Stop Complaining, Start Praising

There's some fantastic customer service out there. We're usually quick to complain about bad customer service... semi-publicly on social media, to our friends, in scathing messages to businesses, pretty much to anyone who will listen, or who falls victim to our ranting. It's easy to complain. Although it takes more effort, it's nice to compliment and praise when appropriate, too. I've had some fantastic experiences the past few years.

I'm not above taking hand-me-downs from friends, for myself or for my spawn. A good friend gave me two pairs of Dansko clogs years ago. They quickly joined the pair I already owned as comfortable favorites to wear. One rainy evening last winter, while strolling around town wearing one of the pairs my friend had given me, the bottoms of my feet felt wet. Sweaty feet? Leaky shoes? I couldn't figure it out until the next rainy day. (I'm a slow learner.) I looked at the bottoms of my clogs to discover the soles had disintegrated. After contacting Dansko, I sent them pictures. They sent me a paid shipping label to return the shoes to them. A couple weeks later, brand new clogs, exactly like the leaky ones, arrived in my mailbox. Ta-da! (Don't) ask and you shall receive (anyway!)

🎵Danskos, old and new to me.
Living together in perfect harmony, side by side on my doormat.🎵
(to the tune of Ebony and Ivory. I'm sure the copyright police will come get me soon.)

I bought a used baby / toddler carrier hiking backpack from a friend about three years ago. It was a gently used Kelty. Another friend had borrowed the backpack several times from her, and asked to borrow it from me after I'd purchased it. When she returned it to me, a piece was broken. The backpack seemed to still work fine, but my friend and I thought the safety might have been compromised. My friend contacted Kelty with a description of the problem. Since no replacement part was available, the folks at Kelty asked me to cut the backpack strap, making it unusable, and send them a picture. I obliged. Less than a week later, a brand-spankin' new backpack arrived on my doorstep.

Gently used and well taken care of.
Moral debate coming soon. LEG has almost outgrown it.
Do I sell it for its value,
or for what I paid for the one that's now in a landfill
somewhere with a cut strap?

My daughter received a Plow & Hearth snack dispenser and a bag of Christmas colored M&Ms from a family friend as a Christmas gift. She asked to fill what she immediately named the "M&M Launcher" right away. Eh, it was Christmas. Why not indulge the short person with candy for lunch? After unboxing the M&M Launcher and filling the globe, we discovered it was defective. No big deal, because it was easily fixable with a dot of superglue on the flange. I put the gift away. It was out of LEG's sight, out of LEG's mind for the month it took me to get around to fixing it. I had to buy new superglue, which takes a lot of effort, y'know. Why does superglue always dry up within days of opening it, anyway? I digress. Anyway, I fixed the M&M Launcher and hand washed the globe per the instructions provided by Plow & Hearth. That evening, my husband accidentally knocked the globe out of the dish drainer and on to our ceramic tiled kitchen floor. Cue massive meltdown and tears from the four year old. So much sadness. I emailed Plow and Hearth, who suggested I contact the local(ish) store, as they couldn't find a recently fulfilled online order snack dispenser order originating from the zip code of the friend who'd given it to LEG. I called the store, they were wonderfully helpful, got a copy of the receipt from my friend and trekked to the nearest Plow & Hearth store. Two and a half hours later, I was home with a new M&M Launcher for my happy spawn. I still don't know what happened to the bag of Christmas M&Ms. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. LEG is currently happy enough with the store brand cereal in her snack dispenser.

Self dispensing breakfast before dawn - every preschooler's dream!

I adore our BoB (Baby on Board) jogging stroller. It's been a member of our family since November 2012, when my husband's aunts purchased my chosen BoB model as a baby shower gift. I chose the BoB with more care than I chose LEG's crib. I did trial runs with my friend's BoBs of varying models. I folded them up and put them in my car. I checked out online reviews on several sites. We've put hundreds of miles on our BoB. My daughter's first flight was at nine months old, and I gate checked the BoB. Decided quickly that it was the only way to travel through an airport with a baby or toddler. About two years ago, Southwest's ground crew was a bit rough with our beloved BoB. The buckle that holds it closed while collapsed broke. My dad, handy guy that he was, fixed me right up with a rope (he called it a line) and a series of quick-tie, quick-release knots. I contacted BoB anyway, and they quickly sent me a replacement buckle. Unfortunately, I don't have a sewing machine that can handle multiple layers of thick webbing, so the buckle is still sitting in our basement. Anyone need a buckle already on some webbing?

Useless buckle, but a fun decoration on the stroller handle.
There's a useful buckle collecting dust in the basement.

After my experience with BoB, I decided to contact Southwest about the stroller buckle. Along with apologizing for the damaged stroller buckle, they gave me two $100 Southwest vouchers - one for me, and one for my daughter. I contacted BoB and Southwest from Florida in the spring, and used the vouchers to get us to Maine that summer. Up and down the eastern seaboard, partially on Southwest's dime. Thanks Southwest!

Flying is fun! Using vouchers to fly is even more fun!

There are plenty of good people, who work for good companies, who provide good customer service. Any great stories to share? Good news is good.