Yesterday's Valentine's gift giving was such fun, but it wasn't without a bit of drama this year! You see, last week I had ordered some of Harney's Valentine's Blend, a tea of chocolate and rose petals. One tin was for a friend who's had a bit of a rough time lately; the other would be divided into individual tea-filter bags and shared with numerous girlfriends in cards and treat bags. On Tuesday night, however, I received an e-mail from Harney telling me the shipment was scheduled to arrive by UPS ... on Friday!
So, I dashed off an e-mail to Harney telling them how disappointed I was the tea wouldn't be arriving for Valentine's gift giving and requested a refund. The next day, I got a nice e-mail from a woman in customer service apologizing for the delay, offering a complete refund and telling me to keep the tea with their regards once it arrived. I thought that was a reasonable solution, but then came follow-up e-mails from both her and Michael Harney (!) telling me they were airmailing another shipment of the tea that would indeed arrive on Thursday! Long story short: both shipments ended up arriving yesterday, so I was sharing Harney's Valentine's Blend with EVERYONE this Valentine's. Can you believe that? And that Michael Harney himself was involved? Sheesh, that'd be like getting a personal e-mail from Martha Stewart telling me she was sorry my magazine was late and she was going downstairs to mail it herself. Mercy! (The tea, by the way, is wonderful! Can you see all those pretty rose petals? The blend is very smooth, and one I greatly enjoyed sipping all afternoon and evening.)
Other Valentine's gifties: A couple of tea-loving friends got Laura Ashley post-it type notes. These are mine, but some just like them went to the friend who gave me this sweet Victorian Valentine.
Here are the little fabric bags that were packaged up for the co-workers: tea, Hershey's kisses, some of those pink rose sugar cubes I made last week.
And a final note: For the friend who's had some challenges in life recently, I put together a bag of the Valentine's Blend tea, Hershey's kisses, chocolate raspberry cookies, and Dove's Cucumber and Green Tea bath products (soap, body wash, hand soap). I ADORE the scent of this line, and I got some of the new handsoap for myself. Now, it's time to start thinking about Valentine's treats for next year!
What a wonderful friend you are. Such perfect and thoughtful gifts!
ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness! What a marvouls, magnificent example of customer service!
ReplyDeleteThat was a great big wonderful "PR" thing for them...I'm glad they did all that for you and now we will all continue to buy their tea. :~)
ReplyDeleteAlthough I wish I had ordered some of that "late" Valentine's Day tea too...what a great deal.
I DID however go to "Williams Sonoma" today and pick up a "Mini Scone Pan"...thanks to your post regarding them and the Cranberry/White Chocolate Chip Scones. I CAN'T to try the recipe now that I have the pan.
Your little gift bags are so cute! Great idea's abound on this blog!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely Valentines Day celebration you had. Harney's Valentine tea blend sounds yummy - hope it is still available.
ReplyDeleteGreen tea is popping up in so many products these days. I looked for the Dove Green Tea and Cucumber hand soap yesterday, but couldn't find any. I'll keep looking and thanks for the tip.
It is nice to know that there is still good customer service still in existance! I am glad you were treated well.
ReplyDeleteThat is also so nice of you to do a little "feel better" package for your friend.