New Lunchables Flawed UPDATED response from Kraft

I finally got a response from Kraft regarding my problem with the new lunchables http://hitthappenings.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-lunchables-flawed.html
I wrote them originally on 10/13, got the first auto response on 10/15, I wrote them back on 10/18 asking for an update after not hearing anything from them, then wrote them again on 10/21 saying that it had been a week and I still had not heard a word, and finally today here's the reply I recieved:

Thank you for taking the time to visit us at http://www.kraftfoods.com/ and for letting me know about your experience.

Thank you for getting back to me

I'm sorry to hear you were not happy with the taste of the Kool Aid in the Oscar Mayer Lunchables. I am sending you reimbursement coupons in the mail for this product, which you should receive within 7-10 business days.

The problem you described sounds like the product was not properly stored during distribution. We take care at our manufacturing facilities to ensure that our products are stored at the correct temperature and time frame until we are able to distribute them. Once our products are in distribution, the storage is out of our control. If the product was exposed to excessive temperatures it could cause the problem you described.

You may use the 8 oz Kool-Aid singles packet in the 6.5 oz water bottle in the Lunchables Complete meal. Once mixed together you'll still enjoy great flavor. We are however working to replace the 8 oz KA Single with a smaller packet.

Again, I apologize for this experience. Thank you for your loyalty and we hope that your next experience is a good one.

Kim M-----
Associate Director, Consumer Relations

Does Kraft think consumers are stupid?  Excessive temperatures did not cause the problem I described.  Having too much Kool Aid or too little water (whichever way you want to look at it) caused the problem.  Sounds like they do realize that they have a problem if they are replacing the packet.  Seems to me that would have been something easier to fix on the front end.

New Lunchables Flawed

I bought my 8yr old several of the new OSCAR MAYER LUNCHABLES SUB SANDWICHES. Surely by now you've seen these new Lunchables on the shelves at grocery stores or Wal-mart. Specifically I bought 5 of these to cover her lunches for this week: 3 Ham plus American and 2 Turkey plus Cheddar. This was the first time we had tried this new Lunchable product. When she came home from school Monday she said she did not like her lunch at all. I asked what was wrong and she said the sub sandwich was good (she took the ham version yesterday) but the water was horrible. I asked her to explain and she said the water plus Kool Aid Single was "bitter" and "made my mouth turn like it was sour."

I could not figure out what could be wrong because we regularly buy Kool Aid singles and have a box of the tropical punch in our pantry right now. She drinks Kool Aid singles often and knows how to properly pour the contents into the bottle of water and to be sure to shake it up well. She absolutely did not want me to send her another lunchables to school the next day. I certainly did not want them to go to waste considering I had bought 5 at one time so I opened one of the Turkey plus Cheddar versions for my own lunch Tuesday. I took one sip of the water plus Kool Aid mixture and nearly spit it out!

Then I realized what the very obvious problem is: the Kool Aid Singles packet very clearly states "Add to 8 fl oz glass or bottle of water" but yet in the Lunchable the bottle of water included is only 6.5oz! Of course it's bitter--there's too much Kool Aid mix for the amount of water provided.

And please don't tell me that the company expects children to know not to pour the entire contents of the Kool Aid packet into the bottle of water to compensate for the lack of enough water to properly dissolve the Kool Aid. I also find it hard to believe that no one taste tested this before production since this would have been a very easy fix just to use a slightly larger bottle of water to add the needed extra 1.5 fl oz.

I want to be very clear that this is in no way to defame Lunchables, Oscar Mayer, or Kraft at all.  To the contrary I just want other moms to be aware of this problem so that their children aren't stuck having to drink something that tastes nasty with their lunch.  I have bought Lunchables for years and will probably continue to do so because they are so convenient in a pinch but I am very disappointed that such an obvious problem was overlooked.  ESPECIALLY in this day an age when there are so many opportunities to make use of the different testing communities to test products vigorously before they hit the market. 

I wrote Kraft foods (parent company of Oscar Mayer) to alert them about the design flaw.  I received the automatic response first and then I recieved a response from a person  who's title is "Associate Director, Consumer Relations" saying "I appreciate your patience; I need some additional time to research your inquiry. I'll contact you again as soon as possible."  I'm waiting....