Australian Nappy Association’s Cloth Nappy Awards series – Customer Service

After being blown away by the support and love from the results of the Australian Nappy Association's Cloth Nappy Awards we've decided to do a blog series focussing on each of the award categories. This week we're looking at the single most important one to us... Customer Service! Advocacy is so important to us and we truly believe in "bums in cloth" whether it's our brand or someone else's we're always here to help.

So I set out to embarrass Vicki by getting all her lovely customers to share stories about their interactions with her and this was the result. If you don't know Vicki Simpson, she is the owner, creator and chief Nappy Nerd here at Bubblebubs. Vick has been advocating for and selling cloth nappies in Australia for over a decade.

Jenna Milburn "Two things stand out to me most. The first was when I bought some cloth wipes for her and they weren't like the ones I'd bought from her before, her supplier had changed things up. When I contacted her about it she went to Nest Nappies and got me wipes from a different brand and brought them over for me. I think this speaks volumes about her belief in happy customers and cloth advocacy. She would rather I have what I was after than have her product.

My second favourite Vicki moment is when I was at her house for a photo shoot with my son and she took a phone call and spent 20 minutes talking to a young vulnerable first time mum about advocating for her child. She started by talking cloth nappies and how to wash them but quickly realised what this mum needed was someone to help tell her how to talk to a doctor about her son's rash and to trust her mum instincts about her child. She sees everyone as people, not customers."

Melanie Thomson "I just think it’s wonderful that Vicki has created this community and safe space for mums. Sitting on my couch in the Blue Mountains I feel supported and cloth has been a great success, but only because I had access to Vicki’s how-to and troubleshooting videos and the encouragement from the other mummies to keep going on the tough days. All my friends said cloth would be too hard and that I would give up after a month, they’re all eating their words now and all because of Vicki!"

Melanie Mengel "The after-purchase service that Vicki offers is beyond what I have experienced anywhere else. After using my Candies full time for a year we had a snap come off and when I couldn't find anyone local to replace it for me told me the cheapest way to mail it back to her so that she could replace it free of charge."

Samantha Morris "Vicki doesn’t hold back from giving advice when someone is in need. Not only does she support Bubblebubs die-hards but will also troubleshoot with cloth mums who don’t use Bubblebubs. Mind you that she doesn’t try to use it as a self-promotion tool either. I was lucky enough to work a few hours on a Bubblebubs expo stand and Vicki said that the expo wasn’t about selling for her, it was more important to share knowledge of the MCN world with parents. It’s about getting bums into cloth (whether it be Bubblebubs or not).

Jenny Chapman "My favourite thing would have to be her honesty. Vicki would rather you have what you want than push her brand, that makes me want to buy from her. My case in point was a post I saw in a Facebook group. Someone had asked for a nappy that was slim fitting in the crotch. People upon people were saying Candies all the way, but Vicki disagreed, saying they weren't trim compared to other brands. Who wouldn't buy from her?!"

Felicity Keating "For me, it was when I first started cloth. I started with 4 nappies, then when I made my next order, my sister got in my ear (she’d tried cloth with her first babe and it hadn’t worked. The ones she was using came with the tiniest insert- it was like the booster, but microfibre, so of course they didn’t work). Anyway, after hearing all the bad things about cloth and “that after washing them it’s just as bad for the environment blah blah” I emailed Vicki. I got such a lovely response. It was non-judgemental and super “whatever you choose is right, just do what you feel”. Super empowering stuff. I've since built my stash and now feel anxious about using disposables!"

Jessica Nuich "Vicki is always happy to answer questions and has dealt with all my wants and needs, in pretty much every transaction we have had!! She deals with all my complaints (like stop making cute nappies) and makes me feel like a friend when we message and laugh at our lives!!"

To see what else took away an award in this year's competition click here