10-30-08

Zox:
Zox rocked my day with not only a keychain, but a button and a bumper sticker as well. This marks keychain number 10. Out of 70 queries that's not a bad success rate I would say.
Thanks Zox!

Audi

Audi:
"Hamilton, thank you for contacting Audi of America. We appreciate your interest in Audi. At this time there are no plans to produce an RSQ.This vehicle was developed for the film "I, Robot" and was never even a concept model, as seen in the film.We regret that we will not be able to assist you regarding the requestfor a keychain. We do not have any keychain at this location.If you wish, you may order the keychain on-line through our Audi Accessories and Collection or by contacting them directly at(888)456-2834 during business hours.
Evelyn
AudiTalk"

A New Keychain!

haggar:
From a query I sent off waaaay back on 9/9 comes a keychain from haggar, the manufacturer of my wallet. It's quite a nice keychain, heavy quality metal, and they included a nice personal letter as well.
Thanks haggar!

Zox Rox and I'm Not Dead

Not dead, just busy with a real job now.

Zox:
"Hamilton,
Thanks for writing! I apologize for the delayed response, but we’re on a lengthy hiatus from touring and I haven’t been checking my band email account very frequently. I remember our York shows very fondly (along with our evenings trying to find something to do in town after the shows), and it’s nice to know that you’ve been keeping an eye on us too. And I do remember sending you the soundbite for your project — hope your prof was impressed :)
We’re spread out all over the place at the moment, but we’ll get a keychain in the mail to you as soon as we can — good luck pursuing the record, and rock on....
Eli Miller
Zoxband.com"

Asics

With me persuing this project less actively, there won't be things to update every day anymore. I did have a nice surprise for me today though:

Asics:

Thanks Asics!

I'm Back

Between going to an out of state wedding over the weekend and starting a brand new job on Monday, I haven't paid much attention to this project lately. I haven't sent out an new queries and I haven't heard back from any of the old ones. I still plan to keep this project going though, at least until I reach 100 queries. It just might have to be more of a weekend thing from now on.

The Third Week of Results

3M/Post-it:
"Dear Hamilton,Thank you for contacting us with positive feedback about our 3M products!Your input is very important to us.It is extremely rewarding to know our products served you well. We look forward to continuing a successful relationship with you.We will forward your request on to the appropriate marketing personnel for their consideration.Again, thank you for your support.
Sincerely,Beth
3M Office Supplies Division
1-800-395-1223
http://www.post-it.com/
3M Workspace Solutions
1-800-332-7483www.3m.com/myworkspace"

BMW:
"Dear Mr. Whitney:
Thank you for contacting BMW of North America, LLC regarding a BMW keychain. We appreciate your enthusiasm for our vehicles.Unfortunately, we do not have keychains which we can send from this office. I suggest contacting your local BMW center with your inquiry. A complete list of authorized BMW centers can be found at http://www.bmwusa.com/.If you have any further questions, please respond to this e-mail or contact the Customer Relations and Services Department at 1-800-831-1117, Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time. Again, thank you for contacting BMW.
Sincerely,
Laurie Burkland
Customer Relations and ServicesRepresentative"

Day 20 of Results

The Orioles:

No keychain from the Orioles, but I did get a "fan pack" which included a couple of oversized baseball cards, a postcard, two copies of this year's schedule, two brochures, and a sheet of stickers. Thanks Orioles!

Day 19 of Results

Monster:

Monster Energy sent me a huge sheet of stickers. So that's what they meant by "graphics." Thanks Monster!

In other news, I was finally offered a job today. Woohoo!

Day 18 of Results

Today brought two more goodies in the mail for me, and, like always, I have rushed to get pictures for all my readers to see. On a side note, do I have any readers? Give me a shout out if you're there!

Ravensburger:


Ravensburger sent me this cool keychain which is the corner logo which appears on all of their boxes. Neat! Thank you Ravensburger!

Royal Caribbean:

Thank you Andy from Royal Caribbean!

Days 14-17 of Results

Well, I'm back.  Since it was the weekend and I didn't write any queries on Thursday or Friday I was not surprised to have no more email responses.  That doesn't mean I don't have some great results to share though!

Mozilla/Firefox:

The Firefox team at Mozilla sent me this super cool Firefox lanyard.  I'm not sure whether lanyards should be counted as keychains or not, but for now it will count.  Thanks to the Firefox team!

Lego:

Lego sent me this spiffy lime-green lego brick keychain.  It even came with it's own invoice for zero dollars.  Thanks Lego!

