Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Bean Binge




          The email from L.L.Bean trumpeted “20% Off!” so in an idle moment I scouted through the sale section to see if it might be possible to acquire a swimsuit for less than the cost of a week’s worth of groceries.
There was, indeed, such a thing. The reviews for the suit were all positive, aside from the fact that it tended to fade after four months. Our water aerobics gang is pretty non-judgmental, so I clicked through the ordering pages and it was as good as on its way. 


          Next came the water bottle fiasco on Saturday, so back I went to my friends at Bean and ordered up a replacement at 20% off. 


          Two days later, my husband decided to try out a hat he’d bought recently when he went out to water the yard. The hat was a baseball cap on steroids, with a nice long bill in front and a big flap for the neck. Perfect for a former red-head with quarterly visits to the dermatologist. Except he returned to the house scarlet-faced and bathed in sweat. His nifty new hat, it turns out, must have been intended for fall fly-fishing in Anchorage, all quilted and air tight.

          Sure enough, the 20% was still holding strong, and I was able to tack on an unused Father’s Day gift card, and the new lightweight replacement cap was practically in our hands. 


          I did feel a small twinge of guilt at knowing the UPS man would have to bump his way down our ramshackle, pothole-filled road on three different days to deliver my three separate orders. But yesterday the first arrived and I tossed it on the porch on my way to run errands.

          When I later opened it, I stood there staring at a pair of cargo shorts. Wait.  I knew I’d been over-doing the shopping on-line lately, but had I ordered shorts? The package was addressed to me, at my address. Closer inspection of the invoice, though, showed that Mary Jo Somebody of Port Charlotte, Florida would not be receiving her tan cargo shorts as soon as she had hoped. 


          A phone call to Bean – which has the best customer service on the planet and beyond – and all was righted. I would send back Mary Jo’s shorts so they could start their trip again, and a new swimsuit for me was practically on its way. 


          I’d better add our UPS man to the Christmas cookie list. 

14 comments:

  1. Good customer service is a must for online shopping because sooner or later we all need those services. I also shop at L.L. Bean.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good customer service is rare - and precious.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LL Bean has been my swimsuit supplier for years, ever since I outgrew bikinis. Best customer service ever and they have suits that cover the derrière, yay! Cuz they come in long. And they are not expensive. And if the clorine eats the elastic before its time, they send you a new one, no problem. I hope yours arrives ASAP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, hadn't thought of that - I can just keep re-incarnating the same suit for years!

      Delete
  4. they do have excellent quality. still wearing some things I bought years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love Bean's service. However, you bought a bathing suit over the Net?? Wow, you are one brave woman or else you have a really standard sized body. Let us know how that went.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Standard body! HAH! No, I just seem to usually fit in one particular size. It all started because years ago it was one of the few places that sold long-body suits. Now I must have shrunk to the regular size.

      Delete
  6. The service sounds great but you wonder how they stay in business with all the replays they have to run.

    ReplyDelete
  7. L.L. Bean is the best! Quality goods and wonderful customer service.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Imagine sending the shorts on to Mary Jo yourself and making a whole new friend! But the you'd have to hope whoever got your swimsuit would do the same.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I shop online at Bean's, too. I moved over to them after Land's End was sold and the quality dropped. I've been very happy with everything I get from Beans. I smiled at the title of your post because I thought it had something to do with what we call "whistle berries." :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oops! I wonder if Mary Jo got your bathing suit?!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Customer service is an industry on its own nowadays! :-)

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Well, I can't stop laughing! Fly fishing in Anchorage! You are so funny and I could sit all day reading anything you write! Hope my sister Shelby found time to read this one. I'll have to ask her.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear what you think.