Wow, Bath and Body Works actually responded to my complaint! I was surprised; I expected them to react like a typical big corporation, with complete and utter indifference. But within a few hours of sending my disgruntled e-mail, I had a reply thanking me for taking the time to e-mail and reporting that they'd forwarded it to the appropriate person at the Corporate Office. The next morning, a representative from Customer Relations had responded with a very nice, non-form-letter e-mail. It read in part "...no matter what we do, we have only one goal in mind: to give our customers what they want. To this end, we will forward your request for this item to our Product Managers for future consideration" and went on to offer me a $20 gift card as a gesture of goodwill.
I responded (I hope) graciously, writing that although I appreciated the gesture, a gift card was not necessary, that I had not complained in hopes of getting something for nothing; rather, I was genuinely disappointed, wanted a chance to express that disappointment and have my opinion acknowledged, which they had done and for which I thanked them. I thought the gift card was a nice offer, but honestly I'd much rather have peony (peeOHnee-grrr) back so I could buy copious amounts of it with my own money. Still, I appreciated that they didn't ignore me and they did make a conciliatory offer, and I will keep that good customer service in mind. If they ever again make anything besides iced tea, daquiri, pie and frosting lotion.
Maybe I'm hypersensitive about the freebie thing because I have an ex-friend who pushed that sort of thing to an exponential level. I never (literally, not once) ate a meal out with her that she didn't find SOMETHING about which to complain, and she complained loudly and longly until she got something comp'ed, a percentage off the bill, a coupon for something free next time, etc. I never went shopping with her that she didn't argue about the price of something: the shelf tag was misleading, they should match the price at Rival Store, she should get a rain check even though the sale was on a discontinued item good while supplies lasted, it was on sale yesterday but she couldn't come yesterday because of car trouble so she should still get the sale price, etc. etc. - she would never back down, either, no matter how illogical her argument, until finally the manager would give her a discount or some gesture just to get rid of her. It was embarrassing and it got to the point that I'd make any excuse to avoid going places with her because I knew A Scene would ensue - one of the several reasons why she's an EX-friend.
Oh - I remember another facet of this quirk: that no amount was too small to be argued over. We would spend for-freakin-EVAH in the checkout line while she argued that something was $5.96, not $5.99. Once when she pulled this stunt I was already exhausted, I hate shopping anyway and the price-checking-guy had totally disappeared (he had been gone at least 10 minutes - probably slipped out the back exit, lucky him). The line grew longer behind us, people griped - not that I blame them. The price in question was literally only a few cents, so finally I burst out in frustration, "Here! Here's a QUARTER! Can we please GO NOW?!?" She handed it back sweetly and said, "No, it's not the money. It's the principle of the thing." AAAAGH!
I responded (I hope) graciously, writing that although I appreciated the gesture, a gift card was not necessary, that I had not complained in hopes of getting something for nothing; rather, I was genuinely disappointed, wanted a chance to express that disappointment and have my opinion acknowledged, which they had done and for which I thanked them. I thought the gift card was a nice offer, but honestly I'd much rather have peony (peeOHnee-grrr) back so I could buy copious amounts of it with my own money. Still, I appreciated that they didn't ignore me and they did make a conciliatory offer, and I will keep that good customer service in mind. If they ever again make anything besides iced tea, daquiri, pie and frosting lotion.
Maybe I'm hypersensitive about the freebie thing because I have an ex-friend who pushed that sort of thing to an exponential level. I never (literally, not once) ate a meal out with her that she didn't find SOMETHING about which to complain, and she complained loudly and longly until she got something comp'ed, a percentage off the bill, a coupon for something free next time, etc. I never went shopping with her that she didn't argue about the price of something: the shelf tag was misleading, they should match the price at Rival Store, she should get a rain check even though the sale was on a discontinued item good while supplies lasted, it was on sale yesterday but she couldn't come yesterday because of car trouble so she should still get the sale price, etc. etc. - she would never back down, either, no matter how illogical her argument, until finally the manager would give her a discount or some gesture just to get rid of her. It was embarrassing and it got to the point that I'd make any excuse to avoid going places with her because I knew A Scene would ensue - one of the several reasons why she's an EX-friend.
Oh - I remember another facet of this quirk: that no amount was too small to be argued over. We would spend for-freakin-EVAH in the checkout line while she argued that something was $5.96, not $5.99. Once when she pulled this stunt I was already exhausted, I hate shopping anyway and the price-checking-guy had totally disappeared (he had been gone at least 10 minutes - probably slipped out the back exit, lucky him). The line grew longer behind us, people griped - not that I blame them. The price in question was literally only a few cents, so finally I burst out in frustration, "Here! Here's a QUARTER! Can we please GO NOW?!?" She handed it back sweetly and said, "No, it's not the money. It's the principle of the thing." AAAAGH!
3 Comments:
She is not exaggerating about the 'ex friend'. I too had one of those - mine made a SCENE at a restaurant when they served her already drunk-on-his-ass husband a beer that wasn't 'cold enough'. She insisted a 'warm' beer would make him sick!
I am totally amazed that B&BW responded! And offered you something! WOW. Now if only they'd offer you the leftover PeeOHNee lotion....
mom
By
Anonymous, at 9:11 AM
It got to the point that we (we = a group of her ex-friends, not Mom) would make fun of her right to her face. Whenever she'd say, "Last night we tried that new Japanese place" or similar we'd interrupt her by chorusing, "And you had bad service!!!" But she never caught on; she'd just say something like, "Oh, you've been there too?" and continue with her tale of restaurant incompetence.
By
Helly, at 9:49 AM
What a tedious person! I had chatted a few times with a neighbor - the one whose children have "never eaten anything that came out of a box or a can" - and in our last conversation she revealed that she never pays full price for anything, no matter what. Not even at Wal-Mart. I decided then that I never wanted to be in public with her ever.
By
Anonymous Me, at 5:48 PM
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