Sprint bypasses AT+T with the "iPad 4G Case"

Sprint may be dying, but it is not going down without a fight! While AT&T and Verizon continue to get the cool phones, it is trying everything to wrest marketshare from the giants. Their newest attempt is the 4G iPad Case which includes a Mifi router (which interfaces with their WiMax network and produces a mobile Wifi hotspot) and a professional-looking case for your Wifi iPad. The idea being you get a faster connection this way, than by using AT&T's 3G network. Great idea, although it lacks the convenience of a built-in 3G connection.

THIS is how to respond to a customer complaint!

As part of my on-going quest for weight loss (and maintaining same) I regularly drink a 6 oz carton of OJ with my meals. It is provides a serving of fruit and is delicious to boot. Tropicana is my favorite of the various brands. Their current packaging is as pictured - a small carton with a telescoping straw that punctures the top like a drink box. Recently, I had noticed the straws becoming unusable. Some fell apart. Others couldn't pierce the box. So, after a few months, I decided I should write them to let them know - not looking for anything, just to get onto their Quality Control radar. Instead, I got the response below which is a GREAT example of how to do customer service. They have truly made me from a customer into a fan.

Wow!! Congratulations on your weight loss! What a great achievement and accomplishment; keep up the great work in 2010.

That said, I'm sorry the straws on your little cartons of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice haven't worked properly for you. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I've mailed you a full value replacement coupon for the juice along with some new straws to try. Everything should arrive in about a week.

We do our best to provide you with quality products, and the information you provided is valuable to us. Therefore, I've shared your comments and experience with our quality assurance and packaging teams for review and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

With regards to the straws, they're designed to extend so they'll reach to the bottom of our little cartons. Once the straw is extended, you should feel a slight "click", indicating it has locked into place, locking air out. We're sorry yours did not work they was we intended it to.

Thank you, Mark, for your business and for being a loyal Tropicana fan. We hope you'll continue to select and enjoy our juice for many more years to come. After all, we know you have a choice of brands and always appreciate you choosing ours.

Happy New Year!

Margie
Tropicana Consumer Relations

Vending Machine for Bicycles!

Those who have been following Mod-Blog long-term have seen my transformation into a bicycle nut, as treading the pedal has melted away many unsightly pounds for me and brought me to a point of moderate fitness. I love my bikes - one hybrid and one folding - and am trying to expand their use into regular transportation, which is harder than you might think in the hilly, sprawling New England landscape. So, I was very interested to hear about a Dutch company hawking bicycle vending machines for communities. The idea is you pick up a bike at one vending machine, pay a rental fee, and use it until you're done traveling at which point you return it to another vending machine for the next person to use. Low cost for the user, no storage issues, and it encourages use of a sustainable, low-energy, low-emission transportation for the populace. It would be a great way to clean up cities and reduce traffic congestion.