When Support Goes from Good...to Amazing

Ah, good. Something to get my mind off religion and politics for a few day. We have a product called an "Instant Hot" made by InSinkErator. If you haven't used one, they're simply another faucet on your kitchen sink, usually fed through a water filter, providing nearly boiling water out of the tap. Ours (pictured) has hot and cold faucets. They work by having a small hot water heater under the sink. When you pull the hot water tap, water runs into the tank which displaces hot water through the faucet. Well, InSinkErator seems to have the lion's market share. They sell tons of other appliances too.

Anyway, the tank went out after ~3 years. In a bad way. the only obvious sign was that the water didn't seem as hot. The bad thing was that when you ran hot water, you also drained water under the sink where you might not notice it. Not good. Apparently ALL the tanks go out after 1-4 years of regular use. Also not good.

So they improved the design a year or two ago. Good enough that they increased the warranty from 1 year to 5 years. I called them to clarify whether we needed a new tank or the whole deal (tank, faucet, filter). The support person confirmed that we only had a one year warranty. He asked my serial number (easily visible on the tank front) and confirmed that I only needed a new tank, about $300 or so. That was good news.

Then he said something amazing: "We're sorry for the hassle and we'd like to give you a new tank. Would you like me to send you one at no cost?" Ok, you can read all the self-interest into this that you want. "Oh no" you say. "They knew it was defective" you say. "They didn't want to get sued" you say. Whatever. They sold bazillions of this design for half a decade or more. They didn't have to do anything. Three years wasn't a good lifetime, but it wasn't an crazy unreasonable one either. We would have bought a new one. As a market leader, they didn't have to do anything other than offer clear instructions and guidance from customer service. But they went far beyond that. This creates a halo effect of goodwill that will give an extra glow to their whole product line in my eyes.

Pretty impressive.

There are only a handful of companies that have impressed me this way. One other is Belkin, with their lifetime hardware warranty (which I've had to take advantage of). A friend tells me North Face once restuffed a 15 year old down coat sent to them to fix a ripped pocket. Email me or leave a comment if you've had companies that have amazed you with customer service.