Day 13 of Results - A Phone Call and Vacation

I had a phone call this morning from

Royal Caribbean:

I wish I could remember the name of they guy who contacted me, he was very friendly and actually seemed genuinely interested in my collection, asking a bunch of questions about it. He said he would pass along my compliments to the crew of the Explorer. He also said that he had looked all over the office for a keychain with no success, but that he had found a keychain that he himself had picked up on a cruise and was going to send it to me. RC is really a great cruise line and I would reccomend it to anyone looking to book a cruise.

I also got an email response from

Hasbro:

"Thank you for contacting Hasbro, Inc. We appreciate your interest in our company.
We license the Hasbro name, and the names of many of our brands to other companies who specialize in particular types of products.
Our key chains are actually manufactured, distributed and supported by the following company. Please contact them directly for further information:
BASIC FUN, INC.
P.O. Box 847
Huntingdon, PA 19006
http://www.basicfun.com
Thank you for your understanding."

I actually do have BasicFun on my list of future contacts - they make some of the coolest keychains around.

Ravensburger:
"Hello Hamilton,
Thank you for your interest in Ravensburger and your very kind words.
You are in luck - we do have a keychain and will be sending it out to you. Good luck in your world record goal.
Regards,
Consumer Relations"

Also, I will be away until Monday. I will update email responses when I can, but anything new that comes in the mail will have to wait until then to be revealed.

Day 12 of Results

The Orioles:

"Dear Hamilton-Thank you for your e-mail.  We are glad that you've been such an Orioles fan, but unfortunately we do not have any keychains here that we could send you.  I would be happy to send you a fan pack if you like, but if you are looking for specific merchandise, your best bet may be online at www.orioles.com, and click on "Shop".  There, we have much more in terms of collectibles.Hope to see you at the Yard!Sincerely,Kevin Buck

Manager, Market Research

Baltimore Orioles"

Day 11 of Results

Another unexpected surprise in the mail today, this time from Dole.  It seems that they do not have any keychains to give away, but they did send me a bunch of brochures, including recipe books, 2 sheets of stickers, and a pretty darn cute "Bobby Banana" stuffed animal fruit.

Dole:

Thanks Dole!

Gillette/Proctor and Gamble:

"Thanks for taking the time to share such kind words!  Your reaction is just what we hoped for -- I can't wait to share your comments with the rest of our team.
We do not currently have a natural line of shave cream. If you would like to suggest that idea you can do so at www.pg.com in the innovations area.
I apologize but I do not have any key chains available to send upon request. Good Luck with the collection

Thanks again for writing!
P&G Team"

Day 10

Last Sunday was uneventful, which was to be expected given that there is no mail delivered and nobody working to answer my email queries.  Today though I had this comment on the blog:

"Try contacting for free sample. We have key chain flashlights we make ourselves in China. Our own patent. We also offer many other promotional items.
Drop by...send us a message."

I debated whether or not accepting the offer would go along with my experiment or not.  Finally I decided to contact them and see what happens from there.  I am, in the least, curious as to how they came upon the site.

I have also added a "Rejection" count.  I am counting rejections as replies that have been a definite "no" to my request for a keychain, for whatever reason, and did not kindly send me something else like Kingwin did.

Day 9: Some Pens

Kingwin:

In lieu of having any keychains to share, Kingwin was kind enough to send me a couple of cool clicky pens today.

Day 8 of Results

Bawls:

Bawls surprised me today with a keychain and a sheet of awesome stickers.  That marks the first place to send me something without first emailing me.  I wonder how many other surprises are on their way!

Thank you to Bawls!

Well, this Playstation representative certainly did not pay any attention to my very clearly stated fact that I do not own a Playstation.

Playstation:

"Hello Hamilton,
Thank you for writing us.
If you are interested in receiving items similar to one(s) referenced in your email, we would
recommend checking out the PlayStation(R) Underground(TM).  Membership is free, and it entitles you to cool, free stuff.  Some of the things that we have mailed to PlayStation Underground members in the past are:  mailers, coupons, game hints and codes, and even free demos.  Please remember, all of these "free goods" and demos are sent out randomly according to applicable promotions, and are all subject to availability.  Generally, you will receive mailers and other promotional items depending on the game genre preferences you selected during the registration process.  We also encourage you to fill out the registration insert cards that are included in all of our first party Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) published titles. By filling out these cards completely and accurately, you enhance your chances of receiving applicable promo items (depending on game genre you purchased).  You are encouraged to send as many cards as you wish, so we can constantly update your gaming profile preferences.  If you are under the age of 13, we recommend you ask for your parents' permission first.
You can become a member of the PlayStation Underground by choosing one of the following methods.
1) Click on the link below and sign up directly at PlayStation.com.
https://secureus.playstation.com/registration/default.aspx
2) Send in the registration card packaged with the console.
3) Send in the registration card packaged with any Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA)
published game (1st party title only).
If you have further questions regarding this message and are replying back via email, please refer
to your email case number:6242516.
Yolanda
Multimedia Representative
Sony Computer Entertainment America
Consumer Services Department"

UPS:

"Dear Hamilton,
Thank you for your interest in UPS. I have forwarded your information to the local package center for further assistance. You can expect a call by the end of the business day today, 09/05/08.
Please contact us if you need any additional assistance.
Ronnie Gamboa
UPS Customer Service"

I wonder if they will actually call me and what I will say if they do...

