Ever since you or your kids unwrapped gifts a few weeks ago, you've no doubt found yourself attempting to return a few of the less-loved presents. And whether that's been on the phone with a customer service representative, or in line at a store, we can't imagine it's been an ultimately pleasant experience.
For Kelly Blue Kinkel, returning one item brought her to tears — for a very different reason than you might expect.
On Facebook, Kinkel shared the following story:
"I sincerely hope this post goes viral, because I just hung up from one of the best customer service experiences of my life," she wrote, going on to explain that she'd ordered a winter coat from Zulily, a Seattle-based e-commerce site, and that she could tell the material would cause some problems with the coarse hair of her dogs.
After calling customer service to ask how to return the coat, she spoke with someone named Patrick, who not only offered to refund the money at once, but also suggested that she keep the coat instead of going to the trouble of sending it back.
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She recalls that he said something along the lines of, "Please don't send it back. If you know someone who needs a winter coat or if you would like to donate it to a charity, that would make us very happy."
Her response? Well, she's certainly a loyal customer now. But more than that, she was deeply touched by his words.
"What I didn't include on Facebook is that I was actually making so many other calls that day to different retailers, trying to get a lot of administrative 'to-do' items checked off ... and I was having so much trouble," she told TODAY.com in a phone interview. "This particular call was sandwiched between so many other less wonderful calls."
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"There was a pregnant pause after he said what he said," she remembered. "And then I really did get emotional. It was raw and real because I just felt like for a moment in time, we were going back to our true, humanitarian nature. We're here to spread love. And I think that's what he was trying to do. What else are we here for?"
We were curious, of course, to know where the coat ended up.
"It's going to the Samaritan Inn here in McKinney, Texas, along with several other items. My husband's going to help me throw it all together," she said. "We're really happy to be doing this, and thankful, too."