A week ago, I purchased a 1/2 gallon of milk from Trader Joe’s for $1.49. The expiration date was for August 26. On Sunday, I used it to make French toast – and everything came out fine. When I poured the milk into the glass, however, I knew it had gone bad. Instead of a fragrant milkiness, there’s a weird aftertaste.

I thought about just dumping out the milk and chalking it up to a fluke, but I had only finished half the bottle. So even though I felt a little strange about it (it’s only $1.50, after all, and I didn’t have my receipt anymore), I decided to head back to Trader Joe’s and ask for a refund.

Just to be safe, I lugged the bottle of milk with me. At Trader Joe’s, I went to the customer service desk and explained the situation to the crew member. The nice gentlemen behind the desk immediately wrote me a refund for $1.49. “You can smell the milk,” I said eagerly. But he made a face and shook his head. Hah! That was probably the smart decision. (I smelled the milk and it was definitely funky!) 

I left the store with a new 1/2 gallon of milk and a further appreciation of Trader Joe’s customer service. I still have no idea what happened – maybe I just got a bad batch, or the date was mislabeled, etc. Anyone with a theory, please feel free to chime in! 

But at least now I have a new bottle of milk. So lessons learned: if the food is bad or spoiled, Trader Joe’s will issue a replacement / refund promptly. It never hurts to ask!