October 17

Two Christmas' ago, I gave Hart a Mr. Buddy heater to keep him warm in the garage as he threw the ball in the evenings for Ms. Psychobabble. Although he was appreciative of my gift, he returned it to the store in exchange for the bigger version, perfectly modeling man's Bigger is Better mentality.

The heater worked great for that first winter, and Lilu's devoted ball-throwers remained toasty warm. But the following spring, Hart received a recall notice from the company citing a leaky propane valve. Of course, it being spring again, Hart didn't use the heater as much and ignored the letter.

As soon as the cooler air took over the evenings the next fall, he pulled out the heater from storage. After a couple of frustrating and cold evenings where the the heater would inconveniently turn off mid-heat cycle, he contacted the company about their promised recall. They immediately sent him shipping labels to send the heater back at their cost and promised a complete and free replacement heater.

This may be obvious, but Hart is more of a procrastinator than I.

He never did send the heater back last winter. Or even this past spring. Mid-summer, he and Blaine got the brilliant idea to try and fix it themselves. By the time summer started to wane, Mr. Buddy lay in pieces in our garage, and there was no hope of putting him back together again.

But then a miracle occurred. The company sent Hart an email letting him know that their records still showed he had the old Mr. Buddy and hadn't taken them up on their recall offer. Hart called the number they gave and spoke to a customer representative. She said yes, the offer was still there. Pack it up, send it in, they would send out a new one immediately. But what if, he asked, my buddy tore up Mr. Buddy? No problem, was the answer. Send in the part with the serial number and we'll send you a new one.

One week. Seven short days from when he packed up that serialized piece of heater with a couple of screws for company and sent it off through UPS was all it took. Today, a brand new Mr. Buddy was waiting on our doorstep.

I'm grateful for businesses that keep their word and make good on their products. Time in the garage this winter promises to be much warmer than last.