Corporate Responses to Product Complaint

Those of you who know me know I am not one to complain. When it comes to bad products, I always assuming the bad product I received was a fluke and it wasn't worth my time to sit down and tell a huge corporation how a little nobody house wife from Texas had a less then satisfactory experience with their product.  I mean what were they going to do anyways?

But one day, I had enough. I was having quite a streak of bad products, most of which I have used for years, and I wanted them to know they were at risk of losing a loyal customer.

Picture from: Lipton.com

I was not going to spend hard earned money on faulty products or products that did not deliver what they promised.  I was disgruntled! :) So I decided to start giving feed back. Here is my experience...

Product  #1: Lipton Tea

Problem: Over half of the tea bags in a box of tea busted while brewing.

I wrote a polite, but short and to the point email on their website.

The Response: Within 2 days I had a response in my inbox with an apology and permission to mail a packet to me. Of course I obliged and low and behold a week later I had 4 coupons for FREE full sized boxes of the tea. That is over $8.00 worth of products for 10 minutes of my time.

And Lipton now has a loyal customer!!

Product #2: Tide Liquid Detergent

Problem: With a change of packaging also came a change of label. The amount of oz./load had changed, yet the product stayed the same. Making the loads per bottle less but the amount of detergent purchased the same. I was getting cheated out of detergent.

This time I called the customer service number on the bottle.

The Response: After some explanation, and a very helpful CSR, named Joan. A suitable explanation was given on a formula change and a few complimentary coupons for Free detergent were mailed again for the inconvenience and confusion.

Product #3: Pet Mate (A producer for dog toys) Dura Bone

Problem: Our dog is a STRONG chewer. I spent $25.00 on a chew toy advertised extra durable for large dogs and strong chewers. Sally(our pooch) had the toy for no longer than 3 minutes before there was a hole in the toy and stuffing all over the floor. I was so frustrated!!

I promptly took a picture of the product and emailed again a polite yet to the point letter, stating my complaint about the lack of delivery in the product.

The Response: Slow, a little over 2 weeks later I received an email response, with an apology and promise to replace the toy. I again gave them my mailing information with a strong emphasis on our STRONG chewer, I was a little frustrated, b/c I had seen the durability of their toys and was not pleased. About 2 weeks later I received this...

Not only did they replace toys, they sent what I would estimate as over $40.00 worth of toys specifically for Strong chewers and a few treats to boot. It was a nice surprise and so far all but one has lasted. The pink and yellow ring was gone in about 4 minutes. Sally loves all her new toys and will remember this when buying more toys!

When it comes to products I will expect to get what I pay for. I have been very pleased  and a bit surprised with the responses from all three of these companies, and believe I am a valued customer.

 I am still not a complainer! I didn't write this to say complain so you can get free stuff, but to say you are an important voice! What you have to say and what you have experienced matters! The company can not fix what they do not know is broken. 

I know today I have focused on complaints, but I do believe positive feedback is good too! Just a note: I did follow up with each of these companies with an email about the excellent customer service I received and the satisfaction of the replacement products.

Please Share:

What do you do when faced with a faulty product or excellent product?

 What are some of your Customer Service experiences?