A KitchenAid Upgrade
My father is an attorney. He has a general civil practice here in Brooklyn, NY. He also has a history of clients who believe in trying to barter instead of paying legal fees. We’ve had the bagel man, the sports tickets man, the nut man, the painter, and more. I’m an attorney, too, but I don’t have the sort of practice where I get this sort of creativity from clients. (Yet.) Dad does.
One of my father’s clients owned a restaurant that was soon to go out of business. The client planned on auctioning off his various kitchen appliances and such. Dad figured we should go over there while the restaurant was still open, have dinner, and look around the kitchen to see if there was anything we wanted.
We wanted the chest freezer, the KitchenAid stand mixer (which was larger and more powerful than ours), and a ton of flatware and glassware. It turned out that the glassware was spoken for, the freezer was leased, and the KitchenAid was broken.
“Fine,” said I. “Give me the broken KitchenAid. I’ll fix it.”
Dad delivered it to our apartment a few days later. (Along with a massive bucket of flatware. Fantastic!)
Our new broken KitchenAid was an Epicurean, with a 6 quart capacity and a 475 watt motor. We looked it over when it arrived – broken whisk, no problem. That was about $20 to replace at Sur La Table. Plugged it in – it was a bit loud, but then, KitchenAids always are. Sounded like the motor was working just fine. What’s the big deal?
Ah, there’s the problem. The lever that raises and lowers the bowl is broken.
Wait, you mean we just got a perfectly good working KitchenAid Epicurean 475 watt 6 quart stand mixer, and all we have to do is replace the whisk and fix the lever? Okay!
We unscrewed the base of the mixer and looked inside. The problem appeared to be that the plastic lift lever (that which attaches the thing you turn with your hand to the thing that turns inside and actually moves the bowl) was broken. We googled around, and ordered a new one for about $8.
Problem was, we could not quite figure out how to open the machine up further and actually replace the plastic lift lever with the new one that was due to arrive in the mail.
So, I called up KitchenAid’s customer service number and asked them to talk me through replacing the lift lever. I told them our diagnosis and explained that all I needed was some advice on opening the thing up. The customer service representative asked for the model and serial numbers of the machine, and put me on hold while she went to see if she could find the information I was looking for.
“I’m sorry, the model you have has been discontinued,” she said when she returned. “We don’t have any new parts for that model.”
“That’s okay,” said I. “I already ordered the new part I need. I just need you to explain to me how to replace the broken one with it once it gets here.”
“But,” she continued, cheerily ignoring me, “I spoke to my supervisor for you, and she has authorized me to extend your warranty and give you a free replacement with one of our new 6 quart models.”
Now, I can be a bit dense sometimes, but even I know when to stop talking.
I said, “Thank you.”
“We’ll send you a new KitchenAid Professional 600 [575 watt] 6 quart stand mixer.”
I said again, “Thank you.”
She went on to explain that while the shade of grey I have no longer exists, she could offer me a choice of three other shades of grey. I picked the one that was in stock and would arrive soonest.
“Your new mixer should arrive in 7-10 days. All you have to do when it gets there is take the new model out of the box, then put your old machine into the box. You’ll have to write your customer ID number on the outside of the box. And then we’ll have UPS come back to pick up the box and send it back to us. Can I help you with anything else today?”
“No, thank you, you’ve already made me very happy.”
This conversation took place last Wednesday. The new KitchenAid arrived yesterday. 7-10 days must mean something very different (and much more delightful) in their world than it does in mine.
KitchenAid may not offer lifetime warranties on their products, but they sure do take good care of their customers.
First the granite countertop and now this? Wow! What a great story! You have some seriously good kitchen karma. (It must come from sharing all your creative dishes with the world.)
Karma…could I just come touch you or something in your kitchen that’s bringing all this wonder!!! Your kitchen is rapidly approaching total charmed life!!! That is really incredible!
You lucky duck. Yes, I just called you a duck. Now that you’ve got a new camera and a new kitchenaid, I expect you to be reinventing the wheel, get to it!
I am SO jealous. I have 3 high-end items on my list of things needed and another mixer is one of them. I will have to post my favorite bread recipe, not very artisian but it is quite simply the best bread recipe EVER and I make a double batch each week in my 6 quart mixer. YUM.
Rachel
Rock on! That is fabulous, fabulous customer service. Great news, and gives me some faith in KitchenAid.
Yeah, KitchenAid really is amazing with their customer service. We ordered a refurbished 5qt mixer, and the motor was having trouble, so we called to see what to do, and they replaced it with the Pro 6qt, which is seriously amazing. It does bread dough so much better than the smaller one.
