1 reviews | Active since Dec 2016
Food poisioning
<p>On 5 December 2016 my sister bought Chicken and rice from Barcelos in Newcastle. Hours after she and her child consumed the chicken they got violently ill. There are 5 people living in the house and only my sister and her child had eaten the chicken. It was only my sister and the child that got sick not the other 3 people. My sister was taken to hospital on Tuesday with diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramps and throwing up. She was immediately put on drips and they ran blood tests and started treating her for “food poisoning”. Her child was also taken to hospital and treated at casualty.</p> <p>On Wednesday, 7 December 2016, I tried calling Head Office in Pretoria only to be told that the person in charge was in Dubai. She gave me another contact person, Nico, at the Durban branch to speak to. After numerous failed attempts to get through to Nico I called the Newcastle Barcelos branch. When I asked to speak to the manager I was put through to the Supervisor who told me to call back without asking why I’m calling because he was counting rolls. I then went onto the Barcelos website and lodged a complaint on-line (Case Number ********** ).</p> <p> </p> <p>I then got a call from Nico ( ********** ). I explained the issue and he said they must have eaten something earlier on, it can’t be the chicken because no one else has complained. When I told him blood tests were done and the doctor said it was food poisoning he said “where’s the chicken?” I explained that my sister is a single parent and now she has incurred medical costs because of the eating the contaminated food at Barcelos. He said he needs to do his own investigation and once again no one else has complained.</p> <p> </p> <p>Minutes after that I got a call from Naresh the manager at Newcastle Barcelos. I once again explained what happened and he said there’s no proof it’s the chicken they could have eaten something before that. He also wanted to see the chicken which is stupid since they ate it. He then asked for their physical address because he wanted to go see for himself that they were sick. At this point I was disgusted by both of them.</p> <p> </p> <p>Two separate doctors had treated mother and child and both had said it was food poisoning. I explained to both Nico and Naresh that there are 5 people in the house and only my sister and the child ate the chicken. The other 3 people did not get sick. They still both insisted it was not the chicken. On Wednesday the child had to be taken back to another doctor who again confirmed food poisoning. When I called Nico to give him feedback he told me “go ahead and contact the Health Department then”.</p> <p> </p> <p>I am disgusted at the level of intelligence displayed by both Nico and Naresh when as ked if there are 5 people in the house and two ate the chicken and only those two got sick what does that tell you. Their response it can’t be the chicken.</p> <p> </p> <p>To date no one else from Barcelos has contacted me.</p> <p> </p>
Dear Ramon Munien,
We acknowledge receipt of your complaint of 07-12-2016 at 10:27 as well as your Hellopeter complaint and value your input regarding your sister and her child. Our Regional Operations Manager in KZN responded to you via telephone on 07-12-2016 at 10:55 to obtain more details and to offer assistance and then again at 11:09 on the same day.
We at Head Office together and our Franchisee were disappointed to learn of your complaint as well as the circumstances surrounding your complaint and had offered to visit your sister and daughter in hospital out of concern for their well being which we were discouraged by you to do. We have subsequently investigated your report to the best of our ability, given the information which you provided us with, and have been unable to ascertain any potential shortfalls or transgressions regarding the outlets operations and hygiene standards. In conclusion we are unable to verify if and how your sister and child contracted food poisoning from a product which was allegedly purchased and consumed at our Barcelos Newcastle franchise outlet.
Barcelos confidently assures you and all our thousands of daily customers, as we have done for the past 22 years, that our products are handled, prepared and served diligently ensuring a great quality product all year round. We furthermore adhere to the South African National Department of Health guidelines and regulations applying stringent hygiene standards throughout our 70 Barcelos outlets in South Africa. We successfully prepare and serve in excess of 750,000 meals to our valued customers nationally on a monthly basis.
Warm regards,
The Barcelos Team
Dear Ramon Munien,
We acknowledge receipt of your complaint of 07-12-2016 at 10:27 as well as your Hellopeter complaint and value your input regarding your sister and her child. Our Regional Operations Manager in KZN responded to you via telephone on 07-12-2016 at 10:55 to obtain more details and to offer assistance and then again at 11:09 on the same day.
