In a post-birth haze, Suzanne accidentally ordered birth announcement cards from Paper Moments listing the wrong birthdate for her two-week old son. The site has a clear policy regarding customer errors: mistakes are worth a 50% discount on reprints, and nothing more. Accepting the policy as immutable, Suzanne called and left a polite message asking Paper Moments to reprint the cards with the right birthdate. The company responded with an unexpected bundle of joy.
good company
Apple Reprocesses Photo Orders So They Can Arrive Before Mother's Day
By 5.11.08
Dan writes, “Apple saved Mother’s Day!”
My daughter and I ordered a book as a Mother’s Day gift, and I was disappointed to learn it would ship late and miss the big day. I had waited until the last day of the promotion (April 30th at about 9:00 PM EST), so I didn’t want to complain. Then this landed in my inbox.
Regal Cinema In Boise, Idaho Is Awesome, Even When You've Clearly Screwed Up
By 5.6.08
Dave did something really stupid last weekend (no offense Dave), and bought two tickets to see “Iron Man” on the wrong day. He didn’t realize his mistake until Saturday, when he thought he was going to go see the movie. We would have never even bothered to call Regal to beg for ticket leniency, but Dave tried it anyway—and the theater actually exchanged the expired tickets for two new ones.
Wal-Mart's Katrina Heroism: "Above All, Do The Right Thing," CEO Told Managers Before Katrina Struck
By 4.2.08
A paper written by Steven Horwitz, an Austrian-school economist (we’re still not quite sure what that means, other than it’s considered slightly controversial), recounts Wal-Mart’s relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina (PDF) and points out that private businesses, along with the Coast Guard, did far more than any “official” government agency in providing immediate, on-the-ground assistance to victims. His argument is that something as complex as a relief effort is more efficient when it’s decentralized and involves private businesses. Horwitz has also, separately, supported the idea that Wal-Mart should win the Nobel Peace Price. Hey, we told you his school of economics was controversial.
Woot Treats Its Customers Nicely
By 10.29.07
We’re already fond of Woot for consistently having the most entertaining ad copy around, but a reader has reported that when they recently screwed up a large number of Zune orders—and not even in a terrible way—they shipped free $100 accessory kits to everyone who was affected, then sent out a frank email that explained the situation and guaranteed a full refund to anyone who still wasn’t satisfied. They handled the situation quickly and in a way that will likely prevent many customers from complaining or feeling cheated. And best of all, they were up front about the snafu and treated their customers with respect.
