A manufacturer of upmarket snacks has sent a disappointed customer a personal message of thanks for “the most enjoyable complaint in a while”.

Matthew Gurney fired off an email to Urban Eat after finding his ham and cheese sandwich contained no trace of butter.

Asked to provide evidence, Mr Gurney, 37, included a tongue-in-cheek photo of himself chomping on the “offending article”.

He wrote: “Dear Sirs, I am a working class chap who strives to eat like the upper crust.

“So you will not be surprised that I chose one of your hand-crafted ham and cheese sandwiches to enjoy whilst taking a break from a hard day’s graft.

“Upon taking my first bite, I was disappointed to find a distinct lack of butter on the bread, thus rendering my mouth drier than a mosque.

“It reminded me of the time I was stranded in the Atacama Desert with no butter to put on my sandwiches, and caused severe flashbacks of a feeling of impending doom.”

Mr Gurney, of Ileden Lane, Barham, had paid £3 for the snack from the firm’s “legendary” range.

Disappointed, he scoured Urban’s website and discovered the firm prides itself on hand-made produce in eye-catching “potato art” packaging.

In his email, Mr Gurney wrote: “May I suggest that you concentrate less on the potato art and more on the product inside the box, style over substance is never a good strategy in business.”

He asked for the firm to get in touch to discuss the issue, signing off: “I am prepared to wait until the cows come home.

“However, it would appear from the absence of butter that there are no cows in your business to bring home, in order to churn said butter. Yours dry-mouthedly, Matthew.”

“I do apologise for the experience that you’ve had – maybe the cows were on strike that day!” - Urban Eat

In response, a spokesman from the firm’s marketing department offered Mr Gurney a £6 voucher as consolation.

She wrote: “I do apologise for the experience that you’ve had – maybe the cows were on strike that day!”

The spokesman added: “I shall forward the details on to our Tamworth manufacturing site, so they can take a look at this.

“I also thank you for the most enjoyable complaint I’ve dealt with in a while.”

Mr Gurney said afterwards: “Fair play to Urban. They handled the complaint in good spirit.”

n Have you had an interesting response to a complaint? Call the newsdesk on 01227 475915 or email kenthsgazette@thekmgroup.co.uk.