Good Vibes - Customer Service @ Waterfield Designs

Today the League of Internet Commenters has gotten their collective dander up over the customer service debacle between Ocean Marketing, a hapless pre-order customer, and Penny Arcade. I think pretty much all of the conclusions to be drawn from this are self evident (yup, the PR rep is way out of line!), so I'm going to bypass that and throw some good vibes out in the universe for a company who I think goes above-and-beyond for customer service. I didn't have altercations or issues with this company--I just like the way they go about their day-to-day business.

Waterfield Designs

I bought my husband a Smart Case for his iPad for Christmas. Turned out, the color I requested was temporarily out of stock, no big deal, really. What impressed me was that I received a personal email from a fellow named Chris explaining the delay (which was minor), and a second personal email from Gary notifying me that my order shipped, and thanks for my business. I think the sheer volume of internet customers has made dehumanization part and parcel of the baseline customer service experience, so buying something from a company that addresses me as more than a database record is straight up pleasant. Oh, and how's the case working out? My husband loves it.

Is it a small thing? Yes, and maybe most people don't notice it. But I do most of my shopping online, and I do notice every time I get an email that doesn't begin with "Dear CUSTOMER NAME, your INVOICE 4857298 order has shipped." That personal email means I'll remember the names of the team members who work at Waterfield, I'll remember my experience was great, and I'll remember them the next time someone asks me what case or bag they should buy for their iPad/Kindle/laptop.