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Whirlpool/D&G taken to task by trading standards
Some of you may remember the arguments I had with Whirlpool at about page 18 onwards with regard to the misselling of their D&G policies – it seems I was right and that Whirlpool/D&G are in the process of changing what they tell their customers, only after pressure being applied by Trading Standards. I’ve now had an update from Croydon Trading Standards, who deal with Whirlpool – Merton Council deal with D&G:
‘I am now in a position to give you a final update in relation to your referral to me concerning Whirlpool/D&G Policy.
Under the new Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, they require traders not to omit or hide information, which the average consumer needs to make an informed choice.
My colleague at Merton is in talks with D&G for them to change their policy and call center wording so that they comply with these regulations with regards to the selling of their policies. I am afraid I cannot go into too much detail with you as the final wording has not yet been agreed but please be assured that the matter will be dealt with by all parties to a satisfactory conclusion’.
Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention’.
As I said all along, it wasn’t about the money for me and hopefully I’ve been true to my word – I feel vindicated that Whirlpool will have to change their ways to comply with the law, and that’s all the satisfaction I need.
I will ask to be advised of the revised wording when agreed and will post it on here.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
News update on my previous complaint about Whirlpool’s policy on selling extended warranties:
My MP got on to the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) to look into the matter and they have no replied favourably, indicating that the points I raised were covered by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and The Supply of Extended Warranties on Domestic Electrical Goods Order 2005.
They advised me to take matters up again with Trading Standards and this I have done.
So I will keep the pressure up to try and make Whirlpool change this unfair practice, and will keep this site informed as and when I hear anything further.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
kwatt wrote:Well AV I wish you luck as, to be honest, it’d do us all a favour if these sorts of policies were not allowed to be sold in that way.
I’ve no idea what the experience is like from DAG or any of the others that offer this service but I have heard a few horror stories about people being frightened into taking out these polices.
I accept that in some cases you’d win and that the insurer is hoping for renewals or to sell you another policy but, from what I’m told, a lot of people would have been better off just to call the local repairer. Trouble is, you call up what you think is the manufacturer’s service helpline and get someone trying to sell you an insurance policy.
It hurts local businesses and it doesn’t do the owners a favour really.
People make money out it though. :rolls:
K.
Thanks kwatt. But as I’ve said, it isn’t wishing good luck for me, as my time has been and gone – it’s hopefully good luck for others, as I’ve made plain in an e-mail I’ve just fired off to Whirlpool, in the following terms:
Dear Ms Gill,
I am rather surprised that you have not yet come back to me following the message I left with one of your staff last Friday, given you invited me to ring you in your letter of 18 February 2009. I therefore look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
To keep you in the picture, I received a response from my MP today. He tells me he has made representations to the Minister for Consumer Affairs and has suggested I complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This I will do and hopefully they will be in touch with you in due course.
And I have, as I promised I would, posted this news on the numerous websites I post on, so as to keep my story in the news whilst it is still topical. I trust you have no difficulties with this, since I am careful to simply repeat the facts and to say nothing that is untrue – as you will see from my blog, which is entirely representative of what I have posted. I intend to keep repeating my message and asking that either you are forced to act within existing law, if as I suspect, your organisation miss-sells insurance policies by not disclosing all material facts at the point of sale – or, failing that, campaign for a change in the law to stop what I regard as a very unfair, to say the least, working practice.
Suffice to say the contents of this message will also be posted far and wide. (end)
And of course, you’re quite right about using local repairers although one is a bit like a rabbit in the headlights when forced into a situation like this. Nobody local was prepared to touch frost-free fridges of this type, so I was told when I rang up a number of them – the reason they gave was that the manufacturers are so keen on prices there’s little in the job for them. I have no idea whether that is true as I’m sadly ignorant of Business Economics in the freezer repair industry, but that’s what was said.
Anyway I echo your sentiments about the selling of these insurance policies; if they are to be sold though they should be properly regulated.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Martin wrote:Another_victim epitomises the dilemma many are faced with when their expensive 3 plus year old product fails and requires repair or replacement. And by the same token having read the reams of posts since he first posted his blog here, typifies someone that tried to beat the system and failed.
