It’s been awhile since I’ve highlighted worthwhile customer service stories. Here’s a decent customer service done-right story straight from today’s Reddit front page:

Trader Joe’s did something awesome!

My mom is very worried about my grandfather, age 89. He’s a retired engineer and a navy officer of WWII who lives on his own in an apartment complex. He hardly keeps enough food for himself because he feels as though he can drive out whenever he’s hungry (and live off of cereal and prune juice). The problem is that he got snowed in today. He told my mom that one day without food couldn’t hurt, but my mom would not accept that. She ended up calling a bunch of places trying to find one that would deliver to him. She eventually ended up asking if Trader Joe’s did delivery and they told her they could in this instance. She read out a big order and then proceeded to ask them how she should pay. They told there was no need to pay and said, “Merry Christmas!” Trader Joe’s doesn’t do delivery, nor give food out for free normally. I’m glad to see people out in the world care about strangers and help out.

Follow-up: They delivered the food within 30 minutes and further clarification from my mom reveals that when she was ordering food, they kept suggesting other items for him (he’s on a low sodium diet). He ended up getting a few days worth of food from them. In case people are wondering, it’s the Trader Joe’s in Wayne PA. The funniest part is now my grandpa is trying to leave his apartment in the snow to thank them, but I think we’ve stopped him.

Via [Reddit.com]

Kudos to Trader Joe’s and whoever handles their social media marketing for keeping on top of things and responding to the story (the Narwhal is a nice touch too).  I hardly ever shop there since I’m kind of a cheap ass (though from reading the comments I may be making too much of an assumption about its prices), but businesses that are pro-customer should always get a shout-out.

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