A Week In

My experiment is a week old now and so far I have had mostly positive responses. The majority of responses have been very appreciative of my feedback but did not have any keychains available. Some of those have offered a "pen" and "Monster graphics" instead, both of which I accepted. I have recieved two keychains so far and have another one two coming. The rest of the responses are similar to the Postal Service letter below, kindly pointing me in the direction where I can purchase a keychain from them. I suppose that is good business sense and decent customer service, but not what I was looking for.

USPS:
"Dear HAMILTON WHITNEY,
Thank you for contacting us about a USPS key chain.The key chains we have are ones that are issued for the stamp releases and can be purchased online from the Postal Store, I have included a link to the section that has those. It is:http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?beginIndex=0&langId=-1&searchTermScope=4&storeId=10001&searchTerm=key+chains&catalogId=10152&pageSize=10000&sType=AdvancedSearch&resultType=2
If I can be of assistance to you in the future, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thank you for choosing the United States Postal Service®.
Regards,
John At"

Sandisk:
"Hamilton,
Thank you for the kind words - we take great pride in the quality of our products and are happy to hear that they are living up to standards. I have directed your keychain inquiry to a colleague and hope to hear back soon.
Thanks,
SanDisk PR"

Lego:

"Dear Hamilton
Thank you for your interest in LEGO® brand toys.  We are always delighted to hear from a loyal LEGO enthusiast.
As an avid LEGO builder who has taken the time to contact us, you have confirmed the fact that we, as a Company, are succeeding in providing a high-quality product that you value and enjoy.
Once again, thank you for your letter and your positive comments. We wish your family many creative hours of building fun with LEGO brand construction toys.
Jennifer
LEGO Direct Consumer Services
P.S. We've shipped a complimentary LEGO keychain seperately to add to your collection. We hope you enjoy it!"

I just find it amusing that Lego has shipped my keychain "seperately."  Last I checked, it wasn't possible to attach tangible objects via email.  Though that would certainly be convenient!

Day Six of Results and my first Keychains!

Wow, that was fast! From the email yesterday to the package with the return address of simply "Think Geek" today. I present to you the first fruits of my "labor."

Just when I thought that was the end of the news for the day, DHL comes and delivers yet another sweet keychain, this time from Logitech. It lights up!

A big thankyou to both ThinkGeek and Logitech!

Monster Energy:

"Hamilton:
Thanks for visiting the Monster website.
I'm sorry but Monster Energy does not have any keychains available. If you like we can hook you up with some Monster Energy graphics. Holla back if you are interested and we'll send them right out.
Later,Monster Maven"

I'm not sure what "Monster Energy graphics" are, but I guess I will find out! I love surprises, especially free ones.

Hershey's:

"Thank you for contacting The Hershey Company.The Hershey Company will occasionally license product trademarks to various companies to produce products for us. These can include various cookbooks, stationery or novelty items; such as key chains. These items may be sold at any store throughout the United States. Unfortunately we do not have a system in place to locate where these items are currently being sold.You may wish to check our Hershey's On-line Gift Catalog: http://www.hersheygifts.com/ or call, 1-800-454-7737 to see if there are any novelty items that would fill your needs.We appreciate your loyalty as a consumer.

Jean Saldutti

Consumer Representative"

Coke:

"Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company, Mr. Whitney. We appreciate your loyalty to our brands and your interest in items bearing our trademark.The Coca-Cola Company does not manufacture collectible items, nor do we warehouse them here at our headquarters. We have contracts with individual manufacturers to produce items bearing our famous trademark.A great source of information is the Coca-Cola Collectors Club. This organization's members are devoted to collecting memorabilia associated with our Company. Its publications and activities are very informative for collectors of all levels. Information on the Coca-Cola Collectors Club and its representatives can be accessed at: http://www.cocacolaclub.org/You may also wish to visit our online store at http://www.coca-colastore.com/.We hope this information is helpful. Should you have additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact us again.
Cameron
Industry and Consumer Affairs
The Coca-Cola Company"

Day Five of Results

Now that the holiday weekend is over, my inbox filled up a bit with responses, including one promising a keychain right away. It has been interesting to see how these various companies deal with atypical customer inquiries. ThinkGeek had a very nice personal message while it doesn't even look like "Jasmine" from Hot Topic bothered to read what I wrote and didn't even get my name right.