His punt at stumping up £249 to get his fridge fixed blew back on him and rightly so IMHO. So aggrieved is he now that he’s even complained to his MP for goodness sake?
So my friend the choice is clear, nice try, but the choice you’re left with now pay £411 to fix it or go buy something else in the hope it won’t break down sometime soon?
The brutal truth dawns…..Life’s tough ain’t it? 😉
Don’t let the facts get in the way Martin! It would help if you had read what had been said before commenting, then perhaps you might have commented differently.
Despite what you say I’m not faced with any choice at all. This is because I gave up last week on Whirlpool honouring their commitment to complete the repairs for the original £249 cost of insurance, as I have already bought a new machine! It arrived last Saturday and is working fine thank you very much. So far at least!
The only complaint I am taking forward is that Whirlpool and their agents D&G failed to make me aware at the time I purchased the insurance that the limit was £350. Obviously I’m unhappy about a number of things Whirlpool both did and didn’t do but in terms of taking things forward there’s just this single issue. Don’t you think it is material and that they should mention this figure at the point of sale, since they allude to it? My MP seems to think I have an arguable point, since he’s made representations to the Minister for Consumer Affairs, so I’ve heard tonight.
So please don’t imply I’m a fly boy or such like who has tried to beat the system – I didn’t even know what the system was before getting involved in this, as I’ve never taken out an extended warranty before in my life. But remember, I took out a policy that Whirlpool were willing to sell me (and of which they kept crucial details back, that weren’t even in the terms and conditions when I received the policy document). By including a repair that was not necessary (the ice maker motor was working perectly well beforehand) they took me over their hidden limit. When I complained, they said they would do the repairs for the £249 cost of insurance but then reneged on this. I think I have every reason for a damned good moan in the circumstances.
And you miss the point completely about my complaint to my MP. I do not want, nor expect anything personally out of this, as anyone reading my recent posts would realise.
My only hope is that Whirlpool can be stopped from indulging in this sharp practice, which may well be illegal in consumer law (hopefully the Minister will clarify this) and if this is so, it will be of help to the next mug punter who comes along – not me.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
kwatt wrote:I’ve sorta stayed away from this because I was liable to say something that a lot of people would love to hang me from a lamp post for saying and they rest would think was just common sense. But as I can’t seem to keep my gob shut.
Now, before I go on, anyone here will gladly tell you that Whirlpool and I haven’t exactly been the best of friends over the years and with some in Whirlpool they probably burn my effigy or throw darts at a photo of me on a regular basis. With that in mind…
I haven’t read it all as it’s a bit of a saga really.
I don’t think that Whirlpool are any better or, any worse, than much of any of the American style fridge freezers in the price range that they are in.
I do think that a lot of the parts are overpriced.
I don’t think that you can reasonably expect that they perform fault free for many years given the purchase price in relation to what I would consider to be a quality side by side fridge freezer. And, also given the price, I wouldn’t expect exemplary customer service either.
The insurance from DAG was refused with good reason although I can totally understand why you wouldn’t see that. Basically a lot of people will call in with faults that they already know will exceed the limits, often they are advised to do so. The protocols that you’ve experienced are an attempt to try to stop people from, shall we say, taking advantage of the system.
But really that’s pretty much irrelevant, all insurers employ a similar model for such policies so it’s just the norm.
I can’t help but think however that you are perhaps being a little unreasonable here though. I mean, if I crash my car then I’m not liable to find an insurer that will pay for, let’s say, £3000 worth of damage for a policy that I pay £400 are they? So I have to ask, why do you think that the insurer should pay out any old amount?
Next point, how is the insurer to know what the cost will be until the machine is looked at?
Next point, did you ask for a T&C before you took the policy over the phone? Most of these policies are taken over the phone from DAG’s call centre and put into force immediately in order to try to deliver the customer a fix as quickly as possible. Most times it works.
I’m not a fan of these sorts of schemes where the customer (you in this case) is “encouraged” to take one of these policies in the hope of a cheap (er) fix for the problem. In fact, it could even be said I don’t like them and that I think that they are perhaps not the best option.
It also annoys me that a lot of calls are automatically routed to these call centres but, that’s life these days. I’d suggest people try to phone the local repairers directly for advice and help, they know more about the machines than someone sat in a call centre with no technical knowledge.
