# Blue Buffalo - what are they hiding?



## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

I am so ticked off at Blue Buffalo. I've feed my guys Wilderness since it came out. Even through their last recall I didn't jump ship. I am now jumping ship!

Like many of you I've been trying to find out their max cal/pho levels for quite a while. A few weeks ago I spoke with a rep at Pet Supplies Plus who had her boss call me. He was a nice gentleman and said to give him a week and he would find out for me. Sure enough he called me in a week and left me a message that the maximum levels were cal 1.3% & pho .9%.
Of course I called him back and informed him those were the numbers on the bag and they were *minimums*. I asked him to call me.

It's been almost 2 weeks and I've left several messages with no response.
I've call their 800 # which no one answers. They only take messages. I've left message. I've also contacted them via email with the situation.
I finally got fed up and found the HQ # and called it...and guess what...press 1 to speak with a rep...and leave a message.

Sorry this is long. I then called my contact Ken Cookpicky and told him I hoped he wasn't sick and I was very disappointed he hadn't called me back after repeated attempts to contact him. I informed him I would be contacing Bill Bishop, CEO of BB.

Amazingly Ken called me back! He told me customer service had replied to my email (not) and that the numbers he gave me were their maximums. I told him I found that hard to believe since thier own bags state it is the minimums!

So with lack of customer support, lack of information, and still not knowing what their maximums are I am switching brands. I do plan on sending a letter to Bill Bishop, their CEO to let him know if my experience and the concern of their unwillingness to make public their maximum numbers on cal/pho.

Feels good to get that rant out!


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## Deuce (Oct 14, 2010)

Customer service isn't anything like it used to be anymore and it's sad. I put my customers first always....i'm sorry to hear that you didn't have a good experience.


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## Hunther's Dad (Mar 13, 2010)

Customer service is a dying art, sad to say.


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

There's really two issues here. Yes their customer service is extremely poor and they refuse to state what their maximums are which to me makes them suspect (that they are too high).


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## GSDElsa (Jul 22, 2009)

Not that this is an excuse for bad customer service--but I really think most of those reps are just clueless and dont' really know what they are talking about as a whole. I think this is the case with a lot of products, not just dog food. 

I doubt they are trying to hide anything--just have bad customer relations. 

But if you're not comfortable with the product, by all means find something else! I envy people like you that can be picky with their dog food. Elsa has so many food sensitivities I'm more or less stuck with a very small group of foods. Unless they completley go to the pooper, I don't have much choice. Haha.


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

I totally agree about the rep knowledge. This however, was the supervisor of the rep that was in the store. She called him, he called me, then he called someone within the company to get the information. He was adament that those numbers were the maxium and I asked why then does it say on the bag they are the minimums. I wouldn't be surprised if NO ONE actually knows. I'm still planning on writing the CEO. It should at least alert them in finding out or lowering if they are too high.


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## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

I worked as a BB rep for a while; I also wanted to know the calcium/phos levels, max or as fed. 
I could never get an answer, and I asked several times. Any other questions I had were answered right away...but never that one!


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

phgsd -That's interesting. Up until now I've given them the benefit of the doubt but one would think that if they were within the maximum level threshold they would be proud to make that public. I'm now inclined to think they are too high. Between the secrecy and poor customer service they have lost my business.


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## rjvamp (Aug 23, 2008)

And BB will not release their pet food test results ----- seems that went out of fashion in 2007 with all those recalls. But I guess old fashion has come back into style!

Blue Buffalo will not release pet food test results


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## Dejavu (Nov 11, 2010)

Ugh, I have been feeding BB to my dogs, and honestly I'm just waiting til they finish what little food they have left to either switch to Orijen or just start them on raw.

I used to recommend this brand because I got good results with my dogs, but after the recalls, "hiding" their test results, and having found live moths and maggots in both treat bags and dry food bags within a week... I'll never go anywhere near them again once I can get my dogs off this food.


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## crazyboutdogs (Aug 26, 2007)

I work at a pet nutrition center and it is just so frustrating when they don't include this on the packaging! Many great dane and large and giant breed dog owners really need to know this info for the health and welfare of their pets. I'll go one better. I was feeding Storm Evo when he was 8 months old until someone on here said it was a no no. I called Natura (who is now P&G sadly and they told me it is not recommended for large breed dogs until 1 1/2 years old! I told her that this should be stated on the packaging. I was from the old school and raised my dogs on puppy food, so when I got Storm all this grain free all life stage foods had me a bit confused.


