Nicolaus Labor Day Parade and Craft Faire

Oli's Products is striving to spread the word that gluten free food tastes great, one craft faire at a time. Labor Day is typically a holiday when many people head to the water, relax, and have a BBQ. It's a three day weekend, so why not squeeze the Nicolaus Labor Day Parade and Craft Faire into your schedule? Get out of town, enjoy some good food, live entertainment, and explore the local arts and crafts. Come on by and sample our signature Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce or our Thick 'n Chunky Salsa. Check out website for the details.

Peppers are in Season

Here in Northern California peppers are falling off the tables at farmers market and the prices are going down in the grocery store, which can only mean one thing: Oli's Products is in full production. August and September are our busiest months for producing our two main products: Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce, and Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa, as we strive to use local and fresh ingredients. We also have seasonal offerings, and currently have Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce: Mango in stock.

Did you know that the haberno chili is the second hottest pepper in the world? We use the habanero in all varieties of Oli's Sweet 'n Spicy Sauce and in the hot variation of Oli's Thick 'n Chunky Salsa. So whether you like a mild taste or you love the burn we've got the perfect treat for you.

As Fall slowly approaches, our craft fair season is gearing up, which means if you're in the greater Sacramento area you can come on out to our booth locations and sample our products in person. On August 17th you can find Oli's Products at the Loomis Basin Community Park in Loomis, CA. The fair is being held in support of the Lewy Body Dementia Association, Inc. and is going to be a fun-filled day of volleyball, food vendors, and crafts. And as a special treat, in addition to our two other product lines, Oli's Products will be introducing its death-by-chocolate brownies. If you can't make it out to see us in person and are having a chocolate craving we welcome you to make a special order at OlisProducts.com.

Disneyland: The Happiest (Gluten-Free) Place on Earth

I recently got back from a trip to Disneyland in celebration of my recent graduation from Sacramento State University, a fine public university if I do say so myself. During my trip, I discovered something about Disneyland that I never knew before: it is perhaps one of the (if not *the*) most gluten-free-friendly places on the face of the earth. My girlfriend, who has been gluten free for about three years now, was super excited to go to Disneyland after she read an in article in the Living Without Magazine that spoke of Disney as a featured gluten-free destination. Apparently the head chef in charge of all the dining establishments at Disney contacted her within 24 hours of sending an email.

When we arrived at Disneyland's City Hall to get this great list of dining options, I was impressed with the 10 pages of choices that were geographically categorized according to where you were located in the park. We were also allowed to bring in some gluten free snacks without any complications. My girlfriend also happens to have a disability and the staff truly bent over backwards to help her out. Between the advantage of being able to bypass the long lines and not being anxious about whether or not the food was going to ruin our day, it was truly one of the happiest days in the happiest place on earth.

Now, on to an entirely different gluten free experience.

During our trip, we also visited Universal Studios in Southern California and it was truly a night and day difference between the two parks. Universal had no literature at all to assist sufferers of celiac to dine safely. The Universal Guest Services department had reassured us that the staff was knowledgeable and that Debbie would just need to ask to speak to the chef at any of the dining options, but that did not go so smoothly. She had to shout over customers in line at the Jurassic Café to speak to the chef who was not knowledgeable about eating gluten free at all. In fact, he thought that if you remove the croutons from a salad it would be safe. She's a real trooper though; she ate a meal replacement bar that she snuck into the park, while I spent $7 on a Dodger Dog and a bag of chips (no drink included in that price; that's just ridiculous). Afterword, we left the park and enjoyed some Chipotle and some Pinkberry for dessert.

Next time we go to Southern California I vote to spend 3 days at Disneyland/CA Adventure. Between the overly chipper staff and their willingness to make sure everyone, regardless of diets or disabilities, has an equally pleasant experience, Disneyland truly lived up to its slogan of being the Happiest Place on Earth.

FedEx Disaster Resolved

After almost a month working with FedEx, they finally did the right thing: they made a one-time exception and agreed to pay our claim.

I haven't received the check yet, but I was just told today that they'd be sending it out from Pittsburgh, PA on Wednesday of this week.


Lesson learned: Always, always, ALWAYS be 1000% clear that you have both the correct tracking number and the correct declared value. ALWAYS. Keep detailed documentation of phone records, and any photographic evidence.

I'm a patient and forgiving man; FedEx gets one more try. If it fails and the package arrives damaged or with missing contents, it's time to find another carrier. I really want to like FedEx because they are the least expensive and pretty reliable when I used them in another business (overnighting important envelopes), so let's see how round two goes.

For your information, here is the process, as I experienced it, if your package gets damaged:

1. FedEx accidentally damages package.
2. Original package is inspected, damaged contents are discarded, "balance" (undamaged items) are re-packaged in a different box with different packing material (in my case, they just threw the glass jars into an oversized box full of lousy peanuts).
3. Original labels are cut out from original box and pasted on to new box.
4. Box is shipped.
   
5. Recipient receives box, wonders What The Flounder happened to this thing???
6. Recipient (or sender) files claim with FedEx.
7. FedEx picks up package from recipient to inspect it, per the claims process.
8. FedEx inspects, then repackages with yet a different box and different labels, thus obliterating any original labels that might have helped your cause.
9. FedEx returns package to recipient with no (and I mean absolutely ZERO) packing material inside (such as peanuts, bubble wrap, etc).
10. Recipient faints dead away at how a package with fragile items, such as glass jars with habanero sauce, could get away from FedEx without SOME KIND of packing material to keep them from breaking.