But I hope you didn’t buy another cheap fridge freezer.
I really hope you didn’t buy one of these if you didn’t like the Whirlpool one…
Admiral
Maytag (cheap range)
Admiral (cheap range)
Smeg (anything recent)
Caple
Baumatic
Hotpoint
Ariston
Indesit
Ignis
BauknechtAs they’re all gonna be a Whirlpool pretty much.
If you want to avoid the Koreans things get even tougher, under £1000 at the very least, you’ll be left with Beko as a choice.
If however you want something decent with ice and water and, you want an American fridge freezer then you’re looking at lower end GE machines or upwards of £2000 to get a real one.
The Whirlpool Italian ones and the Korean ones are half that, or lower.
Now, see what you’ve done? I’ll probably be struck down for sticking up for Whirlpool to an extent but, really I’m not.
If people want cheap cr4p or ludicrously low prices, manufacturers will manufacture cheap cr4p and take your money quite happily. You have to then live with that.
K.
Hi kwatt,
D&G refused the insurance with good reason because my claim exceeded their pre-determined limit. they were quite right in doing this. My beef is not with them.
Which is why my complaint, taken forward, concentrates on just one thing. The fact Whirlpool did not mention this £350 limit at the point of sale. It is a material fact, very material many would argue. Why don’t they mention it/ Well I and others will have our cynical viewpoint but only Whirlpool wil know the reason.
I didn’t ask for the T&C on the phone; I was told them by the operator – or rather, I was told the T&C they wanted to tell me – but not perhaps the most important one of them all.
Indeed when I examined the T&C on the policy document the £350 limit wasn’t even mentioned there! You have to ask why – it should be.
Everything stemmd from this; i won’t repeat my story except to say that had I been told what I should have been at the time I would have done then exactly what I ended up doing a month later – buy another appliance (not with them!). What it ‘cost’ me was a month back in 1932 as opposed to hard cash, but annoying nonetheless because it was all so unnecessary. When you add in the duplicitous behaviour of some of the Whirlpool staff this just adds to the heady mix of frustration.
It’s all in the past now in so much I’ve got a new appliance and I’ve thrown a few grenades here and there to the organisations I’ve mentioned, and am willing to follow them up as necessary to make the point that they shouldn’t be allowed to trade in such an underhand way. Let’s say it’s my way of putting a little back in the same way that many people on this board with technical expertise help out those like myself who have none.
The point I made to Whirlpool several weeks ago was that I could not believe they were going to carry on like this for £65, after their representative led me to believe this was how the complaint would be settled, and that I would make sure that the decision would cost them a lot more than that, even if it were only in admin time, never mind any future lost sales. I think I’m probably well in front on that measure and I think I’m entitled to a brief smile after all the grief I’ve experienced. It’s not as if I didn’t warn them.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
cockney steve wrote:A V I applaud your perseverance.
you should seriously consider getting a local radio/tv repairer to “rework” these boards.
it is a shocking waste to landfill a mechanically sound appliance , simply because £5 worth of components are substandard in the electronics.
At least, they appear to be standard types and values of components. Many washers use a custom-programmed chip and they can ransom you for the IP (Intellectual Property)
Please note your website is incomplete in your last post, and in your earlier post, it links to “blogger” and says “doesn’t exist”YOU@VE BEEN TAKEN DOWN.
Thanks Cockney Steve,The site is still there; I know a few friends have had problems getting through (I don’t know why) but they do eventually.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
And for good measure, I’ve sent similar messages to BBC Watchdog, Tonight (Trevor McDonald), Tony Hetherington of the Mail on Sunday, Martyn Lewis (moneysavingexpert.com) and Croydon Trading Standards.
I’ve copied Whirlpool into everything I can.
