You like free stuff, right? Then next time something goes wrong with something you’ve bought from the supermarket, I demand you let the manufacturer know.
After a recent messy packaging explosion, I was so irked by a product splurging laundry detergent all over my chest (no, it’s not hot – there’s a reason that’s never been introduced into adult movies) that I angrily spat out an email to the manufacturer. Lo and behold, they were genuinely apologetic, and sent me a $20 Coles-Myer gift card to make things right.
It also never hurts to let companies know when they’ve done something awesome – customers hardly ever go to the effort to do this, and you may find yourself equally rewarded.
It only takes two or three minutes to contact a company via their website – so why not? You’d only have spent that time gawping in front of MasterChef or mindlessly clicking through a photo gallery of Lindsay Lohan mouth-breathing anyway.
Here’s five examples of mine.
1. Allens
Discovering that my gigantor bag of lolly snakes had an expiry date well into the past was probably nature’s way of telling me that I shouldn’t be putting such crap into my body. Nonetheless, I had a little whinge to Allens. They told me that they’d be checking up on the expiry date process at the supermarket involved, and sent me a gift card. Which I think I actually used to purchase sultanas and healthy snacks instead, mostly out of guilt.
2. Menulog
Menulog is a great idea in theory – you can order home delivered meals from local restaurants online. There are some annoying flaws in the business which I’ll discuss another time (mostly communication problems between Menulog and the delivering restaurants). I tapped out my complaint about a delivery which never eventuated due to a miscommunication, which they duly took on board and rewarded me with enough credit to partially cover my next order. I’m unlikely to use them again, but I appreciated the gesture.
3. Schweppes
This example’s a little older, but some years ago, I’d purchased a bottle of soft drink which exploded like a geyser when I opened it. It ended up permanently ruining some nearby curtains it had splattered. After contacting Schweppes with my sob story, they not only covered the cleaning repairs after I provided a receipt – but also sent me a gigantic gift basket of chocolates. Diabetes be arsed, I was a happy customer once more!
4. Coke Zero
This one’s a little more of a spiritual reward, but still a nice example. Coke Zero’s current “Win a Playa Lifestyle” promo really bugged me. It was clearly targeted towards young men, but the imagery of babes in bikinis alienated me from the promo. Without getting too screamy and political, the fact is that a substantial portion of the targets for this promo happen to gargle scrotum, so Coke were hardly hitting the mark for everyone. That’s why it pleased me to see the imagery for the promo changed halfway through the contest – the “babes” were replaced with boats, jewellery, cars, Vegas – something every young dude could relate to (well, if they’re deluded nutcases, granted – but it was much more inclusive).
It was probably coincidence – I’d say marketing the actual prizes instead of generic ladyfolk would result in more entries – but it was still a change that pleased me. Enough to contact Coke via their website and give my positive feedback. One of their marketing folk sent a warm, genuine reply – and who knows, maybe I’ve put something in their heads about future marketing campaigns? Never hurts to give positive feedback like this.
5. Mrs. Mac’s Pies
On the opposite end of the scale from spiritual warm and fuzzies, we have fatty pies. During a recent carbohydrates binge, Adam and I bought some Mrs. Mac’s pies only to discover they’d completely disintegrated in the packaging (think Mark Holden’s face with too much plastic surgery and you get an idea of the appearance). I took a quick photo and emailed it off to the manufacturer. Shortly afterwards, they phoned me wanting to deliver an entire box of replacement pies as an apology. Laughing, I had to decline, but how could I continue to be irked about the original problem? Besides, I could never stay angry at a cartoon logo of a harmless nanna.
So there you have it. If you’ve got any tips or similar experience, leave them in the comments. Giving feedback to companies can be worth the hassle! Also, ENTIRE BOXES OF PIES!
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Remember Tazos? A mate of mine’s little brother used to collect them, and basically his potato chip intake tripled because he just mainly wanted the little plastic bits inside – it got to the stage where he’d buy the chips, take out the tazo, and throw the bag away.
