Here's a part of my letter to Playtex:
I recently went with my wife and baby to Babies ‘R’ Us to buy a new cup. I found one of your cups (The Insulator) and read the back, to make sure it was BPA free. In the back, it said this cup was “Designed for Baby,” which means the baby will find it easy to hold and drink on his own. However, and this is the reason I write to you today, the following line said, “Designed for Mom.”
Now, as far as I know, I’m not a mother. And as your “Designed for Mom” section said nothing about breastfeeding, I assume you simply don’t want fathers to use this cup.
My wife followed me and pointed at the Playtex cup. “What about this one?” she said. I told her the reason we couldn’t buy this cup would be clear by looking at the back. “Why would they do that?” she asked me, immediately noticing the offensive writing.
Well, I didn’t have an answer. Maybe you do.
So on June 14th I got a letter back from Playtex Consumer Affairs. What was going to be inside? An explanation? Maybe even just them saying, "Women buy more baby stuff than men, so leave us alone." Anything would have been better than what I actually got:
Thank you for contacting us with your comments . . . We would like to assure you that your comments are important to us, and all of us . . . are continuously looking for ways to improve our products. . . . In appreciation of your time and effort in contacting us, please accept the enclosed coupon good toward your next purchase. . . . Thank you again for sharing your comments with us, and please feel free to contact us again.
Now, I know I skipped some parts, but trust me, a form letter is a form letter, and the skipped parts were just space fillers that said nothing about my original letter.
So thank you, Personal Care Representative Carol Crawford, for taking the time to put my name on the top of your form letter, and thank you for the $7.99 coupon, which--I assume--I'm now supposed to hand over to my wife.
Ugh. I know. I hate it when a really good complaint is ignored.
ReplyDeleteAnd it would have been fine if at least they had an email address. I had to actually mail the letter just to get a form reply letter.
ReplyDeleteYou think that's bad, at least when a product "designed for Mom" is purchased for your household you have a 50% chance of being the target audience. Try being a two dad family...
ReplyDeleteBobby, so if you complain to Playtex and they send you a coupon you won't even be able to use it! $7 worth of bottles and pacifiers you and your partner/husband won't be able to use--down the drain!
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day Playtex will make a bottle designed for dads? Because now it's impossible. The penis always gets in the way!
A generic response is never a great answer. I just read this article thanks to the widget saying you might like this article :) Coupons are great freebies but it would have been better if Platex gave you a response about your concern. I hope they correct this.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, maybe it's better to have a generic response+coupons than no reply at all (which is what I got from Amazon), but on the other hand, if they make you go through the trouble of mailing an actual letter (yep, any customer service related issue with Playtex is dealt by snail mail. For some reason), at least make me feel like you read the damn thing, you know?
ReplyDeleteAmericans grumble about the most trivial things.
ReplyDelete