I’m a fan of L.L. Bean, but don’t actually own a lot of their products. It’s only recently I got into them. When the Boat & Tote lunch bag came out, I really had to have one. Of course they sold out and were back ordered (they’re very cute lunch bags!) I placed my order on October 7th, when the items were all said to be backordered until October 29th. Well, that date came around and they still didn’t have enough to fulfill the pre-orders, so I got a charming little e- mail telling me they were backordered again until November 2nd. This time round they actually shipped (with free shipping on any order!)

Since it was free shipping, I was expecting it to be slow, and it was. It was shipped USPS with an estimated delivery date of November 15th. The 15th came round, and no package. I gave the post office the benefit of the doubt and waited to see if it showed up that Friday or Saturday. No dice.

So, this morning (Monday, though I have a feeling if I had called at 2 am on a Saturday they might’ve picked up) I called the Bean. I spoke to a real, live person RIGHT AWAY (and they actually sounded as though they weren’t in India!), and was taken aback like other people have commented. I was expecting to sit on hold or sit through an automated message. I explained the problem – that my package still hadn’t shown up despite the online tracker’s say-so – and was transferred to a helpful gentleman who instantly offered to send a new one out. They were still sold-out of the Navy one, so I got to pick a new color (Red, which I secretly wanted more anyway!) and it is being sent out today via 2nd day FedEx this time. The nice rep apologized profusely for the trouble. He also said if the 1st one shows up I can “give them a call if I want to.”

This is a beautiful example of a non-fawning L.L. Bean tale. Things went wrong – just as likely Bean’s fault as the post office’s – and they fixed it. Nobody questioned my story in the least, I didn’t have to wait for the exact item to come back in stock, and they did my original order one better by upgrading the shipping. And alluded to me keeping the 2nd lunch box if I want to (which I just might, they’re so cute).

Customer service at it’s finest. It just works, simply. 🙂 I am now completely won over and will buy MANY more things from them in the future! Go L.L. Bean!

Good customer service makes people so excited that they take the time to write complete strangers just to tell them how happy they are.

We think that’s cool.

(Photo:dchousegrooves)

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