Coffee Service

"Once you wake up and smell the coffee, it's hard to go back to sleep." - Fran Drescher

When I was a little girl, I found it difficult to get up for school in the morning.  My natural rhythm has always been for late mornings and late nights.  My dad used to bring coffee to me in bed each morning to entice me to get up.  That probably explains my coffee addiction. 

The only times I haven't fueled my morning with coffee were when I was pregnant and when I had chemo.  The smell of coffee sent me retching.  Jacob was only a few hours old when my craving returned and it was only a couple of weeks after chemo ended that my morning addiction kicked in once again. 

For my birthday last year, my sisters bought me a Nespresso Virtuoline machine and a milk steamer.  It is a wonderful luxury and the one single serve machine that I don't have to feel guilty about because the pods are aluminum, not plastic and are completely recycleable.  Until about a month ago, I started each morning with a delicious latte.  The excellence of the beverage also enticed Geraldine to drop over on many an afternoon.  So I was deeply upset when my machine stopped working about a month ago.  I went on-line to figure out what I needed to do to get my machine repaired.  It all seemed like such a pain.  Essentially, I could contact the Nespresso Cafe club which would arrange to pick up the machine and then return it sometime later when it was fixed.  As I have so often been housebound lately waiting for one repair service or another, I was reluctant to engage in this process.  I couldn't imagine being stuck in my house waiting for someone to pick up my machine.  Instead, I decided to take it to one of the few Nespresso Cafes in Toronto.  It is heavy and I haven't been up to carrying it with my sore back but not wanting to put it off any longer, today I hauled it to Yorkdale.  I waited in a long line only to be told they couldn't help me.  If I had the receipt, The Bay could take the machine back.  If not, I would have to call the Nespresso Cafe.  The machine was a gift.  I don't have the receipt.

Upon my return home, I braced myself for an argument.  I called the toll free number of the Nespresso Cafe to be greeted by an agent named Henry.  Henry suggested that we try to get my machine going again through a series of activities that he walked me through.  Unfortunately, no luck. "No worries", he said.  "We will have UPS deliver a loaner to you along with a carton that you can put your broken machine in and a prepaid shipping label.  When you are ready, send it to us.  Once we fix it, we will have it delivered to you by UPS.  Try your repaired or replaced machine out and when you are satisfied that all is right, send the loaner back to us.  Take your time.  No hurry." 

UPS will work with me to deliver the machine at a convenient time or I can pick it up from their depot. Start to finish, the whole repair process will take about two weeks.  I told Henry that I was a bit surprised that they had a loaner program. He explained that as I'm not the only client with a latte addiction, they feel obliged to provide loaners as they don't have a detox program.  I like this company.  Bell, Rogers and Enbridge could all take lessons.