Montgomery Burns
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 14 Apr 2007
- Messages
- 514
This is my horror story - I often tell people my purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others - this is amply demonstrated below, in a story I have posted at my blog <a class="postlink" href="http://www.whirlpoolfridgefreezerrepairdisaster.blogspot.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">www.whirlpoolfridgefreezerrepairdisaster.blogspot.com</a>:
I started this blog as I needed a safety valve to release my feelings of utter frustration at dealing with Whirlpool and their customer service department. Hopefully my blood pressure will reduce to safe levels after doing this!
The story started just over 3 years ago when we bought one of those American-style side by side fridge freezers. To be fair, it looks the part, the icemaker and water feature is impressive and we thought, mistakenly, that buying Whirlpool would ensure we had a quality product. As we should for the price we paid, which was well over £1,000 if I remember correctly.
The problems started around 10 days ago when the machine started to make a continual clunking noise. By the time we got home that night the freezer had defrosted, we had the 'CF' warning instruction and the fridge and freezer simply stopped working, with no signs of power other than that the courtesy lights came on.
I rang the Whirlpool service number and was given what seems to be the usual two choices; pay £83 call out plus parts or pay £249 for a 12-month service contract that includes all parts and labour. I opted for the service contract.
To be fair, the person who took my call advised me that if the engineer assessed the cost of repairs was uneconomic then the policy would be cancelled, our premium refunded and we would not have to pay the call out charge. More of that later.
One week later, after a spell of 1930's style living without a fridge (could be good practice for when the credit crunch really starts to bite) the engineer came round. He asked me to describe the problem, to which he said a new front and rear board was needed. This was without doing a single test.
I mentioned in passing the icemaker was also not working; he reassured me this would also be down to one of the boards and once these were fixed the icemaker would work. He then rang the insurance company for authorisation.
During this conversation he broke off and asked me whether the icemaker was dispensing ice. I wasn't sure, as it's normally the kids who would use that; foolishly, as it turned out later, I said it probably wasn't. (I was wrong about this, as we shall see later) He then continued his conversation with the insurer, concluding with that awfully ominous phrase 'I'll tell the customer then'. This was when the fun and games really started.
He told me the costs of parts and labour came to a total of £411, which was more than the insurer was prepared to pay. My policy would therefore be cancelled and I was left to contemplate life as it was in 1932.
Somewhat stunned by this unfortunate turn of events I telephoned Whirlpool and got through to their customer care department. I carefully explained my predicament to them and expressed my shock that the repair cost of £411 rendered the machine uneconomic to repair in the eyes of the insurer, Domestic & General. Having just had sight of the insurance policy that morning, it seemed that the magic figure which determined whether something was uneconomic or not was £350, although this wasn't spelt out in the small print of the contract - this was something I surmised from reading the remainder of the small print; it turned out my guess was correct.
So in simple terms, it seemed that paying £249 entitled you to repairs up until the cost of £350 (possibly up to another £350 more for subsequent repairs according to the contract, but not according to the Whirlpool staff). Not much of a bet there I thought, and were this level of detail spelt out by Whirlpool staff at the time they sold the service contract then I'm sure many people would not bother buying such a contract in the first place. Which wouldn't do a great deal to the old P&L account, I suppose.
I told Whirlpool that in my opinion I had been mis-sold insurance. This was because as Whirlpool kept back a material fact (the £350 limit), they were selling policies without giving people sufficient facts to make an informed decision as to whether they wished to purchase the policy. My argument was that although I hadn't suffered a financial loss as my premiums had been returned, if I had been given the full facts a week earlier I would have been able to approach a third party repairer and been able to have got the machine fixed earlier. And crucially not had to experience Albanian-style conditions in my kitchen for so long.
All it would have taken would have been for Whirlpool to insert a sentence within their brief about the £350 limit, which would explain what they meant by 'uneconomic'. I suggested they did not do this because many people would not buy the policies if they were in possession of all relevant facts. I asked to speak to a supervisor (something I did repeatedly over the next two days - without success) and simply had to settle for the fact that the person I was speaking to would ring back later that day after speaking to a supervisor.
