[bojesphob]

Just had a wonderful customer service experience with an online company I have been dealing with for at least a decade, and it is making me want to do something to pass on... something... because of it. Here's the situation: I purchased a few things for Christmas gifts for some friends. One of the items was missing when I received the package, but surprisingly 3 things that I didn't order were included. Now, the thing that was missing was a gift for a buddy of mine that fits his personality to a T, and I was disappointed it hadn't arrived. So, I contacted their customer service, and mentioned that I was missing an item and had these 3 things that were included that I hadn't ordered. We went through the process of asking about getting that item, and the CS agent put through a request to send it. Now, that rep even went on to give me a 10 dollar gift card to the site!

Now, I felt bad that one of the extra items that they put in the box is out of stock, and asked if I should RMA the 3 items and send them back, basically what the process was. The CS rep told me that they're an early Christmas gift from the company.... Now, I probably would have bought 2 of the items to begin with eventually, and if the company says that it's ok that I keep them, then I'm not going to feel bad about that. But, I feel since they were cool enough to go above and beyond what I was expecting for customer service, that I would pass it on, somehow, to somebody that may be in need. That's what my poll is for, what do you think I should do? I'm leaning towards donating the value of what they gave me for free to a food bank/Red Cross/Salvation Army/etc, but figured I'd see what the feelings are about it here. BTW, it's about 48 bucks (not including shipping) of stuff that they sent me extra.

Oh, and I have been shopping with this site for long enough that they will continue to get my business, and they would have if they had just sent me the item that was missing and had me send these items back.

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Oh, and let me know why you selected your option if you could, too Just trying to gauge which way would be the better way of doing it... And, what charity should I go with? Salvation Army? Toys for Tots? BCA? United Way?

[jacobystealshome]

depends on the item. in general, charities prefer cash donations to items, because it gives them more flexibility

[bojesphob]

depends on the item. in general, charities prefer cash donations to items, because it gives them more flexibility

Mostly star wars collectors items sort of stuff... Any charities you are partial to?

[jacobystealshome]

Mostly star wars collectors items sort of stuff... Any charities you are partial to?

my own :p

www.facebook.com/projectcupid

we have raised over 100k in the past 5 years. all the money goes to Dana Farber and the Jimmy Fund for cancer research and cancer care

so, id say give directly to Dana Farber if it is cash

if you want to give the items directly, it depends on if they are more toys, or collectors items. if they are toys, toys for tots is great, but also any cancer center where they teat children (jimmy fund and children's hospital are the two that come to mind here in boston)

if they are more collectors items...maybe sell them yourself and give the cash to charity. or, do the double dip: give a cash donation to a charity and give the items as well.

if you end up giving to dana farber or the jimmy fund, and youre saying around 50 dollars, ill match your donation

[bojesphob]

my own :p

www.facebook.com/projectcupid

we have raised over 100k in the past 5 years. all the money goes to Dana Farber and the Jimmy Fund for cancer research and cancer care

so, id say give directly to Dana Farber if it is cash

if you want to give the items directly, it depends on if they are more toys, or collectors items. if they are toys, toys for tots is great, but also any cancer center where they teat children (jimmy fund and children's hospital are the two that come to mind here in boston)

if they are more collectors items...maybe sell them yourself and give the cash to charity. or, do the double dip: give a cash donation to a charity and give the items as well.

if you end up giving to dana farber or the jimmy fund, and youre saying around 50 dollars, ill match your donation

Cool, thanks Yeah, since it's actually star wars stuff (more kitchen items than toys, really), I'm tempted to use them for Christmas or birthday for my pregnant girlfriend since she LOVES star wars stuff... Heck, the Christmas gift I got her was an R2-D2 trash can, so yeah. I already got her stuff, but more wouldn't hurt LOL. I'll consider your match offer, I might do a local charity as well, as we have an exceptional Children's hospital here that I know does a lot of really good stuff (and might be fitting considering I have a little one on the way and may end up taking her there!). Will be waiting until I get paid on Friday to donate money, so I have a few days to think about it!

[jacobystealshome]

Cool, thanks Yeah, since it's actually star wars stuff (more kitchen items than toys, really), I'm tempted to use them for Christmas or birthday for my pregnant girlfriend since she LOVES star wars stuff... Heck, the Christmas gift I got her was an R2-D2 trash can, so yeah. I already got her stuff, but more wouldn't hurt LOL. I'll consider your match offer, I might do a local charity as well, as we have an exceptional Children's hospital here that I know does a lot of really good stuff (and might be fitting considering I have a little one on the way and may end up taking her there!). Will be waiting until I get paid on Friday to donate money, so I have a few days to think about it!

local is always better. if you end up giving to a cancer charity near you, ill match it with a donation to a local one near me. if you give to toys for tots, ill do something similar

maybe we can get other folks to do something similar

[koolkellygirl]

We had adopt a family at work and I asked my partner if he wanted to help me pick out around $50 in toys/clothes for some of the kids. My partner said he would match my $50, so we went out and had a lot of fun buying from a checklist of items.

There are a lot of ways to help out people and also a lot of legit charities out there as well

[waynetalger]

Since they are toys Salvation Army or Toys for Tots would be the place I would go and drop them off

[mbostick]

Cash to a food bank. Most of them do good at getting food donations, cash (for things like toilet paper to give out and other things) not much so.

Either way you choose, I will give you a plus 1. Too many look for what they can get out of life, not what they can provide.

[bojesphob]

Cash to a food bank. Most of them do good at getting food donations, cash (for things like toilet paper to give out and other things) not much so.

Either way you choose, I will give you a plus 1. Too many look for what they can get out of life, not what they can provide.

Thanks for the food bank idea! I actually just donated the cost to the local food bank so that they can put it to good use locally. My girlfriend and I had a wonderful time with both of our families and it made me think about the fact that there are a lot of kids who aren't able to get a decent meal for one reason or another and i realized that we are both really lucky. Hope you all are having a great holiday!