Tesco, Sainbury’s and Lidl have all come in for abuse from angry customers who claim to have been delivered or bought ‘rotten’ and ‘rancid’ turkeys for their now-ruined Christmas dinner
Christmas is a time of giving, receiving. . . and rancid turkeys. As has become a yearly tradition, social media has been filling up with hungry Brits raging that the turkeys they ordered in their deliveries or bought in-store.
Known as the #ChristmasIsRuined moment on social media, many angry shoppers posted their grim birds on Twitter/X claiming that their festive meals were now utterly ruined.
One posted: “Well done Sainsbury’s @sainsburys Christmas is officially ruined! I’ve just got the turkey out of the fridge and it’s rotten! It smells so bad I can’t believe you could sell this? #christmasruined”
The tweet was accompanied by an image of a very odd-looking turkey with what appears to be a blackening back part. The label shows it cost a whopping £14.36, and was supposed to serve seven people.
If you’ve had a rotten turkey and won’t to complain about it, email adam.cailler@reachplc.com.
Its use by date was listed as December 27, with the shopper confirming it was bought in store. Sainsbury’s did respond to the woman, and said: “Hi There. Thanks for getting in touch. I’m sorry there’s an issue with your turkey. Can you let me know If this was bought in store or online please? I’ll look into this for you. Thanks, Karen.”
Another unhappy Sainsbury’s customer posted a picture of his £13.10 bird, supposedly serving up to nine people, which also has a use by date of December 27.
However, it didn’t make it to December 25, with the man raging: “@sainsburys thanks for ruining Christmas. Bought this turkey crown YESTERDAY from your Sury Basin store in Kingston Upon Thames.
“Straight home to our fridge. Opening tonight to prep for tomorrow and it has gone off. Did not smell good. Please tell me how you fix this for us.”
Sainsbury’s did not respond to him, but the Daily Star has reached out for a comment. Another store we’ve reached out to is Tesco, after another customer claimed their bird was “off”.
Having paid £13.65, for their turkey “with giblets,” they posted: “Turkey is off!! I guess it’s pizza. Hoping for a no quibble, full refund Boxing Day.”
And another was left confused by their turkey, posting: “Looks like I’m guessing the cooking time of my @Tesco turkey today as their packs do not have exact weight or cooking time printed on front as normal.
“Back of pack says refer to front for cooking times..trying to weigh a turkey on small kitchen scales is fun! Merry Christmas!”
Lidl also came in for some stick from one customer they claimed their medium turkey crown was “rancid” having bought it for £17.17 from a local Lidl branch on Friday.
Complaining about the turkey dated December 26, they said: “Just a heads up as I’d hate for anyone open theirs up Christmas morning and there be no shops open selling turkeys. I’ve just gone to wash and marinate my turkey ready for Wednesday and it was fully RANCID inside! Smells awful and the meat had turned green!
“Bought fresh from Lidl Woodhouse Lane on Friday, dated 26th Dec and been stored at the back of my fridge since bought so there’s absolutely no reason for it to be off.
“And there’s me thinking buying fresh would be better than frozen this year.”
The Daily Star has reached out to Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Lidl for a comment.
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