These days, when cheerful news so rare it s almost...

These days, when cheerful news so rare it s almost nonexistent, I thought I d share something uplifting.

The French door in our 24-year-old house needed replacement. The door contained latching hardware from top to bottom, attached inside a groove in the door edge, including handles and a dead bolt. The hardware had worn out from 24 years of heavy use and had become hard to open or close.

A reputable local door company sent their installer out to take measurements and make recommendations. We were informed that the door was a non-standard size, and a replacement would involve cutting into the header and damaging the exterior stucco, which in turn would require having the north side of the house re-stuccoed. It would be very expensive. It was very discouraging.

Then a general contractor friend of Jamie s brother stopped by to give us a second opinion. He didn t have any better options, but he did observe the letters K K engraved into one of the hinges. He said this might stand for Kolbe & Kolbe, an old time manufacturer of quality doors. He suggested we might try contacting them to see if this might be one of their doors, and if so see if they could help.

My experiences with modern customer service have been mostly bad. Usually, after wading through a confusing telephone menu and figuring out which button to push, then listening to rotten music while on terminal hold, I wind up trying to communicate with someone in a 3rd world country who thinks he/she is speaking English but isn t.

Surprise, surprise! Kolbe & Kolbe has a web site complete with an email address. So I sent off an email, in truth anticipating being ignored. Within 30 minutes I got a response from a K & K customer service representative, who asked for photos of the door and a measurement of its height. Tech-challenged though I am, I was able to do that. 30 minutes after I pushed send I got a response saying it was, in fact, their door and I had a couple of options: (1) I could have one or both doors replaced, or (2) I could merely replace the door hardware if the rest of the door was ok. He had the hardware in stock and it could be shipped to my doorstep. I chose option #2. By the end of the day the hardware had been paid for and shipped. It arrived at my door four days later.

It all went together easily and fit perfectly. The door is even better now than it was new. I was astonished.

So it IS possible for a company to manufacture a quality product, back it up, hire employees who know what they re talking about, and will actually do what they say they ll do. How refreshing!