Something Not Right? Complain.
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I’m not the kind of person who looks for things that are wrong with the merchandise I buy or the services I pay for, but I’m also not the kind of person who ignores things that are blatantly wrong. After all, when you have young children you’re probably already working hard to stretch your dollars, so when you pay for something naturally you’ll want to get what you pay for.
I wholeheartedly think that when you buy something and it isn’t what you paid for then you need to let someone know. Here is an example from today…I bought a 12 pack of soda from the local grocery store and when I got it home and started to unload it into the fridge I noticed something weird: one of the cans was completely empty, even though it was sealed.
At first I thought it was a quirky, fun thing, but then I started thinking to myself about how I paid for that soda, so I was entitled to the soda. I called up the toll-free phone number on the side of the can and talked to a very nice man who apologized profusely and explained the semantics behind how these things happen. Then he took my address down and told me he’s sending me a coupon for a free twelve pack.
I had a similar situation with a box of fruit chews. For one reason or another one of the packs only had three pieces in it, which resulted in a huge fit with my toddler. I called up the phone number on the box and they sent me a envelope stuffed with four coupons for free boxes. About two weeks later I got another envelope with four more coupons for free boxes.
You don’t want to be rude when you call these companies, but you should call them. You need to get what you paid for, and whether it’s one can of soda or a few fruit chews you shouldn’t feel apprehensive about calling and telling the company when there is a problem. You never know when you might get an envelope full of coupons as a result.
Trish says...
Awesome tip, thanks!
brit says...
cool!
Mary says...
I had the empty soda can thing happen to me once, too.
I was a kid, though, so i didn’t call anyone.
It’s good to complain to someone when there is actually something wrong. I know the companies would much prefer 1) to know there is a quality issue with their product and 2) to send out coupons for free product and keep a customer, than to have that person say nothing and just never buy their product again.
That’s what quality assurance numbers are for!!!