Making it Right

This year was my first as a mom, and so this Mothers day was my first—and I was inundated with gifts and wishes from not only my children and husband, but in-laws and siblings as well.

My sister ordered me a beautiful necklace from Things Remembered. It was a “Happy First Mother’s Day” necklace with my daughters’ names engraved on the back, and the date—May 10th, 2009. Oops. Wrong date.

My dilemma was whether to tell my sister about it to find out whether she ordered it wrong or whether the company made the mistake. I decided to call the company and find out, and if it was hers, figure out how I could order another charm with the corrected date so she would never have to know.

I spoke to a customer care rep who told me that it was indeed my sister’s mistake, and she was very kind and told me she would investigate whether I could just purchase another charm, and they would engrave it for free and I would pay $4.00 for shipping. She told me she would call me back and let me know. I waited for the call, but none came. Imagine my surprise when THE NEXT DAY a brand new necklace, with the correct date, showed up on my doorstep. No bill, nothing. Now that is what I call super service. Beyond the call.

And here’s my point. Before this happened, I was not a Things Remembered customer. But you’d better believe that after that kind of service I will be in the future. And the lesson is, when you have an opportunity to make a bad situation right, think about taking it. It may cost you a little money in the short term, but the long-term gain could be much greater. You could gain new customers. Because believe me, I have told this story about 20 times already. Things Remembered bought a lot of goodwill and good feelings when they quickly addressed my problem.