Comments on: Woman’s Letter To Iams Results In A $2 Coupon

By: shelia

shelia — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:30:58 +0000

this is hard so hard to write about. you see my cat joey would have been 6 years old on july 3rd .he got sick so fast just two days When we took him to the vets .Nothing could be done for him.his kidneys had failed.
I just put him in my arms and held him,kissed him and. told him I loved him. then they had to put him down.we took him home and buried him.
I took menu foods two weeks before anyone would call us back’And then we just got the claims work out to us. then there was nothing in the letter saying sorry about your pet.Said fill this out and send back.

By: txbulldog1

txbulldog1 — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 17:33:15 +0000

I would have shot through the roof getting that back as a response! I belive I lost my cat to one of the dry foods on the recall list but it wasn’t known to me until 2 wks. later that there was a recall and he had already been buried. He was a healthy cat and all of the sudden he vanished for a couple of days and when he returned he was dehydrated and sluggish. I took him to the vet as soon as I found him and was told he was in kidney failure to the point there was no helping him so I had him put out of his suffering. After all of that and I hear of something like this and it makes me sick I would have went to every media outlet that would listen because that was just wrong on so many levels. Not so much for money but because that was insult to injury just an apology letter would have done for me even though I’m sure they have them printed out by the masses the coupon was a slap in the face though.

By: 3FURS

3FURS — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:00:48 +0000

Yesterday I had my dog to the vet for a cut on her face. When she was finished, she wanted to give my dog a treat. They sell Hills. So I said “NO” rather loudly. She said ” allergies?” And I said ” poison”. She smerked and said ok.

By: Pukanuba

Pukanuba — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:48:42 +0000

Elliott:

You may want to talk to a lawyer before you cash that check. I think once you sign & cash it, you are agreeing to taking that for full payment & you can never go after them again……I would wait to cash it unless you really need that money right now. Do a bit of research before you cash it.

I think any PF company who pays is going to pay the very least amount they can get away with & hope they are done with you. I have no idea how people are going to do in a class action suit…..I’ve heard a lot of people say only the lawyers come out of it with a lot of money. However, you might want to look into it.

I don’t mean to poke into your business but it really pisses me off that you went through all that stress, worry & hard-earned money for them to blow you off with a piddly amount of money.

A friend of mine has her cat on a prescription diet from her vet & her cat, with urinary problems, is not getting better. I have tried to tell her that stuff is useless but she won’t listen to me. I finally gave up. She will have to lose that cat before she’ll believe that her vet doesn’t really know everything about nutrition & that prescription junk is a big joke……& an expensive joke too.

By: shelia

shelia — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 05:33:30 +0000

I to have lost a cat (joey) from the pet food recall.I cryed for two weeks
and still do .when i see a cat like him .they are not just pets they are our children too.the pet food companys need to stepup and take the blame.

By: gatorfan

gatorfan — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:26:24 +0000

Three weeks ago I wrote Hill’s concerning acetaminophen in thier Science Diet for GI problem dry food. In my email I quoted sources. My response was “please call us to discuss your situation immediately”. My response was why call if you can not put in writing the fact that your product does not have acetaminophen. Following, FYI, is the response I got from Hills. Love the links to the FDA - like I will believe those imbecils. My secretary’s sister’s dog is on the particular poison Rx, dog is not doing well. I am trying my best to educate the family - just wanted to share an actual letter ( as full of crap as it may be) received from Hill’s with my itchmo family.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc.

Thank you for taking the time to send us your additional e-mail. I apologize
for the delay in responding to you.

Hill?s has full confidence in the safety of its products. We have been
reviewing the unconfirmed report of acetaminophen in pet food samples, which
referenced a number of pet food products from different manufacturers.

Acetaminophen is not used in any Hill?s pet food products, which are produced
in facilities devoted exclusively to pet food production.

We have been in contact with the United States Food and Drug Administration
about this report and are continuing to work to determine its validity. The Pet
Food Institute (PFI), the industry association of pet food manufacturers, has a
statement about this matter which may be of further interest. Phone or e-mail
contact information is available on the PFI website www.petfoodinstitute.org.

Please also see the FDA report on the website http://www.pittsburghlive.com/.....12295.html or I usually refer consumers to the FDA.gov website (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) for any findings that come about as a result of this blog news.

If we can be of assistance in the future, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Jamie Slawson
Manager
Consumer Affairs

001287387B
JAS2US/cl

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:56:06 +0000

Okay, anyone remember the days when you had a legitimate issue with a product you could return it for a full refund? Stick with me here… it really wasn’t that long ago, I recall working part time at Sears in college and we always did exchanges for defective products, we accepted returns for long periods of time, and would sometimes even take back items that were obviously damaged by the customer just because they were making a big enough stink about it because, you know, the customer WAS always right. We knew if we took care of the customer we might keep the customer and generally the customers were not looking to take advantage of the situation. For the most part it was an even exchange.

