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    Wednesday, June 11, 2008

    Things Are Prettier in Cobalt Blue

    So, for Mother's Day 2007, my dear sweet husband got me my dream appliance, that which I have drooled over and dreamt of in home stores for years and years - the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. White, 4.5 quart, 275 watts of power, shiny mixing bowl and attachments. I was ecstatic. I baked, I cooked, I mixed and blended to my heart's content. I gained MANY pounds making cake mix cookies, pies and cakes.

    As the months went by, I would, on occasion, notice that the lower speed settings would not "catch" right away, and the motor sounded louder than I thought it should. I was certain, however, that I just wasn't used to such a powerful motor which is why it seemed loud, and that I just wasn't getting the speed selector quite right in its groove. No worries. Mix on.

    When spring rolled around, the speed selector issue had grown steadily worse, and by end of April or so, the lower speeds seemed to have stopped working nearly entirely.

    Certain I had read that KitchenAid had a good warranty, I began looking around for the receipt and book with the serial number, etc.

    Hmm.

    They seemed to have grown legs, been moved, or just plain disappeared. By the time I emailed Kitchen Aid, it was past Mother's Day 2008, and I had seen on my box that the warranty was one year.

    Hmm again.

    As I said, I emailed them.

    I received a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer (KSM75WH) for Mother's Day last year (2007). In the last few months, the lower gears have started cutting out, but I thought maybe I just wasn't getting them exactly in the "groove" of each setting notch. Recently it got much worse - the lowest two to four speed settings do not work at all most of the time. There seems to be a short of some type in the switch. I am uncertain of the exact date of purchase, as it was a gift and I do not have the receipt available at this time. This problem started a few weeks ago, probably right around the last week of April 2008.

    My hope is that I am incorrect in assuming that, since I am just now contacting you, the warranty is expired and I am just out a $200 mixer. I did not purchase a separate service plan; as I said it was a gift. I can only imagine what it would cost to fix it, probably close to what was paid for it. I am, frankly, very disheartened at the length of time this mixer worked without problems. The Sunbeam I had before my Kitchen-Aid still worked fine after 7 years when I got this one, which was supposed to be SO much better than the Sunbeam. Except my Kitchen-aid doesn't work now after only a year. It has never been dropped, abused or misused while I have owned it. It just stopped working properly.

    I am hoping you can offer me some sort of really, really great customer service, suggest how we can resolve this, and tell me that not all of your mixers die off about the time the 1-year warranty expires. I expected this mixer to last me for years and years, and it's already pretty much unusable. Please advise soonest? Thank you so much for your time!

    I received a response the next day.

    Cathy,

    Unfortunately I am not finding a file for you with this mixer, please contact our customer service department at Kitchen Aid at 1.800.422.1230 and someone should be able to help.

    Anita

    Hmm.

    So I called. I was NOT optimistic.

    'Tasha' was very friendly, asked for my information, my mixer's information, and then asked what the problem was. I told her. Including the part where I didn't have my receipt, didn't know the exact date it quit working, but that it was about April of this year, after having received it in May of last year.

    She listened, then asked if I could hold while she would 'see what she could do for me'.

    I was still not optimistic.

    After a short time, she comes back on the phone. I begin to think I'm hearing things as she says "Cathy, what we can offer to do is replace the mixer. And you'll actually be getting an upgrade, we don't offer the 4.5 quart model anymore, so we'll be sending you a 5 quart Artisan (refurbished, guaranteed with 6 month warranty) mixer. Did you want another white one, or would you like to pick one of our twenty colors?"

    I almost dropped the phone. When I could get it together enough to absorb what was going on, I picked cobalt blue. She said they would send a pre-paid pick-up tag for me to return the defective mixer, and they would have UPS pick it up for me. She asked me if I needed anything else. She informed me of some great discounts they offer via their phone ordering, etc. The whole time I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop - but it never did.

    I was still not all that optimistic, frankly. Surely this had to be a mistake! Surely they were not really going to send me a NICER mixer, with a BIGGER motor and capacity, with a BETTER bowl, and in my FAVORITE color? I'll believe this when I see it. I was sure this must have been dear, sweet Tasha's first day, and her trainer was in the bathroom when I called. Surely as soon as he came out, he was going to give her the tongue lashing of the day about giving away free mixers in exchange for crappy ones that don't even work worth a darn!

    But no. Seemingly Tasha is every bit the informed, helpful, friendly representative of Kitchen Aid that she seemed to be! Because as sure as you're born, what did my UPS man deliver late yesterday afternoon?

    THIS (ok, one that looks just LIKE this):


    It's really beautiful, all of the speeds work smooth as silk, and it purrs like a kitten. A 325-watt kitten wrapped in cobalt blue.

    Kitchen Aid earned my business for life. Go buy one next time you shop for appliances. They are worth every penny, and the people stand behind their products, and take honest customers at their word.

    These are good people, with good products, and we all KNOW those are hard to find in this day and age!

    2 comments:

    Deb said...

    I love them. Now you're making me want a new one. A stainless steel one would work beautifully in the new kitchen... Hmmmm...

    Angela said...

    That is a LOVELY mixer! Excellent to know about their customer service. It just might make me willing to shell out the big bucks for one =)