I bitch a lot about poor customer service, so I thought I’d pass along an example of the flip side. I have a Melitta coffee maker that I like a lot. I’ve had it for about 5 years I’d guess. It grinds the beans as well as brews, and a little plastic tab that holds the grinder lid down broke off a month or so ago. It was still functional, as long as you weighted the lid down. I did a little looking around online for a replacement part and it appeared to be a fairly common problem with that model. Most people were moaning about not being able to find parts; or the model wasn’t for sale anymore; etc.
I went to the Melitta website and sent their CS dept. and e-mail asking about the availability of replacement parts. I got a reply very quickly asking what part I needed, and when I told the woman, she told me she’d send me the replacement lid for free. It just came in the mail today. I sent her back an e-mail telling her that her service was great and now I’m telling you too. Good job, Melitta.
I bought a Canon inkjet printer. It went south. Rather than try to diagnose the problem, they just sent me another one. It just costs too much money for me to send it back, I guess.
I realize that it’s all about just selling consumable ink cartridges, but I was impressed that they sent me a brand new printer on merely my word that the printer wasn’t working.
Fisher Price is fabulous. Years ago when the kids had a Little People Farm, the wagon pulled by the tractor got broken by being stepped on. They sent a new one, free. I think I had emailed them, and it arrived probably the next day, because I remember I wasn’t even upset that I hadn’t heard back from them, yet. I do make sure to put ALL of my contact information in inquiry emails, for this reason.
A tab on my Olde Thompson pepper mill broke off, making it useless for the purpose of grinding pepper. I had learned as a newly-minted adult (some thirty-five years ago) that Olde Thompson offers a lifetime warranty on their pepper mills, and that all I had to do if one broke was to send it in to Oxnard, CA for replacement.
So I called their customer service, explained the problem, and asked for the shipping address. The young lady at the other end of the line asked me a few questions about the product I had purchased, and then sent us the complete set, including filled pepper mill and the matching salt shaker, exactly the way we bought them five years ago.
Well done, Olde Thompson!
'course, now we have a supernumerary salt shaker, but who’s complaining?
I have several Olde Thompson pepper grinders and salt shakers, including their Sunset Set multicolored acrylic grinder and shaker. I was refilling the pepper grinder and my husband decided he would “help” me by refilling the salt shaker. Instead of removing the stopper at the bottom, he thought he should untwist the top :eek:, causing the top to break apart from the rest of the shaker. I called them to see if something like that was covered under a warranty, since I had purchased them less than a year before. They technically weren’t, but they sent a replacement SET (both pieces!) free anyway! Their grinders are top quality, and their customer service rocks!
I got a used Kokatat drysuit (for kayaking) from a private “seller” for only the cost of shipping a few years ago. It needed new gaskets (neck, sleeves and ankles) and had some wear marks in places that they normally rub. I e-mailed Kokatat and asked how much they would charge to fix it. They said, “Send it to us and we’ll let you know.” They later e-mailed me back and said, “We’re going to send you a new one instead”. I never claimed or implied to be the original owner, nor did they ask. BTW, these things cost over $700 new at the time. I tell everyone I know about this company whenever the topic of customer service comes up.
I bought one of those pillow pets from, well, Pillow Pets for my niece - she wanted the Wiggly Pig and I didn’t have any luck finding them in stores. So I ordered directly from their website. I was rather surprised when they sent me two. I wasn’t charged for the second, so it was just a packing/shipping mistake.
I emailed them to let them know, and inquired whether there was anything I should do to rectify the error. They replied promptly thanking me for my honesty and directing me to keep the second, with their compliments.
Sure, it was their error (meaning I wasn’t obligated to do anything, really), but I thought it was good service.
The plastic rail on which my bathroom vanity drawers sit broke.
The vanity, which is bottom-of-the-line stuff from Lowes or Home Depot, was here when I bought the house. I have NO idea what brand or model it is or anything.
I get on the Lowes and Home Depot web sites and I actually find what looks to be my vanity, or close enough to it. Find the manufacturer, then the manufacturer’s Web site.
I take some pictures of the broken part and put them on Flickr, then I use the “Email Us” form on the company’s Web site to try to explain my situation. Basically “I don’t know if this is your vanity, and I don’t know what the name of this part is, but if this broken part looks familiar can I buy one from you?”
Within a day I get a response that a new part will be sent ASAP. For free. It was, and I installed it and life was good.
