Consumer Grievance: The story of Edward Skading

Edward Skading is a senior citizen, a retired senior citizen of Malaysia.

This is his story he wants to tell:

He had earlier purchased 6 tin-cans of the “Tea Pot” brand from Giant Puchong Supermarket (on the 13th March 2008), Invoice Number: 27173. The expiry date for all tin-cans is dated 25th July 2008 None of the cans were purchased with any defects (like dents or leakage).

On the 20th March 2008 his wife was about to make coffee for the family and was shocked to discover something abnormal (brownish/blackish) sticking out from a newly opened “Tea Pot” milk tin can hole.

As it was after office hour they are unable to contact any of the manufacturer's staff to further witness this incident and they decided to keep the tin and milk in the refrigerator. This incident was so horrible and disgusting until they were unable to consume their dinner that night, basically they lost their appetite.

Because of this incident, his family are very traumatized. They are also very concern about their health because they had consumed some of the milk from the same batch. He is very disappointed not to enjoy his regular coffee and tea with the sweeten milk.

He is requesting that F & N Dairies to take great care to ensure that this matter is properly managed in the future.

He also wants the manufacturer to provide assurance to the customers that the product are clean and healthy.

Most of all, he wanted F & N Dairies to issue a public apology for the incident.

There were much communication between Edward and F & N officials.

5 months passed; the latest news is that Edward had received a legal summon and affidavit documents from F & N's lawyer.

According to Edward F&N Dairies is going to claim $250K for defamatory damages.

Edward lamented in his blog: "I am a poor and retired man. Looks like those rich boys still want to grab whatever money I got to survive until the day I die. Come on boys, you had already swindled and cheated me of $2.59 when I purchased your contaminated milk. So, don’t be greedy."

Edward had created a weblog entitled My Grievances with F&N Dairies (M) Sdn Bhd

In his blog Edward states that his objective of this weblog is to defend his integrity by exposing the truth based on facts, as well as to attain resolutions for his consumer grievances. This weblog will be removed when the objective is met.

If I am the CEO or COO of F & N, I will use this incident as an opportunity to promote F & N and to tell the world at large that F & N cares for all their customers and would ensure that any complaints of poor product quality and poor customer services will not be tolerated.

One of my most admired organization is Johnson & Johnson. I like to share with you J & J's corporate philosophy which the company calls it "Our Credo" (credo means: I Believe).

In Our Credo, the first and foremost importance of J&J's corporate responsibility is in meeting customers' and end-users' need. J&J emphasized their corporate responsibility in constantly striving to reduce the costs in order to maintain reasonable prices for their customers. It is also J&J's philosophy of ensuring that their suppliers and distributors have an opportunity to make a fair profit.

The second critical responsibility as emphasized in Our credo, J&J emphasized the importance of employees, respect towards each of them as individuals, respecting their dignity and recognizing their merits, and ensuring the employees security in their job and also ensuring a fair compensation packages and healthy working conditions. Most of all, J&J wants their employees to be mindful of their family responsibilities.

The third responsibility of the company is towards the community and its social and corporate responsibilities towards the community they live in and the global community.

The final responsibility as espoused in Our Credo is the corporate responsibility towards their stockholders. The commitment of the company towards their stockholders is that they would make a "sound" profit.

Clearly you can observed that most companies and CEOs placed the stockholders as number one and the customers as the second, and then the employees; lastly the community they live in.

Robert Wood Johnson, the former chairman of J&J crafted Our Credo himself in 1943, just before Johnson & Johnson became a publicly traded company.

J&J's Corporate Credo values are used to guide their decision making which are spelt out in their Credo. The Credo challenges J&J to put the needs and well-being of the people they serve first. I hope F & N would read Our Credo from J&J and adopt it as their too. Below is the corporate philosophy of J&J

Our Credo

We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses, and patients,
to mothers & fathers, and all others who use our products and services.
In meeting their needs, everything we do must be of high quality.
We must constantly strive to reduce our costs
in order to maintain reasonable prices.
Customers’ orders must be served promptly and accurately.
Our suppliers and distributors must have an opportunity
to make a fair profit.


We are responsible to our employees,
the men and women who work with us throughout the world.
Everyone must be considered as an individual.
We must respect their dignity and recognize their merit.
They must have a sense of security in their jobs.
Compensation must be fair and adequate,
and working conditions clean, orderly and safe.
We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfill
their family responsibilities.
Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints.
They must be equal opportunity for employment, development
and advancement for those qualified.
We must provide competent management,
and their actions must be just and ethical.


We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work
And to the world community as well.
We must be good citizens – support good works and charities
and bear our fair share of taxes.
We must encourage civic improvements and better health and education.
We must maintain in good order
the property we are privileged to use,
protecting the environment and natural resources.


Our final responsibility is to our stockholders.
Business must make a sound profit.
We must experiment with new ideas.
Research must be carried on, innovative programs developed
and mistakes paid for.
New equipment must be purchased, new facilities provided
and new products launched.
Reserves must be created to provide for adverse times.
When we operate according to these principles,
the stockholders should realize a fair return.

Johnson & Johnson