The Restless Mouse

I was going to post this as “What Would Jesus Do” but I can’t picture him peddling fart machines on the Internet… Anyway, we have an unhappy customer… Here’s the poop on that… We sent two windup furry mice to a lady in Indiana, a couple days later, this email…

I received my order, but the black mouse came to me broken. Not real happy.

Normally we wind them up one turn just in case on small orders like this, but haven’t been finding bad mice, so I guess this one slipped through the proverbial crack. All I can do at this point is offer refund or replace. But I know already this is a customer that is lost to us. So I reply;

I am sorry the black mouse is broken. I can send a (tested!) replacement, or refund for that mouse and half the shipping, although I would rather have sent you good mice in the first place, I guess we need to test those before sending. Thanks for letting me know, John

…If you were in her shoes, would you consider this fair? I offered a free replacement, or the entire cost of the defective item PLUS half of the shipping she paid. I didn’t ask for a return of the defective product in this case. I might have bent over backwards and refunded the whole order, until I got this;

I think it’s pretty bad that I have to pay anything for a defective product. Forget it! I just won’t order from your company anymore. I also sent a copy of this to the state attorney general’s office in Indianapolis, IN. And, I told all of my friends about your company.

Now I have seriously itchy keyboarding fingers here but my mama always admonished me, “The more you stir shit, the worse it stinks”. NOT REAL HAPPY to have the full wrath of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office coming down on us. I will try to keep you posted about this contuinuing saga from the jailhouse.

TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE

Now I have the song “Indiana wants me” stuck in my head.
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SECRET WORD COUPON: Use the secret word “Indiana” in the comments field of your order and I will throw in a black windup mouse (working!) - If she doesn’t want hers maybe you could use one.

Kudos to Pam W. at handmadecatalog.com - I bought a light box for tracing art from her on ebay, but when it arrived the light bulb was broken- I emailed her about it and got this reply;

Hi John, I am sorry to hear the light box arrived with a broken bulb. It wasn’t broken when it was shipped as I inspected it personally, but that doesn’t help you much does it. I will send you a replacement light bulb in tomorrow’s mail.

How cool is that? it’s when things go wrong that business people show their stuff.

Here’s a story about a family that picked up the dog after vacation and got the wrong dog, apparently the kennel operator thought it would be fun to put some other black lab in the same “room”.

As a Westie owner, I can certainly see how the mixup could happen, Westies look a LOT alike, if my parent’s westie gets groomed around the same time and we go over there, it’s downright uncanny.

This situation finally got sorted out, but with this comment from the kennel operator…

[the kennel operator] told The Oregonian newspaper she had no comment about how the confusion might have occurred.

“We tried to do everything we could, and it’s really unfortunate we had two customers who couldn’t identify their dogs,” she said.

What she should have said: “We regret the mixup and we are taking steps to make sure it never happens again” and then describe what she plans to do about it. Hello? Customer Service 101? Sign up for it next quarter.

Sometimes people email our return policy page just to vent;

Dear Teresa,
I had purchased a pair of Dr. Scholl’s sneakers from the Wall mart in Mechanicsburg PA about two weeks ago and I am already having problems with them falling apart and they are not supporting my feet.
I am NOT very happy with this product.
In my opinion this product is not very good. my old sneakers witch was a K Mart brand held up better than the Dr. Scholl’s
Thank you for your time
Sincerely
Hollyanna A.

Dear Hollyanna,
I can’t say this is the case with Dr. Scholl’s products, but WalMart has so much purchasing leverage, that sometimes they will force name-brand producers of consumer goods to produce cheaper goods to meet their price points; So the Dr. Scholl’s you get at another store may not be the same, even if the packaging looks the same. Anyway, that’s what I heard.

Anyway, you should take them back to the store and get a refund as soon as possible. If enough people return shoddy items, it will become unprofitable for them to cut those particular corners. If they give you a hard time, get loud. Good luck, Teresa@therestlessmouse.com

PHONE NUMBERS

Cell 425-343-6750

Toll Free Line 1-800-948-5785

PLEASE… No salesmen, agents, representatives, etc. IE No Peddlers

I have a real problem with telephones. They are so… insistent. Unfortunately they are a necessary tool to maintain our most excellent customer service.

THE PROBLEM; The Restless Mouse family of fine websites doesn’t throw off cash like a drunken congressman. So, I work in a warehouse at night, sleep some in the morning and some in the evening. In theory, Teresa, (AKA the “real head cheese”) is supposed to take the cellphone with her when I am sleeping. But it doesn’t always happen, for example she won’t answer it if she is driving, taking a shower, in the bathroom (bad accoustics) etc.

Anyhoo… Pulleeeze… Leave a message if no one answers, or better yet shoot us an email. We really do want your business, or else what’s the point of all this….