I have been a loyal customer of Lodge cast iron for over three years. I own most of their product line, and have repeatedly endorsed their product on my cast iron cooking blog.
Many people post to the Lodge facebook page, with questions about their product; Since I use Lodge cast iron on a daily basis, I am very knowledgeable, and can answer many of the questions.
One lady posted that she tried to use the Lodge double burner griddle on her induction stove, and it would not work, because there was not enough contact between the element and the pan, to turn on the burner.
She stated that she called the Lodge customer service department, who suggested that she "try heating it up very slowly, so it will heat evenly."
Well obviously, that suggestion did not work, because the burner would not turn on in the first place, let alone heat evenly.
So I explained that they gave her the correct answer, to the wrong question.
The stated solution was for using the double burner griddle on ELECTRIC stoves, not induction stoves; The employee had misunderstood her question.
Now, as you can see, that was a FACTUAL statement. It was not in any way slanderous, nor derogatory in nature.
However, the company was offended by that comment, and as a result, permanently banned me from ever posting again.
What was most troubling, was that they didn't bother to tell me. I figured it out three weeks later, when I found that all of my comments had been deleted, and I was no longer able to post.
So I emailed Lodge, to be told "Yes, you have been banned. Our communications committee decided to ban you after a negative comment about our customer service department."
No apology whatsoever.
They could have deleted the comment, if they didn't like it. Or at the very least, contacted me.
Does this heinously unprofessional and disrespectful behavior toward a fiercely loyal customer, mean that I will boycott Lodge products?
Not that it would mean anything to them if I did, obviously.
I still have to admit, it is the highest quality cast iron cookware you can buy.
But, I can always buy it from a third party ebay seller. That way, the company no longer benefits from my purchases.
I realize that the hundreds of dollars I've spent on their product is just a drop in the bucket to them.
But if this is how they treat someone who they know has been a loyal customer for years, imagine how they regard someone who has never bought their product!