THIS is how to respond to a customer complaint!

As part of my on-going quest for weight loss (and maintaining same) I regularly drink a 6 oz carton of OJ with my meals. It is provides a serving of fruit and is delicious to boot. Tropicana is my favorite of the various brands. Their current packaging is as pictured - a small carton with a telescoping straw that punctures the top like a drink box. Recently, I had noticed the straws becoming unusable. Some fell apart. Others couldn't pierce the box. So, after a few months, I decided I should write them to let them know - not looking for anything, just to get onto their Quality Control radar. Instead, I got the response below which is a GREAT example of how to do customer service. They have truly made me from a customer into a fan.

Wow!! Congratulations on your weight loss! What a great achievement and accomplishment; keep up the great work in 2010.

That said, I'm sorry the straws on your little cartons of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice haven't worked properly for you. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I've mailed you a full value replacement coupon for the juice along with some new straws to try. Everything should arrive in about a week.

We do our best to provide you with quality products, and the information you provided is valuable to us. Therefore, I've shared your comments and experience with our quality assurance and packaging teams for review and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

With regards to the straws, they're designed to extend so they'll reach to the bottom of our little cartons. Once the straw is extended, you should feel a slight "click", indicating it has locked into place, locking air out. We're sorry yours did not work they was we intended it to.

Thank you, Mark, for your business and for being a loyal Tropicana fan. We hope you'll continue to select and enjoy our juice for many more years to come. After all, we know you have a choice of brands and always appreciate you choosing ours.

Happy New Year!

Margie
Tropicana Consumer Relations