Holiday Disaster Averted!

23/12/2014 by UKMA 6 Comments

Arrgghh!

So this year we thought we would take the easy route.  We decided to order a turkey From Costco and have it delivered.  We ordered a Jimmy’s Farm Free-Range Rustic Bronze Fresh Turkey, cause I didn’t want to have to deal with a frozen one.  We’ve had bronze turkeys most years and they do have a great flavour. The real draw with the Costco order is the statement from the site:

Packaging will maintain the quality and integrity of your product for up to 5 days, so if delayed and returned to a Fed Ex warehouse it will be fine. Our concern is any inconvenience to you.

All well and good.  It arrived as promised along with another package.  I looked at the box, and was pretty surprised to see this label:

Huh? Until it lands at my door?  Not 5 days? I looked inside the outer box expecting to see some other info.  Nope. The turkey was in a styrofoam box.  I dithered – should I open it? Would the integrity of the packaging be compromised?  In the end I was able to make enough room in the fridge that I could put it in there so I opened it.  I am very glad I did. There was NO cool pack inside the box and the turkey was warm to the touch.  It arrived just like this:

Imagine if I had waited till Christmas morning to open the box, expecting my turkey to be safely nestled in packaging that would  maintain the quality and integrity of your product for up to 5 days, only to find it smelly and rotting.

I immediately placed a call to Costco customer service.  After waiting on the phone for 20 minutes or so I got a nice lady who was went to a lot of trouble to try to find out what I should have expected when I opened to box.  She said it should have been packed with dry ice, and certainly shouldn’t feel warm.  But on the 23rd of December, there was nothing they could do but say if I felt it would be unsafe to eat it they would refund my money.  WTF?? I don’t WANT a refund.  I WANT the damn turkey.  It should be marinating in garlic and paprika as I type, getting ready to be popped in the oven on the day.  But no.  No turkey delivered t my door for me.

So now, it’s a quick dash to whatever store isn’t jam-packed to the gills, maybe more than one, and hopefully we can score a fresh, un-frozen turkey.  This is so much worse that the whole Frankenturkey debacle of many years back.  To be turkey-less on Christmas??  Arrggghhhh!

Wish me luck.