Review & Writing to Companies: Orajel

About a month ago, at the advice of our dentist, I bought some training toothpaste for my toddler, who doesn't quite get spitting out toothpaste. The Orajel Toddler Training Toothpaste was all I could think of to buy because it was the only brand of training toothpaste that I'd seen before so that's what I got at the store.  When I came home and opened it up, it instantly oozed out at me into a big huge, sticky mess.  Even my husband complained about how messy it was when he used it on the kiddo.  Every time I took the cap off, more of it oozed out into a puddle of mess than I would put on the toothbrush.  It was utterly wasteful. It was just a huge mess all over the place...on the cap, our counters, our hands, it was every where. It was a runny mess.  Needless to say, I was frustrated.  The product itself was fine, my kid loved it, but it was just such a pain to use that I wrote an email to Orajel complaining about the issue. In the email I explained how messy it was in a calm and kind fashion and asked that they please consider either reformulating the product or redesigning the tube so that it's not so messy to dispense.  Really, that was what I wanted and hoped for because the product itself was fine, just the dispensing method was awful.

To my surprise, I got a response the very next day from a Customer Relations Specialist.

Dear Mrs. ...:

Thank you for visiting our web site recently and taking the time to contact us regarding Orajel® Toddler Training Toothpaste. We are sorry to learn of your dissatisfaction with the product.

We appreciate your bringing this matter to our attention and are concerned that our product did not meet the usual standard of quality you have come to expect from us.  Your comments are important to us and provide valuable information that helps us maintain the high level of quality associated with our products.

As we guarantee your satisfaction with our products, we would like to send you a refund for your purchase.  Please respond using the link below to provide your full name and mailing address at your earliest convenience.

Again, thank you for taking the time and having the interest to contact us.  We value your patronage and trust you will continue to purchase Church & Dwight Co., Inc. products with confidence.  If you have any questions or concerns in the future, please call us at 1-800-952-5080.

While I know the email seems pretty canned, the message made me happy.  They offered me a full refund of the product, which is very nice.  I replied to the message accordingly as instructed.  Three business days later, I got another response from the same Customer Relations Specialist:

Dear Mrs. ...:

Thank you for visiting our web site recently and taking the time to contact us regarding Orajel® Toddler Training Toothpaste. We are sorry to learn of your dissatisfaction with the product.

We appreciate your bringing this matter to our attention and are concerned that our product did not meet the usual standard of quality you have come to expect from us.  Your comments are important to us and provide valuable information that helps us maintain the high level of quality associated with our products.

At Church & Dwight Co., Inc. we guarantee your satisfaction and under separate cover, via the United States Postal Service, have sent a refund check for the product you purchased.

Again, thank you for taking the time and having the interest to contact us.  We value your patronage and trust you will continue to purchase Church & Dwight Co., Inc. products with confidence.  If you have any questions or concerns in the future, please call us at 1-800-952-5080.


I am pleased.  Very pleased.  I'm quite happy with their response to my issue and offering me a full refund.  I do like Orajel's products and I sincerely hope that they will consider reformulating their product or redesigning their dispensers.  The lesson learned here is, don't be afraid to contact companies about their products. The worst that will happen is you get a canned response or no response at all.  (Or a potentially alarming response may change the way you feel about the company, but it really is better to know than not know.)  It never hurts to try and no matter how angry you may be at them, it never hurts to try to calm down, write a draft of your email first, read it, before sending it.  It's not the customer service rep's fault, and a little kindness just may sway them to go above and beyond to help you.