A ‘distraught’ boy who accidentally received two right shoes instead of a pair has been apologised to in a very unique way by shoe brand Clarks.
The boy’s father, John Hinder of Edinburgh, posted a message on the Clarks Facebook page complaining about the mistake and asking the company to apologise to his nine year old son Sam by hand-drawing a picture of Optimus Prime from Transformers.
A talented Clarks customer service agent set about drawing the character and a few days later it reached Sam in the post.
Clarks, who clearly have a great sense of humour, then took it one step further, also writing the boy a letter from Optimus Prime himself.
In the letter ‘Optimus’ apologised, saying “an advanced team of Autobots rolled out to Clarks and were faced with the evil Megatron and his army of Decepticons. When all hope seemed lost, your brave father stood forward and defeated the Decepticons, restoring harmony in Clarks once again.”
Clearly an example of a company doing social media right, on his blog the father said the outcome was a great brand experience for his family.
“Rather than a rant I thought it would be interesting to have a bit of fun with my "complaint" and see how Clarks would respond,” Mr Hinder said.
"In the end, what could've been a tedious complaint turned into a light-hearted, fun and positive experience for everyone involved and a major win for Clarks' customer service," he said.
However, since this story has gained attention around the world there have been comments on the Clarks Facebook accusing them of staging this as a PR stunt and saying it sounds like the father was ‘fed’ with positive lines about the Clarks customer service experience.
Either way, well played Clarks Optimus Prime.
Have you ever complained to a company on Facebook? How did you go?
