Now this is something I’ve never experienced, or even heard of, until now (soap?). One of The Consumerist’s readers, Sean, ordered an iPod from smalldog.com, and instead of finding an iPod in the middle of Apple’s big iPod box, he found two bars of Irish Spring soap, and a some Kirkwood batteries. I know what you’re thinking, “Soap doesn’t need batteries!” Just kidding. Sean, who was pissed off at this point, immediately gave Smalldog a call. Here’s how the call went:
I was ready to really tear into someone when a supremely polite and nice customer service rep answered the phone. When I told her about my situation (and not too nicely, I might add), she started laughing. For a second I was shocked! I mean, first you screw up, and then you laugh at me!? But the next thing I knew, I started laughing too. She used just the right amount of humor and seriousness in helping me figure out what had happened.
In the end, she put in an order to have it inspected by UPS, and put another unit on hold for me, and gave me her direct line, informing me that the second UPS is done inspecting the package that I was to call her, and she would ship it right away. She also wanted to know if I took any pictures, saying that she’d love to have a few to show the other people in the office.
UPS showed up the next day, and right after they left, I gave her a call (she answered after two rings), and shipped the iPod overnight express. Needless to say, I was thrilled with the sophisticated level of customer service at Smalldog.
It was good to see that someone could have a sense of humor and still be incredibly accommodating at the same time.
I completely agree with Sean, it’s incredibly difficult to find good customer service these days, especially with odd problems like Sean’s. I also have to give thumbs up to Smalldog for providing its customers with proper service. Trying to explain soap in an iPod box to Apple sounds like a nightmare. Now on to that other question, what happened to the iPod?
Soap Replaces iPod [consumerist]