Customer Service ~ Making it Right

We so often hear complaints from people that customer service in this country has gone the way of the great dodo bird that I thought I'd share a brief story with you about one company that could have had a huge public relations nightmare on their hands, but came up with a VERY equitable solution to a potentially embarrassing problem.

I was reading a blog that mentioned a bunch of giveaways, including one on facebook. Since I'm a facebook member, I thought I'd check it out. It turns out, that to celebrate their 120th anniversary, Lee Jeans was giving away 120 pairs of jeans PER DAY! They were going to pick new winners every day, and discard all the non-winning entries. Well apparently, the contest system in place with Facebook couldn't handle the volume and they had a mess in their lap.

I'm going to post the chain of events for you, along with the final resolution.

Lee Jeans: Thanks for the birthday wishes. We’ve been experiencing some issues with the promotions application and have been unable to make it possible for you all to enter more than once. Due to this glitch, we have no choice but to revise the official rules accordingly to specify one entry per person though we’d love to give you all a million chances to win. Best of luck and thanks for understanding.

With the promotions application Lee is using for this giveaway, entries are actually tied to your facebook profile and the system does not allow a user to enter with the same profile until their previous entry is cleared and deleted. We thought a bulk delete was possible but it is not, and we were unable to clear all the previous entries and had no choice but to adjust the contest to only allow one entry per person.  Notice, this happened 2.5 days into the contest, when likely thousands of people had already entered. They started getting hate comments on their facebook page!!

When people started complaining that they were disqualified through no fault of their own, Lee said:  

Lee Fans, We’re sorry for the glitch that resulted in a rule change for the 120th birthday promotion. For those of you that entered the giveaway under the old rules, we’re working on a way to make it right for you! Stay tuned and thank you for your understanding and patience.


Then when people still complained, they were put on the defensive! The contest application was tested extensively, but due to the volume of entries, the process of clearing entries daily became too difficult to maintain throughout the month. We fully admit this is an oversight on our part and are deeply sorry. As we mentioned earlier today, we are working to rectify the situation with the early entrants as quickly as possible.

Then, earlier today, they made the following announcement:

We realize we've caused some confusion and irritation by having to change the rules of the promotion after the first day. We want to make things right for people that entered the promotion under the original rules, so we're giving those people one free pair of jeans. Please accept our apologies. To see full details, who qualifies for the jeans, and how to obtain them, please visit the discussion board.

All entrants who submitted prior to or on December 2, 2009 at 2:05 p.m. CST that have not already won, qualify for one pair of jeans from Lee. Entrants will receive a free pair of the product originally submitted for (Men's Premium Select or Women's Slender Secret). To obtain your jeans, please send an email to lee120promo@gmail.com by December 31, 2009. We will then verify you submitted your entry on or before 2:05 p.m. CST on December 2, 2009 and send you your jeans. No substitution, cash redemption or transfer of prize except with Sponsor's permission (which may be granted or withheld for any reason) or where required by law. Sponsor in its sole discretion may award a substitute prize/prize component of equal or greater value if advertised prize/prize component is unavailable at time of awarding for any reason. Shipping may take 4-8 weeks. Please see full rules for more information.

At that point, I felt compelled to leave the following comment, after observing how childish so many of their 'customers' had acted earlier, before they were able to offer this concilliatory solution:

As someone who has worked at a five star hotel, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to please people. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge this thoughtful act of excellent customer service. Prior to entering your contest, I had not worn Lee Jeans since I was in high school. Now that I know what terrific lengths you'll go to to keep current PROSPECTIVE customers happy, I'll definitely keep my eyes open for the Lee product when I'm looking for jeans from now on. I look forward to wearing the pair you've so graciously offered to send to me. Thank you.

A few comments later, someone paid me this compliment.

H.L. (a Facebook member that I don't know). Wow. What Bari Rubin said. Very eloquent.

So, not only did I get a free pair of Lee jeans, but I got kudos, too. Great way to end a long week!

Wish me luck on my audi-view tomorrow!!