Dr. Broken Stuff or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Customer Service

[Courtney]

Courtney, I would like to know more about your process. Do you type them out & sign them with your new pen, or do you hand write them? Do you have your own stationary for this process? Are there any companies that you were really hoping would write you back but haven't? I assume there has been enough of a time lapse from when you sent out your first wave of letters...there has to be a list of companies that didn't even respond, right?

OH...and do you use your work address or your home address?

I type and print out the complaint letters. For the positive letters, I hand write some, and type others, depending on how I'm feeling. For the smaller companies especially, I like writing notes by hand. I just use whatever stationery I have on hand, which right now is happens to be these. Sometimes I draw little doodles of their product or include a photo of the product in use, too.

As of today, I have written 54 letters, and have received responses for 20 of them. I am really hoping that at least of the four shoe companies I contacted (Clarks, Nine West, Chinese Laundry, Reef Sandals) responds at some point. I also hope I hear back from Sennheiser.

And I use my home address.

[Hannahrain]

I have that stationery. I almost used it to send you something once, too.

[Courtney]

We are awesome.

[Courtney]

Woah. Same letter, and they sent me MORE stuff. It's probably an accident, but I'll take it.



Outcome: My lips are going to be so freaking moisturized.

[Courtney]

I sent Newman's Own a letter about how their olive oil and vinegar salad dressing was pretty much part of my childhood, and I included a recipe about how I like to use it for a green bean and new potato salad. They sent me back a thank you letter and coupons totaling $2.



Outcome: How adorable is it that the COO signed the letter by hand?

[thefunkylama]

Also, first boy?

[Courtney]

YES! First boy. But I'm not sure if he counts, because customer service is not the primary component of his job.

[casey]

Thanks for answering my questions, Courtney!

The reason I asked about whether you use your home address or not is because when I worked in customer service, there was one girl who got so mad at a customer (after the customer berated her) that she wrote her an anonymous letter telling her that she needed to learn to treat people with respect and to find some human decency. She sent it to the home address we had on file for the customer. I don't think the customer ever found out who it was, but ever since that happened I always think about it when I complain to a company. I'm never mean or disrespectful to customer service people but I always worry one day I am going to catch them on a bad day and get signed up for junk mail or something!

[amyzzz]

Casey, are you saying Courtney is vulnerable to retaliation from a disgruntled employee? I am assuming her letters are very polite.

[casey]

I assume her letters are polite, too! I wasn't trying to insinuate that it might happen to her at all. It's just something I always think about now. It doesn't really matter what address she sends them from anyway; if someone REALLY wanted to write her a mean letter they could send it to either address.

[PotVsKtl]

Outcome: How adorable is it that the COO signed the letter by hand?

That's very unlikely to be the case.

[Courtney]

I know, it seems a bit odd to me too. I'm sure dude has plenty of other things to do with his day. But I doubt they would have someone else forge it, and it's definitely a handwritten signature and not printed or stamped or whatever. Maybe he just signs a small percentage of the letters going out each day, as a sort of keep-in-touch-with-the-little-people policy.

[locachica73]

I know, it seems a bit odd to me too. I'm sure dude has plenty of other things to do with his day. But I doubt they would have someone else forge it, and it's definitely a handwritten signature and not printed or stamped or whatever. Maybe he just signs a small percentage of the letters going out each day, as a sort of keep-in-touch-with-the-little-people policy.

I use to sign my bosses name to letters like that when I was an executive assistant. I also had to hand fill out/sign all of her christmas cards... because it was more personal she said. But that was a larger company. When I have worked for smaller companies I would type them and then put them all in a folder for my bosses to sign. So it could be either case.

[Courtney]

I feel like having an assistant forge a signature is poor policy. If you're not going to sign it, don't pretend to. This is especially true for a company that puts such a premium on integrity. Why would it be worth risking their image?

In my professional life, I have certainly forged signatures (with permission) before, but it was always just because a contract needed to be signed and someone was out of town, or something like that. The forgeries were always a bandaid for a last minute emergency, and never a matter of routine policy.

[PotVsKtl]

It's a stamp.

[PotVsKtl]

[Hannahrain]

I don't think assistant signing is uncommon. What I'm actually here to say, though, is that this interview with that guy puts Paul in an even charming-er light than he was already in. Because that's what we all need. Bigger crushes on a dead dude.

[Hannahrain]

I'm constantly alarmed by how readily at hand you seem to have these images, PvK.

[Courtney]

I maintain that it's not a stamp. However, looking back at the letter, I am becoming increasingly open to the possibility that it is a forgery. Because it doesn't really look like the signature of a 60 year old man. The handwriting is all bubbly and wide and looks like it belongs to a 20 year old girl. Also, the content of the letter is clearly a form and not personalized in any way, and if you're going to go to the trouble of having a COO sign a letter, you should at least make it a good one.

[PotVsKtl]

It's probably a brand.

[PotVsKtl]

Does the letter smell like hickory?

[Courtney]

If it is a forgery, my track record of 100% female customer service agents is unbroken.

[Courtney]

PvK, I'm pretty sure it's actually written in the ink bled out of a tattoo that Tom Indoe himself personally signs onto every new Newman's Own employee upon hiring.

[PotVsKtl]

[Courtney]

I just finished speaking with the Apple Executive Offices. They are going to give me a new replacement iPhone.

[amyzzz]

Good news, Courtney!

[kitt kat]

Whoa! You go, girl!

This thread, I think, has inspired me to write two happy letters to companies I love -- not to get free shit, but because they are both small companies who make products that have legitimately improved my quality of life. The first is a skincare company whose face wash (albeit expensive) was the first (and only) face wash to actually fix my acne problem that plagued me from ages 13-21; the other is the brand of cat food I switched to a few months ago (all natural, no grains) and it's actually made my cat's fur softer and stopped her bad dandruff problem. Success!!

[amyzzz]

What is the face wash brand, kat?

[kitt kat]

http://www.dermadoctor.com/product_D...nser_1994.html

I think it worked for me because it's soap free -- but even the medicated BS I would get from the dermatologist as a tween/teen didn't help like this did. I saw results after using this for a month solid; it's really repaired my skin as well. Doesn't dry it out, lasts for a while considering the price. I only get zits when I forget to wash my face and leave grimy makeup gunk on for too long (12+ hrs) or before that time of the month (but even then, it's only one or two...)

[Premium Roast]

Burt Bees is the best for cold sores and lip to nose area infections. Giss a kiss.