Andrew Gardner, annoyed by mailings from Shoppers Drug Mart addressed to someone else, sent an email asking for the address to be removed including this
Naturally, I can draw one of two conclusions from this: 1) that Matthew is a previous resident of this address … Or 2), and I may be going out on a limb here, Matthew is a future resident of this address, and seemingly against the laws of causation, your computer system has this information and prematurely mailed an advertisement to him before he’s actually lived here.
What Gardner received back was not your standard Shoppers Drug Mart reply from Mark Oliver, a customer service agent:
Thank you for writing us.
We apologize if you have been receiving mail from Shoppers Drug Mart that was addressed to another customer. Unfortunately, we cannot comment on any research projects that we may currently be conducting.
However, we would appreciate it if you could provide us with some additional information that would help us determine when the mailer you received was sent. Could you please let us know if it contained any of the following advertisements?
1) Now at Shoppers Drug Mart: Everexis
Cure any disease instantly with Everexis! Great for headaches, colds, cancer and more! With no known side effects, nothing can possibly go wrong!
2) 20X The Points on Meat Products
Got the Everexis munchies? Fill your strange and unspeakable hunger and get 20X The Points!
3) 20% Off Everexis Antidote
Everexis left you slow, lumbering, and quick to anger? Take the Everexis antidote. It hasn’t been fully tested, but it certainly can’t make things any worse!
4) Hide in a Shoppers Drug Mart Refugee Shelter
With over 1,200 locations still standing across Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart is the ideal place to hold up and hide from the hoard. Ration Nativa Cheese Puffs and Life Brand Vitamins while you wait for rescue! Blood samples will be required for admittance.
5) Wheat, Glorious Wheat
Exclusively at Shoppers Drug Mart! Rebuild society with wheat, a traditional nonsynthetic foodstuff from the before-times. Act fast, as quantities are extremely limited.
Personally, I love it. You could tell from the original email that the person had a sense of humour but I can think of some of our clients at work who would call my boss if we ever sent them an email like this (oh and please note SDM, next time I have an issue, I will be asking for Mark Oliver to take care of my issue so I am so happy to hear he will not be fired).
So what do you think? Would you laugh on receiving an email like this or think they were not taking your complaint seriously?
That’s really funny. From reading the email, it sounds like the guy who complained didn’t really expect an answer, so the answer he got was appropriate. I think Mark Oliver should move to their advertising department. Maybe they’ll get funny TV ads a-la Boston Pizza
That is very funny. I do appreciate a CS rep with a sense of humor, but I donno if I’ll be even more ticked off if I were to receive such a reply. Humor at my expense. I hope everything was straightened out for Andrew.
Mark Oliver reminds us that there are humans in big corporations and that the machines that gather our information (and know more about us than we want) are flawed. Mark makes me want to shop at Shoppers More — I will be looking for the tested on and recommended by Mark Oliver Product Line. “Mark likes it”
HAHAHAHA LOVE IT!
I think its funny. I would much rather receive an email like this than one of those copy and paste letters you usually get from companies that don’t touch on the questions you asked.
Fantastic!!! As an employee in the CS department of a large company, I can say that there aren’t many situations where you could use light humour without further pressing unhappy customers’ buttons.
However; based on Andrew’s original witty email, you can tell that he is a pleasant person and thus he may really enjoy a pleasant and witty response.
ie. I apologize about the mailer you received in error. It is not the end of the world….so on so on
I love it!! Considering the original email, I think the response is fitting. What did Andrew think of the reply?
Sorry, I don’t buy that ANY of this correspondence actually transpired.
Nice try, and it WAS funny.
Haha — hilarious!!! I would love it if that actually happened 🙂
I’d be thrilled with this response. I shows that the CS rep actually read the complaint email he received.
Too often I get those cut & paste replies that only go to prove that they didn’t even read my complaint.
Really hard to stay mad to get a reply like that!
Love it!