5 replies to this topic

[gaardendan]

I just completed an SQF audit with an auditor who was completely oblivious to good auditing practises and needed to have the code read and interpreted to him several times. I do not wish to slander the auditor but he is working for one of the worlds largest auditing firms and as such, he will impact many facilities. I would like to forewarn other individuals of his unique interpretations and watch outs.

Ie) insisting on programs that are clearly not written in the code or the addendi, asking to see a program that had already been reviewed more than 5 times. (That happened repeatedly)

Is anyone aware of a site where this information can be shared?


We did fine from a score perspective but the audit was very painful due to the bad auditing. I would have loved to have known about him on advance.

[Scampi]

I just went through the same thing. I complained to the CB  and didn't get anywhere, so I took my complaint to SQFI.  So I would start with your CB and see what kind of traction you get there and if no luck, with SQFI.....auditors are all supposed to adhere to the same standard of service and conduct

[peeviewonder]

I had one guy that was a doozy. According to him, he had worked just about everywhere, but he did not know what the PMO was (and he said he had worked QA in a dairy!). He also brought a dog with him, that shat on our grounds (he did not clean it up). Then he made a number of disparaging comments about women and people of color. What he did not realize is that even though we may look like rednecks, we are a very progressive workplace. He deeply offended myself and a number of our team members. I made calls to his place of business documenting his behavior, and found out later (from someone at another dairy plant in the area) that he was fired. The other dairy plant had made complaints on his as well. When he had us fill out our survey, he took a picture of it! The guy was totally clueless, extremely rude, and completely not suited for being an auditor. I do not know of a place you can rate your auditor, but I would use that service. Whenever I find out who our auditor will be, I do a pretty in depth internet search for them and you can prepare yourself somewhat for what you are going to get. I can't believe that so many people have a publicly accessible facebook profile. Sorry for your experience. 

[Scampi]

We all need to start bombarding the CB's and BRC/SQF et all every time we get one of these folks then we can force them out. I made last year CB pay for my SQF certification and jumped ship once that was done and I had the paid invoice

 

Here's what I don't understand.....I would like to become an auditor (current employer is seasonal so I'd like to do both) However, you have to shadow on quite a few audits with an existing auditor. ONLY RICH people can do that......it is not clear if you get paid or not. Now I'm all for the formal training and work history, yes please it's vital that you actually know how food is made, BUT if the shadow audits are unpaid......how many of us can afford a whack of days off without either A) current employer wondering where you are all the time (leave early, sporadic vaca days etc) OR you're uber rich already and you don't have a mortgage to pay for

 

The CB's I spoke to all said the same thing, not enough auditors.....so they hire these horrible folks (who brings their dog anyway?) and we all suffer

[EvanAUS]

I have been an Auditor for more than a decade and have worked in the food industry (in Australia) for more than 40 years. This includes some time as the Technical Manager for a CB.
I am gob-smacked that the auditors described above could have passed the rigour of the qualification process - they certainly would not have survived in Australia. I would have refused entry to ANYONE attempting to bring a dog onto the site! And demand that anyone breaching normally acceptable social standards leave the site, discontinue the audit and demand that the CB supply a suitable Auditor and conduct the audit at their expense.
As in every area of endeavour in life, there is a a normal distribution curve that applies to Auditors. On behalf of the Auditor fraternity, I apologise that you have experienced the bottom 1% of the distribution curve.
Calibration of auditors, interpretation of standards and ethical behaviour are the most difficult things for CBs to address because auditors are people too. It is your right as the customer of auditing services to demand value for money.


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[gaardendan]

It is unusual yes but since I posted this earlier today I’ve spoken with another individual on here about their bad experience.

Would you believe, we both had the same auditor! My nightmare story and his/her nightmare story were about the same auditor. Wow! That makes me feel vindicated yet I hold little hope that the CB will deal with the issue.

After all, they need warm bodies.