Last year, I was enjoying a delightful bowl of Ben & Jerry's Pistachio ice cream. My joy was ruined when I bit down pretty hard on a pistachio shell. It hurt! For awhile, I was actually thinking that I might have to go to the dentist. Luckily, it wasn't quite that bad. Needless to say, I was done with pistachio ice cream. In fact, I never finished it. I felt a bit disappointed that my simple treat caused me such pain.

The next day, I was having a slow day and I ended up navigating to the Ben & Jerry's website and found the "complaint box". They seem like a nice enough company. Of course it "seems" like that, but they're actually owned by Nestlee now and still have the nice facade of marketing that makes me feel good. I figured it wouldn't go anywhere, but I sent a complaint.

I nicely and respectfully told them that while I purchase their ice cream once and awhile, I was a little disappointed that something like that got past their quality control, but I thought that they should know because I'd hate for someone else to break a tooth. I said that I'd probably still occasionally purchase their product again, but that it was still a bit off-putting. Honestly, it wasn't a big deal to me anymore.

I didn't expect a response, instead I got free ice cream.

However, I did feel a little better after sending the complaint, because in the form, they have you enter all sorts of numbers that are on the carton, which I assume helps them narrow down which facility the carton was filled. I thought that at least maybe my complaint would keep someone from having a tooth ruined. Honestly though, I didn't think they cared.

After a week or so, and forgetting about the whole thing. I received a letter in the mail from Ben & Jerry's thanking me for letting them know about my disappointment and apologizing. That was nice, and I was happy that they cared enough to send a letter and apologize. What was even nicer was the STACK of coupons that they sent for free pints of ice cream!

In case you didn't know, free ice cream is a fantastic way to apologize for just about anything.

Honestly though, as far as I'm concerned, it was a small victory among the small annoyances we have every so often caused by big companies that could just be resolved by a real apology. Dealing with my mobile phone carrier, or credit card company, the gas company, or just about any large business, there are little things that happen quite often that are little annoyances, and sometimes, all it would really take to resolve those annoyances is to be made to feel that I'm valued as a customer, that's it. Normally, its just easier to let those things go of course.

Weeks after, I bought some Wheatsworth stone ground wheat crackers, which are made by Nabisco. I love these crackers. I opened up the package and ate a few, but I noticed that all of the crackers in this box were burned on one side. I still put some cheese on them, and they were okay, but I was a little disappointed. I wondered, what if the Ben & Jerry's thing wasn't a fluke.

I went over to the Nabisco website and found a place where I could submit a complaint. Let me say this, I hate even calling it a "complaint". Really, my motivation was just to let them know that they were having some quality control issues. Surely, I'm not the only person who this had happened to. It really wasn't a big deal. I filled out a lot of the same type of info I filled out at the Ben & Jerry's site, so that they could narrow down the date and time of manufacturing.

A week or so later, in the mail, I again received a letter of apology, and again I received coupons. This time, it wasn't just for Wheatsworth crackers, but for anything Nabisco. It was a nice gesture, and honestly, I was never mad or upset over the whole thing, but it did make me feel good that someone went to the trouble to make sure I was satisfied. It worked out to about $15 worth of free Nabisco stuff.

These weren't the only times that I've taken a minute and sent off a comment to a manufacturer, but those were the first two. All in all, my comments were met with the same result, an apology and free stuff. Once, within an hour of my comment, I even received a phone call. I want to make it clear though, I was never mad when I sent these comments, and I was always constructive and respectful in my note.

My Moment of Realization

I just recently finished a fantastic book by Malcom Gladwell called "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference" Here is a passage from the book that when I read it, I'm a little ashamed to say, describes me:

........."Whenever I look at an unopened bar of Ivory bath soap, I flip it over and burst out laughing. In the midst of all the product information, there is a line that says: "Questions? Comments? Call 1-800-395-9960." Who on earth could ever have a question about Ivory Soap?......... The answer of course is that while most of us would never dial that number, a very small percentage of profoundly weird people fell compelled from time to time to call in with a question. They are the soap Mavens, and if you're in the soap business, you had better treat these soap Mavens well because they are the ones who all their friends turn to for advice about soap.

The Ivory Soap 800 number is what I call a Maven trap, a way of figuring out who the Mavens are in a particular world."".........

My name is Matt Hancock, and I am one of the profoundly weird people that would call that number. And apparently, I am an ice cream, cookie and cracker Maven.

My Point

I suppose the whole point of my article wasn't to make that confession (as liberating as it feels to confess such a deep dark secret). It's that there are people that sell these sorts of goods that actually DO care about whether or not you're happy with their product, and if you're reasonable, and nicely let them know you're not pleased, often they'll do what they can to try to make sure you're a satisfied customer.