sbs teas containing maggots

Brew our teas, taste the maggots!

I want a t-shirt with that slogan…

At least it wasn’t a toe, like in a sourtoe cocktail :)

That makes me think of the Wendy’s chili bowl finger incident!

Finding the finger or the fact that the accused planted it there?

No, just the idea of finding a toe in your tea. BUT you do bring up an interesting thought about things being planted!

Just saying… First they wanted their money back for not being delivered fast enough, now that they have it they are still trying to get their money back. It’s Just extremely bad luck to have bugs in 4 completely different teas….

True. I haven’t been following much of the logic behind the issue. I’m here for the insect LOLs. :)

Seriously folks…We are not talking about a large sum of money here. I’m sure the “patron” could have received credit back from their bank upon dispute without going to the trouble of even attempting to deal with the merchant…To presume that they planted bugs, etc. to make a case seems a bit of a stretch – TO ME:).

I’m just considering all sides of the issue, that’s all. Just playing “what if…”

“What if” the Novaks have come here for some feedback/suggestions/assistance because the merchant is clearly ignoring/evading them? “What if” the Novaks are being accused of some REALLY shady/dishonest things over $75 worth of “buyer’s remorse”? It would seem to me that SBS should have chimed in by now if their “good” name were being drug though the maggoty gutter. In the meantime there is another poster on the SBS facebook page looking for their order!!!!

They didn’t come here looking for feedback/suggestions; they came here to slam the company. IF they asked for help from the tea community, I’d support them. But just to come here out of nowhere… The contact information on the website hasn’t been updated since the company was sold. They said they’ve been trying to get their money back for 2 months, but they haven’t even had the tea that long. I just ask for respect and truth on here. I never slammed them; just asking clarifying questions.

They came here looking to get some response from a unresponsive merchant…They asked for anyone to have Karen (new owner) to contact them. I would deem that to be asking for help. The fact that SBS supposedly changed hands entirely through the sale of the business makes it SUPER SHADY that the old owner was never removed from the contact page, etc…I doubt that Mr. Novak through out “two months” to deceive anyone. They sound pretty frustrated by the circumstances they find themselves in. I sympathize:).

Pointing out something that there is no doubt about being not right is hardly ‘slamming’, I should think. If we’re not ever allowed to complain about something that is clearly wrong, we end up in a situation where the merchant has the freedom to try and get away with just about anything. Is that really what we want?

I agree Angrboda…I feel fortunate being a new purchaser of tea that I first found this website. Through Steepster I was “introduced” to merchants that I felt good about dealing with. So far my experiences have been great, just as the word of mouth via Steepster led me to believe they would be. Conversely, if there is what seems to be a justified grievance toward a vendor brought to light here it can make others think twice about transacting with that vendor. Seems like a win for the ethical merchants and prospective customers.

The original post wasn’t asking for help, which does make it more slam-ish. It was only to voice a complaint and say in capitol letters to not buy tea from that company. I’d be ticked off if I bought maggot tea too, but it does raise suspicion when someone joins a site only to voice negativity.

Again, I’ll point out he linked pictures of their sealed product with white wormy things inside it. So he has a valid complaint and reason to warn other tea drinkers not to order from them. I don’t understand how you can accuse him of “slamming” anyone. If I went to mcdonalds and had maggots crawling in my burger I’d be very upset. If the company ignored me and wouldn’t offer a refund I’d be irate and try and let everyone I could know about it. Reposting his link to the pics incase anyone missed it on the previous page:
http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/93242483@N03/

What was he supposed to do then? Join Steepster, wait three months, and then say ‘oh by the way, I found larvae in this tea I bought months ago’
If joining a site might give him a better chance at actually receiving a reply from the vendor, then why on earth should he not do so?

Why join a site that the company has no presence on if your intent is to get them to respond? Especially after trying on their facebook page. Do I think he really stuffed maggots in his tea? Probably not, that would be silly, but when you join an online community and the first thing you do is vent and spread news of foul play, it will arouse skepticism. I think that is a normal reasonable reaction. If I were in his situation with a company that was asleep at the wheel I’d be seeing if I could lodge complaints with the FDA or their local health department or getting my money back through my credit card. It’d be time to go above the buyer/seller level.

And are people really getting heated about this? I thought this was a somewhat (being that I wasn’t the one drinking maggot tea) amusing who done it case. The maggot mystery of Steepster hill!

So if they can have a Facebook presence but not maintain a Steepster presence, why could it not potentially be the other way around? Perhaps he didn’t know they didn’t have a Steepster presence. Perhaps he thought he might have more luck here because there was no luck on Facebook. Just because they’re apparently not looking too much at their Facebook page it doesn’t mean they might not be looking elsewhere.

This merchant has Steepster listed on their website right beside FB, Twitter and Linkedin…

So it should have been pretty easy to contact them, I’d assume? I mean it’s gross but I feel the response is excessive. Just my two cents

It should have been but although he has tried repeatedly, he has received no reply from the new owner of the company.

Out of curiosity, I’m going to contact the company regarding this issue and see what I come up with. I’m not saying I don’t believe this stranger, but sbs is innocent until proven guilty, right? I’m in no way associated with them, I just like all my ducks in a row before I form a decision.

If you go back one page, you will see hi posted pictures of sealed bags of theirs with said maggots or whatever you want to call the white wormy things inside clearly visible moving around.
Personally, that takes out the “innocent until proven” for me. But I guess we can all draw our own conclusions.

Just to play devil’s advocate, you can buy heat sealers pretty cheap and re-seal bags. Not that I think that was the case here, but sealed doesn’t always mean sealed from where it originated from.

I think that if this is a legit issue, the obvious solution would be to 1) contact their CC company/bank/Paypal and get a refund (with worms in your tea, I can’t imagine them having an issue with this) and 2) file a complaint with the BBB. I don’t think Steepster could possibly be much help in this issue, esp if the company was sold a while back.

I get to wake up at 4 am too sometimes…unfortunately not by choice (kids or the dog)! At least I get a head start on making chai.

Haha :) Luckily if I don’t move too much the dogs stay sleeping. Well, they were the ones who woke me up to go out, but now they’re sound asleep again and I’m awake!

I would go make tea, but that would also involve cleaning the kitchen…

If the worms were only eggs when they packed the tea, they wouldn’t have been seen and would have had a month’s time to hatch.

Yes, but it just seems odd that several different, sealed teas had the larvae in them. It’s just as possible that the box was infected as it is that it was the tea base.

I still can’t help but notice that SBS has remained dead silent as this topic has been hashed out here…And now there is another person on that Facebook page looking for tea ordered but not received threatening to chargeback the purchase if they don’t receive a response from SBS.

yep