It was my daughter's birthday party and there were 10 rambunctious pre-teens over for dinner and a sleep over. The menu that night, pizza and chicken nuggets from a major pizza chain. That night, instead of ordering through the call centre, I chose to go myself, order direct and bring it home to take advantage of the pick up specials.
Home I went, food in hand, to the hungry pack. The hands dove in and the food was flying. My daughter (luckily it was her) took one of the nuggets and bit in...
Tendon - Red - Raw - Blood
It was disgusting. It was gross. It was raw...or something worse if that's possible.
Regardless, there was a simple fix, call the number on the box. Well, that's exactly what I did and upon telling the agent who answered of my plight, I was instructed that I had to return to the location I bought it as they could not help me.
But I called the number on the box
How could this be? Was I imagining the 10 digits on the cardboard? Was this not the same company?
After realizing I would get no support I decided to fix the situation and go get a replacement box of nuggets. So I called the location directly and to my horror, they had no intention of dealing with me. I am not even sure they understood my situation and complaint. One more try to the call centre that answered when I called the number on the box and upon getting the same answer...it was time to go social.
Twitter or Facebook, which will have the bigger impact?
I was angry. I called the number on the product and they would not help me. So, I went social, Twitter and Facebook soon received a picture and comment that begged for attention. That was around 7:30 PM...
...9:08 PM and a comment appeared on my FB wall.
The CEO of _____ ______ will contact you about this issue. I know someone who knows him.
...830 AM and my cell phone was ringing. It was him.
The rest of the day was a flurry. Disposed of product. Management meetings. Follow up phone calls....and then the offer.
- 4 Hockey Tickets
- A complete birthday party at a local movie theatre (their partner)
- 26 pizza coupons
- Total Value: $1,890
...and all I wanted was a replacement $6 box of chicken nuggets.
The learnings from this story are simple:
- If the phone number (or email address or even URL) is on the box (or product), then have that channel be prepared to solve any and all problems
- Ensure that customer facing employees are empowered
- Social media is a powerful force (especially if you are well connected)
- Chicken nuggets are much cheaper than hockey tickets
