Monday, March 11, 2013

Playskool Goes Old Skool



Playskool went old school, but this time in good way. This all started when Playskool made what parents who stay at home call a boo-boo. Their mistake is one that I would consider an online blunder; an entry on Twitter that was poorly worded that offended many dads and moms in the Twitterverse. On March 3rd they tweeted this:


As my blog and Twitter handle both aptly reflected there were many days where dad has been in charge and will continue to be, so I felt inclined to respond like this on March 4th:



The very next day,March 5th, I received an email from Playskool's PR company apologizing for the Tweet and asking for my address to be contacted. On March 8th, I received this handwritten note from Jerry Perez, GM of Playskool:

 
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If there is one thing that my wife has taught me about etiquette, and believe me these are ongoing lessons, a handwritten note goes a long way. It could have been easy for Playskool to discount my Tweet. They could have waived it off as an oversensitive dad blogger looking for a fight. What they did instead was show how going "old school" can pay off when it comes to your customers. In the age where emails, conference calls, and communication via text runs rampant it was nice to receive an apology on paper, through the mail. Whether it was done by an intern or Jerry himself I will never know.

What I do know is that it is the thought that counts and Playskool, I appreciate the sentiment. If there is something I would want my kids to learn about this experience that is, that if you believe strongly enough about something then you should act on it and follow through.

I wasn't looking for a free PotatoHead, though I do enjoy the Star Wars variety of spud related toys, or a discount off their products but rather validation that my opinion counts to a big brand like Playskool. Jerry Perez, you are class act and Playskool you are OK in my book too. Thanks for taking us dads as consumers of your products seriously and writing to us. We accept your apology. Now, don't let it happen again or I am going to have to put you in a time out.

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