Default Case: A “Case” Of Good Customer Service

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A few of the iPhone case manufacturers could learn a thing or two from Default Case.

Just a few days ago I told you about Default Case. The new iPhone case company has decided rather than spend a ton of money on advertising they’d instead offer up their entire line of cases for both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G/3Gs for only a penny (plus a small shipping fee.)

I went ahead and ordered one. I mean at only a penny why not? My case arrived today and I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between it and a case I’d picked up at a street fair in NYC a few weeks ago. In the photo below the Default case is on the left.

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I was even more confused by the video on the Default web site where the company’s representatives told the story of how “they” had created the Default Case case for the iPhone 4 after recognizing the reception issue the newly released phone was experiencing.

I fired off a few tweets on Twitter voicing my concerns. Yes, I was a little skeptical.

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Don’t get me wrong, the Default Case I’d received was a nice case. Much better in quality than the version I’d gotten on the streets of NYC a few weeks ago. But I was confused. Who’d come up with the design of the case? Default Case was claiming they had yet I’d seen the same case all over NYC and at mall kiosks near my home town as well. To further complicate things I knew that Incase had developed a very similar looking case for the iPhone 3G/3Gs last year called the Snap Case.

When I returned home tonight there was a message waiting for me on my answering machine from the CEO of Default Case. He had called me directly in attempt to answer my concerns. He had no idea of my being an editor for Gear Diary or that I was a partnered YouTuber with a decent following. As far as he was concerned I was just a concerned customer and he wanted to help.

And that’s where everything changed. I’ve dealt customer service groups who were less than positive. You may be familiar with my run in with Rebel Scholar last year. Default Case is the polar opposite.

The CEO of Default Case had left his personal number which I dialed back. After introducing myself we chatted about the company. He went on to explain their story. Default Case is owned by a parent company. That company bought each of its employees an iPhone 4 at launch. They immediately started experiencing reception issues with many of them and decided a case would be the best fix. Unwilling to shell out a ridiculous amount of money for Apple Bumpers (this was before the free case program was announced) they set out to create their very own case.

The Default Case for the iPhone 4 did take form with some inspiration from the Incase Snap case but Default Case went about creating their own formula for the case and their own manufacturing process as well. Their goal was to make the perfect case without compromising quality. As with any good thing there are those who seek to copy it and according to Default Case the overseas manufacturing firm they were using recreated their case to sell to other parties.

The executives at Default Case seem to have learned from this possible mishap and their next design is being closely guarded. They are even exploring the idea of having the cases manufactured in the U.S. to avoid another copying issue.

What impressed me most was that the CEO, after seeing my tweets, had immediately reached out. Not only did he pick up the phone, on the Saturday night of a holiday weekend but seemed eager to do almost anything to makes things right for me. He answered all my questions and perhaps most importantly thanked me for my criticism. What a refreshing change from being threatened with a law suit over negative or skeptical feedback.

When Dan had an issue with IvySkin one of the frustrations that he encountered was the lack of a company representative’s personal name in any of their correspondence. By contrast here’s a company that had no clue who I was, no idea that I could publicly promote or criticize their products through both YouTube and Gear Diary and yet the CEO reached out to me by name and left his personal number. Not that I should feel at that special anyway. In the introductory video on the Default Case web site each many of the company representatives introduces themselves by name. That speaks volumes and everything I heard from him after that just backed it up.

The result? Before I’d even hung up the phone I’d ordered four more cases and Dan has already told me he’s ordered two more as well.

Here are the key points from our conversation that really struck me.

1. The cases cost a penny plus a small shipping fee.
2. The company ships at least in our experience within a day.
3. The cases are really decent.
4. This is a legitimate company that is actually really dedicated to making its customers happy.
5. They stand by their products with an unconditional guarantee.
6. When this 1 penny promotion ends their goal is to keep the cases prices well under market.
7. While he gave me no details the company’s next design is currently being developed.

So what are you waiting for? Head to the Default Case website and order yourself one or two, or ten now. I know Dan and I did.

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About the Author

Gear Diary Staff
Gear Diary was founded on September 30, 2006, with the goal to create a website that would not easily be labeled. Everyone who is part of Gear Diary is a professional who uses technology in their work and daily lives. On this site, we share our enthusiasm while exploring the gear we use — the equipment that makes our lives easier, more entertaining, more productive, and more manageable. Our hope is that Gear Diary visitors find this site to be a welcoming, friendly, and accessible place to learn about and discuss interesting topics — and not only those that are tech-related! Gear Diary is a place to discover and explore all kinds of new gear, including smartphones, computers, kitchen gadgets, Toys, EDC, camping gear, or even your next new car! You can follow us on Twitter @GearDiarySite.

9 Comments on "Default Case: A “Case” Of Good Customer Service"

  1. I know I am quite happy with the case I ordered right after you posted the other day and am looking forward to the cases (a bunch of them) that I ordered today.

    I am also really impressed they reached out to you directly. Between that and the good communication when I ordered my case I am quite impressed by this company. There are so many we have encountered that are lousy… This is… Refreshing.

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