Comments on: Highland Farms. Nice store, just don’t buy the meat.

By: Baldwin

Baldwin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:16:24 +0000

I shop at Highland Farms in Mississauga. When we pass through the meat isle is smells like something died. It smells really awful. I avoid passing through the meat isle because of the stench. I once looked for ground hamburger and couldn’t find any that wasn’t turning brown. A couple of times I went to buy cold cuts and told the lady to return them because they smelled horrible. I do not buy fresh meat from there. I go to Price Chopper which surprisingly has nice red meat that doesn’t smell.

A side note about the employees. They are the same at this Highland Farms in Mississauga. They are like zombies, they are zoned out all the time. Its really weird. Once they overcharged me, they did the same sneering, checking, double checking, making up dumb excuses to try and blame the overcharge on me instead of just returning my money.

Report them to the better business bureau as well. If enough complaints land on them they might take it seriously. You can also go there read other people’s complaints.

By: Kay

Kay — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:56:54 +0000

Yes,there are rules and regulations regarding meat
handling, but meat managers,and butchers break them all the time. I worked at a grocery store (in the deli) and got to see the meat department up close…
The meat manager himself would throw the old ground beef into the new stuff to hide it. He didn’t want to
get in trouble for ordering incorrectly. After seeing
this with my own eyes, I rarely buy meat at ANY grocery store. I do buy at Costco, because they
have a fast turnover, and so far I haven’t gotten
anything bad.

I hear what you are saying about customer service,
and how people should treat others as they would like
to be treated, but that is rarely practiced. Everyone
is looking out for themselves.

By: Chrisss

Chrisss — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:55:52 +0000

Hey, sorry to hear about the rotten meat. To tell you the truth, I have had bad/funny smelling meat from Highland Farms and I didnt go complaining. Instead I ate it! I know, I know, could of made me sick, but it didn’t. I found out that sometimes the meats get mixed up together and the blood or other meat juices (u know what i mean) from the steak get onto the porkchops or whatever. When it starts to seep into the meat its touched, it creates a smell thats not to nice. Anyways, I have gotten actual rotten meat from other places (like Loblaws) and smelled the same as HF’s but how I could tell the difference was with the colour of the meat. Smells bad and looks bad, dont eat it. Smells bad, cook a part and taste it (it wont kill you to have a piece; unless your scared.).
Well anyways that sucked for you. You got to understand one thing: It doesnt matter if you pay for something, it doesnt mean you will get respect for that thing you bought. Especially if you are dealing with employees. They get paid by the hour, not by the meat they sell. So I dissagree with the way you were expecting custemer service from them. You should of first went to the manager then he/she would have went and asked the meat guys. It scares them a bit more, so they care more .

Oh and btw, i barely eat meat. Only like 4-5 times a month…And the meat I mostly eat now is game meat. You know where it has been (kindof lol) and basically what is has been eating, and once you kill it, you can tell if its sick or not. And its more “manly”.
Try it out.! Better than spending all that money at Rip-off HighlandFarms.

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:27:37 +0000

Here’s a thought, the next time anyone gets mistreated during a shopping experience, come back five minutes later, talk louder and point your chest in the direction of the employee while asking them pointless questions about their company they probably would not know in the first place. The point is to make it look like you are interrogating them and that you are actually from fifth estate or another investigative journalism related program. If we are to be treated equally in a society already over driven by media than we need to ensure to these companies who supposedly value quality service that it can happen at any moment of any day. That should keep them on their toes and back to regulating the issues at hand. Hopefully this comment reaches the masses and can evoke change in how society treats eachother.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 20:35:37 +0000

Hey all,
I just stumbled on this page and decided to read the whole story since I shop at Highland Farms quite often, I though that was a somewhat interesting scenario.
I ususally shop at the Hurontario/Matheson location in mississauga, I’ve never had any problems with their meats though, I actually think they’ve always been of very good quality; I’ve bought chicken, pork, beef, steaks and have never had a problem. I also ususally buy a larger quantity and then separate it and freeze some when I get home.
The only think I’m not liking about the store is that they seem to freeze a lot of their fruit (or store at temperature close to freezing). I’ve noticed that peaches, apricots and some other fruits start to turn black around the pit after a couple of days and are really flavourless (they also feel really cold to the touch when you pick them out at the store). I think they do this with other fruit too because my apples and oranges although not turning black are quite often very flavourless towards the center of the fruit. I find it a little unfortunate because I actually like the store, they have a huge selection and its always very clean, I just don’t understand what they think they’re doing with the fruit. Its certainly turning me off from purchasing fruit there since this has happened quite often probably 8 of 10 times I’ve shopped there in the last few months.

By: Editor

Editor — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:10:31 +0000

Hi Mel,

Vegetarianism is never the answer

But seriously. Have a look at this post.

http://www.penciltrick.com/index.php/food-related/organic-meat-sources-in-ontario/

There are alternatives to the big supermarkets.

As to your pricing comment. I haven’t been back there and never will but when I was younger, I remember my mother and father also complaining about getting cheated. They had to go back a few times and they always checked the bill afterwards. So your comment doesn’t really surprise me.

Thanks for posting.

By: Mel

Mel — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:02:07 +0000

I haven’t had a problem (quality, freshness) in their meat dept so far. Yet I got cheated a couple of times on the price tag. Cashiers also cheated me a few times for $1 to $15. I keep shopping there but now I spend up to 5 minutes of my life time studying the receipts once through the cash register. Thanks to everyone who posted their concerns here. I am getting a more educated shopper, and we have to be vigilant with them grocers. Imagine a shopper who walks into a store being suspicious of the products he/she is going to pay money for. Why do we need to be suspicious? I pay my money and expect an adequate service and quality in return. Yeh, sometimes money is not enough to get a quality product. Now, where do I go to buy meat and fish in Toronto? Aurora Meats must be a good place but I just don’t have time to drive those 15 miles. I am thinking to go vegetarian…

By: Editor

Editor — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:35:25 +0000

Thanks Bruce. If you actually read the article you’d notice that I did phone the food inspector.

By: » Organic Meat Sources in Ontario The Consumer Complaints Blog

» Organic Meat Sources in Ontario The Consumer Complaints Blog — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:49:14 +0000

[...] stark contrast to the Highland Farms meat incident a little while back, I found a couple of sites today that were fun and useful. The first is a spoof [...]

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:43:29 +0000

Stumbled accross this rant…

Highland Farms does have an overall good reputation – that is why it and Longos survive. It also has an open meat counter. You can even watch their wash down if your around when the butchers leave. I am sure if they had a bad batch they would have had numerous complaints on that day. Phone the food inspection next time, it makes a difference – Your rant won’t.