Woolworths get it in the cookie

Jun 25, 2009 by     13 Comments    Posted under: General

woolworths-cookies

I received this e-mail from a friend.  It talks about Woolworths and how they cheated this other lady out of R250, supposedly.  It just seems like someone with a bad attitude in life who was obviously beaten by a big cookie monster kid at school as a child …

What do you think?

This is a true story.

Please forward when you finish reading!

A little background:

Woolworths, if you don’t know already, is a very expensive clothing and supermarket outlet (they sell a typical R50 T-shirt for R150).  My daughter and I had just finished lunch at a Woolies Cafe in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.  Because both of us are such biscuit lovers, we decided to try the ‘Woolies Cookie’.  It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe.  The waitress said with a small frown, ‘I’m afraid not, but you can buy the recipe.’

I asked how much, and she responded; ‘Only two fifty – it’s a great deal’

I agreed to that, and told her to add it to my bill.

Thirty days later, I got my Visa statement, and the Woolworths charge was R485. I looked at it again, and I remembered I had only spent R49.95 for two sandwiches and about R120 for a scarf. At the bottom of the statement, it said, ‘Cookie Recipe – R250.00′. That was outrageous!

I called Woolworths Accounting Department and told them the waitress had said it was ‘two fifty’, which clearly does not mean ‘two hundred and fifty Rands’ by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.  Woolworths refused to budge. They would not refund my money because according to them; ‘What the waitress told you is not our problem.  You have already seen the recipe.  We absolutely will not refund your money.

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the state of  Gauteng.  I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and The Attorney General’s office.  I was basically told: Do what you want. Don’t bother thinking of how you can get even, and don’t bother trying to get any of your money back’

I said, OK, you’ve got my R250, and now I’m going to have R250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the world with an e-mail account gets a R250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus for free.  She replied, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that.’ I said, ‘Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you RIPPED ME OFF!’ and slammed down the phone.

So here it is! Please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of.  I paid R250 for this, and I don’t want Woolworths to EVER make another cent from this recipe!

WOOLIES COOKIES

[Actual recipe removed to at least try and preserve Woolworths image]

PLEASE KEEP THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS!

This is not a joke-it’s a true story.

It starts off with “This is a true story“, immediately this screams to me of someone taking a situation and taking it way out of proportion and context.

Now I know for a fact that Woolworths Customer Care is outstanding, well it has been with me and I have not heard otherwise.  The conversation this lady quotes seem to have been conjoured up from her utter hatred for Woolworths, who knows why she hates them so?

And I’m sorry, but when I read the story and the Woolworths cashier says “two fifty“, I immediately thought, “R250 for a recipe?“  So how this lady, in her right mind, would think that Woolworths is willing to release a recipe for R2.50 is beyond me.  Seriously, logic clearly eludes you.

And of course the following lines immediately scream of “I want to make a name for myself, therefore I will defame somebody else“:

  1. This is a true story.
  2. Please forward when you finish reading!
  3. PLEASE KEEP THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS!
  4. This is not a joke-it’s a true story.

I LOATHE these e-mails and I cannot comprehend what drives a person to defame a company over a simply stupid item such as the way in which YOU interpret what some says.  Shame on you madam, shame on you…

This is a true story.

Please forward when you finish reading!

A little background:

Woolworths, if you don’t know already, is a very expensive clothing and supermarket outlet (they sell a typical R50 T-shirt for R150).  My daughter and I had just finished lunch at a Woolies Cafe in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.  Because both of us are such biscuit lovers, we decided to try the ‘Woolies Cookie’.  It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe.  The waitress said with a small frown, ‘I’m afraid not, but you can buy the recipe.’

I asked how much, and she responded; ‘Only two fifty – it’s a great deal’

I agreed to that, and told her to add it to my bill.

Thirty days later, I got my Visa statement, and the Woolworths charge was R485. I looked at it again, and I remembered I had only spent R49.95 for two sandwiches and about R120 for a scarf. At the bottom of the statement, it said, ‘Cookie Recipe – R250.00′. That was outrageous!

I called Woolworths Accounting Department and told them the waitress had said it was ‘two fifty’, which clearly does not mean ‘two hundred and fifty Rands’ by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase.  Woolworths refused to budge. They would not refund my money because according to them; ‘What the waitress told you is not our problem.  You have already seen the recipe.  We absolutely will not refund your money.

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the state of  Gauteng.  I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and The Attorney General’s office.  I was basically told: Do what you want. Don’t bother thinking of how you can get even, and don’t bother trying to get any of your money back’

I said, OK, you’ve got my R250, and now I’m going to have R250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the world with an e-mail account gets a R250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus for free.  She replied, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that.’ I said, ‘Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you RIPPED ME OFF!’ and slammed down the phone.