Bravo! Welcome to the land of the stunning KitchenAid mixer. Funny, I just got that same one for Christmas and blogged about my first pasta-making experience here http://scrumptious.typepad.com/srbeack/2007/01/fresh_fettuccin.html
I LOVE this mixer. It’s so incredible. I made my biscotti this weekend, http://scrumptious.typepad.com/srbeack/2006/08/almond_anise_bi_1.html, and used the mixer for the first time after years of only making them by hand. The result was exquisite and the dough was so much easier to shape and form…the texture was even better too. Hooray for the KitchenAid Professional 600!
wow. i just have to ask–do chocolate-flavored puppies exist in your world? that’s amazing!! congrats–photo op on the new granite counter, hint, hint.
Wow! This is something that I would probably faint about. Congrats on this great thing!
that is such a great score! and you are so very smart, to know when to stop talking…i know i would have said, ‘oh, but i got it from someone else.’ and messed it all up!
That’s fantastic! Lucky you :)
Lisa, Kristen, Alwyn – I’m on a lucky streak lately, definitely.
Tanna – C’mon over, you can fondle the appliances and the cat.
Brilynn – Um. Okay. How about a duck riding a unicycle made of candy?
Rachel – Now I’m curious, what are the other items on your wishlist?
Gluten-Free – KitchenAid is really a wonderful company. And their machines are so sturdy! I had a KitchenAid (currently living at home with my parents) that is about 20 years old (at least) and still running beautifully. I had to solder it back together once, but it still runs just fine.
Kelli – That’s awesome.
Stephanie – I remember that post! It makes so, so very tempted to pick up the pasta roller attachment.
EH – Yes. Yes they do.
cindy – I am absolutely sure you’d know just when to stop talking, too. ^^
Damnnnnnnnnnnnnn. That is so awesome! It seriously raises the respect I have for KitchenAid to a new level. Hmm… I still have my parents’ KitchenAid (in that wonderful shade of avocado popular in the 70s) at their house- I wonder if I called them…. it’s been giving me problems since I was about 10 (which is when I started using it), with the motor smelling like burned oil if I used it for more than 2 minutes at a time. Hmmm. :) Great kitchen karma.
i thought as much. let me know when money starts falling from the sky ;P
Aaaww man! I’m so jealous! I’ll have to re-mortgage my home before I ever get one here in Kiwi land… sigh
Anything else? I always ask for a sports car. Always gets a chuckle, and an occasional good-natured offer of a pink one. Why pink?
When our Kaufmann’s (now Macy’s) remodeled, the whole old store was 50% off the first day. That’s how Dave’s mom has the huge Kitchenaid mixer she does. I bought three of them!
I have also had the same “KitchenAid customer service” experience with a refurbished KitchenAid mixer I bought from eBay. It was broken when it arrived and it wasn’t covered by the warranty, but they gave me another refurbished mixer in the mail to exchange!
Also, I just found your blog through Food Porn Watch, and before I even read this post, I knew you were an attorney. Your innovative (and cute) blog name gives it away! (It is almost like a blog name of “Collaterally Estopping Bad Food!”)
You lucky thing! Congratulations on your new kitchen aid! I am so jealous!!! :)
If you’d told me you’d won the lottery I wouldn’t have been more jealous–what a fun thing to have happen.
It must be nice to receive such great customer service for your mixer. I wish I could receive the same for the 3 major appliances I purchased. It seems that I must be getting the wrong customer service representative. The slide in range I ordered has been delivered to my home 4 times and counting with damage and all they can say is sorry, how about another ma’am. That and their delivery co. “Quality Whirlpool Express” seems to think the whole situation is a big joke at my expense, their staff laughing and making comments about my situation while I am on the phone with their supposed manager. If I hadn’t already installed the dishwasher I would return it, the range, and the micro-hood I ordered within the last 2 months and purchase another brand. I just hope that when, or should I say if I can get a range here without damage; I don’t have any problems with it once installed. I don’t think it will fit in one of their return envelopes, and their certainly not offering me anything for my trouble.
My first Kitchenaid mixer was a house warming gift and burned up in 30 days while making mashed potatoes, this was back in 1989. Called them, they said it was overused….it wasn’t, they wouldn’t repair unless we paid, it went to the trash. Next we bought one of their fancy fridges, almost twice the prices on other brands, but soooo pretty. Lasted one day past the year warranty and the compressor went out……called them, too bad, you have to pay for the repair…..over $1000….another KA product for the trash guy. There will never be anymore KA in this house. My old Cuisinart processor that really has been abused was repaired by them at no charge when it was already 7 years old…….now that company always gets my business.