the power of a tweet

'Dear @picknpay why are you no longer selling Hellmans mayonnaise? Tis a sad day for us #expats'

What followed was a series of tweets from others with suggestions of where I could purchase Hellmans Mayonnaise and even a tweeter contacting her local store to ask if they had any in.

And then this morning the phone rang.

It was head office in Cape Town to explain that the Hellmans Mayonnaise had not been available to order in since March due to an issue with labelling. Hellmans is imported into South Africa, lots of other global brands are manufactured under licence here. Coca Cola, Lays (aka Walkers in the UK) and due to it being a global brand it needs to comply with the food regulation agency and therefore needs to be labelled 'contains egg' and 'produced in a factory that handels nuts'

Now all very well and good, but......I need my Hellmans Mayonnaise, so I added it to Hubbies shopping list for next month.

Then this pm I get a call from the manager at the local branch who has gone above and beyond in her mission to fulfill my needs, including calling local branches to see if they have any left in stock, sent out staff to rival stores to see if she could obtain any for me and then said she'll check out her local shops during the week and rest assured she will call me as soon as it comes back into stock.

So I feel a little foolish now, all that effort for me? one lowly customer, but it's the difference between writing a blog post and tweeting how fab @picknpay are and shopping elsewhere.

In the past when I've tweeted them about raw meat, poor hygiene or lack of education on storing products, they have always responded in this manner, with an explanation and what they are going to do to rectify the issue.

This is not service I've ever had from a UK supermarket.