Comments on: Artisan du Chocolat: less spin, more flexibility please

By: Duncan

Duncan — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:56:00 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. There has been a generous gesture from the company and they are sending me replacement chocolates.

@Coby: the chocolate and ganaches are good, but fleeting flavours just spoil the expectation, in my opinion.

@Thanh: oh there are always questions about boundaries and entitlement as a customer, and I've seen more than enough cases of customers pushing the boundaries unreasonably. However, this was a case of the packaging being presented as an option for all chocolates, then modified when the customer tried to avail himself of the option. It's also the case that one of the company's very large tasting boxes does combine the cocoa-dusted chocolated, using a simple ?cardboard divider. It wasn't possible to buy the desired box empty and fill it oneself, nor was it permitted to enclose a bag of the cocoa-dusted ones in, say, cellophane.

The company representative has said that they are grateful for the feedback about packaging and hope to offer more flexible options in the future.

By: Thanh

Thanh — Sat, 23 May 2009 00:08:31 +0000

One of those interesting arguments Duncan. On one hand, the customer should be able to get what they want. But on the other, the seller wants to retain the integrity of their product.

It reminds me of this story about an iced espresso incident that was all over the internet and NY Times even.
http://www.andiamnotlying.com/2008/murky-coffee-arlington-hold-that-espresso-between-your-knees/

And the response from the coffee shop about the incident.
http://www.murkycoffee.com/2008/07/open-letter-to-jeff-simmermon.html

The response from the coffee shop owner has some points as well. If a shop had a policy of no sleeping in the shop, people would accept that. But if they also had another policy that you couldn't put ice in an espresso, technically that's no different but yet people want to challenge that.

I too would have gotten angry in your situation Duncan as I would see it as such a simple request, especially if I was willing to suffer the consequences. I'm not sure what the shop gains from enforcing that policy, but they must have their reasons.

Could you have just purchase the cocoa dusted ones separately and then put them in the box yourself anyway?

By: Julia @ Mélanger

Julia @ Mélanger — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:12:59 +0000

I'm surprised they didn't specify the order in which you can also consume the chocolate – you know, in case they interfere with each other??!

By: Coby

Coby — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:32:04 +0000

I'm perplexed and frustrated and I wasn't there. Just reading about it, and not getting a satisfactory answer via this blog is making me annoyed! Ironic that our supermarket staff manage time and again to package laundry powders and soaps right next to my eggs. Is there not some happy medium?

So, is the chocolate that is less subtly flavoured any good? One hopes the items you bought complimented each other, though I suspect company policy instructed you to completely rinse your mouth with lemon-spritzed water before sampling the next morsel?

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:51:14 +0000

So a little cocoa dust might get on the other chocolates? That are, presumably, also made with cocoa? Hm… An interesting problem.

Fingers crossed you have a happier time in Paris.

By: breadpitt

breadpitt — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:15:55 +0000

but in other way, it shows they really care about the chocolates they selling .;-p

By: neil

neil — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:26:24 +0000

Ah, gotta love a good dust-up in a chocolate shop.

So they didn't want to get chocolate on their chocolates? Interesting concept.

By: nzm

nzm — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:31:38 +0000

Pretentious gits.

By: Y

Tue, 19 May 2009 08:12:48 +0000

The other chocolates might get dirty.. hahaha! What a frustrating experience! I still recall a chocolate shop I visited in London, that felt so intimidating. Was it La Maison? Anyway, how ridiculous, to be made to feel intimidated, …in a chocolate shop, for goodness sake!