[Miraishinsei]

Re: LG / JTM Contracts Fridge Freezer repair shenanigans

Thanks for the comments so far. Since you asked, here’s a recap of the chain of events.

1. In November 2012 my (now ex) cleaner scratches my brushed steel fridge freezer doors with a scouring pad whilst cleaning. I should point out at this point there is no other damage to the appliance. While there are proprietary scratch removal systems on the market, they don’t necessarily work as well on lacquered surfaces, so I contact LG on the 10th December in the first instance to enquire as to the coating on the doors. The call handler checks, explains they are lacquered and sells me the £130 Out of Warranty repair service branded as a LG product on the LG website instead. At no point is any mention made that the fridge is no longer in active production or that there might be any difficulty obtaining the parts I need. Since the fridge is only at this point just over 2 years old I have no suspicion that it would not be in active production. It is sold as a straightforward repair. I am informed my request will be passed to JTM Contracts to take forward.

2. No response from JTM over the Christmas or New Year period so I chase them on the 10th January and an engineer is booked. This is presented to me as him coming to do the repair, so naturally I assume JTM have organised all the relevant parts to do the job.

3. First visit from JTM engineer from 0800 repair on the 14th January. While personable enough, and appearing competent, he arrives with no idea whatsoever of the nature of the repair, in a small van unable to carry the doors anyway, so naturally he can do nothing. I am later told when JTM refuse to refund me the cost of the visit this was an “assessment visit” which was required because “customers don’t know what’s wrong with their appliances”. Since I am perfectly capable of telling them both doors are scratched, it was completely unnecessary and a waste of my time.

4. After a further chasing call to both JTM and LG (since JTM appear to believe their job consists of sending an engineer out regardless of whether they can actually do the work or not, and insist I have to call LG every time), due to the size of the engineer’s van, JTM arrange for the replacement doors to be couriered to me. These arrive at random times over the next few days with no communication or tracking numbers. Fortunately I work from home, otherwise this would have been extremely inconvenient. No handles or other accessories are delivered so I assume the engineer will bring these.

5. Second visit from JTM engineer (the same engineer as initial visit). We discover on attempting to fit the “new” doors that both fridge and freezer doors are dented and not fit for purpose, so the repair cannot be taken forward. On closer inspection of the boxes they are clearly returned stock.

6. A further round of calls to JTM and LG to chase for completion of the repair. Original JTM engineer is now on holiday so a second engineer, who appears to be from a different company, is assigned. I make it clear in my call to JTM that we have had the issue with the dented doors and that the engineer must check the doors before arrival, in order not to waste my time or theirs. I am assured this will occur.

7. Third JTM engineer visit, which was completely unacceptable on a number of levels.
The engineer had not checked the doors prior to the visit as explicitly requested.
When I attempted to check the doors (which of course involves removing the plastic film so you can see the brushed steel) the engineer attempted to demand I not do this.
When I found an initial dent, the engineer tried to persuade me it wouldn’t matter. As it happens that door was more severely dented elsewhere so I would have had to reject it anyway.
On initial inspection outside, the doors appeared to be OK, but then the engineer confessed he had no idea how to remove the handle on the old doors and replace it on the new doors. When I told him to stop work and went out of the kitchen to telephone LG and try to get him some kind of technical help, he ignored the request to stop work, attempted to force the handle off and in doing so broke the end of the handle, both plastic and metal parts.
At this point we both noticed two dents on the doors so I told him to stop work since he could not fit the doors anyway. To be quite honest I was thankful when he left and genuinely shocked that JTM would send someone who didn’t know how to do the job in hand, and had no repair or installation instructions whatsoever. In addition the engineer claimed that new handles should have been ordered to carry out the repair. If that is indeed the case, there was a failure to order the correct parts in addition to the other failures of this visit.

8. After yet another round of chasing phone calls, the original JTM engineer is back from holiday, so I decide to give JTM one final chance to get it right. During these phone calls I ask the question why I have been sent 4 doors, and all 4 doors have been dented. No-one has a satisfactory explanation (one enterprising soul suggested it was the fault of Heathrow!) and again I am assured that I am being sent fresh stock and they have no idea why this is happening. Again no mention is made that the fridge freezer is no longer in production.

9. More random unannounced courier visits deliver me a new set of handles to replace the ones the JTM engineer broke (N.B. fitting these is non trivial as they have to be fitted from the inside of the doors before the door seals etc. go on) and, finally, a non-dented freezer door. All that is outstanding is a non-dented fridge door, so I am finally hopeful the repair will be completed.

10. Again 2 weeks radio silence from JTM so I chase the missing door with a phone call. They say they will get on with it. Instead, I receive a phone call from Richard at LG customer support saying JTM have rejected the repair as the appliance was “beyond economical repair”. When I explain all I am missing is one door he agrees to investigate, and calls me back a couple of days later explaining that the fridge freezer is no longer made. He is not able to offer an explanation why I was offered a repair that was not feasible in the first place. He agrees that this whole saga is appalling, and I begin the escalation process.

11. After some chasing, I receive an email saying that LG are looking into the possibility of providing a replacement fridge, and in due course I am called by LG Customer Services to say this is the resolution that they are offering. I am given the model number, and we check that it will meet the purpose, including fitting where the old fridge went. The whole call was clearly couched as an offer which I was happy to accept, since it did resolve the issue of the broken handle, as well as the effective equivalent of the repair. I was happy with this outcome and believed the whole issue was resolved.

12. After more time has passed, I send a chasing email enquiring on delivery times, to be told that LG have arbitrarily rescinded their offer of compensation. This has led to the current chain of emails, where they attempted to claim they had “found” the final door (probably the dented one the third and final engineer took back with him), then offered me a refund less than the initial outlay (headdesk) and now are reluctantly offering a full refund.

The escalation team seem completely disinterested, only respond when prodded, and honestly, I can understand why they might feel a replacement product is excessive, but you don’t offer it then change your mind! That just makes LG look even more shambolic.

From an outside perspective, it does seem really odd that they appear to be checking dented doors back in stock. I could vaguely understand keeping them in case someone had a repair that was preventing the fridge working and were therefore desperate, but surely you’d then mark them up as damaged stock?

Whatever the outcome, I’ll be avoiding LG and other companies serviced by JTM contracts in the future. If nothing else and disregarding the incompetent engineer, their national coverage is anything but – I live in the Welsh Marches near to Ludlow and the engineers were coming from Stoke on Trent and Birmingham.

I guess it’s a folorn hope that any trade members can do LG repairs and are more local to me? (For future reference, not for the door shenanigans, fear not). I have checked the database and there doesn’t seem to be, but just in case…

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