Josh tried to buy his girlfriend a “Go Big or Go Gnome” shirt from Glarkware.com, but they sold out before they could ship the shirt. Leah from Glarkware emailed Josh and offered to either issue a refund, or send a different shirt. Josh picked out a different shirt, but come on, what could replace a “Go Big or Go Gnome” shirt? Right, nothing.

Josh asked Leah to let him know if she received any more “Go Big or Go Gnome” shirts. Three months later, Josh got an email…

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Leah told Josh there would be no more gnome shirts, but that tucked behind a different shirt, she found an extra gnome shirt in the right size. Rather than sell the shirt on Glarkware’s website, Leah gave Josh the right of first refusal. Josh grabbed the shirt, because nothing beats a “Go Big or Go Gnome” shirt.

Josh’s girlfriend emailed us with the story:

Back in February, my boyfriend Josh wanted to buy a shirt from Glarkware.com, and I asked him to get me the “Go Big or Go Gnome” shirt while he was placing an order. (The shipping from Canada adds up, so it would be much more economical to combine our orders.) He placed his order and waited for the two shirts to arrive. Soon, however, he got an email from Leah at Glarkware informing him that the Gnome shirt had apparently sold out in my size before they could ship it. Leah apologized and offered to substitute a different shirt (or the same shirt in a different size) or else she would be happy to refund the cost of the shirt to Josh’s card.

He chose to get me a different shirt instead, and asked about being notified if the shirt came back into stock. Leah replied:

We will be reprinting the ‘gnome’ tee in the future, however it *may* be redesigned before then.We won’t be doing that though, for a while. We have to sell out, or get close, before we do all that.

She apologized again and instructed Josh how to sign up for notifications via the website for when the shirt came back in stock. Fast forward to three months later, when Josh received the following email out of the blue:

Hi Joshua,

I’m not sure if you are still interested in the ‘gnome’ tee [in my specific size], but I just found one tucked behind another shirt on our shelf. I thought I would ask you if you wanted it before I made it available on the site again.

It turns out that we probably will not be reprinting the gnome tee after all (redesigned or not), so if you would like this one let me know and we can make arrangements together.

Yours, Leah

Now THAT’s great customer service. And yes, he decided to order me the shirt, even though the original occasion for which I wanted to wear it was past.

— CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

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