A colleague, Pat Townsend, reported an example of Perdue Farms' response to a customer (remember, this is a three-quarter billion dollar company):

"A friend of mine mentioned last week that he once bought a Perdue chicken that, he discovered after getting home, was all dry and nasty. He took it back to the store and got an immediate refund. Then he decided to write Frank - having seen him on TV - and tell him that he had bought one of his damn quality chickens and it was all dry and nasty.

"By return mail he got a letter from Frank that not only included profuse apologies and a certificate for a free chicken, but that also enlisted his help to make sure it never happened again, by asking a whole list of specific questions: Where did he buy it? When? Exactly what was wrong? What did he think had happened? What exactly did the store say when he returned it? Et cetera, et cetera. Two days later an executive of Perdue Chickens called to make sure he'd received the letter, to make sure that all was well, and to ask some more specific questions. My friend will never buy anything but Perdue chicken."

by Tom Peters
from Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work
Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte & Tim Clauss