Fantastic Customer Service at Almay
I've blogged before about my deep affection for good customer service, but it is quite rare that one actually gets to experience what could be considered excellent. My experience with Almay has been truly excellent. About a week ago, I bought an Almay product, and through some kind of factory error, it was essentially ruined. However, I couldn't tell this until I bought it. For those curious, the colour and texture were both ridiculously and obviously wrong. As soon as I got home and opened the product, I called up the 1-800 number listed on the package.
The first nice thing was that the automated options list was very short. Four items, I think. After I selected the correct one ("Product Comments or Concerns"), I got connected to a person immediately. I'm not sure what kind of call volume they get, but the response time was remarkable. I got a very nice Southern lady named Susan. She asked for my name and phone number, and then what the problem was. She was clear, concise, and our interaction lasted maybe five minutes. That's about the right length I think. It's enough to determine the problem, and the solution. She then took the production code for my crap product, and my address, as well as the store I purchased it at, and told me the company would be in touch shortly.
Today, I go check the mail, and what do I find but a very official looking envelope from Revlon (they own Almay, funny, huh?) Inside was a personalised letter, regarding what went wrong in the production sense, followed by reassurance that the situation was remedied. They also added that they were very sorry about my experience with this product, and hoped it wouldn't reflect on them as a company. Inside was also $20 in manufacturers coupons for Almay or Revlon products.
I really like the amount of service that I received from this company. They really seemed to care about their products, and the image that they are putting out, which is really amazing. I hate it when a corporation makes it seem like they don't care about the items that you are spending your money on. I hadn't expected them to send coupons either. At best, I was hoping for a free replacement for the one thing I bought from them (which cost $4.88 plus taxes). Definitely a nice bonus.
I've said before that great service is an increasingly rare phenomena, and I'm happy that Revlon, although large enough that it might seem like just one person doesn't matter, takes care of their customers.
The first nice thing was that the automated options list was very short. Four items, I think. After I selected the correct one ("Product Comments or Concerns"), I got connected to a person immediately. I'm not sure what kind of call volume they get, but the response time was remarkable. I got a very nice Southern lady named Susan. She asked for my name and phone number, and then what the problem was. She was clear, concise, and our interaction lasted maybe five minutes. That's about the right length I think. It's enough to determine the problem, and the solution. She then took the production code for my crap product, and my address, as well as the store I purchased it at, and told me the company would be in touch shortly.
Today, I go check the mail, and what do I find but a very official looking envelope from Revlon (they own Almay, funny, huh?) Inside was a personalised letter, regarding what went wrong in the production sense, followed by reassurance that the situation was remedied. They also added that they were very sorry about my experience with this product, and hoped it wouldn't reflect on them as a company. Inside was also $20 in manufacturers coupons for Almay or Revlon products.
I really like the amount of service that I received from this company. They really seemed to care about their products, and the image that they are putting out, which is really amazing. I hate it when a corporation makes it seem like they don't care about the items that you are spending your money on. I hadn't expected them to send coupons either. At best, I was hoping for a free replacement for the one thing I bought from them (which cost $4.88 plus taxes). Definitely a nice bonus.
I've said before that great service is an increasingly rare phenomena, and I'm happy that Revlon, although large enough that it might seem like just one person doesn't matter, takes care of their customers.