Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Customer satisfaction and email...


A couple of weeks ago I bought a set of corelle dishes for my little house ... as I unpacked them I noticed a flaw in the moulding for one of the coffee mugs. I took note of the customer contact info on the box and sent off an email to the company more to tell them about the flaw than anything else. I wrote and said that I thought their quality control people might appreciate knowing about the flaw and with a description of where it was on the mug, I noted that I would replace the mug later when I was at a store selling individual pieces in my pattern.
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I received an email back within a couple of hours thanking me for the email and for letting them know about the flaw. The writer then said - "rest assured, we will be sending you a replacement mug immediately, and ask that you NOT use the damaged mug to avoid the possibility of injury should it fail when full of hot liquid."
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A day or two later I decided on a quickly dinner when I was at the local grocery store. I picked up a Michelina's frozen entree of glazed roast turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. I paid for my dinner and brought it home to pop it in the microwave.
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I was disappointed to discover when I opened it that not only was the meal NOTHING like the photo on the box (I wasn't really expecting it to look THAT GOOD!!), but it had almost no turkey meat and the stuffing was nothing more than crumbs. The gravy and the potatoes were okay - but the three tiny pieces of meat which were the size of a quarter, a nickel and almost a dime, along with the seasoned bread crumbs and dust that was supposed to stuffing was disappointing.
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I again checked the customer service contacts and sent off an email, again saying simply - "I thought your quality control folks might want to know ..." and I described the meal.
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The next morning I received a very nice reply from Michelina's apologizing for the meal, thanking me for letting them know so they can follow up on future meals, and promising to send me coupons for other Michelina meals.
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Yesterday an envelope from Michelina's arrived with a second letter of apology and two coupons for free Michelina entrees.
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Today a box was left on my front porch by FedEx that amongst the bubble wrap and pre-packaged air bags was nestled a replacement mug for my corelle set.
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My intent was not to get something for nothing, but merely to let the respective companies know that there was some room for improvement. Their gracious response is not only appreciated, it helps win me over as a loyal customer when it comes to future purchases.
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Thanks Corelle.
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Thanks Michelina's.
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I recommend contacting companies, not demanding something be done, but letting them know where and how they can improve their products - that way we ALL benefit !!
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1 comment:

sallie the advocate said...

Way to go! Making a difference, one step at a time. When we "complain" effectively, things change. I remember years ago, Earth Day was considered a way out concept, now look! Price is Right did it as a theme, along with Ellen, Oprah and Google! Unimaginable a few years ago. As consumers we need to learn to say "this isn't good enough."
Good for you, Shawn. I hope people learn!