For more than eight decades, Miele has been in the business of manufacturing commercial laundry machines backed up by excellent after-sales service. Long before the final order is placed, Miele Professional is frequently the first port of call and the obvious choice for potential customers.
Before washer-extractors, tumble dryers or flatwork ironers are ordered, Miele offers in-depth pre-sales advice, carefully analysing requirements and carrying out feasibility studies. Miele field staff and Professional dealers are experienced and highly competent business partners, whose services range from detailed planning of laundry installations, including the necessary blueprints, to arranging finance. Once machines have been delivered and installed, laundry staff is given thorough on-the-product training. Miele’s service does not stop, though, once machines have been installed and commissioned. Alongside the statutory warranty, customers are able to take out additional preventative inspection or comprehensive maintenance coverage on Miele professional machines. Both contracts ensure that machines are carefully inspected once a year. In the latter case, components are replaced free of charge where necessary. Part and parcel of this package of services is an annual safety check which, in Germany, is mandatory for commercially used machines. Miele oversees deadlines and arranges for the inspections to be carried out when they are due.
Extensive stocks of spare parts on board Miele service vans, carefully selected to suit a technician’s specific field of specialisation, ensure first-time fixes in virtually all cases. Should the required part not be on hand, it is dispatched overnight and the repair completed the following morning. In addition to this, field engineers are backed up by Central Spares at the main G¼tersloh plant which stocks no less than 56,000 items, or by distributed warehouses closer to the customer. Parts essential to the proper functioning of Miele machines are available for at least 15 years from when production of a model is discontinued.
Customers are extremely satisfied with this level of service. In 2003, Miele after-sales service achieved pole position yet again in the “Kundenmonitor Deutschland”, a customer satisfaction survey carried out in Germany. Miele has topped this league table ever since the survey was first launched in 1992. Almost 30,000 customers were interviewed and the prompt execution of service work, accomplished trouble-shooting and Miele service technicians’ expertise received special praise.
