I’m vegetarian.

Every time I move to a new city I need to discover new veggie products, like tofu, tempeh and so on.

In New Zealand, I found a great brand. It’s called Tonzu . I buy Tonzu products every week, they are good and healthy.

The other night, Giulia and I decided to eat organic tempeh with vegetables, and we found a surprise.

There was a small golden-color plastic filament coming out of my tempeh. Nothing dangerous, but still something you don’t expect to find in your plate.

Since I care about companies doing great stuff, I decided to write them, telling what I found and attaching a photo showing what I was talking about.

After one day, Tonzu General Manager Jesse Chalmers answered me back.

This is her email:

Hi Alessio,

Thank you for your email and photo, this is very helpful information.

This appears to me be goldilocks. I am very sorry this made it through to you!

I have just done some further investigation and it appears there was a hole in the old filter bag. This has long since been replaced and the problem is sorted but obviously some goldilocks or wire wool got through after cleaning.

I have put processes in place to make sure this cannot happen again.

Basically our filter bags are checked for holes every time they are used but obviously not thoroughly enough!

Please accept my sincere apologies. I’d like to offer to compensate you to the cost of $20 as we are unable to send you any new product. Is this something that would suit you? If so please provide us with a postal address for a cheque or a bank account for a direct debit.

Again, please accept my sincere apologies.

I mean, things can go wrong, but what I loved is that Jesse put her name and face to answer me and to explain what happened. She was there for me, caring about her customers and caring about Tonzu as a brand.

I accepted the $20, not for the money itself, but because I’m going to use those $20 to buy Tonzu products.

Three things to learn here:

When companies care, the customer is always happy. I’ll be their customers forever, because I can trust them.

Companies need to believe what they are doing and they need to put a face behind. It’s so much better when you can talk with someone like Jesse rather than a general customer service.

Companies need to invest in customer care. There is no excuse, and it doesn’t matter if you are a worldwide company with 157 offices. It’s your problem, and if you want to get bigger, you need to start from customer service. Customer care , as the name itself, is all about “care”. This is a delicate word that too often brands forget (while they never forget about making more money).