That about covers it.

FedEx Disaster

My mom is a disabled pizza delivery driver for a national pizza chain, though because of her disability she won't be doing that for much longer. She stumbled across a habanero sauce/marmelade recipe one day and after many iterations of improving upon it and making it her own, she decided to see what people thought. They loved it.

So, I brought some back home with me from a not-so-recent Southern California trip to see her, and started selling it at local craft fairs for $8 per jar. The product proved to be popular that I sold out. I begged my mom to make some more and send it to me. We decided to use FedEx because they were the cheapest. Well, sometimes in life I guess you truly do get what you pay for.

This is our story.

Original shipment: submitted online 3 days before scheduled delivery date of May 1st. Claimed value: $450. Shipment type: FedEx Home Delivery.

My mom had packed the box precisely as the fedex rep had instructed. Double cardboard on the bottom to fortify the base from tearing, packing peanuts between the box edge and the contents, bubble wrap in between each flat of 12 jars (of which there were 4.5 flats)... everything right that you could do to pack a box, she did right.

However, the box I received (short, fat) looked nothing like the box that was shipped (tall, skinny). In fact, this is because it was not the box that was originally shipped; it appears the original box was dropped, half of its contents destroyed, and all of our receipts in the envelope (far right in the picture) were MISSING.

Here is what arrived at my doorstep:


Note that I was expecting twice as many jars, and packing peanuts were the only materials used to insulate the jars from hitting each other. This did not prove effective:


And that's one of the few jars with the label still in tact. Every other jar was either dented and/or had a torn label and/or was covered in sauce.

5/9/07: So, I was understandably upset because I was going to sell these things in a few days at a craft fair. I called FedEx and filed a claim, which sounded like a very easy process since they pay the claim in 5-7 days. "Great," I thought, "at least we can recover our capital and continue to make more sauce." This was on 5/9/07. I faxed the claim to two different numbers, just to be safe, and included all appropriate documentation. At the same time, I did as they told me and left the damaged contents at my apartment's leasing office for them to pick up and examine for the claims process.

On 5/17/07, I called back to check on the status of my claim because we hadn't received a check. Spoke with Pat in the claims department. It sounds like he can't read our pricing sheet and instructed me to re-fax pricing sheet and include this tracking number. Pat was to look into situation and call me back on my cell phone. Never got a call back from Patty Cake, Patty Cake, baker's man.

Furthermore, it seems that nobody at FedEx has a clue what happened with this shipment. There is no original invoice number, invoice date, etc. on my fedex.com account; they stated to me that over the phone it appeared there was no declared value, but yet I put a declared value online and over the phone. They are trying to retrace this online order back to the start to see if they can uncover the fact that I really did claim $450.

5/23/07 rolls around. Spoke with Carla Duncan in c.service. No direct # for claims dept. Claim closed (denied) on 5/18/07, then re-opened some time later because "additional documentation was received. Person handling claim, Jacquelyn, won't be back in the office until Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday. Fuck. I guess I get to wait some more.

5/29/07: 9:20AM. Spoke with "India". She says claims dept has denied claim--they say it was delivered on a different tracking number. Seems like nobody knows what the fuck they are talking about in this company, since yesterday I was told the claim was re-opened. India offered to leave a callback request with Jackie. We'll see if she calls back today. [Nope, no call back.]

5/30/07: 1:17 PM. Finally spoke with my assigned claims rep, Jackie (caller id 901-922-7000), who says that the tracking number starting with "889" means that the item has been repackaged, and that's not the tracking number they need for whatever it is they have to do (are they still trying to verify that I originally claimed a $450 value??). This seems ludacris to me, since, if an item is re-packaged, one would think it would be linked to the original tracking number in the database... and since I placed the pickup order with a CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE, you'd think there would be an original tracking number SOMEWHERE IN THEIR SYSTEM.

Welp, Jackie said she would have to do some more investigating and call me back tomorrow since she was about to leave for the day in 15 minutes. How convenient.

Curious, I wonder where my "damaged contents" package is since I shipped it on May 10th (it is now May 30th) and they said it'd be shipped right back to me. They must have looked at it by now and documented it, right?

Indeed, they had. But where was the package? I later found that they had delivered it to my apartment complex, but failed to put my apartment number on it. So, my apartment complex let it sit in their office for about 2 weeks before I finally called in to inquire.

When I opened the box I glanced in to see what kind of packing material they used to secure the GLASS JARS this time. At first glance, I was delighted with what I thought were those sealed bags of air that Amazon.com uses to ship BOOKS... (you know, the things that don't break and spill all over the place) ...but no.

To my dismay and utter SHOCK, it turns out they just dumped all the jars into a pink plastic bag, tied a knot at the top, and dumped that bag in another bag, with a knot at that top of it as well. Same way you might dispose of, you know, a dead human body.

Hmm, seems to me like they knew it was going to be a complete CLUSTER FUCK in that bag, "so we better make sure it doesn't leak too bad."

Below is what I received:

I just opened the box, haven't tampered with anything.



Inside of the bag.


The labels are practically see-through due to all the sauce they've absorbed.


Another gnarly picture of the chaos that ensued.

And finally, the video:

, shockwave-flash@http://www.youtube.com/v/MRzV-1AZ3pQ" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MRzV-1AZ3pQ" id="">

Now... the claims process is STILL going on and it's unknown how long it will last.... but as it progresses, I'll post updates to this blog entry in chronological order.