It’s all completely liberating. When I needed them to repair my appliance they had the power. Now I have bought a new machine they have none, and I can do as I promised last week – trash Whirlpool’s name the best I can. And the beauty is – it’s all true and I have the moral high ground as I don’t want anything from them in return – other than for them to change their practices, which hopefully will benefit others, in time.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
An update – I written to my MP and have copied Julie Gill (Whirlpool’s Contact Centre manager) into this:
Dear Ms Gill,
Thank you for your letter of 18 February 2009. I tried to ring you on Friday but unfortunately you were not in the office. I asked you ring me on either (numbers withheld) at your earliest opportunity. I look forward to hearing from you in due course, when we can hopefully discuss the conduct of your staff during this sorry process.
For your information, now my new side-by-side fridge freezer is up and running (it was delivered yesterday) I can now stop worrying about being without one of life’s essentials and turn my attention instead to highlighting your treatment of me to a wider audience. If I want one thing from this episode it is for your company to be forced to change your script to bring to the attention to customers the £350 limit of the insurance policy – at the point of sale.
In the meantime, I should let you know I have written to my MP, James Purnell today in the terms set out below. I would be grateful if you could bring this message to the attention of Mr Conte, as I am sure he would want to be kept informed of developments.
‘Dear Mr Purnell,
I would ask you to look at what I believe to be a case of insurance mis-selling, albeit not of the usual variety.
This concerns the selling of insurance to cover one against repairs to household appliances. The company involved is Whirlpool (UK) Ltd and the linked insurance is Domestic and General Ltd.
I will try and keep the details to a bare minimum at this stage and just supply you with the highlights so you can get a general feel for the problem which I wish to bring to your attention. However fuller details can be found in my blog, at http://whirlpoolfridgefreezer repair disaster.blogspot.com
In summary, I telephoned Whirlpool in January and after speaking to them took out an annual insurance policy at a cost of £249. This covered me against the cost of repairs and labour on my American-style fridge freezer. Whilst I was told, in line with the script followed by Whirlpool’s staff, that if the cost of repairing the machine was uneconomic then the policy would be cancelled and the premiums refunded, I was not told what this meant in practice. Namely, that the cost of the initial repair had to be £350 or less.
Suffice to say as the cost of repairs were £411 the policy was duly cancelled.
When I questioned this with Whirlpool, it was only then that I was told of the £350 limit, that is, that was what the company and/or its insurer meant by the term ‘beyond uneconomic repair’.
So to be clear on this, anyone paying what is, by definition an insurance premium of £249 can only expect, at most, to get an initial repair of up to £350. Not much of a deal there, I would have thought and I don’t imagine too many would have taken out such a policy in those circumstances if the full details had been explained.
Now can I be clear about what my purpose is in writing to you. I do not seek financial compensation – I do not want anything – for me. I simply want to highlight what seems to me to be a practice that is wholly wrong, in that the company deliberately holds back perhaps the most important piece of information the consumer needs before he/she can make an informed decision to purchase.
I have brought this matter up with Whirlpool who say, and I quote’ It would be absolutely impossible to explain all terms and conditions over the telephone and to ensure all information given is correct terms and conditions are issued in writing so a customer can read them, fully understand and ensure that the terms and conditions meet all their requirements and if not cancel within a 14 day period’. Whilst the grammar is not perfect you can get the gist.
BuT I do not for one moment think this is a reasonable response – it only takes an additional sentence after all, as they know full well what the limit is. Indeed, when I Later received and reviewed the policy I noted it did not give details of the £350 limit – so the customer could not know in advance what the limit was.
My point is simply this. The company should be forced to make all relevant terms and conditions clear at the point of sale so that consumers can make an informed decision at that stage as to whether they wish to proceed with the purchase. In particular, this £350 limit.
To repeat, and for the avoidance of any doubt – I am not after anything for myself – all I have lost from the process has been time and frustration, oh and that not insubstantial matter of being without a workable fridge freezer for a period, because I have been led a song and dance by the company. However, I would want to try and help others from going through the misery I have, just because Whirlpool do not, for their own reasons, make it clear at the point of sale what the relevant terms and conditions are.
I have written to the local Trading Standards, various journalists and the BBC Watchdog programme in similar terms and hope that you may be able to use your considerable influence to bring this sharp practice to an end by getting the company to modify its script when selling policies to unwitting consumers at a time when they are perhaps at their most vulnerable.
Failing that I would appreciate if you could pass this matter on to the government department responsible for regulating the sale of such policies and advise me of contact details of the relevant Ombudsman.
