I didn't post on your other thread because I'm still upset about being verbally abused by a United agent in Chicago (after being shown extraordinary customer service by 100% of the Lufthansa employees we encountered on our journey). I was actually reduced to tears by the horrific and unreasonable "service" United gave me. Incompetence + bitter sarcasm = not a winning combination. However, I have received some very memorable customer service in the past several months: A few months ago, I managed to destroy the glazing on my Calphalon 8-qt oval enameled Dutch oven (chive green, in case you were curious). I braised something tomato-ey in it and filled the base with soapy water to soak, and inverted the lid in the base and filled it with soapy water. Problem is, the enamel is sprayed on (as opposed to "dipped") so the underside of the handle is uncoated, so by soaking it, water got underneath the handle and all the enamel chipped off the handle, rendering my beautiful pot significantly less so. I called Calphalon. Without hesitating, and at no cost to me, they sent me a postage paid label to ship the damaged pot to them, and sent me a beautiful new replacement at no cost to me and with a truly gracious attitude. I love Calphalon. Also, we had a knife set we bought from Cabela's a couple years ago (a little more than a year at the time I called them) and I managed to throw away or somehow lose the paring knife. I called Cabela's (from whom we buy a LOT of stuff throughout the course of the year), and they were able to establish when we bought the set by looking up a credit card transaction in one of their stores from the prior year. I had hoped to be able to buy a replacement knife from one of their returned sets. Instead, they mailed me a new paring knife at no cost, and thanked us for our business. Doing business with companies like these is an absolute pleasure.

I have a Delta Venetian Bronze kitchen faucet. It was installed (diy) in 2002. No problems whatsoever but we did have to call Delta before we installed the faucet due to concerns about the thickness of our granite. The Delta rep knew exactly what my concern was and knew what I needed. She shipped it right out at no charge and I think it was 2-day shipping. I wanted to use Delta for the bathroom remodel in 2007 but I found the exact look I was wanted with Jado. +1 for Delta (and Jado for that matter) :)

Thomasville is not what it used to be. Many manufacturers go through this during their lifetime. I come from a furniture family. Early in our marriage, I purchased a Tville maple split pedestal DR table, Windsor chairs and a china cabinet. It's in my parents lower level now. Could not be made better, but that was 26 years ago. Excellent customer service from store purchased (no longer in business). I helped my sister pick out a couple of Tvill pieces a few years ago for her new house. Tville store opened in our area, so purchased there. Customer service was okay. No problem with furniture. DD2 recently bought a new home and we went to Tville looking for new sofa/chair. Left empty handed. I wasn't impressed w/quality or customer service. Not saying everything was/is bad, just that what was in her price range was not what she was looking for in either looks or quality. imo, it's not the high quality furniture it used to be, and customer service is not either. Tville stores are owned by individuals, not the company, and you no longer have the backing of the manufacturer. When we my family had stores (up until 1980), you had the backing of both, imo. The manufacturers stood behind their products and store owners. I purchased a Henredon sofa from a local store not 2 years ago. One of our cats bled on the sofa recently (long story, he's okay. Sofa was not.) I called the store that afternoon. Closed. So I went down next morning to order enough fabric to cover 3 sofa cushion bottoms. After all, the sofa was not inexpensive and is well made so I intend to keep for 20+ years. (Last LR sofa was by Sherrill and I had it 20 years. Would have recovered, but the new house swallowed it.) I also want to be able to flip the cushions. The Henredon rep was in the store and told me I needed to order fabric within the next few days, that my fabric had been discontinued and they were selling all discontinued fabrics in 2 weeks. Once gone, it's gone. Sales lady called Henredon, who had 15 yards. I only needed 4yds. I placed order and she faxed to Henredon. They said I should have it in a week. That was Dec 10th. The 23rd, I am in the area so I stop by. She calls. Should be cut after the 25th and go out before the 1st. Jan, still no fabric. She calls again. They say we are cutting this week. Still not fabric, so I go by again. They take my address and said they will cut that afternoon and ship directly to me. Sales lady calls the next morning. But get this, Henredon gal tells sales lady "do you want to hear the truth about what happened?" Well, duh! They never pulled the fabric when the order was place on Dec 10th. They didn't even enter into their computer system until the 17th and the fabric had been pulled. Gone. Factory where fabric was made closed early 2009. So all that time they had been giving her the run around, simply because they did not want to say they had mucked it up! I called Henredon directly. Was told it was not their problem, that I had to take it up with local store. Even though it was their screw up! Local store manager said I could order any 4 yds of fabric and get it at cost. Well, that's not going to match my sofa so why would I do that?! I don't need any fabric for elsewhere. If I ordered enough fabric to do entire sofa, 18yds (the original fabric was $60yd), and had it recovered locally, it would cost me as much or more than a new sofa. So that doesn't make sense either. She did not offer to give me cost on 18yds. They did not offer me a new sofa at cost. So the local store lost a long time customer (over 20 years), Henredon lost a customer too and I have a sofa with cushions I can never flip over.

Good Karmal was one of Oprah's Favorite Things this year so I suspect it was part of the reason for the long processing times. All the packaging was fun and well done-- I was just SET on the design I'd selected. I thought I was going to crazy town considering I ordered almost $200 worth of caramel AND paid to have it expedited (regular shipping was free).. but I am really pleased with the caramels, the gifts and the customer service. Noting for those interested, they also do custom designs (inside and out) and corporate gifts.