Home-made Casket

Have you ever been so frustrated with a retailer that you said you would never do business with that store again? What did you do about? Just go away? Never shop there again? Or did you made a statement or take a memorable action to get its attention? Did it work?

When I worked in National Customer Relations for a Fortune 50 retailer, I was lucky enough to handle some of the very few complaints that made it through all the filters and reached the headquarters. Usually, complaints were handled by customer service representatives with little authority or discretion.

One day I opened a small box addressed only to “CEO” that arrived at the headquarters. In it was a small, handmade, wooden casket containing a broken drill bit and a long letter from the customer. He explained how he had been a customer of that chain for 48 years, owned thousands of dollars worth of tools and home appliances, and how he had restored two old fire trucks to parade condition and had full sets of tools (sold by this retailer) on both trucks, in case of breakdown while going to or returning from a parade.

He had bought a drill bit ($8.00) and it had broken the first time he used it. When he went to the store to return and exchange it, the store refused. Employees and managers claimed that a drill bit was not a "hand" tool, which would have been covered under its lifetime guarantee; instead, it was part of a power tool and not covered. They must have really given him a hard time, because he spent days fashioning a small wooden casket as the final resting place for the drill bit. Then he cut up his credit cards and glued them into the lid.

The little casket is a fine piece of work. It is shaped and curved just like a casket. The top is fitted and rests snugly on the bottom part. He even carved a cross into the wood of the lid and carved the dates of his credit card. Everything but R.I.P.

At the particular time when his complaint arrived, "CEO complaints" were being handled by the Law Department, and I reluctantly turned over the letter and casket to them. As I handed the casket to one of the attorneys, I said, "If this doesn't go on the CEO's desk right under one of those little spotlights in the ceiling, I'd like to have it."

I called him every other day to ask for the casket, and about two weeks later he gave it to me (minus the two cut-up credit cards). I later learned that a secretary had mailed a small Gift Card to the former customer. I don't think anyone ever called him.

He wasn't interested in a $10 Gift Card. This customer was mad! Had I called him, I suspect we would have ended up having a great conversation and the store chain would have regained his business. What he wanted was for someone to HEAR what he was complaining about. That didn't happen. Beyond me, I don't think anyone appreciated how mad he had to have been to take the time to craft that little casket and send it in with his long letter.

What experiences have you had, when you have made a complaint to a retailer?