When we finally landed in Mulberry Grove after returning to the USA, my blushing bride and I decided we needed to replace the non-working coffeemaker from my bachelor days. So we went shopping. I found something that I didn't know I was looking for--a thermal coffeemaker. This would be great. We wouldn't have to leave the coffee on all the time, and if we forgot to turn it off, it wouldn't burn the house down.

All the thermal models only held 8 cups, and sometimes I need to brew more. And then I found a Mr. Coffee machine that was not too expensive, but had a 10-cup carafe. We put the money down and got it--it was programmable and signaled when the coffee was ready and when it had been sitting long enough to be cold. What a great machine.

About 8 months after the purchase, the lid broke on the carafe. It just fell apart. Of course, it had started splitting earlier. All of this through normal use--usually only one pot a day, sometimes two (if we had guests). Okay, no problem, I'll call the service center--the nearest of which is over an hour away in St. Louis.

First call, "Sorry, that's on back order. Call back in about 8 weeks."

Six weeks later, "Sorry, still on back order."

Another three weeks, "Sorry, still unavailable."

Today (three weeks later, still), "Yes! That's available now, can you hold?"

Five minutes later, "Yes, that's available, but you can't just get the lid, you have to buy the 'craft'."

Me: "So how much is that?"

As it turns out, to replace my broken lid will cost me within ten dollars of the price of the original machine--NEW!

Do not buy this product. I repeat, do not buy this product!