I've hit a new aging low. I emailed in a complaint about cereal.

[Akoto]

I'm disabled, 37, I don't get many waking hours in the day. I never thought I would fall so far, but turning 37 this year... I think I've turned a terrible corner. I spent some of my precious time sending General Mills a cereal complaint, complete with picture comparison.

Am I... Am I becoming an elderly person stereotype?!

In seriousness, courtesy my disability, I have a delicate stomach and rice cereal (Rice Chex in particular) is a staple of my diet which gets along. Chocolate Chex is extra good because cocoa powder provides additional benefits to my digestive condition, and that's what the "chocolate" in Chocolate Chex is, not actual chocolate.

I buy seven boxes of the stuff per week or so when my folks go out grocery shopping, out of a slim budget (you guys know how slim, I recently had to do a fundraiser here for something!) which counts on everything being edible. I dunno what's changed about the cereal, but what's ON the box doesn't look like what's IN the box. It used to, but now it has this pale, cinnamon looking stuff on it that really has no flavor except mildly sweet.

It's a lotta money to me for seven boxes of gross cereal I'm going to have to deal with eating, here! C'mon, don't look at me like that. The cocoa powder supplement isn't even there enough to help me out. I've had to get that elsewhere this past week.

Do these two things look the same? Am I crazy? Am I just getting to be one of those customers? Oy.

https://imgur.com/a/vJ9Fluw

[The Blue Flower]

1. If they're cutting costs in production...

...by trying to sell an inferior product, they need to know their customers can tell the difference and don't like it. Feel good about speaking up.

[Bayard]

2. Its says, "real chocolate" on the box

You're thinking they changed the formula, and this is false advertising? Demand 100 boxes of the original to keep your mouth shut about it!

Sorry, don't mean to be unsympathetic. How about chocolate Cream of Wheat?
"Flavored with a variety of Dutch and all-natural cocoa, Cream of Wheat Chocolate blends chocolate indulgence with the warming comfort of Cream of Wheat for a unique meal or snack time treat. Each one-serving packet cooks in just one minute, and has 130 calories and just 1g of fat."

I had a friend who went through a bulimia stage. Cream of Wheat was the only thing she could keep down.

[Karadeniz]

3. I went through all kinds of hassle to complain about the nasty sludge in the low fat tubes of

ground turkey. The regulars were much better, but I had to pull out tendons and such from the more expensive ones before I could feed it to my cats. Later, we all learned of pink slime. Technically tendons etc are protein. So are a lot of animal parts I won't eat. The company gave me so many hoops to jump through, I never had an answer from them.

[moniss]

4. You're probably still OK

but watch out for the sure sign of having turned the corner. That would be if you called them up and found yourself still complaining to them a half hour later. During which time you will share with them many of your views about modern life (although they don't need to know that for the cereal complaint) and how bad companies are today. I realized I had turned the corner when I would find myself in stores giving clerks lengthy instructions on how the store should be set up and run.

[Akoto]

5. Wow, I got a reply less than an hour later. Complaining is kinda nice.

"Dear Mr. X,

Thank you for taking the time to contact Chex regarding your recent experience with our Chocolate Chex cereal. We apologize that our product did not meet your expectations.

As a responsible manufacturer, we strive to produce high-quality products and are sorry your experience did not meet the standards we expect from our products.
Please be assured that we take the utmost care in preparing and packing our products. We are extremely conscious of food safety, proper handling, and quality control.

Please be assured that the appropriate General Mills personnel have been notified of your report.

We would like to make it right for you, we have mailed a product certificate to compensate for the first box that was opened and in question. Please allow 10-15 business days for the delivery.

We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced and appreciate the opportunity to reply to your concerns. We hope you will continue to choose our products.

Sincerely,


Consumer Care"