Surprisingly awesome customer service

By SARAH NADAV
 
As I have come to learn, an umbrella is basically disposable. There is no point in spending more because if it doesn''t break it will most likely be lost before the end of the season.
Since I have already lost one umbrella this year (forgotten in someone else''s car never to be seen again), when I left this morning to take the train to Tel Aviv my only option was to take my son''s (Red Power Ranger... a little embarrassing but better than being wet.) And you can probably guessed what happened when I got off the train. That''s right- I lost it.
Losing it was bad enough but the weather was horrible (or awesome depending on how you feel about hail and massive downpour of rain). I had no choice, I had to buy another one. On the way out of the train station are a bunch of kiosks and one at the very end was mobbed with people buying umbrellas.
When given the choice to spend an extra 20 NIS for the better quality umbrella, I naturally chose to not to (considering my track record). Off I went into the downpour.  As luck would have it, I didn''t lose my umbrella this time. It broke. By the time I was back at the train station to head home the umbrella was falling apart. I went back to the kiosk expecting the usual Israeli "suck it" attitude and was surprised when Mati (we''re on a first name basis now) not only took back the umbrella but upgraded me to a nicer one.
Next time you are in need of an umbrella, make sure to stop in the TA train station at Arlozoroff and pick one up. You can give him a call at 052 483 4390, who knows... maybe he even delivers.
As always you can find me on twitter @sarahnadav