There are several possible outcomes for complaining: (a) full or partial monetary compensation (b) full item replacement (c) full item replacement but you have to ship the old one back (d) no response. If you see the customer service rep is banking on Choice C, make sure you stress that it's impossible for you to send it back (i.e. I threw it out already, It will cost too much to send back).
Examples of experience with such situations:
- Glaceau: My Vitamin Water drink had white-ish gunk on the bottom that kind of made me nervous. When I called, they explained that it's perfectly safe and mailed me a few coupons.
- American Greetings: I bought a birthday card for a friend and it had a spelling error ("truely" instead of "truly"). They apologized and sent me a coupon for $7 worth of AG product.
- Del Monte: Can of mixed fruit cocktail should have contained pears, pineapples, peaches and grapes (as per label) but only contained grapes and pears (oh, and one chunk of pineapple). Received many coupons.
- Colgate: Colgate 360 Toothbrush bristles fell out after 2nd use. Got an impressive stack of coupons for assorted Colgate products.
- Ralph Lauren: Nightshirt sleeve disconnected from body after approximately five washes. Got to keep nightshirt (which can be sewn on) and received a $20 gift card (valued more than the item).
- Crayola: Markers got dried out too fast and the black marker was really dark grey. They sent me a coupon to buy the same stuff again.
- Epson: I opened a brand new package of glossy photo paper and there was a hair embedded underneath the shiny coating! Received shipment of a brand new package instantly.
- JC Penny Photo Studies: The woman at the desk treated me like dirt. I got reimbursed (by the manager) with several free photo sheets for my next photo session!
11/15/10 Update: I bought slippers from DSW.com and ended up paying only $8 for the item (the shipping cost). The stitching was undone by the time I received them so I called DSW. Since they didn't have the pair in stock anymore, I asked for a refund - they gave me $20! Hence, bringing the shoe cost down to $-12.
Tell me about your own experiences!
You're so good. You just reminded me, I should call Secret deodorant and complain that their bottles clog up so fast. I throw out each can of deodorant 3/4 full because of that. (I tried to run it under warm water; it helps for one use.
ReplyDeleteI'm so bad about it and I could probably get back so much for different products I've bought and been unhappy with.
Do you know the exact Secret item type you use? Solid stick, gel or roll-on? I wonder why such a thing would happen! But anyway, you should definitely call them up about that. Tell them it happened a few times - you might get multiple reimbursements!
ReplyDeleteI'm talking about the bottle spray. I use those on Shabbos only. I did call and they said to run under water...but that solution doesn't work too long. Gotta call again.
ReplyDeleteCool!
ReplyDeleteI wish these things happened to me...I guess I have to be more on the lookout and call when I'm not 100% satisfied with a product!
I recently placed an order at Clinique and for some reason UPS decided I'd rather pick it up at a UPS store a half hours drive away from my house than have them deliver it at my doorstep. (?!) So they gave me five business days to come get it or they'd ship it back to the company. When I called Clinique the rep was extremely understanding and said she'd ship another one out to me with 2-day shipping! Now I'm waiting for it to come...any day now!
(That's the closest I can get to your cool stories...lol)
Sun Inside Rain, I agree that running it under water may do the trick. HOWEVER, when a consumer purchases such an item, they expect it to work without the extra hassle of unclogging it at intervals. If the company expects you to do some of the work, they should charge you less for it, no? Hence, retribution is in order.
ReplyDeleteItsagift, that's an amazing story! I love happy endings! Clinique must be a very nice company for them to go through the hassle of sending it out again. To maximize your benefits, pick up the order at the UPS center so you'll have TWO of every item in your order. The half hour trip would probably be worth it.
Crayola will often do more than what you got by the way! I usually use the complaint form on their site, and have gotten the following:
ReplyDelete~TONS of free coupons, to the point where I was able to get two separate items for free by combining the coupons with a sale in two separate purchases, and a possible error by the cashier.
~Free shipping back of three markers that dried out very quickly, replaced by an ENTIRE SET of the same markers.
~As for the rest of my complaints, I'll have to send them in!
In some stores by the way, if you try hard enough you can get them to lower the prices for you for minor defects that you can fix for less than the amount they take off. In Marshall's I found a strapless gown of the right shape and size to change into a skirt, marked down from over $100 to $80, then to $40, then to $20. The zipper was broken, and the cashier said that since it was already marked down, there was nothing she could do about it. I went to the manager instead, and said "Why should I pay this much for a dress where I'd have to replace the zipper?" She agreed, and gave me a discount. My total cost for my wedding skirt, after alterations (changing it over, and the new zipper which I would have had to put in anyway, even if it hadn't been defective) was less than $30.
You're right about Crayola's generosity. I've had them replace several of my products. Now that I'm thinking about it, which would you say has more value: a replacement of the product, or a coupon for the value of the product? If you get a replacement, great - that's all you get. No more, no less. If you have a coupon, OTOH, you can maximize it (see General Statement About Buying #2).
ReplyDeleteI think they're both very worthwhile. And I believe that when I got the replacement products, there were some coupons with it. Not as large as when they didn't replace the items, but still...
ReplyDeleteP.S. I emailed Secret and a week later received 3 coupons for a free bottle of deodorant.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the push! It was easy enough :-).
Sun, that's awesome! So happy you got A+ results! You know, sometimes it's even more fun to call, rather than email. This way, they get to hear your frustration and annoyance loud and clear. When I called about the torn-off-sleeve on the RL nightshirt, I sounded like a pathetic child nearly in tears, but it worked wonders.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Sun, the best way to solve the problem you had with the deodorant is actually to take off the nozzle and replace it from one from another bottle. Do it with the nozzles from the free bottles!
ReplyDeleteMy mom actually called once and they just told her what to do to get it working again. I didn't have patience working my way through their system so I chose the either way. If it was worth more to me, I probably would've gone with the phone call.
ReplyDeletemorahmamela, thanks for the tip! I will i'yh try it. I happen to really like this particular one and I can't find it in stores anymore so I'd be thrilled if I could get it working.
Today two companies are getting calls:
ReplyDeleteWilton - I bought 2 new pizza pans and one of them came warped at the side, so it's not flat anymore. It wasn't cheap either! (They don't have to know I used a 20% off coupon)
Therabreath - I found these cool breath-freshening mints, each individually sealed in a plastic wrapper. I open the box and found 2 of them that were just sealed pockets of air, without the mint inside! I was really laughing when I saw that, but maybe I can eke out a new package from them.
Update: Last night I spent my American Greetings coupon and here's how it worked. The coupon said, "Good for any ONE product up to $7" and the card I bought was $5.99. The cashier deducted SEVEN dollars from my total, heheh! So I got a free buck and a free card :)
I bought this ice cream cake on Friday and it had a severe freezer-taste on the entire outer layer of frosting. I contacted the company and the guy said he'll mail me a gift certificate for the full amount ($21.99)! It never hurts to call!
ReplyDelete