While in the hospital I received many samples of baby essentials – diapers, binkies, soap, wipes, etc. One of the things I received was a sample of Dreft baby detergent. I had already started using Dreft so I was happy to get the coupon – until I saw it had expired 9-30-04!
So I hopped online and went to their website. My thinking was that if I sent them a nice email they would send me another coupon. I know, I know… Sometimes I am just too idealistic for my own good.
So I wrote:
Dear Dreft,
It was great to receive a sample of your product in the hospital when I had my first baby a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the coupon with it expired 9-30-04. I know the coupon is not good. Is the sample still safe to use?
The hospital was (name of hospital and location).
Thank you,
Sallie
Today I received the following reply:
Thank you for sharing your disappointment with our product. Our goal is to produce high quality products that consistently delight our consumers and I’m sorry this wasn’t your experience. Please be assured I’m sharing your comments with the rest of our team.
Thanks again for writing.
P&G Team
So I wrote back:
Dear Dreft/Proctor and Gamble,
Thank you very much for your automated, prewritten reply that had absolutely nothing to do with my question. It certainly makes me feel like your company cares about its consumers when you take the time to send me an irrelevant answer to my question when I have taken the time to visit your website, find out how to contact you, write a letter and then read a reply.
You can be sure I will share this experience with the 2,500 women who visit my blog each week.
Sincerely,
Sallie
I haven’t heard back yet, but I’ll let you know if I get any kind of answer. 🙂
My sentiments exactly. It’s another on my “list of things that make you go hmmm.”
he he he – I liked your response!
I used Dreft in the beginning with my daughter and then switched to All – free and clear – (the white bottle with the allergen free label on it) for our whole family. MUCH cheaper and works just as well for sensitive skin.
GO SAllie! I loved reading your response! It was the bright spot in my day.
My husband works with P&G. . . trust me, I do not get free diapers!
Before blaming the company, I think I’d alert the hospital. P&G may have had nothing to do with giving out old samples! The onus may completely be on the hospital. You should contact the hospital to check on this. They may just be trying to get rid of some things in their stores that have nothing to do with P&G anymore. Sounds like the hospital’s “gift” management could use some alert on this instead of hopping to conclusions that P&G owes you. (Besides, P&G employees deserve to be paid too. They also have families to support. We shouldn’t expect anything for free really.)
We have to be careful what we expect from others when we feel like we’ve been wronged. . .
The P&G pet reply you received may be one of those quick “we got your e-mail, we’re looking into this further but wanted to reply this way quick” just like many smaller companies and cottage industries do online too.
Another route may be to make a phone call to a customer complaint line instead. The internet/e-mail can be very impersonal, and it’s easy to hide that way for company and complainer alike.
Emily,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. If you notice, I didn’t ask for anything in my email. All I asked was if the sample was still safe to use. I also gave them the name of the hospital so they would be aware that the hospital is giving out older stuff. While it was my hope that they would offer to send me a coupon or another sample, I didn’t ask for anything.
Even if they didn’t send me anything, I still think sending a reply that is irrelevent to the question is really poor customer service. You are right that I would probably have gotten a better response if I had called an 800 number. But if a company is going to offer contact information online, it seems like they would want to do it well. I have gone to other company websites and they do not offer any way to contact them via email. It seems that is actually a better way to go than to do it but not do it well. JMHO. 🙂
I thought your reply was extremely amusing.
It is my experience that MANY people (and no doubt the customer service person who first scanned your reply is included in this group) DO NOT seem to read very carefully. 🙂 I find it exasperating, but…it happens so often.
Susan
Sallie,
Just do be careful that you do not take the bait of Satan (a subtle spirit of offense) that is so obviously contagious if you read replies to your post. If Christ is not offended by the reply you received, do you have right to be offended? And would he be offended. . .
I do wish you well and mean no chastisement of anyone as my own sinful nature humbles me.
Emily
Well, I’d say that yes detergent is more than safe to use no matter how old it is.
Dear Sallie,
Your comments are often a real bright spot in my day. I’ve enjoyed them even more since my own first grandchild was born only an hour before your very beautiful Caroline. What a lovely little family.
I was a little disheartened by your recent response to the soap company. Yes, their email was terrible. Their so-called customer service was worse. But your long history of writings shows you to be a woman who is far too gracious and wise to respond with such biting sarcasm.
Sincerley, MRSB
Hehehehe…
I got one of those a while back too. It was like “NO! YOU DID NOT ANSWER MY QUESTION!” Ugh.
GOod for you Sallie…
I’m assuming Dreft is a detergent…We use Tide. 😉
Gotta love ’em, don’tcha?!
Have to share a positive experience: I let a movie ticket expire the other day and, advised by phone personnel, I wrote a note and enclosed the out-of-date ticket requesting a new one. Guess what? I got it–and not only that, but it was a premium (any movie, any session) one! Too bad I didn’t think about that with two unused ones I had before. 🙂
I’m with you Sallie! It seems everything these days is automated. When I call in a prescription refill, I can use the automated system which takes twice as long. Give me a live person anyday.