What happened to that? I hate to say it… I hate to blame it on Walmart again but I do blame them. I remember when WM first moved into my little midwestern hometown and it was big news that they would take any return. I mean ANY. You didn’t even need a receipt - just go to the customer service counter and they will give you money even if you didn’t buy the product there. Not sure if anyone else remembers this but it was an ongoing joke with my friends. Anyway, cut to 20+ years later and now you’re lucky if you can return an unused, unopened, defective product with a store receipt anywhere after about a week. Seriously. Target just changed to a 90 day return policy a couple years ago. Why? I think it’s because WM started their damn lenient return policy to get people in the door shopping. So customers started demanding the same treatment at other stores and since other stores weren’t prepared to handle the situation and didn’t want to lose business to WM they bowed to the demands. Over time all of these stores got tired of losing money on returns/exchanges/refunds, etc, so they stiffened their policy and started being rude to customers and the whole customer is always right idea went out the window.

And now today they’re all so damn uncaring that we wind up with Iams sending a coupon for 2 bucks off the very food that killed a beloved family pet.

That’s my theory. Oh that and Iams people are a bunch of asshats.

By: carol

carol — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:55:10 +0000

This is another example of how we can not manage to educate the pet food industry, but we HAVE at least begun to educate ourselves. I hope the companies making a nutritious and safe product see their profits soar and their companies grow. This may be our best hope of putting the ones selling or manufacturing product containing toxins completely out of business.

Judy, I am so sorry for your loss. Sushi deserved to live and enjoy her normal lifespan and not suffer from a food that was supposedly “premium.” I hope Sushi’s story will circulate until it hits National prime time news. Did you by any chance save the label from the food?

By: elliott

elliott — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:42:58 +0000

I recently received a check from my vet in the amount of $421 and some odd cents. I was feeding HILLS SCIENCE DIET M/D that was recalled. I had SIX kitties tested that were eating this poison. FIVE were affected. HILLS offered $100 reimbursement per pet. I have never been good at math, but I still cannot wrap my head around the check received from my vet. Another case of defending HILLS by a vet. I was never consulted or agreed to this bogus amount , but due to the fact my vet filed this claim directly with HILLS, leads me to believe she feels $421 is all HILLS owes me. I should mention we had weekly vet bills of $900 at first, tapering off to $400-$500 since April. She still pushes HILLS to cure the ills HILLS created. VET FIRED!!!!

By: elliott

elliott — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:32:28 +0000

Mittens- I have been experiencing the same probs with vets and HILLS/PURINA Prescription junk. They seem oblivious to the recalls. When a pet has any probs , weight, skin etc. - “Let’s fix it with this prescription food because these companies know what they are doing.” First, let’s define “they know what they are doing.” Most of us here know more about pet nutrition than a lot of vets do, and we have learned it in the last 3 months. I have asked vets what a food should or should not contain that will help my pet’s health and they cannot answer what the magic ingredients are, or are not. Somehow, I do not feel bi-products, BHA or BHT are what are right. Apparently, HILLS thinks these are beneficial to my pet’s health.

By: Annabelle

Annabelle — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:41:21 +0000

haha - that could catch on…

By: Anon for this

Anon for this — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:11:07 +0000

new t shirt

IAMS KILLED MY PET

ALL I GOT WAS A LOUSY COUPON

By: Pukanuba

Pukanuba — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:44:03 +0000

I agree with all of you……Iams reaction doesn’t surprise me one bit. I have a feeling all the letters go into a pile, they remove the name & address, send a form letter & a coupon. You know why? Because they don’t care…..plain & simple.

I can only hope that their uncaring attitude & their crappy food will sink them. I didn’t care for their food before all this & now any animal in my care will never eat any of their products (they are #1 on my list of never-to-buy products…..but there are many others). I want to read how their sales are down 75% & stocks are bottoming out…..oh yeah! If I see anyone buying any of these products, I try to talk them out of it telling them what I know about the food. I don’t care if they put sirloin steak in their products, I wouldn’t spend a dime on it.

Note to all you big, uncaring PF companies: you may think you snuck out of this by doing silent recalls & managed to save your “good” name……as long as there is breath in me, I will tell anyone who will listen about all of you, what’s in your bags of waste & how much you really care about nutrition & the well-being of our pets. What rot…..

By: catmom5

catmom5 — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:27:59 +0000

I can’t believe they even read the letter! It’s incomprehensible to me to think they understood that a pet had died as a result of their foods and then offered a coupon for the same foods? That’s crazy!!!

THEY STILL DON’T GET IT, DO THEY?

By: HighNote

HighNote — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:27:41 +0000

WHAT GOOD IS A COUPON WHEN YOUR PET DIES? THERE’S NO PET TO EAT THE FOOD?
THAT IS THE MOST UNFEELING THING I HAVE HEARD. SO COLD! THE PAIN OF LOSING A LOVING PET IS BAD ENOUGH BUT TO HAVE A COMPANY SEND OUT COUPONS TO PEOPLE FOR THE SAME FOOD THAT CAUSED THEIR DEATH IS TOO MUCH! NO ONE WOULD BUY THE SAME PET FOOD AFTER THAT!