I waited, and waited, and then waited some more. At ten minutes before close of play I cracked, convinced the person I spoke to earlier that day would be in the process of packing up for the day, leaving me high an dry. I got through to Helpful Man number 2 (HM2), who refused to put me through to a supervisor and made me go through the whole thing again.
One of the points at issue was whether an icemaker motor was needed - I said no tests had been done; the engineer had said it was a board problem and only later after speaking to the insurer was this changed to the motor - which conveniently put me over the magic £350 limit! HMN2 eventually promised to ring me back the next day, which he did mid-afternoon. To give me a rather large raspberry!
Driving my wife home half an hour later she told me the icemaker motor was in fact working as she bought ice from the supermarket for the kids, which was dispensed through the icemaker - so the problem was simply that ice wasn't being formed (and therefore was likely to be just a board problem, as originally thought). So in my ignorance, I had wrongly reported an imaginary fault when prompted by the engineer!
So, an hallelujah moment. I was convinced (wrongly as it turned out) that this vital new piece of information would mean that as the claim, now excluding an icemaker motor, was less than the magic £350 limit, HM2 would be able to use his influence to arrange for the policy to be reinstated and the repair effected. How naive of me!
HM2 said he had spoken to the engineer, who had said their was some 'grinding' of the motor and that therefore, the icemaker motor would in fact need to be replaced. How the engineer did this is a complete mystery to me, as he did not go within two foot of the machine, which as we remember had no power. As Des Lynam would have said, 'How Did he Do That'?
He could only have been telling a rather large porkie. As I delicately (perhaps not!) pointed out. So, where were we then, I asked HM2? In a round about way he told me where to swivel!
I then demanded to speak to his supervisor, several times. He refused, continually fobbing me off. This is one thing Whirlpool staff excel at, in my experience!
I told HM2 I would not take this lying down and said I wished to complain in writing, and asked for the name of the complaints manager. More prevarication - boy he was good at this! Eventually, and with extreme reluctance, he finally released the name and e-mail address of someone to write to. Oh, and details of the managing director.
I told HM2 I would not let the matter drop and would go as far as taking the matter to the Small Claims Court if necessary, as the cost of paying the fee to do so would be more than outweighed by the satisfaction of knowing it would cost Whirlpool far, far more in administrative costs to defend my action that it would by settling matters on what was, as far as I was concerned, an entirely reasonable basis.
At which, there was a mood change! HM2 told me that he would have offered me the chance of a 'reduced price repair', if only I had given him the chance to speak. WTF!! Composing myself suitably, I asked him just what this meant, in pounds, shillings and pence. he said he would find out, and ring me after the weekend. And because of this I have agreed to withhold my e-mail to the MD for the time being, to see what they come up with.
Let me say I am not after blood. I simply want my machine to be repaired in line with the 12-month service cost, which I will pay for again. or a repair within that price. But reading the Internet after the event it is quite clear to me my story is far from unique and that the following problems seem to commonly arise:
There is a problem with the front and rear boards. allegedly due to cheap components, which Whirlpool know all about.
A belief that Whirlpool are content for the problem to continue, as the repair part of the business with its extortionately-priced parts make them an awful lot of money. And that it is so difficult to get independent tradesmen to repair these machines as the parts are only supplied by Whirlpool who control the price accordingly - a 'fixed' market.
That the customer service department at Whirlpool are expert in ensuring the customer experience is thoroughly demoralising.
Looking back on the events of the past few days, it surprises me that Whirlpool seemingly care so little for their reputation, such is the desire to make even greater profits. One would have thought that they would have wanted to protect their brand rather more than this; the phrase 'know the price of everything and the value of nothing' never appeared more apt.
Because of this I thought I'd set up this blog, so that if people googled 'Whirlpool, Fridge Freezer, and then even repair then they would come to my little blog and see how Whirlpool treat its customers. I'm not in the business of advising anyone what products to buy or not; all I would say is that I would never buy anything from Whirlpool ever again, such is my disgust at the way they have treated me. If that means that even one customer anywhere in the world decides not to buy a Whirlpool product then the two hours setting up this blog and typing this report has been very worthwhile!
