C. bought a Mr. Coffee espresso machine on clearance, but discovered that a few parts were missing. Specifically, the filter basket. Deciding that it was probably easier to buy a new filter basket than to deal with returning a small-scale Box of Crap, C. contacted Mr. Coffee. And Mr. Coffee provided.

I wanted to write in because I recently experienced one of those exceedingly rare occurrences — knock-your-socks-off excellent customer service.

I bought a Mr. Coffee pump espresso machine last weekend on clearance. My last machine was a steam espresso machine by Krups, and it died out after about a year. I was really excited to try it out and get back into an unhealthy caffeine habit. But when I took it home and tried to make a cup of coffee, I noticed that a key element to the machine, the filter cup, was missing.

The owner’s manual said there should actually be two, so now I’m thinking that’s why it’s on clearance. The store should never have sold it if it couldn’t work, but rather than take it back and argue with them, I emailed Mr. Coffee customer service explaining the situation and asking if I could buy replacement filter baskets through them. I received this email response first thing Monday morning:

Thank you for contacting Mr. Coffee, a brand of Jarden Consumer Solutions. We apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced with your ECMP50 and will be happy to help you.
I have placed an order for the filter cups that you will receive within 2-3 weeks.
You will receive an order confirmation, shortly as well as a shipping confirmation when our item leaves our warehouse.
Again, I apologize for any inconvenience. We appreciate your business and are happy to help if you have any further questions.

It wasn’t 2-3 weeks… the filter cups arrived on Friday, and the machine is easy to use and makes wonderful cappuccinos! I’ll definitely be a loyal customer of theirs in the future. They went above and beyond and I really appreciated it.

That sounds delicious! I mean, excellent. Totally excellent.

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