If it is of help the company can be contacted at PO Box 45, 209 Purley Way, Croydon CR9 4RY and the managing Director is a Mr P Conte.
And finally, I have further documentation in terms of letters/e-mail than can be made available to you if required.
Yours faithfully
(Another_Victim)Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
Whirlpool are quite an outfit. I received a half-garbled reply from them this afternoon, full of inaccuracies and/or misleading statements. But what made the reply so special was that it was sent by one of the very people who I had complained about!
It rather beggars belief that Whirlpool’s customer care section/complaints team is really not that much better or different than lets say Alf The Plumber who operates out of a rough council house on the other side of town.
Suffice to say I’ve bounced it right back to the Customer Care Manager, and will update you on this sorry saga as events unfold.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
raceboy wrote:Good luck ‘Another Victim’, great write up.
I had a close call with the small print on a D&G ‘warrenty’
They sent me a quote for a warrenty on my Whirlpool, it actually looked like not a bad deal, I think it was about £80 for a year but on reading the small print it stated that ‘American Style’ fridge/freezers weren’t actually covered! 😕
As this is what it was s’posed to cover I gave them a call and the call centre numpty that I got was a right nob!
I’d actually bought the cover and the small print was only issued after buying the policy so I sharply cancelled it and made a complaint to the call centre manager.
Obviously nothing came of this but I just know if I’d try to claim, which being a whirlpool was inevitable they would have run a mile from paying out. :rolls:Currently living without an ice/water dispenser and a clicking noise until I redo my kitchen then it’s gamble time on which manufacturer to go with, reading the stories on here they all have issues unless you pay thousands and even then it’s not a 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} certainty of quality. 😯
Thanks raceboy. As I have still not received satisfaction from Whirlpool I have written the following letter to Paula Conti, the MD of Whirlpool (UK), which I will send shortly:
I understand that you are the Managing Director of Whirlpool (UK). I am sure that you are always grateful to receive genuine customer feedback, good or bad, as it is important for the reputation of your brand that the customer experience is an enjoyable one. However, where not, any reputable business will usually attempt to ascertain what reasonable steps can be taken to correct customers’ perception of poor treatment and try to establish what lessons can be learned for the future, so as to prevent a re-occurrence.
In short I have two complaints to make, both of which result from the breakdown of a Whirlpool side-by-side fridge freezer that I purchased little over 3 years ago. A problem that, I am now told by your staff, is beyond economic repair.
My first complaint is in relation to what I would describe as the mis-selling of an insurance policy by your staff, full details of which are contained within a blog I set up for the purpose of recording and publicising my treatment at the hands of your company. The relevant address is: http://whirlpoolfridgefreezerdisaster.blogspot.com and you will find the entire contents of my original message reproduced at the end of this letter.
My second complaint is in regard to the handling of my case by your staff, in particular your call centre assistants xx and xx and a line manager, xx. My blog article covers my initial contact with your call centre and for information purposes Mr xx took my original call and Mr xx is identifiable as HM2. HM stands for the term ‘Helpful Man’; this of course is a euphemism, as Mr xx was, in my opinion, anything but.
Specifically, I would have thought it standard procedure that an organisation of your size and stature would have a complaints handling policy of some description. If so, I would suggest some refresher training is appropriate for the three members of staff mentioned, as all seem to be blissfully unaware of any such procedures or indeed standards of service that one would expect as the norm at a major company such as yours.
For example, and despite my best efforts, it has not been possible to have my verbal complaints formally registered as such. In addition, staff were unwilling, as a general rule, to pass the call up the line to a supervisor when requested. Furthermore, staff do not, as a matter of course, ring back to report on progress despite promising to do so and Ms Tyrell, with one exception, has been unwilling to speak directly to me, preferring instead to pass messages on via colleagues.
I think it is difficult to imagine the extent of the utter frustration felt unless one had been through the gruelling process of dealing with your customer service department. I can only suggest you conduct some kind of mystery shopper exercise if you doubt what I say is correct; either that, or listen to the tapes of all the calls. You will, or should be appalled by what you hear.
Where does all this lead us?
