In view of the claim on your can that my breath would be cool and sweet after eating your water chestnuts, would you care to explain this?
Yours faithfully
T Ravenscroft (Mr)
****
G COSTA
Ref: JD
12th May
Mr T Ravenscroft
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
Cheshire
Dear Mr Ravenscroft,
Re: Blue Dragon Water Chestnuts
Thank you for your letter of 26th April regarding the above product.
We appreciate your comments regarding the breath freshening aspect of this vegetable, however, as with any food if it is mixed with other ingredients, especially those with strong flavour such as garlic, unfortunately the effect is not the same!
We have also scoured our stock to locate a label claiming these freshening qualities.
Thank you for purchasing Blue Dragon.
Yours sincerely, for G COSTA & CO LTD
Joanne Dann
Consumer Relations Department
****
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
CHESHIRE
15th May
Your ref JD
Joanne Dann
G Costa and Co Ltd
Aylesford
Kent
Dear Joanne Dann
If you have in fact scoured your stock to locate on the label the claim that your Blue Dragon Water Chestnuts have freshening qualities then all I can say is you need a new scourer.
I attach, for your information, a label which clearly claims such qualities, and I consider that if you make such claims you should be prepared to stand by them. Furthermore, your failing to point out on your label that if your water chestnuts are mixed with other ingredients then their power to sweeten their breath is negated, which resulted in my suffering a badly bruised shin, is nothing less than negligence. Unless you want to risk others meeting the same fate I would seriously consider a major label rethink if I were you.
I had to buy another can of your water chestnuts in order to obtain a label so I expect you to reimburse me with the cost.
Yours faithfully
T Ravenscroft (Mr)
****
G COSTA
Ref: JD
22nd May
Mr T Ravenscroft
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
Cheshire
Dear Mr Ravenscroft,
Re: Blue Dragon Water Chestnuts
Thank you for your letter of 15th May regarding the above. I appreciate your comments regarding our labelling, and can confirm that the new labels are indeed not quite the same as the one you have supplied to us.
As requested, please find enclosed a postal order for £1.00 in respect of the tin of Water Chestnuts purchased for its label.
Thank you for purchasing Blue Dragon.
Yours sincerely, for G COSTA & CO LTD
Joanne Dann
Consumer Relations Department
****
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
CHESHIRE
28th May
Joanne Dann
G Costa and Co Ltd
Aylesford
Kent
Dear Joanne Dann
Thank you for your letter of 22nd May.
I have visited several supermarkets and scoured the labels of your Blue Dragon Water Chestnuts but have found no evidence whatsoever of any change in the wording on them. I have also scoured the envelope of your letter and found no evidence of a £1.00 postal order! Perhaps the inefficient employee who scoured your stock for evidence of your claiming freshening qualities for your water chestnuts was the same person who was responsible for putting the postal order in the envelope?
Would you now be good enough to send me one of your new labels, so that I can check if the new wording is satisfactory, along with a postal order for £1.30 to cover the postal order that you claim to have already sent but haven't, plus the 30 pence it is going to cost me to send this additional letter.
Yours faithfully
T Ravenscroft (Mr)
****
G COSTA
Ref: JD
11 June
Mr T Ravenscroft
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
Cheshire
Dear Mr Ravenscroft,
Re: Blue Dragon Water Chestnuts
We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 28 May and apologise that the Postal Order was omitted from our letter of 22 May .
Accordingly we enclose a Postal Order for £2.00 and trust you will find this satisfactory.