So here it is! Please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of.  I paid R250 for this, and I don’t want Woolworths to EVER make another cent from this recipe!

WOOLIES COOKIES (Recipe may be halved as this makes heaps)

2 (500 ml) cups butter

680 g chocolate chips

4 (1000 ml) cups flour

2 (500 ml) cups brown sugar

2 tsp. (10 ml) Bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp. (5 ml) salt

2 (500 ml) cups sugar

500 g Grated Cadbury chocolate

5 (1250 ml) cups blended oatmeal

4 eggs

2 tsp. (10 ml) baking powder

2 tsp. (10 ml) vanilla

3 cups (375 ml) chopped nuts (optional)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda. Add chocolate chips, grated Chocolate and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 180 C.

The above quantities make 112 cookies. Enjoy!

PLEASE KEEP THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS!

This is not a joke-it’s a true story.

13 Comments + Add Comment

  • i got the exact same e-mail about some american store, nieman marcus or something like that, years ago. the cookie recipe was shocking.

  • It’s a HOAX e-mail Justin , it’s been doing the rounds for 10 years , appearing every so often with a different business as the victim – its not misintepretation , its pure fantasy….

  • Thanks guys, yeah. I figured it was a hoax. Just hate these things that people send, it annoys me!

  • 1. The Recipe works…
    2. If this had been you that were ripped off, then YOU would have been wailing about it too. This is about injustice… Whether true or not.
    3. Woolworths IS a monster… and they ARE way too overpriced.

    So whether a hoax or not, this is about generating compassion for the victim, and aiding in the pursuit of revenge since justice is not an option in SA anymore.

    You Sir are the bearer of cynicism, and have a very one minded opinion. Shame on you for not being more open minded… and SHAME on YOU for having no compassion..
    Taking a CHEAP shot at a potential true story in Pursuit of your OWN 5 minutes of fame… Now who’s the monster????

    I have two words to sum you up… IGNORANT IDIOT.

  • It seems YOU may have been a VICTIM in a SIMILAR incident? WHY am I using all these CAPITAL letters? Who knows! But thanks for your VERY closed minded opinion. Your ONE TRACK mind only has … well … one track … and that is the fact that you cannot handle corporates. Are you a member of Green Peace? You should be, you would make a fantastic candidate. Bouncing around the world setting fire to buildings, blah blah blah. I guess we all need fanatics in this world, otherwise the world would be a far worse place. Right?

    Mr. Ant, there IS NO victim you “IDIOT”. IT IS A HOAX! Or are you the person who wrote this hoax email?

    P.S. Somehow, writing in capitals makes my message sound all that more .. I dunno … actually wait, it doesn’t do anything. hahahahaha.

  • I get it the Neiman Marcus mail at least once a year, I’m amazed that someone went to the trouble of adapting it to Woolworths.

    http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/cookie.asp

    http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/nm_cookie_recipe.jhtml

  • Its indeed a hoax as the first commenter pointed out. All they’ve done is replaced Neiman Marcus with Woolworths. Here’s the original email scam: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/neiman-marcus-cookie.html

  • Ant, you sound like a bit of a Chop man. U need to learn to relax a bit, it’s not good to get so tense, you could end up having a heart attack like Mr Jackson.

    If the recipe works then bake us some cookies to prove it. I’m not wasting my time baking when I can go to Woolies and buy some of the shelf.
    And Woolies sells convenience, you can go directly to the farmer in the freestate to try and get a good deal on some potatos but that would take you the whole day, or you could pop past Woolies on the way home and get a ready made dish, the choice is yours.

    And I think that you are in fact the IGNORANT IDIOT.

    Now go bake us some fake spam email cookies.

  • the cookie recipe works?!? damnit. clearly i’m not destined to be a housewife.

    oh and Ant… WOW. you’re CLEARLY an OVER capitalising TOSSpot!

    (bet he’s the type that fell for the nigerian 419 scam.)

  • Haha, I got the same one. My favorite part is the fact that it still gives the company’s name from the original e-mail:
    “I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the world with an e-mail account gets a R250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus for free.”
    When I read it I was like “Neiman-Marcus? How did they get dragged into this all of a sudden!?”

    What I have never been able to grasp, is who these people are, who sit somewhere reworking old hoax e-mails?? It sounds like really boring WORK (excuse the caps, ;-) ) to me, and I can’t imagine anybody being bored enough to do it.

  • Oh but I also pretty curious as to how the actual recipe would taste? Has anybody tried it?

  • I agree with Justin, when someone says 250 I automatically think R250… Since when does ANYTHING in Woolworths cost R2.50 anyway… Thats like saying, “oooooo, A BMW for only R800…” IDIOT!

  • Hey, I just forwarded this to some friends, loving it!

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