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## rjvamp (Aug 23, 2008)

Ruth said:


> Ugh, I have been feeding BB to my dogs, and honestly I'm just waiting til they finish what little food they have left to either switch to Orijen or just start them on raw.
> 
> I used to recommend this brand because I got good results with my dogs, but after the recalls, "hiding" their test results, and having found live moths and maggots in both treat bags and dry food bags within a week... I'll never go anywhere near them again once I can get my dogs off this food.


I hope you didn't find the moths and maggots in what you are feeding now....that is nasty either way. Did you call BB and let them know? If you returned it, what did the store say?


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

wow, stetchy moves by BB. maybe my the TOTW calcium levels aren't too high in comparison after all haha


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## Dejavu (Nov 11, 2010)

rjvamp said:


> I hope you didn't find the moths and maggots in what you are feeding now....that is nasty either way. Did you call BB and let them know? If you returned it, what did the store say?


Oh Gawd no!! They were both new bags and I returned them to the store immediately. They didn't say a thing, they just labeled the bags and took them away.
I exchanged them for another bag, and I opened and inspected it in front if them and it was fine. Right now I just want to finish that bag so I can never feed them BB ever again! I'm so disgusted by them, and I'm currently transitioning my dogs to Orijen while I continue researching raw diets.

I sent them an email, no answer from them yet.


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## bigboy (Sep 21, 2009)

that bits to hear I hope it is just in the dog food cause i feed the wilderness cat food, but you think they would check through their food before the ship it out all over i hope they get back to better and don't have to and up being a recall brand that changes people's minds.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

I can understand a rep not knowing the answers but 2 weeks seems like a sufficient time to find out- and the fact that they say nothing....hmmmm. When I was considering switching from Nature's Variety to Orijen, I got a response from Orijen the same day I emailed a question. TOTW also replies quickly which makes me assume that if a company is has confidence and pride in their product they'd be happy to. Both companies have been great about responding and I'd recommend those foods- I did ultimately switch to Orijen because Stosh just wasn't eating the NV anymore.


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## GoSearchk9 (Oct 20, 2010)

That is really dissapointing!! I recently switched and am no longer feeding BB and this makes me feel even better about my decision!!!!


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## zoey2010 (Mar 19, 2010)

I emailed them also and it has been two weeks and no answer. I had already changed to Wellness, but the dogs do not eat it very well so was going to go back to BB. Not if I do not get an answer.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

So far no word back from Nutrisource for some simple questions after a few days. Earthborn was fast with a response as were Fromm, and Champion (Orijen and Acana), I also contacted Grizzly Salmon Oil to get a breakdown there. One day.


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## 3ToesTonyismydog (Dec 27, 2009)

In 2010 I contacted almost every dog food company about the use of Ethoxyquin in their fish meal. Blue was super slow in their response and to be frank, with how long it took I decided against every using any of their foods. If you think Blue is slow Artemis was a total nightmare. Canidae did not even deny using it. Blue's response.. Notice the typing and the lame excuse, they obviously don't take C.S. seriously. To be honest, I flat didn't like her response, it had to many holes in it and she did not mention the suppliers they use.

Hi Jess,

Thank you for contacting us. I apologize for the delayed response as we've had some issues with our e-mail server.

We stabilize all our fats, fish, and oils with natural, mixed tocopherols, vitamin A & C, and oil of rosemary. Ethoxyquin is not added to any of our ingredients or formulas, which is verified by the ingredient panels. We take every precaution to ensure that our fish meal is ethoxyquin free and preserved only with natural preservatives. 

Thank you for your concern. Please feel free to contact me with any further questions.

Sincerely,
Larissa


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

3ToesTonyismydog said:


> In 2010 I contacted almost every dog food company about the use of Ethoxyquin in their fish meal. Blue was super slow in their response and to be frank, with how long it took I decided against every using any of their foods. If you think Blue is slow Artemis was a total nightmare. Canidae did not even deny using it. Blue's response.. Notice the typing and the lame excuse, they obviously don't take C.S. seriously. To be honest, I flat didn't like her response, it had to many holes in it and she did not mention the suppliers they use.
> 
> Hi Jess,
> 
> ...


Uhm, what is wrong with the typing?


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