The Trail So Far, pt1

Here is a current record of the calls I've made so far, and responses (the purpose of these posts is not to enlighten or entertain; they are meant merely as a record of my contacts, for easy future reference).

On Friday Mar 23 at 09:37cst, I called the Nutro Menu Foods Recall Hotline at 1-800-833-5330. It played a recorded message that essentially refered me back to the website that had given me the number in the first place.

At 09:51cst I called the Chicago District Office of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at 1-312-353-7840. I pressed "4" for Consumer Complaints, and listened to a recorded message from Kathy Haas, regarding Recall concerns. I left a pretty detailed explanation of our circumstance, and a call-back number.

After reading this article I tried the two Menu Foods numbers it referenced, at 10:38cst

1-866-463-6738, no answer, no nothing. However when I dialed 1-866-895-2708 I did speak to an operator named Renee. She asked me for the brand and type etc. of the dog food we'd fed Nikko. I have three cans that are on this list from Nutro; I gave the UPC codes to Renee one by one, and one by one she informed me that they were NOT on the list. I then directed her to that particular site.

After then agreeing that the products I have were on that list, Renee took my contact information, expressed her sympathy for our loss, and said someone would contact me.

On Tuesday March 27 I called again to the 1-866-463-6738 number to follow-up, at 11:05cst. I spoke with an operator named Andrea. She started to ask me all the scripted questions about product, and I cut her off and explained that I'd already spoken to someone and been promised a call-back. She said that if I'd called on Friday then I was already out of their "system", i.e. my info had been passed along to the entity that is handling their claims.

I expressed incredulity that they would not have a record of my call and the taking of my info etc, and could we check that my info was indeed "in the queue" so I knew I would get a callback. She put me on hold, and after about two minutes someone else picked up, and then I was disconnnected.

Shortly thereafter I tried the FDA again, and left Ms. Haas another message.

Then at 11:37 I recieved a call from a number in the 519 area code. It was a recorded message from a representative of Crawford and Company informing me that they are handling claims. I will need to have information regarding the products we'd used, and to expect a call within 72 hours...