We at Head Office together and our Franchisee were disappointed to learn of your complaint as well as the circumstances surrounding your complaint and had offered to visit your sister and daughter in hospital out of concern for their well being which we were discouraged by you to do. We have subsequently investigated your report to the best of our ability, given the information which you provided us with, and have been unable to ascertain any potential shortfalls or transgressions regarding the outlets operations and hygiene standards. In conclusion we are unable to verify if and how your sister and child contracted food poisoning from a product which was allegedly purchased and consumed at our Barcelos Newcastle franchise outlet.
Barcelos confidently assures you and all our thousands of daily customers, as we have done for the past 22 years, that our products are handled, prepared and served diligently ensuring a great quality product all year round. We furthermore adhere to the South African National Department of Health guidelines and regulations applying stringent hygiene standards throughout our 70 Barcelos outlets in South Africa. We successfully prepare and serve in excess of 750,000 meals to our valued customers nationally on a monthly basis.
Warm regards,
The Barcelos Team
By no means where your intended visit offered out of concern. Naresh had said he wants to go speak to them when they where violently ill. i said it was an inappropriate time and had asked him to contact my father. Once again it shows the level of integrity displayed and your so called level of concerns. How did you investigate the matter? Does your store have cameras. I am willing to come in an prove that they were at your store. But then again you will once again come up with excuses ......... i will be telling others of my families experience!
By no means where your intended visit offered out of concern. Naresh had said he wants to go speak to them when they where violently ill. i said it was an inappropriate time and had asked him to contact my father. Once again it shows the level of integrity displayed and your so called level of concerns. How did you investigate the matter? Does your store have cameras. I am willing to come in an prove that they were at your store. But then again you will once again come up with excuses ......... i will be telling others of my families experience!
Dear Ramon Munien,
We are and have always been willing to investigate your claim as well as to intervene wherever necessary in order to obtain clarity and produce conclusive findings based on the information you are willing to provide us with regarding your claims of food poisoning.
We have investigated this matter as far as we are able to and have found no conclusive evidence based on the information you have provided. Further to this there is nothing that we can find that can substantiate nor suggest that anyone of the products at the store would have been the cause of your claim.
Your suggestion that we should use video footage can unfortunately not help us detect and determine whether any potential contamination may have been the cause of the unfortunate incident.
To the contrary we have been fully cooperative and have opened our doors and even proposed that you report your claim to the Department of Health for a full inspection of the premises should you not have faith in our efforts and results. To date no such inspection has taken place.
We appreciate and value each and every one of our loyal customers and take cognisance of all concerns raised. Our actions, intentions and transparency speaks for itself.
Warm regards
The Barcelos Team
Dear Ramon Munien,
We are and have always been willing to investigate your claim as well as to intervene wherever necessary in order to obtain clarity and produce conclusive findings based on the information you are willing to provide us with regarding your claims of food poisoning.
We have investigated this matter as far as we are able to and have found no conclusive evidence based on the information you have provided. Further to this there is nothing that we can find that can substantiate nor suggest that anyone of the products at the store would have been the cause of your claim.
Your suggestion that we should use video footage can unfortunately not help us detect and determine whether any potential contamination may have been the cause of the unfortunate incident.
To the contrary we have been fully cooperative and have opened our doors and even proposed that you report your claim to the Department of Health for a full inspection of the premises should you not have faith in our efforts and results. To date no such inspection has taken place.
We appreciate and value each and every one of our loyal customers and take cognisance of all concerns raised. Our actions, intentions and transparency speaks for itself.
Warm regards
The Barcelos Team
Produce conclusive evidence will be the blood tests. Remember that this will end up being a civil matter in court where it will be on a balance of probability and not a ******** matter where you are required to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. I asked for camera footage because according to you my sister had allegedly purchased there (allegedly purchased).
In one instance you are asking for evidence and the next you are saying you have found no conclusive evidence. ONCE AGAIN I ASK.....what investigations have you done....did you do lab tests? did you swab the place.... i would like a copy of your report.
All the other reviews speaks for itself......
Produce conclusive evidence will be the blood tests. Remember that this will end up being a civil matter in court where it will be on a balance of probability and not a ******** matter where you are required to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. I asked for camera footage because according to you my sister had allegedly purchased there (allegedly purchased).
In one instance you are asking for evidence and the next you are saying you have found no conclusive evidence. ONCE AGAIN I ASK.....what investigations have you done....did you do lab tests? did you swab the place.... i would like a copy of your report.
All the other reviews speaks for itself......