Do you ever write to companies?

Does anyone else ever write to companies when their product is not what you expected or something is wrong with it?

A few days ago, I opened a bar of soap and it was sooo tiny compared to the normal size of them so I emailed the company and they replied today asking for more information on it.

A couple of months ago, I bought a new razor (Venus Breeze) and I hated it and I emailed them about it and they sent me a 4 pack of regular venus blades for free without asking for anymore information. That made me happy.

A couple years ago, I bought a bunch of pasta sauce because it was on sale and they all had chunks of black stuff in it. They investigated it, and it turned out to be burnt pieces of the sauce all in the bottles (or so they said) and sent a few coupons for more sauce. I didn't end up using those though because that didn't make me want to eat it anymore.

I have twice when something was wrong

I emailed Heinz once because their bottles kept exploding when I dropped them They sent me a bunch of gift certificates for Ketchup

I do it often, and more often than not I get some type of product or coupons from them. I also do it to stores that give me bad service.

My best "freebie": I bought carpet from a furniture store and they installed it wrong. When they came out to fix the bad area, the dye lots changed and I demanded full replacement. After working my way up to the CIO in the company, not only did I get new carpet, they left the old carpet behind (and I got a bathroom and another bedroom out of the remnant), but they gave me a gift certificate to the store for $2000. I bought a custom made secretary desk with that certificate.

It pays to complain sometimes!! DH tells me I'm the master of it.

I take the item back to the store and get a refund. Many times, I'm told I'm not the only one who has returned the product. I've sent emails to companies whose products I like, but I'm too lazy to do snail mail any more.

I have complained a few times. Once to a resturant where we used to eat often. We went one day and the food and service were both horrible and I ended up emailing the corporate HQ. Next day the local manager called very apologetic and said he'd make it right. About five months later i got a ten dollar off next entree coupon in the mail. Needless to say, we never went back. They lost only one regular customer, but I tell our expereince to anyone who asks about the place. This has been the only time any 'positive' response was received to a complaint.
Other complaints (not many-maybe twice I have been motivated by a very bad experience to call or write someone) have resulted in very little or no response. I simply do not use those companies again. One was a national truck rental company, it was more than ten years ago but I remember them vividly, rotten customer service from local counter people to national level execs. Another time to a large well-known retail store, late on a special order item, missed being able to present a graduation party gift because of it, got very apologetic calls back from HQ but no rebate or coupons or anything of that nature. Sometimes "sorry" just isn't enough, you know?

I've written about limited edition things that I particularly enjoyed (food things). That's about it though.

At work we found a cigarette butt in a package of colored feathers we ordered for the sensory table. It was disgusting. The company was appalled, and said the didn't package them and sent us a new package. That is NASTY ...glad we found it, and not the 1 year olds!

I had an extended warranty on a VCR and had taken it in for routine maintenance and adjustment. I called them after three weeks to find out why it was taking so long and they said that it hadn't been processed. I then called 3 days later and they admitted they couldn't find it. Finally, they found it, fixed it and returned it. I was so irritated that I wrote the CEO and told him that I was disgusted with the level of service and demanded the amount of the extended warranty back. And he did send it.

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

I emailed Heinz once because their bottles kept exploding when I dropped them

They sent me a bunch of gift certificates for Ketchup

Click to expand...

Did they suggest plastic bottles?? hehehe

I emailed Wishbone salad dressing to see if they still made a vineagrette that I liked. Someone actually took the time to write me back and let me know why they quit making it! Totaly surprised me!

A few weeks ago I emailed Pizza Hut to tell them what great service I got. I think it is important to send positive things too.

I ordered some stuff for school, and it should have come to me in 8 days, I got it 18 days later. After an email, I got an apology and a 20% of coupon for future orders.

