I am the owner of an Indesit washer/dryer, which started to make
a ‘clicking’ noise on the dryer cycle. It still worked,
but thought I’d better get it checked out, so called Merloni’s
own Service
Direct a “national network qualified engineers”. “Whatever
your service or repair needs, you can be sure that Service Direct
will address them quickly and efficiently” (as they state
on their website),
“we guarantee a fast and efficient service”.
A service call was organised for 03 June. I work full time, so
had to take a day off. On 3rd, Merloni phoned to say were cancelling
the appointment, and they’d rearranged one for the next
day. So I took another day holiday on 4th, only to be phoned again
on 4th & told that appointment was also cancelled.
I then requested a Saturday appointment, and was informed that
I would be called when one was available. I waited. And while
I was waiting, on 6th June, I wrote an email to the service department
of Merloni complaining about the situation and asked for their
help to resolve it. I’ve never had a reply.
It took a lot of telephone calls over the next couple of weeks
to actually try and arrange a Saturday appointment. Eventually
one was made for Saturday 5th July.
Surprisingly, the engineer did actually turn up on 5th, and did
manage to resolve the problem with the dryer. I paid £65
for the visit.
However, my delight was very short lived, as when I next went
to use the washing machine, I discovered that although the dryer
was fixed, now the washing machine was broken. Clearly, the engineer
had bodged something. So I was back on the phone again to the
Service Centre to arrange another appointment.
Unwilling to be without a washing machine for a long period of
time, I couldn’t risk waiting for another Saturday appointment
to become available. So I had to go for the next available appointment
- the 16th July. I took another day off work.
The engineer did turn up on the 16th, but it was not the same
engineer who had come originally. He was unable to discover what
the problem was, but ordered a few parts to see if replacing those
would fix things. So yet another appointment was made to get the
replacement parts fitted. The next available appointment was 25
July. I took a fourth day off work.
On the 25th, I phoned the Service Centre 4 times throughout the
day to check the engineer was definitely coming, and a message
was left on the engineer’s mobile phone, to call me and
let me know when he would be arriving. The engineer never arrived,
and I never received a phone call.
On 28th July I called the Service Centre yet again, and insisted
upon an engineer coming within 24 hours. An appointment was organised
for the next day, first thing. I took another ½ day off
work.
Thankfully, the engineer did arrive on 29th, fitted the parts,
and the washing machine worked. He charged me £90 for the
privilege of mending what he had broken in the first place. I
wrote a letter to Merloni Customer Care on 29th, requesting a
refund of the money I’d paid.
But the next day when I went to use the dryer, I discovered that
it didn’t work – again. I phoned the service centre
again & said I wanted the head engineer to come out, and that
I wasn’t prepared to take another day off work, so it would
have to be an 8am call. An 8am appointment was arranged for 4th
Aug with the Head Engineer. On the advice of the rep at the Service
Centre (Jackie Francis - v understanding but with unfortunately
no power to do anything)I faxed Merloni Customer Care on 30th
August updating them on the situation & requested they call
me that day to discuss it. No response.
So on the 4th I waited until 9am, but no engineer turned up.
I gave and went to work (didn’t want to waste another day
holiday). I was phoned later in the day to say Merloni had cancelled
the appointment.
I have tried to chase up Customer “Care”, but their
telephone line (01733 556525) is permanently engaged. According
to another rep who accessed my notes, they have received my letters,
and I have a reference number, but still no one has got back to
me.
I have spent £155, had 4.5 days off work (nearly a quarter
of my annual allowance, with each day costing me £100 per
day in real terms), and now have an appliance in a worse state
than when I started the whole thing 10 weeks ago. No one has even
had the courtesy to reply to my complaints. And they have the
cheek to say that “we guarantee a fast and efficient service”.
I've never dealt with a company which has been so inept
Other Merloni stories: Link1
