I have been meaning to write this for a while, and with all the holiday stuff going on, I kept forgetting. Many of you might know that we went on vacation this summer. One detail I probably did not mention is that on the last day, 5 minutes before we left to come home, my iPhone shattered when I dropped it on the floor at our beach house. I was pretty sad. When we made the decision to replace it, rather than repair it, I decided to also invest in an OtterBox case. All my cute and pretty cases were not doing anything to actually protect the phone. So, in July, I ordered an OtterBox from Amazon. From the moment I put it on my phone, I felt very secure that the phone was protected. While it was a pricey case, it was doing what it needed to do, and was still cheaper than replacing the phone again.
Last month, I sent out the following tweet:
Notice I did not tag OtterBox in the tweet with the "@" sign. I merely stated the company name in the tweet.
Later on in the day, I received this response from the OtterBox Customer Service account:
So, this means someone is tasked with the job of searching Twitter for people talking about OtterBox products and trying to trouble shoot any problems for them.
I went to the link the gave me, and after entering some information, was directed to call Customer Service. A representative asked me some questions about the problems with my product, and told me she would be sending an email with further instructions. I needed to send them some pictures of the damage to the product, which was less than 6 months old. Within 30 minutes of sending them the photos, they emailed me back confirming that they were replacing my OtterBox.
On December 11, my new OtterBox arrived.
So, to recap, OtterBox Customer Service sought me out when they caught wind via Twitter that my product was not working for me. I never even thought my product would be covered by warranty, yet they painlessly walked me through the warranty claim, and in less than two weeks I had a replacement case. And given the ease of the transaction, I would bet that this is standard for them. The probably did not think they were going above and beyond, but I certainly did.
I would have simply thrown my case away and purchased some other product elsewhere, but OtterBox saw to it that my problem was solved before I had a chance. What a wonderful example of truly outstanding customer service, and a great way to create a loyal customer. Well done OtterBox; other companies, take note.