I have done a few times, I think its better to write to the manufacturer rather than returning a product to the store. Coz 9/10 times they send you 2 or 3 replacement items.
My lastest one was early last year, my laptop screen fizzed a little after a year, the warranty had ran out and I didn't purchase the extended warranty. It was going to cast $1,000 to replace, but after complaining that it shouldn't have fizzed after just a year they gave me a new screen free. I also had help from a computer fix it company coz I didn't know that it was so bad I'd need a replacement. The computer repair lady said screens normally last a good 5 years before they fizz, so she went into bat for me. I only had to pay her service fee of about $60.

Yes, several times.

1. In the 1980's I had a bad experience with KalCan (sp?) cat food. My cat developed vomiting and diarrahea. I took her to the vet and was told she had a case of accute renal failure and they asked what food I was feeding her. I told them. They told me that that food was trash and to stop feeding it to her. I called the company and told them what happened. They asked me to keep the open tin and to package it and the other tins I had up in a box and they would have someone pick it up. They also paid for my vet bills that were related to my cat's problems from that incident. And they gave me many, many coupons for cat food products (which I didn't use because I think they were for KalCan).

2. In the early 1990's I woke up with every single tooth in my mouth aching like I had a toothache in all of them! I called in sick and made an emergency appointment to my dentist. He did full mouth Xrays and found not a single cavity. He asked if I was using tarter fighting toothpaste. Thinking back I told him that I was and the problems with my teeth were only in the 3 weeks that I had been using that particular Crest product. I called Proctor & Gamble and told them what happened and that I didn't feel I should have to be out of pocket over $100.00 plus a days pay because of their product. They asked me to send them the tube of toothpaste that I used for analysis. They paid my dentist bill and reimbursed me my lost day's pay, plus they send me coupons for a years supply of Proctor & Gamble products. I wrote them back and thanked them. They wrote me back and sent me even more coupons! LOL

3. In the early 1990's a friend of mine had to fly to California to attend her Aunt's funeral. My friend is a diabetic and asked for a diabetic meal. They didn't have a meal on board for her. It's a good thing she had a snack in her purse otherwise she would have had a problem with low blood sugar. They also lost her luggage. I wrote to Air Canada on her behalf explaining what happened and asked for a partial refund of her ticket. They gave it to her.

4. Back in the 1980's there was a health club here called "Euopean Health Spa". I wanted to join. They had a policy that if you had someone else sign up and use you as a recommendation that you got a lifetime membership. So my friend went with me thinking that she might sign up. In the office was me, my friend Wendy, and 2 health club staff members. My friend decided to not sign up, so I didn't get a life time membership that night.

I was asked since my friend wasn't signing up, if they could put another member's name on my application as the "referal". They explained to me that they had a list of people who wanted a lifetime membership and that if I allowed one of them to add their name to my application as having referred me, that they would get a lifetime membership and that my name would also be added to this list and that the same thing would be done for me.

I figured that sounded ok. A bit shadey, but ok. So I let them put some strangers name on my application. I got a call from the club's office asking me to verify if I knew the person and I said that I did and that she was my friend.

A month later I was still waiting for my lifetime membership. I figured that someone had to have signed up in that amount of time so I called the club and spoke to the girl who was there and who sold me my membership. She denied knowing what I was talking about. I told her that I had a friend with me when I signed up and she was witness to what I was told. The girl said she never said any such thing and that doing such things is illegal and against the rules. I was livid. I told her that if I didn't get my lifetime membership as promised that I was going to contact the head office and file a complaint. She laughed and said that it was her word against mine and that nothing would be done.

I called their head office. They of course said they had no idea what I was talking about. I told them that I had a witness who could back up everything I said. They refused to budge and told me that if I tried to sue them they would counter sue me and keep me tied up in court for years. I told them that I didn't need to sue anyone. That the power of the press was all that I needed and that I had several friends in radio, television news, and newspapers that would be more than happy to run with my story.

A few weeks later I got my lifetime membership and a few days after that I got a second one. That girl who got her friend a lifetime membership using my name was fired and the membership of her friend was revoked.