Yours sincerely, for G COSTA & CO LTD
Elizabeth Sims
Consumer Relations Department
****
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
CHESHIRE
27th April
Taylors of Harrogate
Yorkshire Tea
Harrogate
North Yorkshire
Dear Taylors of Harrogate
Although I have always lived quite close to Yorkshire I must confess that I have never felt the desire to visit the White Rose county. Maybe this is because the names of some of the towns and villages sound so uninviting - Greaseborough, Slaithwaite and Grewelthorpe spring readily to mind, but no doubt I could find a Snotborough if I tried hard enough. Probably by the time God got to Yorkshire He must have run out of attractive names and you got the barrel-scrapings, as it were. However, and to get to the point, I have recently been introduced to the delights of 'Yorkshire Tea,' which in turn has led to me to deciding to visit your county in the not too distant future. If the climate in Yorkshire is hot enough to grow tea then clearly I have been missing something! During my stay I would like very much to visit your tea plantations. Would this be possible?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully
T Ravenscroft (Mr)
****
TAYLORS
Dear Mr Ravenscroft
Thank you for your recent letter and kind comments about Yorkshire Tea. We always enjoy reading letters from our Yorkshire Tea customers and we really do appreciate the time and trouble taken to write. We were particularly delighted to read that you were thinking of visiting Yorkshire for the first time thanks to your enjoyment of our tea!
We are still a small family business with over a hundred year's experience of buying and blending tea. Our Tea Buyer visits tea estates around the world, selecting only the very best tea for our blends. This helps to give Yorkshire Tea its rich refreshing flavour. However it does mean that you would have to travel much further afield than Yorkshire to visit tea plantations.
Thank you once again for your letter and your interest in our business. Please find enclosed a sample of Yorkshire Tea so that you can enjoy your next cup with our compliments.
Yours sincerely
Katy Squire
Assistant PR & Promotions Manager
****
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
Cheshire
6th May
Katy Squire
Taylors of Harrogate
Harrogate
North Yorkshire
Dear Katy Squire
Thank you for your letter of 1st May and the sample of Yorkshire Tea. I used it to make a pot of tea, which I shared with the Vicar when he called round to bless my eldest son Marcus's new iguana, and he was converted. (To Yorkshire tea, that is, he was already converted to the Church of England faith, naturally)
I was both surprised and disappointed to learn that the tea that goes into Yorkshire tea isn't grown in Yorkshire. It's none of my business of course, but aren't you breaking the Trades Description Act or something by calling it Yorkshire Tea?
Yours faithfully
T Ravenscroft (Mr)
****
TAYLORS
8th May
Dear Mr Rave
nscroft
Thank you for your recent letter. We were delighted to read that you have converted your Vicar to Yorkshire Tea!
Thank you also for your enquiry regarding the name of Yorkshire Tea. We would love to be able to grow tea here in Harrogate although sadly the climatic conditions are far from ideal! Instead our Tea Buyer visits tea estates and tea gardens around the world searching for fine quality teas to use in our blends.
Taylors of Harrogate was founded in 1886 and we remain very proud of our Yorkshire heritage. Still today all our teas are blended and packed in Harrogate and for this reason our rich, refreshing blend is called Yorkshire Tea. The name is registered and trade marked.
Thank you once again for your interest in our business and we do hope you will continue to enjoy drinking Yorkshire Tea.
Yours sincerely
Katy Squire
Assistant PR & Promotions Manager
****
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
CHESHIRE
21st May
Katy Squire
Taylors of Harrogate
Harrogate
North Yorkshire
Dear Katy Squire
Hello again! Just a line to let you know that last weekend my wife and I visited the Yorkshire Dales, staying in Wharfedale. What a lovely part of the country! And such nice people. The only disappointment apart from the unseasonable weather was with the Yorkshire Tea, which we drank whilst in Yorkshire. For some reason it didn't taste nearly so good as it does here in Derbyshire. As a matter of fact it wasn't all that easy to come by either, and I had to get the landlady at the guest house where we were staying to buy in some Yorkshire Tea specially, as she 'Allus got that tea what t'monkeys advertises on t'telly as it were a seet bloody tastier', as she charmingly put it. I wonder if this could have something to do with the water?
I ask this because the domestic water supply in the Cheshire is excellent, and far superior to the water that emerged through our tap in Grassington. In fact my wife refused point blank to drink Grassington tap water and I had to go all the way to Skipton to get her a bottle of Perrier, but then she's always been a bit squeamish about what she'll put in her mouth ever since our honeymoon (when she got drunk on Cherry B).
