Gatorade Complaints – Slimy Substance
Yesterday I stopped by speedway to get a gatorade and they were out of my normal flavor “Riptide Rush”. But I spotted a new flavor I hadn’t seen or tried before called “Tropical Blend”. Green is my favorite color so I figured why not, and gave it a shot.
When I got out to my car in the sun I noticed something floating around in it. I wasn’t sure if it just hadn’t been mixed well or what. When I got home I searched on google for a few different terms trying to figure out if anyone else had experienced this before and if they knew exactly what it was. I found a few complaints that were similar to mine.. but nobody really had an answer about what it was. One person said they contacted gatorade and they told them it was just mold and nothing to worry about.. like it wasn’t a big deal. I’m sure working in a place where you have to take complaints you’re told to come off like nothing is a big deal anyways.. but I really don’t think this is mold. (link)
another completely delusional person thinks it’s HIV postive semen. (link)
and there’s a slew of complaints on a complaint forum here. (link)
I took a video where you can see the stuff swirling around in the bottle before opening it.. and took another video of the gatorade being poured into a strainer so you can see the actual goo. I’m going to send off the videos to gatorades complaint support and see if they’ll tell me what it is exactly.
what do you think this is?
UPDATE (6/28/2012):
Sorry for the late update.. I had contacted gatorade and they got back to me within 3 days.. with this email:
(^^^ click the above image to open a larger size.)
It was pretty generic and I waited about a week before actually contacting them by phone. After talking to Megan, she pretty much said the same that I had read on other forums around the web. She said, “it was just mold” and down played it. I’m pretty sure they’re taught to downplay everything like it’s not a big ordeal or they’d end up getting all kinds of threats and complaints. I’m still not convinced this is mold.. but, I had already discarded the nasty goo. Not much else I could do. She offered to send me a few 2$ off vouchers and I received 3 of them in the mail about 2 weeks after our phone conversation. The coupons over compensated for the original price of the gatorade. I’m sure if I complained and acted angry I could have received more. I just didn’t feel like arguing when I called in.
It struck me a little odd that I actually spoke with Megan (the person that responded to my email). Almost like it really was a big deal and she was the one who knew how to play this out in all circumstances. If I acted angry, threatened suing, or anything else. Normally when you call in to a company you’ll get connected with a random customer service rep.. but they forwarded me directly onto her phone. I actually had to leave a voicemail because she didn’t answer when I first called in, and she returned my call within 10 minutes.
If anyone else finds this page because you have also found some goo like substance in your gatorade.. please contact gatorade yourself and post in the comments below what you find out. If they tell you it’s the same thing or something completely different. Also how you acted on the phone.
here’s a direct link to contact gatorade by email or phone: http://cr.gatorade.com/usen/gatusen.cfm?date=20120628