5. Recently I purchased some Sun-Rype Applesauce. It came in a really stupid plastic jar that had grooves and sharp angles and an inverted pointy bottom inside the jar that made it impossible to get out all of the contents of the jar. I fought with a small spatula and eventually managed to get out almost 1/2 cup of applesauce that was clinging to the sides and bottom of the jar. I emailed the company and told them the problem with their jar and suggested that they look for another type to use because 1/4 of the product was left behind and you had to fight to get it out. They wrote me back with some song and dance about heat and pressure and contracting plastic etc to explain the need for that type of jar and they sent me some coupons. I wrote them back and told them that perhaps they should go and check out their competitors' jars because none of them are like the one Sun-Rype uses and those companies still manage to heat process their fruits.

There have been others, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind.

I always recommend writing to a company to express dissatisfaction with products. After all how are they to know something is wrong if people don't tell them. I also encourange people to write their praises for products that they like too. It's nice to hear that you are doing a good job sometimes

I just recently did ... a pet treat maker// My yorkie s teeth got stuck in the product and I had to PRY her jaws out of it ( she was trying to get her mouth open)

I've written when I've disliked products, I also do for products that I really like. I think too often people are quick to complain but don't often compliment.

There is a restaurant here called Bojangles. A new one opened by my house and I consistently got horrible food (always cold and missing something), so I called, wrote, everything to complain. I wrote for months, but never got a response.
I started going to a different Bojangles and got horrible customer service, called the manager but she offered no apology or anything. How can you expect the front-line staff to be customer-oriented if the management isn't? I think work ethic and values are long gone!!!!

I've never emailed/called a company to complaine. I have however called/emailed when i've recieved great customer service or loved their product. One time when I was at Bath & Body Works- there was the most helpful employee there. I had been having an AWEFUL day- and her attitude and willingness to help me really stood out to me and i thought she should be acknowledged for that. So i called the number to rate their service/etc and told them what a sweet person she was and how helpful she had been. They said that they would let her know she got a good comment (and i do hope they gave her a raise or some sort of reward) they also sent me a gift certificate because i took the time to call and let them know about it.

I've written a company just the other day because I buy their water all the time and they just changed their bottles and I couldn't find the number on the bottom to see if I could recycle it and I wrote them to find out what number the bottle was. I'm happy to say it is still a #1 and can be recycled!!

I have done this a few times, usually about TV commercials.

There was one insurance (I think) commercial about a hamster/rat that was on a fat woman, unbeknownst to her. The man who had lost the critter was trying to get it back without the woman knowing. It was running around inside her shirt. The implication was that the woman was so fat she couldn't feel this small animal. I emailed and told them exactly who their customer base was (normal humans) and that if they didn't want to allienate 50% of America, they would get rid of it. (surely someone remembers this ad, I am not explaining it well).

Another time was a long email correspondance with Dairy Queen. They had a commercial for their Chicken Baskets where basketball players were dribbling the live chickens and dunking them in the hoops. Making "chicken baskets". The person who emailed explained to me that no animals were hurt in the making of the ad. Told her that really wasn't the point. Those who give their lives to feed us deserve a tad more respect than that. Also told her my friends and family would not be eating at DQ any time soon. She wrote a week later and said the ad had been pulled due to customer complaints and apologized.

There are more but they escape me now. I've also written to companies about their products, especially how I would use their products if they chose to no longer experiment on animals.

Sorry to be so long-winded!!

I have - once I bought a bag of chips and they were stale so I wrote to the company and sent the bag of chips - they sent me a box of those chips as well as some coupons!

I also wrote to Campbells because of a soup container that I had problems with microwaving with, and they explained to me about the container design and why I had problems, and they sent coupons as well.

I have contacted a shampoo company here when I discovered this great shampoo that was perfect for my hair was pulled off the shelves, and I really wanted it - I asked what had happened, and they explained that they always have shampoos that are made and put on shelves and then taken off. I was hoping they would have leftover shampoo somewhere, but alas, no.