ComplaintsforMeridian Nut Growers

• Initial Complaint

  09/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ******* Enterprises LLC entered into contract #****** with Meridian Growers on 1/31/22. We purchased 2 container loads = 88,000 LBS of NPX 27/30 Almond Kernels. The first container of 44,000 LBS shipped from the Port of Oakland, CA on 4/30/22 and arrived at the destination Port of ***** in Dubai on 7/25/22. The consignee immediately unpacked the almonds and found that the almonds were severely compromised in quality and condition. We immediately informed the supplier (Meridian Growers) of the issue on 7/26/22, providing them pictures of the affected product. The consignee sorted the almonds by hand and determined that 300 cartons out of 880 cartons were in substandard condition and not the quality that we purchased. At the request of Meridian Growers, we filled out a customer complaint form and submitted the form to Meridian Growers on 7/25/22. Meridian Growers sourced the almonds for the aforementioned containers from Minturn Nut Company. Minturn Nut Company told Meridian Growers that nothing was wrong with the almonds and to close the file. At the direction of Minturn, Meridian closed our complaint file without any remedy or resolution. 

  Business response

  09/27/2022

  Customer contracted for a NPX 27/30 as determined by USDA grades and standards.  Product was inspected by DFA, an independent 3^rd party grading organization, and was certified to meet or exceed the specification purchased by customer.

   

  Product was sold under a FAS CA Dock incoterm.  Responsibility for any issues after arrival at the CA port is for the account of the customer.  Customer shipped the product to the final destination under their supervision and we have no control over how the product was shipped or handled during transit.  Despite the fact the product did meet contract specifications at time of shipment a representative from Minturn met directly with the buyer and an offer was made to try and appease the customer however they refused to negotiate.  Furthermore the buyer did say they would be very interested in purchasing more product at a future date which was further indication this was a not serious claim and was most likely a result of market decline.  As such we dispute this claim as invalid.

  Customer response

  09/28/2022

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Mr. ***** visited ****** at Minturn and was there to discuss three contracts between ******* Enterprises LLC and Minturn Nut Company. There was absolutely no conversation regarding contract ******.02 between ******* Enterprises LLC and Meridian Growers. These are two separate matters and are not to be massed together, as this would be considered an attempt at collusion, as well as a conflict of interests. The signed contract is between ******* Enterprises LLC (Buyer) and Meridian Growers (Seller). Meridian accepted the signed contract from ******* and then accepted the profit from said contract. But now that there is a problem, Meridian passes the buck to the supplier and attempts to hold no responsibility. Mr. ***** sought to resolve this matter since July 26th, 2022 when he first notified Meridian of the issue and continued email correspondence through the end of August with no resolution offered from Meridian. In Meridian's BBB response, they admitted guilt by saying, "an offer was made to try and appease the customer however they refused to negotiate." I have attached the SGS Report (an independent third party testing company), that states the product is not up to USDA Standards for this particular grade of Almonds, along with pictures and videos of the compromised product. ******* Enterprises LLC was left with no choice and has proceeded with arbitration.
  
  

  Business response

  09/28/2022

  We have never received an SGS report from buyer.  As we have never seen aforementioned SGS report we can not comment as to its validity, authenticity and/or accuracy.

  If buyer considers their claim with Meridian separate from Minturn why did they not arrange an in person meeting to discuss with us when they visited Minturn?  Our location is less than 25 minutes away.  And per ****** at Minturn, the facility who produced the product, the claim regarding our load was discussed.

  Load was delivered to CA Dock on April 20 2022.  Load arrived to destination on July 19 2022.  Infestation during this long transit period is possible due to improper handling and storage by the ocean carrier during transit and inland carriers at point of destination.  Under Incoterms buyer needs to claim against freight carrier and/or their ocean cargo insurance carrier for damage incurred during transit.

  None of these comments in this reply nor my previous reply should be taken as admission of guilt.  We consider this claim to be invalid and an attempt by the buyer to recover losses due to market conditions.

  Any further correspondence in regards to this matter will be referred to legal counsel.

  Customer response

  10/03/2022

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  

  Mr. ***** only discussed three loads that were directly purchased from ****** at Minturn. There was no reason for Mr. ***** to discuss a Meridian Contract with Minturn, as they are completely separate contracts. Mr. ***** did not schedule an in-person meeting with Meridian because we had already initiated the claim process with Meridian regarding the compromised load. It wasn't until ****** at Minturn falsely informed Meridian that he had "settled '' Minturn's three loads in question with Mr. *****, as well as the one load from Meridian and the claim between ******* and Meridian could be closed. If the buyer was "attempting to recover losses due to market conditions," they would have requested that the entire load be refunded or replaced. But rather, the buyer took several weeks to hand-sort the entire load and determined that only 300 cartons of product were compromised - not the entire load. We shipped dozens of containers of the same product on the same vessel with the same transit time and the product arrived in good condition.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