Written by

Kim C.

How I Got Free Diapers and Free Chicken

In today’s world of electronic mail, internet, smart phones and computers, do you ever sit down to just write an old fashioned letter?  I did just that very thing a while back and boy, oh boy, was it worth my time!  I find that manufacturers really do want to hear a customer’s honest feedback on their product- not just a bunch of whining, but honest information the company can use to improve their product or service.  On two different occasions, I sat down to write a letter to a company of which I was a loyal customer, but was unhappy with their product.

When my youngest child was a baby, I liked to use a certain brand of diapers.  With this one package of diapers I purchased, the velcro tabs kept ripping off the diaper when I was trying to put a new diaper on the baby.  Well, unless I was going to duct tape the diaper on the baby, the diaper was useless.  And yes, believe me, after several new, unused diapers ripping and ruining, I considered the duct tape.  Diapers are very expensive and so I decided to let the company know that I wasn’t going to be able to purchase their diapers anymore if they kept ripping every time I tried to put them on my baby.  I was throwing away unused diapers – money wasted.  So, I wrote a letter to the address on the diaper package.  Imagine my surprise when I received a reply letter back stuffed full of diaper coupons.  Two coupons for a free package of diapers and several $2 and $3 coupons.  It was well worth my time to let the company know that I was dissatisfied with their product – a product that normally I was very satisfied with.

On a different occasion, I purchased a package of chicken that advertised four chicken breasts in the package.  When I pulled the package out to fix supper, there were actually only three pieces of chicken in the package.  I wrote a very creative letter to the address on the package, and in a few weeks, I received a reply with a coupon for a free package of chicken, along with several $2 off coupons.

A few things to remember when contacting a company:

• Be professional and polite in your letter.
• Let the company know that you like their product and would like to be able to continue to use their product, but would like to report an issue you are unhappy or dissatisfied with.
• Include what you like or appreciate about the product or service.
• Always include information about where you purchased the product, the UPC number or barcode from the product and a copy of the sales receipt if you have it.
• Be sure to include your full name, phone number and address.