To Whom it May Concern

Years ago, if you had a question or complaint for a company, you'd write a letter. My sister was famous for her great letter-writing campaigns (and darned if she didn't get free stuff galore). However, nowadays, there are many venues that allow you to vent, company websites, etc. I read an article this morning that had the results of letter-writing and phone calls and listed products that were brought back to the market after the consumers complained. One such example was New Coke which is infamous. However, on a much more minor scale, Tropicana recently encountered the wrath of the consumer. You can read more here. Basically, they changed the design of the package. That's it. The orange juice was the same. People went crazy! Now, I wasn't pleased because it made it very difficult to find the kind of juice I prefer. All the containers looked the same versus before and now where I can buy the blue-top orange juice. In short, Tropicana changed its containers back so as not to make loyal customers angry. My question is: have you ever called a company to complain, wrote a letter or an email? If so, what was the result?

I previously mentioned the last time I contacted a manufacturer about some bugs in my food. It was very prompt in its response and sent cash (whereas I expected just a coupon to replace the product I purchased). In addition, the grocery store in which I purchased the item also replaced the food as well. (On a sidenote, I've always received excellent customer service at our grocery store - Harris Teeter). However, I generally won't complain too much and, the times I did, received no response. Customer service, I feel is the most important yet most overlooked aspect of an organization.