When I started my blog in the middle of last year I swore I would blog about certain companies giving me excellent or very bad service. Now it is not often I get excellent service and unfortunately I have far too many bad experiences to blog about them all.  I thought I would label all these as “the Power of one” as I firmly believe that one person can make a difference.


Just recently I had excellent service from a company and I think I owe it to them to tell you all about my experience.


I have a Cadac 4 burner gas braai and the cover fell apart about a year ago. I have been searching for a replacement cover ever since and have tried various outlets. So about 10 days ago I had to go to Hirch’s in Fourways, Johannesburg to collect some spare parts for my oven. While I was there, I thought I may as well pop into THE BRAAI MAN and see if they had any covers. This is a little store which obviously specialises in braai’s.

I explained that I needed a cover for my braai and the gentleman kindly explained that there was a problem with Cadac goods in the country at the moment due to some wheeling and dealing going on with the dealers representing Cadac in South Africa.  As a result there was a pending court case and the company was going through a sequestration process. This would explain why I was unable to find a cover.


They however offered me an inferior cover – they explained it was inferior but I was welcome to take it home and try it out. Well I had nothing to loose and agreed to take it. The gentleman would not accept payment for it. He insisted I take it home first and try it out and if I was happy with it, I could do an EFT to pay for it.  It is not often you come across someone who trusts you this much.


So I took it home and tried it. It did not fit very well, but was better than no cover. And as the gentleman was so trusting I did and EFT straight away.


So out of the blue this morning, I get a call from the Gentleman at THE BRAAI MAN to say that he had received a new batch of covers and would I bring the inferior cover back. I thought about it for a while, popped outside to have a look at the cover which was full of leaves and dust and was wet due to rain overnight. I felt rather guilty and called him back to say that I had used the cover and I no longer had the packaging and there was no way I could just bring it back.


He insisted I bring it back. So I took a drive out there this afternoon and reluctantly took the inferior cover back. He handed me a brand new Cadac cover and took the other one back from me. I explained once again that the other cover had been used etc and he insisted it was not a big deal. I then took out my purse to pay for the cover – and quite frankly I was prepared to pay for the new one in full and not accept a refund for the inferior one. He insisted no payment was necessary and it was a swap out.


I tried to insist but he was more insisting that no payment was necessary.


So I brought my new cover home and THE BRAAI MAN gets 5 stars from me for service. I think this is the best service experience of my life.