Being Suggestive

Last night before going to bed, I made myself an incredibly long to-do list to attempt accomplishing today. One of the big things I needed to do was to email some companies whose products I've used lately that have either pleased me or displeased me. I think it's fair that if I'm going to let a company know they suck, I should also tell them when they do not. One of the positive stories I'll relate in a different post, but I wanted to tell you quickly about two of the other experiences I had today and their surprising outcome.

First of all, you may recall this post where I showed off my stash of Off! Clip-on mosquito repellents. After using one of these for the past few days, I felt that it was my duty to let Off! know that their "head to toe protection" did not seem to cover my feet, hands, shoulders, or babe in arms. Now, I think it is important to note that even though I was disappointed in the product, I was not angry with the company and simply went into the phone call with the purpose of letting them know their product was not living up to its claims.

Alice at OFF! took my phone call and listened to me as I explained my problem with the fan. She attempted to trouble shoot with me to make sure I had been using the product properly and when she was satisfied that I was, she apologized profusely for the fan's shortcomings. She did explain that some people are simply tastier than others and that she was sorry the fan did not work for me as I had hoped. Since I told her I had purchased four in order to make a protective bubble of mosquitolessness on my patio, she asked if I had ever tried their OFF! Lantern before. I told her I had not, but that I had seen them, so she explained a little about the product to me. It is a little bit like those scented wax melter things, where you put the candle underneath the smelly wax and it melts and smells up your house, except with mosquito repellent smell. Here's the part that surprised me: She then offered to not only refund my purchase price on the fan, but to also send me a coupon to try the lantern for FREE. Not for $2.00 off, not buy one, get one, but FREE.

I most definietly took Alice up on her offer, and am looking forward to having that coupon to try before our Coupon-Catered party!

The other phone call I made was to Playtex regarding the Diaper Genie II that we use for the baby's nappies. It occurred to me one day that - despite using Seventh Generation's biodegradable diapers - we weren't doing any good at not filling up a landfill with our stinkers because we were then sticking them into this non-biodegradable plastic bag! Knowing that there are plenty of biodegradable plastic bag products out there and wondering if maybe we just didn't have a store that stocked a possible alternative, I called up Playtex to find out.

I spoke to customer service representative Patty, who let me know that as far as SHE knew, there weren't any biodegradable Diaper Genie bags in the works, but she listened as I explained to her why I thought they were needed and that I felt that people who were using greener disposables would probably be willing to pay a small price increase in order to also have greener liner bags for the Genie. She promised to pass on my suggestion, and then asked if I was interested in signing up to recieve special offers and coupons from the company in the future. Well, of course I am interested in coupons for a product I actually use! I think the only DG coupons I have ever seen were merchant specific to Babies R Us. After I gave her my information, she closed the call by thanking me and saying, "I'll get a coupon out to you this week!"

Super Surprise Score!

So - in conjunction with my experience with Blue Diamond, what I've learned is that if you're willing to take the time to a) Let a company know they've disappointed you, b) Let a company know they've pleased you or c) Let a company know you've got an idea for them, then your time will most times be rewarded.

So if I were you, I'd get cracking on telling companies how you feel...but that's just my suggestion.