ThinkGeek:
"Hey Hamilton,Wow, you're right up the beltway from our HQ - yay beltway traffic. blech. Anywho, we were gifted by one of our Japanese vendors with some really cool laser cut keychains. Gonna send you one as soon as I can write your address on an envelope. Should only take a day or two to reach you.
Cheers,
Chris M.
Merchant Monkey
ThinkGeek.com"

Sterilite:
"Dear Hamilton,Thank you for contacting Sterilite. We appreciate your kind words. It is a pleasure to know that our strong commitment to quality products is apparent to our consumers and when this happens, we succeed. I will share your comments with our crew.I'm sorry, we do not have Sterilite keychains to offer you. I wish you luck with your goal.
Sincerely,
Sue Patton
Consumer Support Rep.
Customer Service Dept.
Sterilite Corporation"

York Barbell:
"we dont have any keychains just t shirts ."

Burt's Bees:
"Dear Hamilton:Thank you for your interest in Burt's Bees and for sharing your love ofour products! Hearing positive feedback from our consumers makes ourcommitment to producing natural personal care products that much morerewarding.Burt's Bees remains committed to being 'seriously natural' and to you,our consumer. We will continue to provide you with safe and effectiveearth-friendly natural personal care products.Thank you for your continued loyalty to our products. Please be sure tovisit our website at http://www.burtsbees.com/ and click on 'The Hive' option tosign up for our email newsletter.
Best Regards,
Tiffany K.Consumer Care
Burt's Bees Inc."

VW:
"Dear Hamilton,Thank you for contacting the Volkswagen Web site. We appreciate yourinterest in genuine Volkswagen accessories!Key chains are available for purchase through VW Designs, which can bereached by calling at 800-476-2975 or visiting http://vwdesigns.vw.com/.VW Designs processes all inquiries regarding Volkswagen merchandise andaccessories for U.S. residents. You may also contact your localVolkswagen dealership as well.
Thanks again for stopping by!
Bob
Volktalk"

Nintendo:
Hello,
Since non-video game products are produced or sold by Nintendo, I'm afraid we don't have any keychains available to send to our fans. However, we may have some information on our website (http://www.nintendo.com/) to help you find what you are looking for.
Go to the "Support" area of our site, enter the "Where to Buy" section, and then link to "Licensed Merchandise." Below, I've included a direct address to this page on our site:
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/retail/licensee_merchandisers.jsp
As noted on this page, most of the companies listed don't sell directly to the public. However, they should be able to help you find a store in your area that carries their products.
Sincerely,
Chelsea MacAran
Nintendo of America Inc.

Hot Topic:
"Hi Whitney,We are happy to hear how pleased you are with Hot Topic! Please feel free to email us with any additional comments or suggestions you may have in thefuture! We'd love to hear from you again. Hot Topic takes our customers suggestions and concerns very seriously. If you would like to share your positive experience with other customers, please click on this link:https://eval.bizrate.com/popchoice.pl?id=25034.Please let us know if there is anything else that we can assist you with.Thank you and have a great day!
Jasmine
Hot Topic Customer Service"

Day Four of Results

Today marked the first response I got from a complaint rather than a compliment. Whatever poor person was working at LG on Labor Day evidently didn't care about my keychain inquiry and sent back a form letter regarding my "off and on buggy phone."

I've sent off a few more queries this weekend and compiled a list of about 80 more prospective places to write so I've got plenty of steam to keep this project up for a while. I'm not sure when I plan to stop this. I would like to reach at least 100 on the query count, but if I get good results I may continue until I have exhausted my ideas or become tired with the project. Only time will tell.

