Excellent Customer Service Surprises

It may be my imagination, but I seem to be getting surprisingly excellent customer service from companies which manufacturer toys.  I don't know if the reason is because of the great recession, or if toy companies just have better customer service in general.  Here are some my experiences:

Broken part.  We purchased a child's play tent system and after year, one of the support poles broke.  After a call to the retailer, I was able to identify the manufacturer and a toll free number.  When I called the manufacturer, I explained what had happened.  The customer service rep told me I could go to the website and order a complete set of poles for a very small cost.  I explained I had already tried to do that, but that the ordering website was down.  The customer service rep apologized and took my order over the phone.  When I asked how much I owed, he told me it was no charge.  The parts arrived within a week and I was able to make the repair.

Damaged game piece.  For her birthday, our daughter received a nice travel game set.  On the very first trip, one of the pieces broke.  Although I thought I could glue the piece back together, I called the company and asked if they could replace the piece.  It turns out the game rights had been sold to a new company, and I needed to contact the new company.  When I contacted the new company, I found out the version I had was made prior to the rights transfer.  Thus, the customer service rep didn't think they had the part.  However, she continued to work with me when I said the parts of the other games would be the same shape, but perhaps a different color.  After a few minutes, she learned that the version I had was given a new name in the rights transfer.  Thus, she was able to find the exact part and she mailed another parts set to us for no charge.

Extraneous materials.  Last year, my spouse purchased a housing set to use with a toy.  When I opened  the box, there were remnants of a latex glove finger included with the housing.  Having worked in a consumer products industry, I knew the manufacturer would want to know of the issue.  I called and explained that I was not complaining.  I was just informing them that a piece of a latex glove was accidentally included in the package.   The customer service rep apologized and asked if the glove piece could be sent to the company.  My reply was yes, and they sent me a pre-paid postage envelope to use.   I mailed the glove piece in and to our surprise, we received a complementary additional housing set for our daughter's toy a couple of weeks later.

In all three cases, the customer service exceeded my expectations.  I was very satisfied with how my comments and requests were handled.  I would buy these companies' products again.

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This is not financial or toy repair advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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