If you position your product as a quality product it needs to be a quality product. And when it isn’t, you need to replace it, make it right or otherwise act like your product is a quality product.
I own three pairs of Ecco shoes. They are comfortable walking shoes that don’t make you look like a 78 year-old man when you wear them. At least I sincerely hope that’s true. Anyway, they aren’t cheap either. So, when both soles of a pair failed in the same place, even after I’ve owned them for three years–low mileage, I assure you–I thought that was a problem.
So I emailed them and told them of my plight. Via a customer service form on their site. I hate forms.
I received an email in less than 24-hours asking for an address they could send a post-paid bag. I was to put the shoes in the bag for a free assessment of the shoes. Which I received and which I did.
I received an email in about a week letting me know they were replacing the shoes at no charge. Expect them in 2-3 weeks. Have not received my shoes yet, but, Ecco still has a customer.
What they did wasn’t heroic. It was just smart. Yet, because so many companies don’t do it, it becomes heroic.
Nordstrom just replaced a pair of UGG boots I bought my wife to go to South Dakota in. The first touch of snow and they stained, tragically. She returned them and they replaced them, no questions asked. Nordstrom still has a customer.
What great reminders that doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.
2-4-09 Update // I received a new pair of Ecco shoes today. Very happy.
