This is a tale of customer service that I think went above and beyond, thus it is a tale that must be told.

Christmas wish lists.

Children all wanting Nerf blasters from Santa.

I turn to Amazon.com because they’re the only ones that appear to have the particular models in stock.

One model, the Nerf Raider Rapid Fire CS-35 seems to have 3 flavors for sale: the regular version, a version with 100 bonus darts, and a version that comes with a second drum magazine. I think the second magazine is where it’s at, so that’s what I… err… Santa puts in the order for.

UPS man delivers very close to Christmas Eve. When the box arrives we just put it into the closet and don’t look at it until Elf-time late at night on Christmas Eve.

Ugh. They sent me the wrong model. They sent the 100-dart bonus pack, not the extra drum version. I’m bummed, but what can I do? These are from Santa, something must be delivered from The Fat Man® by morning time, so I have to run with what I was given. Ultimately that’s OK as the kids won’t know one way or the other, but there was the principle of it. Furthermore, when I went to the computer to double-check the order and invoice to ensure I didn’t mess it up (because all 3 flavors were in my shopping cart at one point, maybe I removed the wrong ones?), I realized that 1. I did correctly submit the order, 2. the price difference between what I ordered and what I received was $22!! Yikes. If it was a simple product flub that’d be one thing, but that’s a fair chunk of money.

I contacted the seller, The Toy Giant (they were selling via Amazon). I explained the situation, provided copies of the invoices, pictures of everything. In the end, it was their mistake, but I won’t be hard on that. It’s a rushed time of year, I’m sure one of their busiest, and given the similarities in the product ordered vs. delivered I can certainly understand the mistake. No hard feelings, no big deal. All I asked for was for them to refund the $22 difference to my credit card, since that’s about all that could be done given the Christmas circumstances.

Their reply?

First, it was prompt, which was great.

Second, they offered to send me the correct product. I quote from the email:

I don’t mind shipping the version with the extra drum and you can keep both.

I was certainly caught off-guard by that. They admit their mistake, and not only do they correct it but they expect nothing in return.

I don’t know what brought that on, if it’s their normal course of action or was brought on by the Christmas circumstance. But it doesn’t matter. They didn’t have to do what they did, but they did it.

That’s some great customer service. They didn’t just make things right, they went beyond. Or who knows… maybe to their bottom line it’s not beyond, maybe it was cheaper and easier for them to do what they did. Who knows. Doesn’t really matter. The perception to the customer is certainly a great one. I’m left with a very positive impression.

The Toy Giant.