Major kudos to Mr. Coffee (wine, russian, Italian, stainless steel)

[Irkle Berserkle]

I had a fairly new Mr. Coffee 12-cup programmable touch-screen coffee maker. A clip that holds the spring-loaded drip valve disappeared before I realized it. I tried various repairs, but none really worked. I was prepared to buy a new filter basket since I assumed I couldn't just buy the drip valve. Alas, I couldn't find a basket or valve online. I wrote to Mr. Coffee, hoping they could steer me to a supplier.

They responded in an hour, apologizing for taking so long. I explained that I hadn't saved the receipt but had bought the machine at Walmart about 8 months earlier. They asked me for the numbers on the electrical prong and assured me the machine was still under warranty. The machine and part were no longer available, they said, but they would happily send me a much more expensive replacement machine made of stainless steel if that would be OK with me.

Well, yes, I said, that would certainly be OK - but it seemed like a pretty drastic solution for a broken 3-cent plastic clip. Don't worry about it, they said - and they would pay the return postage on the defective (?) machine as well. So they sent me a prepaid FedEx label, and now I am awaiting the new machine.

The entire process took place in one afternoon. Every email I received was from the same person - in the United States, no less. I was practically in shock. My wife, who is Russian, kept saying "Only in America, only in America. In Russia they would just tell how stupid you are for breaking the machine."

Before writing to Mr. Coffee, I had purchased from Amazon a $175 dollar Oxo coffee maker that was highly reviewed and recommended. After completing my research on coffee makers, I felt as though I were comparing Italian sports cars and that the wrong choice would pretty much ruin the rest of my life.

The Oxo is a great machine. But the coffee is absolutely no different from that produced by the Mr. Coffee or the previous Mr. Coffees I've owned. It's still the same water dripping through the same filter and the same coffee. Neither my wife nor I can taste any difference whatsoever.

I'm convinced that coffee snobs are like wine snobs and all variety of oh-so-sophisticated snobs: basically insane.

Anyway, kudos to Mr. Coffee for a level of customer service that I had believed no longer existed.

[Taz22]

Thanks for a great story! In a world of bad, indifferent and just plain rude service, it’s nice to read about a company with a good service ethic, it’s rare.

I’d thought about getting a Mr. Coffee last time, but went with a Bunn. You’re right that one coffee maker is similar to the next. After years of various coffee makers, they all taste similar. The beans you use make more of a difference.

Your wife’s story was funny, spaciba for the laugh.

[hertfordshire]

I had something similar happen with Keurig. It's been a few years, so I've forgotten what the actual problem was, but it was a seemingly minor piece that was apparently critical to the machine's ability to make coffee. I called Keurig, and they had me troubleshoot a couple of things, then told me they would send a new one, no questions asked.

Good customer service still exists; we just don't hear about it very often. People are far more likely to share bad experiences than good ones.