With the many toy recalls abound, I wanted to share an anecdote about a toy company and customer service.
Like most ba
bies, Jack has more toys than he knows what to with. Back when I was pregnant, I mentioned that like with everything I do, I researched baby stuff. Jeff and I always said that we wanted to be minimalists as much as possible in the baby stuff department, which includes the toys. So, I researched the development baby toys and checked out the toys that won awards. In the end, I registered for a variety of things that I thought would be fun and of course received much more than we could have ever asked for.
We have two favorite toys in the house right now: the Mobile and the Gymini Playmat. Any mom who has these toys or something similar knows how entertaining it is for the tots! As we know from his love for the ceiling fan, we weren’t surprised about his excitement for the mobile. He can spend an hour just staring at the animals rotate to the tunes of Bach and Mozart. The kid huffs and puffs and runs in place as if he’s chasing these stuffed animals dangling in front of him. Now, he’s talking to them regularly.
With his playmat, even though the toys dangling above him don’t move, they squeak and jingle every time he swats his chubby paws at them. He even has this kicking device that goes off like a farm alarm whenever he kicks it. This thing lights up and a chicken and jingle go off very loudly every 3 seconds with the slightest touch of his foot. It’s fun. With his new scooting skills, he’s all over that thing!
Even though Jack’s enjoying these toys for hours on end, it wasn’t like that just a few weeks ago. Actually, neither of these toys were really working. The mobile’s music worked but it stopped turning when Jack was like 3 weeks old. The playmat’s foot peice thing stopped working after the second day. We replaced the batteries several times, made sure everything was connected and still nothing.
Disappointed by the quality of the toys, I emailed the manufacturer, which happened to be the same for both toys– Tiny Love. I wrote customer service about how I researched the toys, how we received them as gifts and then now that our baby can play with them, they no longer work. That very next day, a customer service representative emailed me back asking me about specifics and gave me her phone number to discuss the problems. Wow!
Because I was busy with the baby that night and with Jeff’s experience in the corporate retail world, I thought he’d be best to talk to the rep. After 2 minutes of friendly exchange and firing off serial numbers, the very cordial customer service rep simply told Jeff that we would be receiving replacement parts in 5-7 days.
And just last week, exactly as she quoted, we received the replacement parts! I was so impressed by the seamless transaction with their customer service, I still can’t stop telling my friends about. That sort of stuff doesn’t happen anymore– well to me anyway. If a toy or product breaks, then you go to call/email the company, it’s usually a miracle if the company answers your call. Our diaper pail actually never even worked!! It was supposed to be the latest and greatest touch free technology. Not so much. We still use it, but I’ve tried to call Graco countless amount of times to tell them that the sensor is definitely NOT touch free. They’ve had various recalls in the past 6 months so their customer service is automated. You don’t even get a person on the line.
Guess what? As the main shopper in our household and as an educated consumer, I probably won’t buy anymore Graco products if I can help it. I have a lemon of a diaper pail and can’t get anyone to talk to me.
Not in Tiny Love’s case. I took 2 minutes to write a simple email with my problems, 2 minutes for Jeff to confirm over the phone and a week later, our toys were practically brand spanking new!
Guess what Santa just picked up for the baby? A fun wind chime kick thing for his playmat. Guess what brand?
Tiny Love.
Moral of the story: customer service and good products win every time.
Just ask Jack
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originally published on Babyrific on 12/21/2007