Great post!
‘All’ baby detergent is just as good, and according to Walmart yesterday, I got twice as much “All” as I would have Dreft for just a dollar more.
Dear Sallie,
I was startled and disappointed by your second letter. It was not gracious.
Another good complaint story…Recently, while studying for next week’s exam, I decided to have pizza delivered for dinner. I ordered it about 7.30pm but an hour later, it had still not arrived.
I phoned again to be told that it would be another 20 minutes.
Forty minutes later, I phoned again to be told that it was definitely on its way this way but that they wouldn’t charge me.
Sadly, when it arrived, it was cold. 🙁 I was now tired and hungry as well as being all stressed! But I wrote a quick email to Dominoes telling them about my problem that night.
A few days later, I received an apologetic (and personalised) letter as well as a gift voucher for more pizza. This time, it arrived hot! I remain a loyal customer!
Hey all;) this is soooooooo not my blog;) but Sallie just had a baby.
Sometimes through the fog and hormones and exhaustion we don’t do things the way we usually do.
Maybe extending grace is a good thing to do?
Come on ladies, lighten up. What is wrong with showing exasperation? Let’s not be so spiritually sensitive. Good grief! I would have written the same email.
If you think this is bad, I won’t tell you what I say or how I say it to telemarketers. (It includes no cussing, I assure you. Just plain ole annoyance.)
Well, Sallie- I’m with you… I’d write a letter like that, were I as witty as you!
And the way I see it,
*** Graciousness is something to be extended to individuals in need of Christ- not to companies who are eagerly seeking my dollars. ***
Blessings,
Jess
Last year I had gotten a magazine gift subscription for my mom. She passed away in December. Over the last few months I’ve been getting notices about renewing her subscription. I just ignored them at first, but you know how magazines are…I kept getting notices, and it was painful to me in light of my mom’s not being here any more to get the magazine. So I took the little subscription renewal form and wrote a note on it that she was deceased and would they please stop sending notices. I kept getting them. I wrote another note. Still kept getting notices. :/ Finally I looked up their web site and the contact e-mail and explained the situation and asked them mto PLEASE take her name out of their computer system. I got a form e-mail back at first but then finally got a reply apologizing and saying they would take care of it.
With everything being automated these days, the impersonal form response will come first (I equate it to being on hold and hearing a recording telling me that my call is extrememly important 🙂 ) but hopefully eventually a real person will respond.
This post reminded me of something similar that happened with me a few months ago. I had been using a website where they had done a major upgrade, and it was sooo much easier to use! So I sent them a note through their customer service form saying how pleased I was, that I would remain a loyal customer, and to continue with the good work. I got a form reply soon after very similar to the one Dreft sent you! I laughed, but ignored it since I wasn’t seeking any information. Ah, well hopefully the compliment found its way into the right hands and made the day of the designers/web developers who worked so hard on it!
“Bait of satanâ€?…â€biting sarcasm’?…
Crumbs,what extraordinarily delicate sensibilities, I had no idea!
Sallies response was a perfect example of graceful speech, seasoned with salt.It was witty,incisive, perfectly polite and it made an important point about customer service really well. They need to hear that for goodness sake!
Yikes, if my ponderous brain was half as sharp as post natal Sallies…
I visit here regularly, but don’t usually read comments, I only saw these because I was guffawing so hard I had to leave a comment of appreciation for making me chuckle.
Why such prissyness? Is this normal?
Clare ( Creeping back to lurkdom shaking her head)
Thank you to everyone who commented. I’ve been busy with a visit from my parents the past couple of days so I haven’t had time to respond. But I will say that I’m always amazed at some of the quick posts I dash off that stir up such strong responses when I least expect it.
I guess the only thing I have to add is that while it is naturally hard to hear that people are disappointed with me and what I write, what I wrote to P&G is not out of character for me. Anyone who knows me in real life would not find the notes that I wrote shocking or unexpected. Part of the challenge in being a blogger is that people can project certain characteristics onto you that aren’t there. Then if people meet you in real life, they discover that you aren’t what they expected. I can’t help what people might think I am like. I try ***really*** hard to be my real self here, and my real self would definitely write something like that. In fact, my real self did and I shared it on my blog! 🙂
Dear Sallie, I do love reading your blog, but I thought that this message was a little different too. One of the downsides of communicating online is that it is tough to control our tone, and how the other person may see the message.
To say this with love and humility, our challenge is not to let our real selves come across. We are sinners, and our real selves are not pretty. The challenge is to let our communication shine with the fruit of the Holy Spirit– love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control.
Dear Sally,
I hope the ladies will pray for me, as some will think I obviously need it. I thought your reply was hilarious!
~Kimberly
Here we are, sixteen and a half years later. I’m having so much fun reading these older posts as I bring them out of the archives.
This comment thread encapsulates so much about why I’ve never been “successful” as a blogger on a large scale.
I am way too conservative and theologically principled to capitulate to and fit into the culture. But I’ve never been nearly demure enough to fit neatly into the conservative side.
So much of my life in one little post and comment thread. Amazing.