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Your most amusing stories about washing machine repairs are wanted please, and each of your tales are to be collated by Martin for possible publication (hopefully) into a book published by UKW.
Of course we all encounter, almost daily, shall we say… some of life’s more colourful characters. 😉 Well now these stories are going to get drawn together we hope in the one place which may well give us all a good laugh and an interesting read even if it isn’t published in book form. It has to be worth a go and all contributors will get their name (if they want) attributed to their contribution/s to this project.
I think it’s a cracking idea and it means that Martin will be spending a LOT of time collating it all so please bear with him. It may also be great if we can get it published, show the other side of customer service for a change!
Please contact Martin by ‘PM ONLY’ for more details on this, and I’m sure we could all donate at least a story or two. 😆
K.
Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
I think Martin has enough to go on under the subject of ‘why do customers’ 😀 😀 😈
That must take at least one chapter
OT
Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
kwatt wrote:I think it’s a cracking idea and it means that Martin will be spending a LOT of time collating it all so please bear with him.
The ‘Parrot in the Fridge’ story is exactly what I am after and surely you folks out there can ‘top’ that 🙂 ……..I have to say at this stage, a bit of a slow response to the request in general, but early days so far 8)
Another example to kick start your enthusiasm for the project perhaps 😉 : –
Engineer calls to a machine under guarantee, to discover the problem due to a Bra Wire caught between the tub and drum. Explains to customer that Bra wires caught in machine are not covered by warrantee and therefore are fully chargeable…Customer: “Cannot be possible, I don’t wear wired bra’s, it must be part of the drum breaking up or something!” Engineer: I can assure you it is a bra wire caught inside and unless you pay me to remove it I am leaving right now!”…Customer refuses the diagnosis and engineer goes without comment.
Later that day the phone rings at the office, its ‘The Husband’ and sounding very apologetic, explains that he firmly agrees with the engineers diagnosis, furthermore agreeing to pay at least DOUBLE the cost to get him back and remove the offending article A.S.A.P !!!!
It transpired that the ‘wife’ was a ‘Long Haul’ Air Stewardess and whilst she was flying somewhere 1,000’s of miles away from home, HE was having ‘extra terrestial activities’ back home, AND allowing HIS ‘GUEST’ the use of the washing machine as well 😉 😉
The bra wire was removed successfully as well as the husband when the truth emerged a short while later 😯
Now if you possibly could let me have your stories (DO NOT POST THEM HERE, but please ‘pm’ me 😛Thanks
Martin
Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
Well this thread seems to have died a death I must say 🙁
Ah well ! Not to be discouraged here’s another tale from my experiences over the years: –
Once upon a time long, long ago (1971 actually) I was ‘Field trainer/supervisor’ for BDA Hotpoint Ltd and our depot was based in Reading. Outside the office building there was usually a couple of Transit vans backed up against the wall (spare vans).
One day one of my ‘engineers’ limped into the office with a duff van and I gave him one of these spare vans and away he went. It was early evening so I went home and would sort his faulty van in the morning.
The next morning I found the police had cordonned off the entire trading estate (including The Reading Evening Post works) and hundreds of people were walking about in total frustration and confusion. I asked a policeman what the problem was, he said there was a ‘Bomb Scare’ somewhere near to the ‘Hotpoint Building’ and for everyones safety they shut the whole estate!!!
2 hours later the Army Bomb Disposal Team shot by, sirens blaring. Another half hour later they left and declared the area safe and everyone was allowed to their respective workplaces. As I approached the Hotpoint building, 3 burly policemen, arms folded, clicking their heels 🙂 were standing next to one of the spare vans.
“Do you work here sir?” they asked. “Yes!”, I cowered. “Who is responsible for the vehicles parked here sir?”….Quick as a flash I replied “George Morris the Manager, why, what’s up?”….”It appears sir that someone left a box of fridge thermostats and several absorpsion fridge heating elements ( 😆 they looked like sticks of dynamite :lol:) UNDER THIS VAN!!!!”
It appears the previous evening in my haste to set up my engineer with a spare van, I didn’t transfer all the boxes of spares over 😳
MartinRe: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
Oh we get them..
This mornign a call comes through for a dead cooker hood and the customer informs me that we called there before and never returned with spares, in 2000! Apparently it’s our fault that nothing happened for 4 years and that we never returned, in fact according to the customer the engineer never bothered to order up any spares needed.
Really, the Care In The Community program has a lot to answer for! 😆
K.
Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
Here is one straight of the press I had an after 4.15 call booked to fit a Rangemaster Element,fan mtr and toc ,I arrive at 5.15 as she opens the door I think something smells nice ,Then i think oh s**t ,She says I gave up on you so cooked dinner ! oven red hot,All the gas burners ablaze all the family stuffing there dinner down ,I thought you would have knocked off at five she says ,so am going back late next week as that is the only late slot I have left .
Some people 🙄Lawrence
Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
Could be in the old “free estimates” category, but here goes.
Call booked in last week to a Hoover vented drier no heat.
As I got there she says the phrase that grates ” I only want to know if its worth repairing”Up here its a no call out charge area, but deffo charging for estimates and they are told on the phone if theres any doubt.
So I carried on knowing that it’s a £15 local estimate.
Twenty minutes later she’s informed that the stat has gone and the price. Declined repair so she is charged £15.
Then I get the “WHY?”
She gets out Yellow pages and says” look it says free estimates” and points to the ad. I say “no it says no call out charges” and do the same.
Her husband duly pays up (not a peep from him…..who’s wearing the pants springs to mind)
So I called back to the office to warn of the impending chav on the warpath.
