Customer Service

"It's not often I write of a personal experience with a major company, but this one struck me as such a rarity, I had to share.

While watching the evening news a few weeks ago, I saw an ad for a Mantis tiller. In years past, it's been me and my shovel in the back yard every spring and fall. Seeing how easy the guy in the commercial was doing the chore, I was filled with envy.

After days of thinking about it, I finally broke down and placed the order. Within a few minutes, I received confirmation of the order, and within days, yesterday in fact, the tiller landed on my doorstep while I was home for lunch.

Instead of eating, I ripped into the box, laying out and examining each part. All to soon, it was time to go back to work.

On arriving home, I realized my trust in our dogs was misplaced. Bits and pieces of paperwork from my new tiller, including the registration card, lay scattered across the floor. Nipper, our Boston terrier puppy, looked proud of himself until he saw my face go red.

Still, registration seemed such a trifling thing at the time; I had a tiller to build. After it was finished and I was finished admiring my handywork, I once again thought about registration. The card was a total loss, but at least I could still read the serial number. I decided to register online.

After several minutes spent searching the site for the on-line registration site, I finally gave up. Then I noticed their technical support contact page.

I decided to go against every one of my masculine instincts and ask for help.

I shot off a quick letter; "You're not going to believe this. Got my tiller today at lunch; opened the box and spread out the paperwork, then time to go to work. Got home and the puppy ate the registration card.   Uf da. Is there a way to register on line?"

The e-mail I woke to this morning didn't look promising, opening with, "The following question has been submitted to your Mantis FAQ," which is typically the digital equivalent of "please listen carefully to the following options ..."

In reading down, however, I was delighted to find a message typed by a real, live human being ... and one who had actually read the missive I sent.

"Good news, bad news, good news," it began. The good news, I'm already registered and verification is in the mail. Bad news, on-line registration isn't available, yet.

And then the really good news.

"I've got a klepto kitten, a slobbery dog and three kids, so very, very few of my registrations make it anywhere ... at least you're in the majority w/the little 'accident!'"

It was signed by customer service representative Phyllis Griffiths.

It's nice to know that there are still companies out there that believe in the human touch. And equally nice to know I'll soon get to play in the dirt with my new, and registered, Mantis tiller!

The bad news? My wife won't shovel the snow out of the garden so I can begin."

M. Weland - Idaho