Dear Dakota Style:
I have been a fan of your "Jumbo sunflower seeds" for several years, but the package I purchased today has a weird flavor issue: They taste like meat. About one-third of the seeds taste normal, but the remaining ones have a distinct note of beef jerky, when what I'm looking for is natural sunflower seed flavor.
As a big fan of SD, and a former farm kid from neighboring ND, I am rooting for you and your company, and have told many people about your sunflower seeds. But if I can't get this meaty flavor issue resolved, I'm going to have to stop buying them and switch to Fisher or some other national brand.
The bag I just bought today (16 oz. size) has the code "OCT 03 12B" on the back. I'm now wondering if I should take back the other bag I bought, which has the same code.
Now I don't want to make a big deal about this and get huffy and demand my money back. That would not be acting in true Dakota style. I just wanted to let you know there might be a problem in your quality control on these seeds. You obviously can't test every bag that goes out, but it might be a good idea to do some spot checking, which would at least let you detect bags with a high percentage of these meaty-tasting insides. Very strange. I would be happy to mail some of these back to you for analysis.
By the way, I am posting this letter on my consumer blog, "The eValue-ator." I will also post your response so my family, friends, and blog readers can see how you handle situations like this.
With best wishes,
the eValue-ator