Ten minutes later I get a call back. Yes, they rang accused us of false advertising 🙄 and telling us that we should advertise the fact that we don’t do free estimates. To which she was told ” But we dont do toast or sell jam either, should we put that in!” :rotfl:Tony C
Okay, all the Smeg guys will roll laughing at this as they’ve probably had it a hundred times, but maybe not just so funny…
Goes to a customer in Greenock and diagnoses a timer fault on the DW so, since it was an odd one it was duly ordered. A couple of weeks or so goes by, bearing in mind it’s August and Italy is on holiday and we get the timer in. Finally we get the customer and get a call booked to fit it.
Engineer duly calls, PM as requested albeit 5.15pm and she goes absolutely ape at the engineer! She starts screaming at the poor lad and giving him dog’s abuse about how this is a high quality appliance and it’s HIS fault that the timer took so long and why she couldn’t get a specific call time etc. etc.
So after about five minutes of this the poor engineer picks up his toolbox and the timer as he still hadn’t even gotten into the house and starts to leave. She goes utterly wild. The engineer explains that he is not out to take abuse an that if the customer wants the machine fixed just to let him do his job, of course she didn’t calm down so he walked fearing she was going to get physical at any moment.
He calls me and I agreed that was fine, I won’t ask the guys to do or put up with anything I wouldn’t accept from a customer.
So, next day, I gets onto the office wondering when she’d phone and start on me but shockingly it didn’t happen. Instead I had a message on the answering machine from a very sheepish woman that wanted her dishwasher repaired offering profuse apologies to the engineer that called the previous evening and admitting that she had “over-reacted”.
She’ll get it fixed eventually. 😉
You always get your own back! :rotfl:
K.
We had a phone call the other day, some woman saying her BI double oven not working at all, she has checked the manual (instruction book) out and tried all it recommended. It would not go, no grill, no fan, nothing zilch. Wendy asked if it was on automatic timer, her reply was no it is not, definitely not, no way. Wendy politely asked to go and check just in case and asked her to let us know what happens, the customer said she was at work and would go home straight away and check. The customer duly phoned back and said yes the oven was on automatic and she could not understand how this could be, her husband had last used it and he had not touched anything he should not have.
The customer said she it had cost her on lost time at work but at least the oven is now working, Wendy replied it would have cost you more if we had come and just pushed a button in to which she replied oh I agree and thank you for your help I will use your company again.
We have this occurring a lot of the time with ovens.
Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
Called on a guy in the mid 80’s at the start of the hole in the ozone warnings. Complaint of Fridge Freezer not cold.
I arrive to find it running, I open the door of the freezer section to find the evaporator coverd in scratches and scars as well as 3 or 4 puncture marks. It was like something out of Psycho, so I ask the guy when did he last defrost it, and he answered “yesterday, and it hasn’t worked since”. So I shows him the damage which he immediately denies was due to the defrosting method.
When I produce a bill, he then tells me it is under guarantee, and he will be suing Zanussi for his distress as their product has caused untold environmental damage. The best bit was, he did contact customer care and demanded a refund of my call-out as well as a replacement product using the threat that he was going to report Zanussi to the national press.
Don’t you just love em!!
Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
Good Lord!…you all seem to have awakened to this thread, thanks guys, good on ya 🙂
Suitably encouraged by your enthusiasm, here is another from my vast experiences in this bl**dy funny trade 😆
I get a call from a ‘Research Centre’ in Compton, Berkshire. They have a Hotpoint W/m not spinning, give me instructions to ask for Lab No 4, where the errant machine is located. I get there, sign in, receive a lapel badge and am directed to the ‘lab’.
At the lab they say that I must ‘strip off all my clothes, take a shower and put on special protective clothing. 😕 I asked “What about my toolbox, does that need to come with me into the shower?” 😯 …”Aah no they reply”, slightly puzzled at the problem over my toolbox, “We will just wrap it in a protective film for you to take it into the lab after you have showered!”
I take a shower, in the changing room there are various sizes of new ‘lab clothing’ to change into, from underpants to wellington boots and ‘hairnets’ (obligatory). I sort out a full set of ‘gear’ then enter the lab, shortly afterwards they reunite me with my toolbox wrapped tightly in what appears to be cling film. 🙄 They show me to the Hotpoint WM series which stands on a pedestal with its own drain tray and RCD power supply.
After unwrapping my toolbox and lifting the lid of the m/c, I quickly diagnose it wants new motor brushes. I then proceed to the exit and am confronted by yet another member of staff. “Just popping to my van to get a pair of brushes!” I tell him………….”In that case you will need to take yet another shower and change into your outdoor clothes, then on your return, hand me the brushes, then take a shower and put on new lab clothing….!”
I went through this lengthy process again, the whole job took me all morning to complete. I invoiced them around £195 for my troubles and they paid up within a couple of days, however a month or two later they are back on the phone to me saying they have another machine in another lab that has broken down………….Against all my principles of good customer relations and good business ethics, I tell them to **** ***! and get someone else to take a shower, not me pal!!!!!!!!! 👿
Martin
Re: Amusing Ancedotes & Other Tales
Had a call recently to a Hoover ac110 in a local pub.
Arrives at the bar 🙂 😆 😥 to be told “The machine is upstairs in the staff loo’s”
Went up to find ac110 full of water with a cooked pump motor. Emptied a length of chain 😯 from the chamber fited a new pump motor, had a laugh about the chain (apparently a ‘toy’ of the chefs) and left.
That evening get an irate landlord / manager on the phone saying that the machine had the same fault after I left.
Returned next day, same barman slightly red faced.
“Er sorry, you were meant to go to the flat upstairs” so off I go to the managers flat where there is another ac110 with a……..blocked, cooked pump.
Ah well, another day another identical bill 😉Tony C
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