I'll update as I find out more from HM2.
I started this blog as I needed a safety valve to release my feelings of utter frustration at dealing with Whirlpool and their customer service department. Hopefully my blood pressure will reduce to safe levels after doing this!
The story started just over 3 years ago when we bought one of those American-style side by side fridge freezers. To be fair, it looks the part, the icemaker and water feature is impressive and we thought, mistakenly, that buying Whirlpool would ensure we had a quality product. As we should for the price we paid, which was well over £1,000 if I remember correctly.
The problems started around 10 days ago when the machine started to make a continual clunking noise. By the time we got home that night the freezer had defrosted, we had the 'CF' warning instruction and the fridge and freezer simply stopped working, with no signs of power other than that the courtesy lights came on.
I rang the Whirlpool service number and was given what seems to be the usual two choices; pay £83 call out plus parts or pay £249 for a 12-month service contract that includes all parts and labour. I opted for the service contract.
To be fair, the person who took my call advised me that if the engineer assessed the cost of repairs was uneconomic then the policy would be cancelled, our premium refunded and we would not have to pay the call out charge. More of that later.
One week later, after a spell of 1930's style living without a fridge (could be good practice for when the credit crunch really starts to bite) the engineer came round. He asked me to describe the problem, to which he said a new front and rear board was needed. This was without doing a single test.
I mentioned in passing the icemaker was also not working; he reassured me this would also be down to one of the boards and once these were fixed the icemaker would work. He then rang the insurance company for authorisation.
During this conversation he broke off and asked me whether the icemaker was dispensing ice. I wasn't sure, as it's normally the kids who would use that; foolishly, as it turned out later, I said it probably wasn't. (I was wrong about this, as we shall see later) He then continued his conversation with the insurer, concluding with that awfully ominous phrase 'I'll tell the customer then'. This was when the fun and games really started.
He told me the costs of parts and labour came to a total of £411, which was more than the insurer was prepared to pay. My policy would therefore be cancelled and I was left to contemplate life as it was in 1932.
Somewhat stunned by this unfortunate turn of events I telephoned Whirlpool and got through to their customer care department. I carefully explained my predicament to them and expressed my shock that the repair cost of £411 rendered the machine uneconomic to repair in the eyes of the insurer, Domestic & General. Having just had sight of the insurance policy that morning, it seemed that the magic figure which determined whether something was uneconomic or not was £350, although this wasn't spelt out in the small print of the contract - this was something I surmised from reading the remainder of the small print; it turned out my guess was correct.
So in simple terms, it seemed that paying £249 entitled you to repairs up until the cost of £350 (possibly up to another £350 more for subsequent repairs according to the contract, but not according to the Whirlpool staff). Not much of a bet there I thought, and were this level of detail spelt out by Whirlpool staff at the time they sold the service contract then I'm sure many people would not bother buying such a contract in the first place. Which wouldn't do a great deal to the old P&L account, I suppose.
I told Whirlpool that in my opinion I had been mis-sold insurance. This was because as Whirlpool kept back a material fact (the £350 limit), they were selling policies without giving people sufficient facts to make an informed decision as to whether they wished to purchase the policy. My argument was that although I hadn't suffered a financial loss as my premiums had been returned, if I had been given the full facts a week earlier I would have been able to approach a third party repairer and been able to have got the machine fixed earlier. And crucially not had to experience Albanian-style conditions in my kitchen for so long.
All it would have taken would have been for Whirlpool to insert a sentence within their brief about the £350 limit, which would explain what they meant by 'uneconomic'. I suggested they did not do this because many people would not buy the policies if they were in possession of all relevant facts. I asked to speak to a supervisor (something I did repeatedly over the next two days - without success) and simply had to settle for the fact that the person I was speaking to would ring back later that day after speaking to a supervisor.
