Praise for a disaster handled well

I wanted to take a step back from promoting PRSA Boston and its events, to give praise to a company for handling crisis PR very well.

Like many families, mine was impacted by the Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train recall. My 2 year old son loves playing with them, brings them everywhere and reads the train catalog daily telling me what he hopes Santa will bring (he calls it 'Reading the news').

Two weeks ago we send back his Red Sodor Island Caboose for replacement with one with less lead in the red paint.

On Friday we received a package and a letter from the manufacturer - RC2. The letter was a standard apology, and a check for $1.30 to cover the cost of postage. Nice, but expected.

The package included a new red Caboose, and not just one new train as a thank you/apology but two new trains. My son is ecstatic with his new spotlight lorry and cherry picker (It picks cherries, daddy...).

I will be buying more from them in the future.

Quick response an apology and over the top customer service made a bad situation into one that reaffirmed my commitment to buying from the company in the future.