Everything's NOT so PUKKA!

Pukka Pies, as advertised on TV.

And on Tesco shelves.

Well, they were...

Thanks to me, they are no longer!

18.30 hours, yesterday. As they were on offer, they were the same price as Tesco's individual pies, so I then went to compare the weights. 

What weights??

I just thought it was some conniving and underhand way of Pukka selling underweight pies, so that we would buy them without question. But neither varieties on offer had the weight of product ANYWHERE. And I mean, anywhere on the packaging (unless it was printed on the inside...)...

So, being slightly in a general mood of ambivalence about the world, my lack of hot water and of everything, I went to the Consumer Enquiries Desk and frankly, expected to be fobbed off by some excuse or 'now that we aren't in the EU' (we still are!) kind of attitude.

Being provocative I asked if Pukka could legally sell these pies. Phone call to Manager "Customer is allegating that Pukka Pies are being sold illegally", making me sound like some troublemaker who had nothing better to do - or that I was an undercover Advertising Standards Officer.

Manager came down, who was SO young, he had permed bum fluff over his chin, searched and looked and searched for the weights before announcing that they would have to pull the entire range from the shelves, because they weren't legal. New packaging on a newly driven nationwide product  range and someone hadn't checked to see if the printer (or designer) had done their homework and as a result, it would seem, that they all (hundreds of thousands, probably) of pies would have to be destroyed. 

From going from expecting to be fobbed off, I was suddenly pie-less too! Well, how the *uck about that?? You do a mega company a favour and then they (try to) grab your dinner back. I should have asked for a reward!

As for this package, which I snapped with a macro lens just now (Blip's rules) it does contain a pie. I didn't run out with it. But in all fairness, I exclaimed that not letting me buy two pies was unfair (according to stock control which the manager had on his barcode enabled  smartphone) the weights are about 10% more than the Tesco ones.

So I told him with a wry smile that I had actually reported the problem five minutes after I (would have) had checked out and paid for them. This was a statement, NOT a request.

He smiled back, his bum fluff riding up into his collar.

I personally think I should have been offered them for free!

Now, I don't know if Tesco pulled all the pies or found a way around the problem or if it's affected other stores, but if you were salivating over a "deliciously tender" pie for your dinner tonight and all you find is an empty space on your supermarket shelf, then, I'm afraid, it was all my fault....