I waited, and waited, and then waited some more. At ten minutes before close of play I cracked, convinced the person I spoke to earlier that day would be in the process of packing up for the day, leaving me high an dry. I got through to Helpful Man number 2 (HM2), who refused to put me through to a supervisor and made me go through the whole thing again.
One of the points at issue was whether an icemaker motor was needed - I said no tests had been done; the engineer had said it was a board problem and only later after speaking to the insurer was this changed to the motor - which conveniently put me over the magic £350 limit! HMN2 eventually promised to ring me back the next day, which he did mid-afternoon. To give me a rather large raspberry!
Driving my wife home half an hour later she told me the icemaker motor was in fact working as she bought ice from the supermarket for the kids, which was dispensed through the icemaker - so the problem was simply that ice wasn't being formed (and therefore was likely to be just a board problem, as originally thought). So in my ignorance, I had wrongly reported an imaginary fault when prompted by the engineer!
So, an hallelujah moment. I was convinced (wrongly as it turned out) that this vital new piece of information would mean that as the claim, now excluding an icemaker motor, was less than the magic £350 limit, HM2 would be able to use his influence to arrange for the policy to be reinstated and the repair effected. How naive of me!
HM2 said he had spoken to the engineer, who had said their was some 'grinding' of the motor and that therefore, the icemaker motor would in fact need to be replaced. How the engineer did this is a complete mystery to me, as he did not go within two foot of the machine, which as we remember had no power. As Des Lynam would have said, 'How Did he Do That'?
He could only have been telling a rather large porkie. As I delicately (perhaps not!) pointed out. So, where were we then, I asked HM2? In a round about way he told me where to swivel!
I then demanded to speak to his supervisor, several times. He refused, continually fobbing me off. This is one thing Whirlpool staff excel at, in my experience!
I told HM2 I would not take this lying down and said I wished to complain in writing, and asked for the name of the complaints manager. More prevarication - boy he was good at this! Eventually, and with extreme reluctance, he finally released the name and e-mail address of someone to write to. Oh, and details of the managing director.
I told HM2 I would not let the matter drop and would go as far as taking the matter to the Small Claims Court if necessary, as the cost of paying the fee to do so would be more than outweighed by the satisfaction of knowing it would cost Whirlpool far, far more in administrative costs to defend my action that it would by settling matters on what was, as far as I was concerned, an entirely reasonable basis.
At which, there was a mood change! HM2 told me that he would have offered me the chance of a 'reduced price repair', if only I had given him the chance to speak. WTF!! Composing myself suitably, I asked him just what this meant, in pounds, shillings and pence. he said he would find out, and ring me after the weekend. And because of this I have agreed to withhold my e-mail to the MD for the time being, to see what they come up with.
Let me say I am not after blood. I simply want my machine to be repaired in line with the 12-month service cost, which I will pay for again. or a repair within that price. But reading the Internet after the event it is quite clear to me my story is far from unique and that the following problems seem to commonly arise:
There is a problem with the front and rear boards. allegedly due to cheap components, which Whirlpool know all about.
A belief that Whirlpool are content for the problem to continue, as the repair part of the business with its extortionately-priced parts make them an awful lot of money. And that it is so difficult to get independent tradesmen to repair these machines as the parts are only supplied by Whirlpool who control the price accordingly - a 'fixed' market.
That the customer service department at Whirlpool are expert in ensuring the customer experience is thoroughly demoralising.
Looking back on the events of the past few days, it surprises me that Whirlpool seemingly care so little for their reputation, such is the desire to make even greater profits. One would have thought that they would have wanted to protect their brand rather more than this; the phrase 'know the price of everything and the value of nothing' never appeared more apt.
Because of this I thought I'd set up this blog, so that if people googled 'Whirlpool, Fridge Freezer, and then even repair then they would come to my little blog and see how Whirlpool treat its customers. I'm not in the business of advising anyone what products to buy or not; all I would say is that I would never buy anything from Whirlpool ever again, such is my disgust at the way they have treated me. If that means that even one customer anywhere in the world decides not to buy a Whirlpool product then the two hours setting up this blog and typing this report has been very worthwhile!
I'll update as I find out more from HM2.