Now that's the kind of customer service I expect!

I posted once before on my experience with Dell computers and their lovely customer service reps in India. My blood is starting to boil just thinking about it. After I posted my little tirade, I noticed on Statcounter.com that on two separate occasions someone from Dell computers looked at my post.


Now I'm not sure whether it was an actual human or whether it was some bot that was trolling the Internet for articles or information on Dell. But when I saw that, I got excited. Perhaps now I will get justice. Perhaps now I will get an apology for their poor customer service.

But, alas, no one ever emailed me or contacted me. So I will just have to take solace in the fact that I bought a laptop a couple of weeks ago and as cute as that lime green Dell laptop was, I purchased another brand. So there! Take that, Dell computers!


I thought since I let my feelings be known on a company with poor customer service, it would only be fair to let the public know about two examples of excellent customer service.

Example # 1:


Several weeks ago, my soon accidentally broke a couple of critical pieces to one of his Lego's Bionicles. The Bionicle was rendered useless without these pieces and the screaming and crying and whining were more than I could take.


So I called their 1-800 number and was immediately connected to a very nice English speaking lady. She asked me for the part numbers of the broken pieces and asked me how many of them I needed. She then proceeded to mail all of the pieces (I even asked for and received extras) FREE OF CHARGE! I was floored.


I assumed I would have to pay for the pieces and also pay for shipping. But no. I was informed that if any Lego piece ever breaks, they will replace it FREE OF CHARGE. My son and I literally did a happy dance. We did another one when the parts came via UPS a week later!


Example #2


At Christmas, my niece Jillian gave Peter a Floam kit. Not sure if you know what Floam is but it is a molding compound. It's not like Play-Dough...it's much cooler and more grown up. It's sort of like a slime with tiny little Styrofoam balls in it. You can mold it and shape it and cover objects with it. The kids had a great time playing with the kit. The kit contained several small tubs of Floam, some Styrofoam forms and some googly eyes, feathers, pipe cleaners, etc.


A few weeks ago, I noticed some other Floam kits at Wal-Mart for $9.86 each. One was a robot you could put together and decorate and the other kit contained two picture frames you could decorate. We pulled the kits out one cold rainy afternoon and the kids were thrilled. Thrilled until we opened up the small Floam tubs and discovered they were hard and not the least bit moldable.


I thought about returning the kits to Wal-Mart. That store will take anything back, with or without receipt. But I decided I would rather contact the Floam Corporation to let them know about the hard Floam.


I emailed their customer service department and a couple of days later received a note back apologizing for the hard Floam. The rep told me that the Floam should not dry out like that if the container is properly sealed. She also told me that they were going to start putting seals (much like the inner seal on a cream cheese tub) on the Floam containers starting this summer. She said that would prevent the drying out from occurring as well.


She then asked me if I wanted a refund on the kits or if I wanted more Floam. Since the kids had so much fun with the first kit, I told her I would take more Floam.


Today, my door bell rang. The UPS woman (who looks exactly like a man...Sarah and I actually argued over whether it was a man or a woman) handed me a package that contained SIX LARGE tubs of Floam. Just one of these tubs at Wal-Mart costs over $6.00 and we got SIX...for free!


The kids and I did another happy dance and I have learned a valuable lesson. It never hurts to contact a company and let them know you have a problem with their product. You may actually get more than you bargained for in return.


And people, one other valuable lesson I learned...don't buy a Dell computer.


I'm still bitter.