Caveat Emptor - Justice for Jameel, and some Waffles.

For those few loyal readers that actually read this blog daily, you may recall a story I posted about a few weeks back, when I purchased a flat LCD monitor for my wife on an ELAL flight. I wrote that ELAL was moving in the right direction for customer service (which I still agree with and will soon prove)...and I wrote that Newpan, the company which actually sold me the monitor has much to learn.

I also signed that posting as follows:

Newpan will NOT be receiving the Muqata seal of approval for customer service...and they have yet to experience that wrath of the Muqata.

heh heh...we'll see what happens...we'll see.

They haven't heard the last from me...

I wrote a very serious letter to EL-AL explaining that I had a lot of respect for the way they were continuously improving, and (IMHO) they treat their business travelers as valued customers. I also wrote that it's unfortunate that they use Newpan as a business partner, since Newpan not yet learned the value of a customer or understand the concept of customer service. ELAL called me up by phone a day later and said they would see what they could do...

Since then, I flew ELAL, and was given a complimentary upgrade from economy to business, no points required. Though I didn't blame ELAL in the slightest for the monitor mess-up, I'm very impressed that they upgraded me. (Then again, it could have been a pure coincidence that I was upgraded...but I still think my story had something to do with it).

The monitor arrived (a month late), my wife liked it and I forgot about Newpan.

End of story? Keep reading...

Last week I got a call from Newpan, and the salesperson excitedly informed me that my monitor had arrived in stock, and they would be sending it to me that day. I told them their inventory computer system must be needing repair, since they already shipped me the monitor a few weeks earlier.

The salesrep asked if I was happy with it, and I replied "yes", so she brightly said, "OK, so everything worked out well, right?"

I replied, "Exactly, everything worked out perfectly, expect:

1. The monitor came a month late so it wasn't a surprise present anymore.
2. You totally lied when you wrote on your promotional material that if an item is out of stock, that you'll "upgrade" it with an item of higher value or quality since you didn't offer me anything of better value, but of LOWER value.
3. You tried getting me to accept a monitor of lower value for the same cost as the better monitor I had ordered (without even telling me it was of lower value).
4. You taught me that your company's policy is that the customer always comes last.
5. I will never recommend your company to anyone.

Other than that, everything worked out just fine!"

"Hmmm," the sales-rep said, "I understand you're upset, let me call you back in a few minutes."

She did.

"Hi there, I spoke with my manager and he authorized a free gift for you, to help rebuild our relationship with you! [amazing what a letter to ELAL can do] You can either have a hand soup mixer or a Belgian waffle Maker. Since we already own a hand soup mixer, and the value of the Waffle maker was twice that of the soup mixer, I chose the Belgian Waffle maker (and if we wouldn't use it for personal use, I assume it would make a great gift to someone).

"Excellent!" The sales-rep said, "You should be very happy with us now...have a wonderful day..." And she hung up.

The waffle maker arrived 2 days later. But the story isn't over yet....

However...as something that bakes/cooks/comes in contact with food, it needed to be toveled (immersed) in the mikva.

The waffle iron parts weren't removable, and the instructions clearly said, "WARNING: Do not immerse in water!"

Hmmm...what to do? I called me friendly neighborhood Rav who offered me off the top of his head, 4 possibilities: (please note, there are different opinions concerning if electrical appliances need to be toveled, and if my memory serves me correctly, R' Moshe Feinstein held that a toaster did not need to be toveled)

1. Dunk the entire thing in the mikva (regardless of the warning) and let it dry out of a few days. While the Rav I spoke to personally does this, I'm not a big fan of it.

2. See if the waffles iron plates can be removed, and tovel only those. Sorry, not an option.

3. Sell the Waffle Iron to a non-Jew, and then borrow it from him, permanently. Maybe I could sell it to the Thai worker across the street?

4. This was most elegant possibility; the idea that any cooking/baking/food serving utensil that has been previously owned or manufactured by non-Jews require Tevilah. However, if you professionally disable the utensil to the point that it can't be used any more (i.e., more than just taking off the plug or taking a knob off), and the re-connect it/build it, then you, as a Jew, have completed "manufacturing" the item, and it therefore, does not require tevilla at all.

Being the hardware hacker that I am, this was definitely the most creative option, and the one I wanted to try.

Yet, this became even more challenging than I expected. Not only were the screws on the bottom of the waffle baker very special screws that needed a unique flat-head, horse-show type screwdriver, but you needed to remove the "warranty-buster" sticker as well.


Coming to the rescue was hardware-hacker par excellance, my good friend BoneCrusher, who had the right screwdriver, and took the whole thing apart.

OK, so we removed the warranty sticker...I'm not too worried about that....and we hope to use the waffle maker this coming Friday morning.

Lesson Roundup:

1. Fly ELAL
2. If you feel that a company has wronged you, don't hesitate to call them or write a letter of complaint.
3. You don't have to dunk your toaster in the mikva.
4. If you are going to try and give poor customer service to someone, I suggest you don't start up with the Muqata...

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael