Free Marketing

A college professor gave our entire class Randy Pausch's book, The Last Lecture when we graduated. (Fun fact: When Jonathan and I met, there were two books which we both coincidentally owned. This was one of them!) It was a quick but insightful read. He wrote a chapter about $100,000 salt and pepper shakers. I've always loved that chapter and remembered it because its lesson is very practical - Pay it forward. You never know what may come as a result. Here's my own rendition.

Last Tuesday, J and I made a spontaneous decision to go out at night after I finished teaching at 8:15 pm. We don't usually do this since most stores are close to closing by that time, but last Tuesday, I really felt the urge to need to go somewhere. I had spent all day Monday and all day Tuesday indoors and did not once leave the house - working from home problems, right? I know.

So we decided to trek out to one of the few places which does not close at 9 pm on a weekday that isn't a restaurant - Walmart. As we walked into the store, we passed by the usual array of machines that dispensed toys and candy for some number of quarters.



This time, as we glanced by, we both noticed one machine that had an assortment of panda bear erasers. We went over and decided that if I had three quarters in my wallet, we'd try and get one. Turns out, I did. So we put my quarters in and turned the knob. I flipped open the little door and there was no container inside with any bear. I was extremely disappointed and let down. The one time I decided to buy one, it jammed.

We noticed the phone number in the corner of the machine to call customer service. I called, and the voicemail that came up told me to go to their website to process a refund. We spent the rest of our Walmart trip slightly annoyed at having spent three quarters for nothing. It's more the principle than needing the toy itself, but let's be real, I really wanted to get a pink-colored panda eraser.

Once I arrived home, I immediately got on my computer, went to the website, and wrote their customer service a note about how I did not get what I had paid for from one of their machines. I was honest with what happened but poised in my words. Days passed and I received no reply. I figured they wouldn't respond and I wasn't getting my refund.

Today, I got the mail and saw a letter with three coin imprints on the outside of the envelope. When I looked closer and saw the sender, I realized that my message had been received and I was actually getting my refund!

Never have I been more ecstatic to receive three quarters.

Although bummed I did not get my panda eraser, I'm glad their customer service was responsive and responsible in getting this situation amended. I'm sure a few quarters may not seem like much, but to me it makes a world of difference. They've restored my faith in knowing that in the future, if we ever encounter an issue from their machines, they will follow through in sending refunds for machine errors.

Like most people, I've experienced my fair share of excellent customer service as well as horrible customer service. For the companies who have given me grief, I don't have high regards to speak about them. On the contrary, for the companies who have been kind in meeting my needs or exceeding my needs, I have nothing but free marketing for them.