How service should work

I have recently sung the praises of the Courtney Boot Company in these pages and wish to continue in this vein.

When I was last home in Zimbabwe my father mentioned to me that the Courtney Boot Company offered a refurbishment service and as my boots had by that stage been neglected and abused for the best part of thirteen years as well as having walked many thousands of miles on several continents this sounded like a great idea and I agreed to leave them with him to organise.

Fast forward nearly a year and my parents are due to visit me here in the UK so I began to chase up my father for news of my precious boots. He didn't say as much but I gathered he'd done nothing about organising their refurb but quickly informed me that they'd been sent to the factory and he'd had a very reasonable quote of $50usd or £36gpb at the current exchange rate and I gave him the go ahead.

Considering that these boots cost a small fortune when new and that the refurbishment consisted of a full restitching of the tough elephant, buffalo and giraffe leather and replacement of the tough car tyre style soles I think that I've made a hell of a deal.

Being the geek that I am I was sitting at work during my lunch hour perusing the Courtney Boot Companies website www.courteneyboot.com/ as well as the websites of the London stockists www.westleyrichards.co.uk/Shop/Courteney-Boots I thought I'd fire off a couple of endorsement type emails of the boots themselves and the service offered. Both came back to me promptly thanking me for my kind words and the response from Gale Rice at the Bulawayo based factory was particularly thankful asking permission to use my email on their website which I of course agreed to and offering to send me a free cleaning kit.

I thanked Gale and explained that my boots were still with the factory and I was holding my fingers crossed they would be back with my parents in time to fly to the UK with them. Gale responded with the simple "I'll make sure that happens"

Two days later I had another email from Gale again thanking me again for my kind words and informing that my boots had left the factory along with the cleaning kit and were being returned to their Harare Stockists nearest my parents home for collection the very next day.

Now if a small company in deepest darkest Africa can provide that level of service and guarantee a customer for life, even though by making the boots so well in the first place I'm unlikely to need a new pair for another ten to fifteen years. Why is the rest of the world so incapable? Is the old way the best way?

If like me you like the finer things in life and expect them to last for your life, then I would highly recommend you invest in a pair of these simply styled, incredibly comfortable and tough boots, they will serve you well and you never know, in thirty years time you might need a second pair.

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow

It's not all doom and gloom here are some products that I love

My Fuji HS20EXR it's an amazing camera for a keen amateur like me. See the brilliant review on http://www.safari-guide.co.uk/fujifilm-finepix-hs20exr-digital-camera-review.php




My Amazon Kindle. I love books I own thousands of them but for convenience it's a reading experience second to none except maybe a real book but then you'd have to lug it about and be stuck once you finished it miles from home. Seemless integration with the iPhone and PC apps (there is one for Android too) is also a huge bonus.



My iPhone. I know the android fans out there will rant on and on but for me personally I prefer the interface even if Android has products out there that are technically superior Sense just doesn't float my boat. I have nothing against Android they make some fine products they're just not for me.

My Courtney Boots. They originally cost my father somewhere in the region of £500gpb but that was 14 years ago now and I've walked literally thousands of miles in them. Mine are the original Courtney model with elephant, buffalo and giraffe hides with Dunlop tyre tread soles. They are currently back at the factory in Bulawayo being refurbished (every stitch redone and new soles) a service for which they are charging only £36gpb. So whilst they may sound expensive they last forever and you can't say that about much these days. They're also a lot cheaper than they used to be available in the UK from around £200. All be it with only buffalo hide now available. see www.courteneyboot.com/ for global suppliers or www.westleyrichards.co.uk/Shop/Courteney-Boots if you're in the UK.

My Tag Heuer Aquaracer. I mentioned in my introduction that we had been burgled this year and of the items stolen this included my grandfathers 50's vintage Omega Seamaster and Sharon's Fathers Pierre Cardin watch. More Than insurance although a little slow did not quibble any of our claim and very kindly arranged Vouchers for us to use in Earnest Jones or H Samuel (they would have paid out cash but at a lower value, I assume they get a kick back and this is fair enough) After much deliberation I decided that rather than purchase another Omega Seamaster that I would split the future family heirloom and on the advice of the excellent staff in Croydon's branch of Ernest Jones chose a lovely stylish but simple Tag Heuer Aquaracer.
Tag Heuer Aquaracer Mens Watch WAF1110.BA0800


My Raymond Weil Maestro 2827. This less well known swiss manufacturer has only been in business for 40 odd years a smidge in comparison to the history of Heuer but I couldn't resist the elegant simplicity of this watch with it's open balance wheel and the fact that it actually uses the same ETA (part of the Swatch Group) designed movement as the Tag convinced me to part with the other half of the insurance payout.

My Le Crueset cookwear. I have a large and a small frying pan, griddle, and small pot. There is no reason to believe that my children will not inherit these along with the above watches.


My Swiss Army knife, my personal preferance is for the climber model which I feel has the best combination of small portable size and having enough tools to be useful every day. You will very rarely find me without it in my pocket, in fact flights will be about the only time.


I will periodically add more items to this list as I think of them

TTFN

Mr Bunny Chow