As I wrote sometime before, I started to learn how to draw in Oct 07. I got myself a complete yet cheap set of pencils. (didn’t know they were cheap at the time) A year later, Oct 08, I decided to treat myself to a better set of pencils. General’s Pencils puts out a box set #10. Has a lot of little goodies in it. Everything was working out fine until I had to sharpen the Kimberly 6B graphite pencil. Oooh… it was bad. So I wrote GPC about it. Here is what I wrote:
Hi,
After fifty-five years of living I finally decided to learn how to draw. I went out and bought a set of pencils in a carrying case. Over the past year I have learned to draw. Ha! Still learning. So this year I decided that I would treat myself and get a better set of pencils. At the Michael’s store in Hamilton I found a number of your products. I bought “General’s Drawing Pencil Kit #10.”
When I got home and opened the pack I felt a little bit like a kid in a candy store. I immediately tried everything in the kit to see what they were like. Your product certainly has opened some doors for experimentation. I was rather enjoying the experience.
Yesterday I took out the 6B graphite pencil, sharpened it, and started a sketch. It went quite well and I thought I would do a dozen sketches using this pencil only. Everything was going fine. I needed to sharpen the pencil and put a fairly good point on it. As I tried to finish the first sketch the lead broke. I sharpened it again and as soon as I applied the point to paper it broke again. I went from having a full pencil to a stub in ten minutes. I was a bit angry. I started to wonder about the rest of the kit. Yet I haven’t had any problems with them so far.
I don’t know why this particular pencil kept breaking. The other 6B I was using previously never gave me this problem (Royal – not your product). Quality control? Production problem? Just the luck of the draw (ha, ha)? I don’t know why this particular pencil was such a loser.
Why am I writing you? I just needed to vent some of the frustration I am feeling. Fortunately I still have the old 6B (from Royal) and I added it the group of Kimberly’s I am currently using.
They responded the very next day:
Hello Joseph,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us. We rely on this kind of feedback to be sure we are making our products to meet our consistently high quality standards. Every so often, a core (lead) will have cracked before being bonded into pencil slats, so we are sorry if this happened to you. We will send out replacements on Monday from our sales office in Redwood City. Thank you for choosing GENERAL PENCIL COMPANY, making pencils with pride in the USA (still!!) since 1889.
I was surprised that they responded so quickly to my email. Oh, the promise to replace the pencil? It took ten days before a package showed up in the mailbox. Not only did they send me a replacement pencil… they sent me a complete set on pencils. More… they sent along a complimentary charcoal set.
I expected nothing from the company. They have wow’ed me with their quickness and their kindness.
So a big “Thank You!” General’s Pencil Company. You have my business.
My first thought was, since it came from reading the last paragraph, you were quick to criticize—how quick were you to write back and thank them ? If you did, you didn’t include it in the telling. Not that it matters—I’m not your father !
Also, you missed a great opportunity to show off you sketching talent. I expected to see a cartoon of a whittled-down thumb holding a pencil stub.
All joking aside, it was an unusual re-action from a commercial organization—particularly with such a mundane and commonplace article as a lead pencil. They really did ” get the lead out ” in answering, didn’t they ??
It’s nice to know there are still companies out there that stand behind their product. It was nice they took full responsibility for what happened. I agree with Don g. Let’s see a sketch!
Yay! I love when companies respond like that – they guarantee keeping me as a customer for ever and ever. (Although I don’t draw, so….)
However, the Kicking Horse Coffee Company did a similar thing for me once, and I love them (when I can afford them).
Don…”get the lead out”??? …. hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!
How quick did I thank them? The very next day when I went online. I also put a link to their company’s website. Fast enough Father Don?
Now for a sketch… how about this one… 🙂
That sketch looks like a Hallo’ween pumpkin—–they’re usually whittled—–generally after sketching a nose, mouth and eyes——with a lead pencil !
I guess it’ll pass. We’ll let you off this time but, it’s really not up to par with your talent. On second thought, maybe pushing a pencil hurts your back. On that note, please forgive me for prodding.
Hi Joe: Just using your blogspot as a ” guinea pig “. I changed my photo on Gravatar and want to see how it turned out. Blessings.
Thanks for he space. I think I did it right this time. Blessings.
OOPs ! I think maybe you have to do something to download my new picture. This one has been deleted from Gravatar.
WordPress will show whatever picture you have with Gravatar. All I do is click a box which will allow anyone’s picture on Gravatar to show. If you have a new pic and it isn’t showing then you must have uploaded an incorrect picture. The problem isn’t here on my site. Phew, that’s nice for a change.
Well Joe, somebody did something right because the picture I wanted is now showing above in every post. So, I’ll give you credit. After all , it’s your site. Have a Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas and a happy holiday too !