A huge semi-rusted nail was the last thing that 32-year-old marketing professional Mihir Bijur was expecting when he ordered fries from McDonald's on December 12, 2013 in Mumbai. But his nightmare did not end there. Not only did a tepid mail from McDonald's made light of the matter, it failed to offer him a proper apology for the serious oversight.
An upset Bijur, who posted a photo of the nail on social networking sites, told IBNLive that he is now considering filing an FIR and taking the fast food giant to consumer court. Bijur, who is a resident of Lokhandwala in Kandivali in East Mumbai, had ordered food from the McDonald's branch at the Growel's 101 mall nearby.
"You normally have fries directly from the wrapping they come in. It was the judiciousness of my wife, who made us pour out the fries on a plate, that probably saved us from a possible injury," Bijur said. On emptying the fries on a plate, Bijur and his wife spotted the screw immediately.
He tweeted about the incident to McDonald's Corp in the US who directed him to their Indian counterparts. Bijur received a call from a McDonald's official the next day, December 13, but the issue wasn't sorted and Bijur wasn't satisfied with their response. On December 18, another official from the fast food company sent him a mail, which Bijur referred to as 'the template'.
The mail stated that McDonald's regretted to learn that his "recent experience with our home delivery system was not up to your expectations". "We have discussed your feedback with the concerned restaurant manager/department for the necessary action," the mail said.
Bijur responded "Although I'm glad that you've responded, I am not okay with simply sharing feedback. Do I really need to remind you about the seriousness of this case?"
"I'm trying to share this experience with as many people as possible. I could have swallowed the nail. I wasn't even looking for a compensation, just an apology, accepting that this was a grave incident. I did not get that from them and now I'm thinking of filing an FIR and taking McDonald's to consumer court," Bijur said.
He's shared his story on Facebook and Twitter and had people writing in about similar experiences.
This is the letter that Bijur sent the McDonald's official on December 23.
Hi xxxx,
Although I appreciate that you have written to me about this, I don't appreciate the fact that you're underplaying what has happened and the intensity of it.
Please find my comments below.
I look forward to some more seriousness in concern than what seems like a template to address grievance of food going bad.
Thank you,
Mihir.
"Hundreds of people have written to me with their stories of things they have found in your food. Some of which are serious health hazards! Thousands have gotten in touch via Twitter and Facebook to share their anger and support.
Can you imagine the horror of a child munching blindly like they usually do and swallowing this? Can you imagine if this happened with your own?" Bijur wrote back to McDonald's.
But after the second series of mail exchange he hasn't heard from the company.
"If this happened in the US, there would be huge compensation to pay," he said. Repeated calls to the person who led corporate communication for McDonald's went unanswered. The officials did not respond to a mail requesting for a comment on their version of things.####
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