Houtte Cafe selling me a salad with a hair it this situation may happen frequently and it would be too costly for Van Houtte Cafe to compensate every customer that ends up with a hair in their salad properly as it would drastically affect their bottom line.

So Pierre asks me what would be a valid resolution. I say to him that I see that Van Houtte Cafe sells coffee machines now. For me a valid resolution would be one of the Keurig style coffe machines that they sell and some coffee to go with it. This is when Pierre insulted me and his true colors came out. He replys, for a less than $10 meal I should provide you with a $100 coffee machine and coffee? I then reply to him, what difference does it make the cost of my meal? Is this the policy of Van Houtte cafes? If you spend less than a certain amount on your meal with their cafes you are no longer an important customer. This made me feel that Van Houtte cafes did not care in the least that I had a hair in my food. Pierre kept explaining the quality efforts that are put in place to ensure a hair does not end up in the customers food. I then explained to him if all the efforts were made and I am the rare customer that ended up with a hair in my salad which his Van Houtte Cafe PVM sold me a $100 coffee machine would seem like a drop in the a bucket. He then told me he could not make the decision of offering me this coffee machine for my trouble and he would have to speak with his supervisor and get back to me.

Needless to say four days passed and he did not get back to me. I then called the Van Houtte head office to let them know Pierre did not get back to me regarding the resolution I requested for the Van Houtte PVM location selling salad with a hair in it. I was told it is the holiday season and they are busy but she will look into it. Suprise a few moments later my phone rings and it's Pierre. Pierre explains that he spoke to his supervisor and their policy is their policy, if Van Houte Cafes sell a customer a salad with a hair in it they will refund the customer or prepare a replacement meal, nothing more. I suppose Van Houte Cafes are going one step better than the food vendors who don't offer you your money back when there is a hair in your food. Pierre even went on to say that I could not prove that the hair in my food was provided by the Van Houtte Cafe in PVM. So now the Van Houtte Corporation doesn't care that there was a hair in my food they are now taking a stand that they no longer value my feedback as a customer as he is basically insinuating that the hair in my salad may have been my own doing. I explained to Pierre if that is their policy then my policy when I am not satisfied is to share my experience with others and he had no issue with me doing this. So here you are this is the experience.

So in summary if you are choosing to purchase food of any kind including, salad, cookies, cakes, dessert from the Van Houtte Cafe and you happen to find a hair in your salad, cookie, cake, dessert, etc. Van Houte cafe will refund your money or provide you with a replacement. Given that I already bought a Van Houte salad trio which included a Van Houtte apple salad with a hair in it I can confirm that situations where Van Houtte cafe sells food with hairs in them is a reality. So why take the risk? Do you think I will ever do business with Van Houtte Cafes again? The answer is no. I will NOT do business with an establishment such as Van Houtte cafe that sells food with hairs inside and does not properly address the issue by providing the customer with a resolution that they are satisfied with. Van Houtte management was content that I was going to be a disatisfied customer according to their policy after the Van Houte Cafe PVM sold me an apple salad with a hair in it and they were fine with that.

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