CUSTOMER "SERVICE" ASSISTANCE . . . NOT!

This is a true story.  You probably already know that truth IS stranger than fiction, and my story will add credence to that proverb.  I  could not have come up with a fictional scenario any more absurd than this one was.

I used to sell regularly on ebay, so my brother and wife brought a new pressure cooker to me for selling on there several years ago.

We couldn't find the size of the pressure cooker which was needed for my ebay listing.  This information was neither on the cooker itself nor in the original instruction book that came with the cooker, if you can believe that.  I went online to the XX cooker website (name omitted to protect the guilty), but that model number was not listed on their site, either.  So, I emailed their customer service department.  I have kept my emails, along with their replies, and I still laugh out loud when reading them.

Below are the actual, unedited email messages to and from the XX Company's customer service department.  Needless to say, I was a bit annoyed by the time I sent that final message to them! 


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To Customer Service

To Whom It May Concern:
Someone gave me one of your pressure cooker/canners, model #xxxx. I could not find it on your website, and the instruction book that came with it does not say if it is a 4 qt. or a 6 qt. size.  The size is not on the cooker, either.

Can you email me what size this cooker is? Thank you very much.
Mavis Hinton
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From: cs@XXgeneralstore.com
To: mavishinton
Subject: Re: XX Cooker/Canner #xxxxx

72338 Recipe/Instruction Book is the one that you need

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Dear Customer Service:
No, I don't need the instruction book; one came with the cooker, but it does not state the size of the cooker. I simply want to know what size the cooker is--4 qt. or 6 qt. Thank you.
Mavis Hinton

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 From: cs@XXgeneralstore.com
 To: mavishinton
 Subject: Re: XX Cooker/Canner #xxxx
 I am not sure you can fill it with quarts of water whatever fills it  till its getting ready to run over is the quart size of the cooker
 Thank you
 Customer service
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Dear Customer Service:

 Yes, I have the ability and intelligence to fill the cooker with water. However, I just want to go on record stating that as a customer service, your company does not seem to be very willing to  assist with very simple questions.

You could have spent one minute, taken a catalog off the shelf, and looked up the model number I mentioned and simply TELL ME the size of  the cooker. Directing a customer to fill the new cooker with water to determine its size is ridiculous.

Thanks for not helping,
Mavis Hinton

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Note:  We finally did resort to filling the cooker with water, which we could have done in the first place (had we thought of it initially), but ended up in a laugh fest while doing so.