About six months later, the same part but on the opposite side breaks. I dig up the old email response and respond again about the newly-broken part. Another set of parts, plus spares, was sent out ASAP. For free.
The company I dealt with is RSI and their company covers a few different lines of kitchen and bathroom cabinetry. I assume mostly sold in big box stores, and I assume their lines are different price ranges.
On one hand I have a product that failed…twice. But dammit, that’s some good customer service! So, if and when I replace this vanity I will probably be keen on getting a new RSI-brand vanity. Probably one of their higher-quality brands, tho
A year or so ago I bought a floor lamp at Lowe’s. What I liked about it was that it had two lights: a torchiere for general illumination and a reading light on a flexible cable so it could be adjusted. The reading light used a 13 watt fluorescent bulb, but instead of being coiled it had three u-shaped tubes. I decided recently that it might be a good idea to get a replacement bulb so I would have one handy when the one that came with the lamp burned out. Lowe’s didn’t seem to carry them, however, so I started checking online, but couldn’t find anything like it. I finally dug out the owner’s manual and called the customer service number to see if I could order one as a replacement part.
I was a bit surprised to find that the number in the manual turned out to be Lowe’s; apparently it was a Lowe’s house brand. After the usual button pushing I was connected to a woman who asked for the item number of the lamp, and then the part number for the bulb. Then she asked it the bulb had been broken or missing; I explained that it had been in the box and was working just fine, and I just wanted to order a replacement. She took my name and address, and then said that she would have a bulb sent to me and it would arrive within 5 to 9 working days. Nothing was said about payment.
Last December, we were hosting a christmas party. I went shopping at Harris Teeter for party groceries, and the bagger neglected to put one of the bags in my cart (I always double check, but I can’t be too thorough when there’s actually a bagger there because I don’t want to be insulting.) I didn’t notice until I got home. I was really annoyed, because getting in and out of that shopping center with christmas shopper traffic was hell and took much longer than I had anticipated. I simply didn’t have time to go back and get the bag in time for the party. The missing bag held the cream for the eggnog, among other things, and I had really been looking forward to trying eggnog from scratch for my first time hosting a christmas party. So, I called to whinge a bit. The manager said they had found a bag, and asked some questions to determine which register i’d gone through. Then he said he would send out someone with my missing items! And he did, in time for the party. Plus a $10 gift card “for your inconvenience”, which I felt guilty taking because there wasn’t any!
The eggnog was delicious and the christmas party was saved.
I needed a replacement piece for my Healthmark inversion table, which is about 15 years old. Somehow a specialized set pin assembly got lost. I called them up, and they were great. While they did charge me $7 for the piece, including shipping, I received it in only 2 days. Usually when you look on replacement order forms for parts, they charge a fortune for any piece, and I would have bet this piece cost at least $20 not counting shipping. So it was a nice surprise.
My daughter ordered a North Face vest from Backcountry.com with her Christmas money. She opted for free 2-week shipping. It arrived 2 days after placing the order, at no extra charge.They also have a no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee for the lifetime of the purchase.
When she bought herself a refurbished iPod Touch off eBay two and a half years ago, we bought her an extended warranty with SquareTrade.com. I emailed them a few weeks ago and told them her battery wouldn’t hold a charge anymore (an $80 fix from Apple). They said, just ship it back (prepaid) and they would refund the full purchase price, as long as it wasn’t obviously broken in half or something. I’ve since bought another extended warranty from them for an expensive camera for my daughter, which includes damage due to breakage or water damage, for $26. (I don’t normally go for extended warranties, but my daughter is highly likely to drop and break the camera, and refurbs often go TA on us.)
My wife has bought Coach bags for years. If anything goes wrong, it is fixed for free. She did buy another brand, just as expensive - and it ripped early and it was tough luck. She went back to Coach and never another problem.
Ditto with Cuisinart.
I have Dish Network. We got an HD upgrade, and the new recorder and one of the new remote controls were broken. That was a bummer, and I did lots of calls to customer service. They always picked up right away, after a brief menu which you could bypass easily, and they were all helpful, respectful, and friendly.
My flights to Phoenix were changed several times by Delta, to the point of being inconvenient. I called Delta and asked if I could change them without paying a change fee. The CSR said, “Certainly. I’ll take of that for you.”
I ended up getting the flight that I originally wanted when I initially booked the trip, but it was $50 more (and there were 4 of us flying).