LG:
"-----------Reply to Customer Inquiry------------Dear Customer, Thank you for inquiring of LG Electronics. You do have the option to send the phone/battery into us through the mail to have it repaired/replaced, if you have had the phone/battery for less that one year it can be repaired/replaced under the warranty at no cost, if for whatever reason the damage to the phone/battery is not covered under warranty you will be notified of what the repair cost will be, you will either has the option to make the payment to have the phone/battery repaired or if the repair cost is more than you are willing to spend, you can have the phone/battery sent back to you as is. If you are interested in sending the phone/battery in please contact our customer service department at the number listed below. We are here 24hrs. If you have other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us again either via email, or by calling our customer service division at 800-793-8896 at your convenience. David G E-mail Administrator Customer Interactive Center"

Day Three Results and some additional thoughts

I've finished sending to all the companies in my web bookmarks and have proceeded to go around the bedroom, picking out every brand I find represented and emailing them. I would like to mention that I am always completely honest in these emails and am not making up some mumbo jumbo about being on my death bed or anything. I am emailing companies that I have used or like, telling them what I like, or even don't like, about their products and asking for a contribution to my collection. Simple as that. Some of the responses are very appreciative of the feedback I have given them and it is actually fun to let those whose products and services I appreciate know that. So far it's paid off with two keychains coming soon. Once I start receiving items, pictures will be posted for all. Stay tuned!

Newegg:
"Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting Newegg.
Thank you for the kind words they are certainly appreciated. However, we are It was truly a pleasure serving you and we hope for the opportunity to do business with you again in the near future.
I have forwarded your thoughts to upper management to review. They will share your input with the appropriate parties who will in turn take any action required to remedy the issue, if they deem it necessary.
Any positive Newegg shopping experiences you share at these sites would be greatly appreciated.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please visit our FAQs page. If you still need assistance, please feel free to email me directly and I will be happy to assist you.
Thank you,
Ethan Meng"

Del Sol:
"Thanks for the e-mail! Great goal! We’ll send you out a key chain. We love to help people live their dreams. "

Ikea:
"Hello Hamilton,Thank you for taking the time to contact us.At IKEA, we always strive to please our customers, with our productsand our service. We appreciate that you have taken the time to letus know how we are doing, and we are glad to hear that you have had apleasant experience.Unfortunately we do not have an IKEA keychain in our contact centerto send to you and we apologise.Once again, we thank you for sharing your feedback with us.Best Regards,Christian KwameIKEA Customer Care Center"

Kingwin:
"Hi Hamilton,
Thank you for your email, and support. I am sorry that we can not contribute to your collect because we don’t have any Kingwin keychain. We only have pens, if you like I will mail you one. Have a nice holiday!
Veda"

Second Day of Results

PNC:
"Dear Hamilton Whitney, Thank you for your message. We are glad to hear of the service you have been provided. As for the second part, we do apologize but we do ask that you please contact any local PNC Bank branch for further assistance. If you do not have this information, please visit the link below: https://www.pnc.com/MapQuest/mqlocator/MapQuestSearchInit
Please feel free to E-mail us back with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for contacting PNC Bank.
Sincerely,Christian Harris"

Logitech:
"Whitney,Thank you very much for this feedback. We really appreciate it. I don't know if we have any keychains, but if we do, one will come your way.Nancy"

"Hi Hamilton,Thank you very much for your note. I am sending you a keychain that we had made for our 25th anniversary. Good luck with achieving the world record!All the best,Kate"

Photobucket:
"Dear proudtobeageek@gmail.com,Thank you for your kind words. I have forwarded your request on to ourBusiness/Marketing Department.Sincerely,Your Photobucket Support Team"

First Day of Results

I've started out by sending queries to websites that I have bookmarked and frequently visit. These are probably not the most promising sources given their nature, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

BoingBoing.com
"Hey, Hamilton! Sorry, we don't do keychains, but glad to hear you like the blog!"

Digg.com
"Hi Hamilton,
Unfortunately, there are no Digg-branded keychains, but we appreciate the feedback. Thanks for using Digg!
Best,
- Digg Support Team"

Superherohype.com
"Hi Hamilton,
Unfortunately we don't have any keychains.
Sincerely,
Mirko Parlevliet"

Slashfilm.com
"Hamilton,
Thanks for the kind words. Its great to hear that someone is enjoying the site, we put so much work into it. Right now we don't have keychains or any other mechandise, we're waiting on a logo redesign before we launch anything.
Thanks again!
Peter Sciretta
Editor-in-chief/Journalist
/Film - Blogging the Reel World"

Neatorama.com:
"Thanks Hamilton! I'd give you a Neatorama keychain if I have one, but I don't - maybe it's something to make sometime in the future :)
Good luck with the collection!
Cheers,
Alex Santoso"

The Idea

I've always liked a good freebie. I'm also an enthusiastic keychain collector with somewhere close to 800 different keychains now. Inspired by The $39 Experiment I have decided to launch my own project writing to various companies and brands that I have used, explaining my collection and asking if they would be so kind as to contribute towards it. Many companies have promotional keychains and I am hoping they will send me one! So exciting. Perhaps nothing will come of this, but perhaps it will. Either way, the results of my inquiries will be posted here for all to see. Let's get this party started!