I try to shop as smartly as possible. Whether it’s groceries, clothing or household goods and services, I always want to make sure that we are getting the best value for our money. But, I also like to support local businesses whenever feasible and possible. It’s easy to go to Wal-Mart for everything, but my conscience bothers me when I think about the long-term smaller business owners in town who are being hurt by Wal-Mart’s occupation of small towns all over North America (and Mexico, actually. Come to remember going to Wal-Mart in Playa del Carmen six or so years ago. It was actually kind of awesome though). And because a post without a picture is kinda like mashed potatoes without gravy:
So, the Price Chopper in Keswick is a franchise, which to me means that there is a ‘real person’ trying to make a living by owning and running that store, and not just some huge corporation getting fatter. So, when the flyers comes out and there are good deals, I try to give local, people-owned stores my business rather than automatically going to Wal-Mart and ad matching everything in sight. But this past weekend, I learned a valuable (and costly) lesson.
When it comes to stewing beef, (and most likely other meats as well), the quality is not at Price Chopper, at least the one I shopped at in Keswick. I make gluten-free beef stew as part of my rotating meal plan but the meat is expensive, so when it goes on sale for $2.99/lb or less, I stock up. I freeze it in 1lb portions and save bundles doing so. Price Chopper’s flyer showed stewing beef for $2.97/lb. They had a limit of two per customer, so I chose two, paid (um, obviously! Shoplifting is so NOT cost-effective *grin*) and brought it home. When I opened the packaged to divvy them up and actually make stew yesterday afternoon, I was so sad and disappointed to find the meat was 30%-40% fat and gristle. Not nice, at all. I salvaged what I could, got dinner started and sat down to write the company.
Here is what I wrote:
“To Whom it May Concern,
I am writing to express my absolute disappointment with the two (2) packages of stewing beef which were purchased from the Price Chopper in Keswick this past weekend. I opened them up today and found the meat sub-par quality.
There was so much fat and gristle that in preparing it to cook in a stew, I ended up having to cut 30-40% of the ‘meat’ (was actually thick, white fat) off the ‘cubes’. $2.97/lb is not a deal if, after getting home and opening the package and having to throw out so much of it that I end up paying almost $8.00 for 2 pounds of edible beef. I am shopping for a family of seven and like most people, really need to get value for my grocery dollars.
I had been warned before not to purchase meat from Price Chopper, but really hate to make those kind of decisions without first hand knowledge.
I do not believe that I will be purchasing butchered meat from Price Chopper again in the future. If the price is that good, I will take my flyer to Wal-Mart and they will price match it for me. And I’ll end up with much better quality meat.
I write a local blog and as part of my local shopping and store reviews, this week I will be publishing a post about my experience with Price Chopper stewing beef this past weekend.
I look forward to hearing back from you and will gladly post your reply as part of the post I publish, in order to be as complete and open as possible.
yours truly,”
And here is the reply I received this morning:
“Hello Allison:
Thank you for contacting Sobeys Customer Care. Customer feedback is an integral part of our business and we welcome all comments from our customers.
We were sorry to hear of your disappointment with our product offerings. We welcome the opportunity to investigate any quality issues with products sold at our stores.
We have shared your comments with store franchisee John Taylor and our Sobeys associates. Our store operators appreciate being able to speak with customers directly regarding any concerns. Please feel free to speak with John directly 905-476-7773 who will be happy to assist you. Or, please provide your phone number and John will contact you.
We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced and appreciate your bringing this to our attention.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve you.
Regards,
Maria D’Emilio
Sobeys Ontario Customer Care
1-888-821-5557
Fax: 905-671-6055″
So, it’s not the worst reply I’ve ever received, but it’s not very satisfying either. I’m not sure if I’m going to expend any more energy on pursuing Price Chopper on this issue or not. I went to Wal-Mart this morning, picked up two more trays of stewing beef that are beautiful quality and the store price matched my Price Chopper flyer (of course, because whatever else it is, Wal-Mart is the King of Price Matching). 🙂
I can tell you this though, I will NEVER purchase meat products at Price Chopper again. I rolled the dice once and lost and I’m not much for gambling. What about you? Have you purchased meat from Price Chopper and had any problems? Or is your Price Chopper awesome?
All the Price Choppers in our area, have now been turned into Fresh Co. stores… I had a similar incident years ago when I lived in Hamilton… Purchased some lunch meat from their deli..even watched them slice it off the bigger block.. everything looked fine.. got it home, placed it in the fridge and when I opened it the next morning to make school lunches…It had turned green and was rotten…everything else in our fridge was fine but that… Right then and there my husband and I decided even though it was within walking distance to our home, we would never return there and started going to Comissos instead.. Since we moved up this way, when it is time to shop, we either go to Fresh Co (love that store) or No Frills..
Ewww! I would have lost my mind finding green meat in the fridge the next day! Maybe our Price Chopper will get swallowed up and turned into a Fresh Co. I’ve been in one once, and it was much nicer than Price Chopper. I’ve had pretty good luck at No Frills as well, but it’s a 20 minute drive to get there, so it’s not on my usual list of stores to visit 🙂 Thanks for sharing your experience with me – I’m glad and sad at the same time to know that this lack of quality control is happening with food Price Chopper is selling to the general public 🙁
Have a wonderful day, Rhonda!
When living with my in-laws i would check the flyers and looks for deals… (this was before Walmart) and Philadelphia Cream cheese was on sale. Expiry Date was still a month away….. Bought one and it had spots of green Mold on it. went back and exchanged it and then the second had Green mold on it too….. That was the last time that went to that store. not just Price chopper but also Quality Chopper.
I haven’t heard of Quality Chopper before, but I will definitely steer clear! The last thing I need is mouldy cream cheese (especially considering I buy 4-8 at a time, when they go on sale!). So depressing how low quality control standards have gotten 🙁
Have you had better luck since they turned into a FreshCo? I didn’t shop there when it was a Price Chopper, but did buy meat for our fam-jam camping trip from the Keswick FreshCo. and it was really good. I was shocked. I’ve bought from there after that with decent results too. Wonder if their meat suppliers changed with the re-branding and/or complaints.
Thanks for sharing your experience with me! I haven’t really braved the butchered meat department at Fresh Co. (although I really do like the store better overall) Maybe the next time they have a sale on something everyone will eat, I’ll give it another go 🙂 If I do, I’ll be sure to update here!
Enjoy the sunshine 🙂
Hello,
My name is Kyle Blundell, I run the meat/deli department at the New Keswick freshco location, I completely agree with you on the poor standards that we had under the price chopper name, but I assure you that at Freshco we are doing everything we can to ensure the best quality we can provide.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding our store please feel free to call me at store level at 9054767773, or come in and speak with me directly.
Let me know what you think!
Regards,
Kyle
Hi Kyle,
Thanks for your visit. I’ll give Freshco another run in the meat department, and I have very high hopes for the quality after reading your comments. I’ll make sure to update here once I have found the right deal, the right price and the right meat to try 🙂
Thanks again and have a great day!
A.
Now that they’ve been turned ino Freshco I’ve noticed the meat is much better quality. Also, the meat sold is not a part of the massive beef recall which was relieving to me because I’ve only purchased my meat from there lately. I agree, when it was Price Choppers the meat was garbage. I’d shop for everything else there and have to shop elsewhere for my meat. Walmart is ok for meat but sometimes pretty pricey.
[…] Almost a year (!!) ago, I posted about Keswick Price Chopper and their substandard meat. I was very, very annoyed with the store in particular and the whole Sobey’s response in general. A refresher look at that post can be found here. […]