You remember the Vicar I introduced to Yorkshire Tea? The other day he ran off with a lady bellringer, but I doubt it was anything to do with drinking your tea.
Yours faithfully
T Ravenscroft (Mr)
****
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
CHESHIRE
30th April
HP Foods
Tower Road
Birmingham
Dear H P Foods
Being something of a gourmet I make a point of watching as many television cookery programmes as my time allows. However despite seeing all that the Two Fat Ladies have to offer, and sitting through Rick Stein, Gary Rhodes, Raymond Blanc, the Roux Brothers, countless series of Delia Smith, and Floyd on France, Italy, Spain, Australia and God knows where else, I have yet to see a single TV chef use HP Sauce, whether included in the recipe or on the finished dish.
I find this quite amazing, as a generous helping of your excellent condiment will improve any dish. I have found that three tablespoonfuls added to the boiling water absolutely transforms Bachelors Delicately Flavoured Rice, while to pour it liberally over Birds Eye Boil-In-The-Bag Kipper Fillets elevates an already outstanding dish into food fit for a King. And what would my Christmas dinner be like without it?
I wonder then why it is that TV Chefs seem reluctant to use it. Could it be jealousy on their part, and that they don't like to admit that a healthy dollop of H P Sauce would improve even their finest efforts.
I would be interested in your comments.
Yours faithfully
T Ravenscroft (Mr)
****
HP FOODS
Our Ref : - GTHIJMJ/296
12 May,
Mr Ravenscroft
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
Cheshire
Dear Mr Ravenscroft
Thankyou for your recent letter inquiring about using our product on National TV.
I have passed your letter onto our Marketing Department for their comments and have been advised that it is very difficult to use branded products on TV programmes without contravening advertising regulations.
We do realise that products are used in demonstrations and in standard contracts however, the presenter is under contract not to allow the brand name to be shown. These can be tailored to Company needs apparently. You never know we may be on the big screen soon!!
I do hope the above has clarified the situation for you but should you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us. It is always pleasant to receive comments from valued customers, such as yourself, and we thank you for taking the time to write. From your letter you appear to thoroughly enjoy our products and use them in a variety ways. Please find enclosed a product voucher to enable you to sample and enjoy some of our other brands as Lea & Perrins Worcester Sauce, Amoy and Rajah with the same delight.
Yours sincerely
Jean James
Research and Development Administrator
****
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
CHESHIRE
15th May
Jean James
H P Foods
Tower Road
Birmingham
Dear Jean James
Sorry, I appear to have made a mistake, it isn't HP Sauce I like, it's Heinz. However with the voucher you kindly sent me I bought a bottle of your sauce, and whilst not reaching the heights of which Heinz achieve it is nonetheless very, very good, especially when a soupcon of it is added to a pot of Yorkshire Tea. If Heinz ever let their quality slip, which it appears they might well be doing if their Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends Pasta Shapes are anything to go by, I shall know where to turn. Thank you.
Yours faithfully
T Ravenscroft (Mr)
****
17 Lingland Road
New Mills
CHESHIRE
3rd May
English Provender Company
PO Box 5
Henley-on-Thames
Oxfordshire
R99 3PM
Dear English Provender
My youngest son Oscar is extremely hyperactive, and short of tying him up the only way to stop him running riot is by strictly controlling his diet. However this is only partially successful, and I am constantly on the lookout for additional means of slowing the little tyke down, short of amputation. It was with great expectations then that I tried him on your Provender Very Lazy Garlic. What a disappointment! Your product didn't make him any lazier at all, let alone very lazy. In fact after I'd made him eat six slices of toast spread thickly with it, not only did it make him even more lively than usual but he proceeded to scream the house down, and it couldn't have been the toast that was to blame because I'd made sure the bread I used was gluten-free.
Dear Coca-Cola Page 12