So one day he opened a packet and there was no Tazo inside to be found. He reacted the same way you’d expect to see if someone had just shot his pet dog in the face at point blank range, but his mum took the time to write them a letter to say how upset he was. A week later, they sent him him the complete Tazo collection and a special binder to put them all in, as well as about a dozen packets of chips
kitkat – was only half covered in chocolate. called to complain. received $10 in coles vouchers, a pen and a mousepad.
coke – had a bottle of lift that was flat and off. this was 10 years ago at least, so instead of the usual vouchers a sales rep actually dropped off a case of 2ltr coke products on my door step.
you should have taken the pies and given them to a soup kitchen…
I bought Berri “Healthy Balance” juice from Coles online, only to discover it was packed full of artificial sweetners, which I’m also allergic to. I sent off a cranky email pointing out the contradiction between “health” and “carcinogen,” & got a $5 giftcard that covered the cost of the juice at least. So it’s generally worth letting them know. Not that that works for complaining about tram drivers that try to avoid letting you off at your stop by any means (shut door in face and ignore repeated pressing of buzzer). After the 3rd time that had happened at the stop I use every day, I let Metlink know only to get a “we do try but some of our drivers are [bastards] difficult to manage” reply?!?
Wait a second… My brother loved those Tazo’s too so we tried to scam them by saying that he didn’t actually get any Tazo’s.
He got………. an apology!!! So Dan, it seems your friend got some of the Tazo’s that my brother was entitled to (but not really because we lied).
Other times I tried this (when I was actually lying) Australia Post, McDonalds and GreaterUnion. Worked everytime!
The best one however was at a restaurant in America. The meals were a little slow so I jokingly told the waitress I wanted to speak to the manager for a free meal. Lo and behold he comes out 2 minutes later and comps the whole table. I can only assume they were scared of my sinister Australian accent
I once email Carman’s Muesli about how their packaging was badly designed because everytime I poured a bowl of it, it went everywhere. They sent me four white plastic bag clips to contain it.
@Benko – and that’s why many companies give no compensation at all, because of people trying to scam them…
I enjoy being what I call a ‘proactive consumer’ and will quite readily ring or email a company to provide feedback.
A few things I’ve done which yielded good results include campaigning for the return of Toobs, and Bush Biscuits. Both of which the manufacturers brought back!
A bottle of orange juice froma vending machine had mildew in the thread cap, and Coke provided a case of soft drinks as a replacement.
Blue chips ina packet os chips yeilded freebies. A melted ‘oven proof’ tray from a Macaroni & Cheese returned an apology and coles gift voucher.
More recently a packet of Mint Slices bought at a service station was 8 months out of date! I happened to mention it next time I was in there and the manager insisted on a free packet.
Companies take a lot of stock in what their customers are thinking, and your letter or phone call could make a difference in operations or even product choice! Go for, be proactive and not only will you benefit, but the rest of us might too!
When I was much younger, I got into the whole Tazo thing too. My mother would buy a family size pack of chips every so often, as you’d generally get a few Tazos in them.
So one day, we got a bag that didn’t contain any Tazos. While I was disappointed (as any kid would have been), I was more than happy to let it slide, as it really wasn’t a big deal. However, my mother thought it would be fun if I wrote them a letter, mentioning the situation and that I was a big Tazo fan, avoiding going off at them and just being up-front about the situation.
A few weeks later, a package arrived at my place. It contained a note with a sincere apology that actually referenced what I’d said in my letter, rather than just a generic reply. On top of that, it contained a fair few packs of various chips, a ton of random Tazos, and one of those Tazo yo-yos where you could put Tazos in the sides of it, well before they released them to purchase. Well and truly made my day.
I even wrote back to thank them for replying and sending me cool stuff, and the same person replied back with another kind letter. Now that’s customer service!