Nolan's Meats is a ripoff; Spoiled Products & No Offer of refund. Van Nuys, California

On July 5th 2002 I drove from Riverside Ca to Van Nuys CA. I purchase 30lbs of Sabrett Hot Dogs at Mark Nolan Meats. The price of the hot dogs was $3.35 a pound. The hot dogs were packed in 5 lb packages. My order totaled $100.50. Thirty pounds is considered one case.

I received 6 5lb packages of FROZEN hot dogs. I put the item in a iced cooler and made the 60-mile drive home, which took approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Upon arriving home I immediately placed 4 of the 5lb frozen packages in my freezer and gave two 5 lbs packages to my neighbor. The "Sell by date" on the packaging was 7/30/02.

On 8/9/2002 I took the four packages from the freezer for the first time since purchasing them on 7/5/02. My intention was to break them down into smaller portions and vacuum seal them and give them a much longer shelf life. I opened one package and noticed green spots as I continued to look through the package I noticed the majority of the hot dogs had green spots on them. I smelled the hot dogs and they were spoiled. I opened the second package and they too had green spots and were all shriveled up and these too smelled spoiled. The next two 5lb packages I opened were fine. The two 5lb packages my neighbor received were fine.

On 8/12/02 I phoned Nolan Meats and spoke with Johnnie. I explained my situation and was rudely asked "well what do you want me to do about it you got them 5 weeks ago" I was a bit taken back and explained that it was obvious that the product was bad when I took it from HIS warehouse on July 5th. He wanted to know why I took so long to call them. I told him that when I got these home I didn't STUDY them for freshness I just tossed them in the freezer. I had purchased Saber hot dogs from another vendor who does business with Nolan Meats and didn't have a problem with them in the past and didn't anticipate a problem when buying them direct from his warehouse.

The hot dogs were never taken out of my freezer for that 5-week period until I took them out for the first time on 8/09/02. I then explained to him that the other 20lbs of hot dogs were "fine" and there was not a problem with those just these two particular 5lb packages. He asked if I was expecting a refund and I said yes. By the tone in his voice and his comment I could pretty much forget about any refund of my money. Johnny seems almost insulted I would bother him with such a trivial problem. He told me I needed to speak to Kevin and he would give him my number and Kevin would call me the next day. I left my toll free number so he wouldn't have to pay for the call. Before ending the call he reminded me that I DID buy the hot dogs 5 weeks ago and I again reminded him yes I did and they were still FROZEN when I picked them up at his warehouse.

I phoned Kevin at 9:00 AM on 8/13/02 and was abruptly told they were in the middle of getting the trucks out for delivery. I left my phone number again. I did not receive any return calls. About 3:00 I phoned Kevin I identified myself and was then told by the receptionist he "wasn't available but she would give him my number.

My call was never returned. I called the office this evening and received a recorded message they states the following "We at Nolan Meats are not in the food business we're in the PEOPLE business selling food." Well you could have fooled me. It's very obvious that Nolan Meats is NOT in the people business or is it in the business of customer service. I would rate them poor at both. Maybe I'm not a large company buying their product on a regular basis. No I'm just Joe Consumer buying something I enjoy and was very happy to have found a product of New York City in the Los Angeles area.

I guess my money isn't as green as the next guys. Remember I purchased 30lbs of hot dogs and could have easily told Johnny & Kevin that all 30lbs were bad but the problem was only with 10lbs. If I wanted to throw my money away all I had to do was walk outside to my trash can and thrown it there. I would have saved myself gas money and the 120 mile round trip from Van Nuys to Riverside and back. Instead I threw away $33 of spoiled hot dogs.

VICKIE
RIVERSIDE, California