I have been without a fridge freezer for almost a month now and quite frankly despair of reaching an agreed outcome with your company. I had been led to believe we were about to reach an agreement on the basis of what Mr xx called a ‘reduced rate repair’, that is, at a cost equal to that of the original insurance, some £250. I even responded to this suggestion by saying that if such an offer was formally made then I would, albeit reluctantly, accept. Mr xx led me to believe over 2 weeks ago that Ms xx would authorise this; however, when Ms xx finally made contact last Friday (13th) my wife was told the price would be in the region of £315. When my wife asked if this was the price that had previously been discussed, she was wrongly told that no price had been discussed beforehand. Not so. Mr xx told me repeatedly over the last fortnight he was trying to obtain authorisation from Ms xx for repairs to be completed at a cost equal to that of the insurance.
So on the basis of being misled, my wife agreed to Ms xx suggestion; however this is not acceptable to me, for several reasons.
Firstly, you will see from my blog that I allege Whirlpool mis-sold an insurance policy to me in so much that they did not (for reasons of commercial sensitivity, according to Mr xx) advise customers about to take out an annual policy that if the cost of the original repair was £350 or more the policy would be cancelled. You tell customers the policy will be cancelled if the appliance is uneconomic to repair, that is true, but you perhaps omit the most crucial piece of information, i.e. the limit of £350. Without this information customers are unable to make an informed decision as to whether they wish to take out the insurance. Had I been told then what I know now I would not have gone through this frankly ridiculous charade and would have made alternative arrangements (and as a consequence not gone without refrigeration for the best part of a month).
Secondly, I now have little confidence in the quality of the product, even supposing a repair was made. There would seem, on the face of it, to be a very real danger that I will be in exactly the same situation in the not too distant future, such is the poor reputation you have regarding the quality of the parts you use, that is, if reports on Internet forums are to be believed.
So what happens next?
We are seemingly £65 apart; that is, the £315 (or so) that you are prepared to do the repairs for and the £250 I am prepared to pay for same. That is a very costly £65 in a number of respects, as I shall elaborate.
Costly for me, because I now face the cost of buying a new side-by-side appliance.
Costly for the environment, as I hadn’t expected my expensive Whirlpool would be destined for landfill little later than 3 years after purchase. And to think I had such faith in the quality of your brand name.
Costly for your organisation, because from this point on I will take great pleasure in trashing your brand, whenever and wherever possible. Not by spreading lies, but by merely repeating this story as often as possible. The Internet is a mighty tool in assisting in this process; the first section of my blog has already appeared in full on numerous sites and updates will surely follow. Customer feedback for me overall has been positive, which is more than what can be said for your company.
Notwithstanding the fact the appliance you sold me has been rendered useless in 3 years or so (with all the environmental consequences that will follow) I believe your company deliberately and systematically mis-sells insurance policies. Because of this I intend to copy this letter to my MP, James Purnell, the Ombudsman responsible for insurance mis-selling and the Minister in charge of this area of public policy. And, for good measure, as many of the journalists listed on the http://www.journalisted.com website, for no other reason than it will make me feel better to spread my message far and wide. As well as Watchdog, or whatever the BBC calls it these days.
This should be no more than a couple of hours work, even after copying this letter to the people in my address list; hopefully this will be a cathartic experience to offset the misery I have endured at the hands of your company. I’m sure you will recall BBC reporters in the past telling us that terrorists only have to get lucky once, well the same is true of my situation – I only have to get one reporter or media organisation interested in what I have to say to have the platform to spread my message to an even wider audience and I will have a lot of fun trying!
Note to editors (and Nicky Campbell) – I am available for photos and interviews if required.
In closing, whilst I doubt my complaint will impact on your share price in any way (the quality of the product and customer service department do this quite sufficiently) I hope the points I make regarding the selling of insurance and retraining front line staff as part of a developmental process will be helpful to you and that it makes a valuable contribution in helping Whirlpool be a more customer-focused organisation than it appears to be today.
Please feel free to contact me on any of the numbers given to your staff if you feel I can give you any further assistance in helping you improve customer service standards.
Re: Whirlpool American Fridge Freezer broken down – help!
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 http://www.whirlpoolfridgefreezerrepairdisaster.blogspot.com:
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.
