POWERHOUSE
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HAVE 3 extended warranties which i purchased from the old scottishpower nearly 5 years ago.You are supposed to get a full refund on what you have paid for the warranty if you have had no repairs done, but i have read some press reports that they are not paying these refunds out. Has anyone claimed lately and got their money refunded without any hassle.
Rosemary Mcghee ... 18 January 2004

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I wholeheartedly sympathise with Mrs Taylor in this case. I have battled with PowerHouse and their authorised service agent (in Scotland) Endeva for the last 7 months without success. The writing must have been on the wall for PowerHouse for some considerable time as they had a complete lack of customer service. After 6 failed repair attempts including 2 new tubes and 3 letters to the MD of PowerHouse without reply from him and no resolution I had the small claims summons completed and ready to be sent in (lost count of the number of phonecalls, but my itemised phone bills say over 50).

I then refused a further repair and £50 voucher compensation. Boy am I glad I did as PowerHouse went into administration 3 days later and I may never have seen my TV again.

Again I have a Philips TV (although a different model from Mrs Taylor) which has a fault that sounds exactly the same as in this case. I received the same response from Philips that they were not responsible and from repair engineers that this was not an uncommon fault could which could not be repaired.

It seems that for both Mrs Taylor and I our expensive purchases will have to be a write off unless PowerHouse is sold on as a going concern. Unfortunately this currently looks unlikely. Ewen Burr .. 30 August 2003
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Well i hate to say it but i am in the same boat
i have a Thompson 42 " TV which keeps switching off and PowerHouse have also been unhelpful to the point of being obnoxious. The repair company DBS say they are waiting for Technical info from Thompson, this has been over a month
Nigel Begg ... 10 September 2003
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When will existing customers get their products repaired?
I have just been told by an authorized repairer of Power house electrical retailers that Powerhouse have gone into receivership and therefore they are unable to carry out any further repairs on behalf of Power House.
Bal Teensa ... 9 September 2003
Relevant Link?: New Powerhouse Message
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I bought a CD player 10 months ago from Powerhouse, I took it back recently as it is faulty. They would not give me a refund yet it is still under its 12 month guarantee. They told me to call the receivers (Deloites?). I think this is nonsense as a new group PRG (Pacific Retail Group) bought Powerhouse from the receivers and hence it is out of the receivers hands now. I think this is nonsense as the new owners PRG bought Powerhouse as a 'going concern' I understand this means they must honour existing guarantees. Am I correct? The store manager told be they just bought the building, I think what he told me was wrong .

I was completely disgusted with their attitude, I will never buy from them again. I am planning on going down to their store and leafleting their customers telling of my experience. When people begin to walk away I may get my money back. Bill Bunson ... 12 September 2003
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Mrs Taylor does NOT really have a problem here. First National are jointly liable with Powerhouse for the supply of a satisfactory TV. She hasn't got a satisfactory TV or, indeed, any TV at all at the moment. It is First National's problem to sort things out, given that PowerHouse is in administration.

Given that you have no TV but have paid no money, stay as you are. First National cannot force you to pay when they have failed to ensure that you have the goods you are entitled to under the credit agreement.
MarkyMarkD ... 15 September 2003
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I bought an TOSHIBA widescreen television from Powerhouse Hamilton five months ago
, the deal with the manger was if i paid 400 for the tv i could get a Toshiba video for 50. The video was out of stock so I was told the store would keep in touch this has never happened Ive been in four times but still no video , how can a store be out of stock for so long I could have went next door to a Comet store and got one there, I think this tells a story of why one store is doing well and ones in administration.
Graham Mcghee ... 11 October 2003
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I am in the process of attempting to get a DVD
replaced. Having spent 4 days of frustration on the phone, listening to hold messages for up to 20 minutes before giving up, I was directed to a store that is actually closed. The customer services department have no idea on how to use imagination to solve a complaint. They simply told me there was nothing they could do, it wasn't their fault the store is closed, and refused to take my number to pass it on to a superior because "she's in a meeting".So the piece of kit I bought from them doesn't work. The cover I bought from them to make replacing it easy doesn't work. Great!

So, when I get this resolved I don't see my business going to this lot again! I will advise all to avoid them.
(In case anyone from Power House is reading - sales number 0426142132) Paul Crawte...17 October 2003
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Reading all of the comments regarding the shambolic
nature of the service offered by Powerhouse has left me somewhat irked. My mother bought a TV from powerhouse last August and paid almost 300 for an additional insurance plan. The TV has been repaired twice under the manufacturer's warranty and is now faulty again. For the last month we have made repeated attempts to contact someone who can honour the insurance plan taken out but have so far failed to speak to a human being. I say this because the recalcitrant excuses for sales staff we have spoken to in store barely qualify for the accolade of being human, preferring to shrug on the mantle of mindless commission driven drones.

Has anyone considered taking these issues up with Trading Standards? I, for one, intend to try my luck with the Insurance Ombudsman even though I suspect that the insurance plan sold to my mum will not fall under their remit. I am not normally inclined to complain overly strenuously but I am genuinely appalled by the general lack of concern exhibited by the Powerhouse staff and 'management'.I will not give up until I secure some form of satisfactory response from this perfidious excuse for a retail 'giant' and I urge my fellow consumer warriors to take the same standpoint.
Kirsty Harding...24 OCtober 2003
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I have been battling Powerhouse since September 2002
over one single repair under their extra-care warranty agreement. I bought a Sharp 28" Widescreen TV with a flat screen. Any enjoyment of owning this thing has long gone thanks to Powerhouse and their contract repair Company Techspeed from Bristol.Ihad the first set break down and replaced within a week of delivery and had the second set break down 7 days out of the manufacturers guarantee period. I have suffered damage to property in the form of a 20 gold plated scart lead socket torn from it's sleeving. The TV was collected / delivered 8 times over a 4 month period. The 649.00 TV was always delivered uncovered, unprotected and on some occasions in the pouring rain, in the back of a Ford Escort on a scrap of carpet. It was brought back once, soaking wet from condensation and rain with a damaged cabinet.

I have stupidly paid an extra 217.00 for all this hassle that promised 'peace of mind' and 'no headaches or worries'. I have written and telephoned to all departments including First National. I have even ended up on Radio Bristol's 'Sounding Off' programme that deals with consumer problems. They were execellent and I got an apology from Powerhouse and a promise to repair the TV's cabinet (6 months on from original repair) and replace damaged property. First National did'nt want to know even though they are equaly liable. Despite the problems and the high cost these repairs must of been costing the warranty insurance company, Powerhouse refused to give me a refund or another replacement TV. I decided to sue Powerhouse through the small claims court and now I have judgement for 700.00. But collecting this money is proving to be another story.

No-one is answering my letters despite threatening to send Baliffs to their head office! What I have found so frustrating about this whole episode, is that you are supposed to have 'statutory rights', under the Sale of Goods Act. There is the a Mis-representation Act, a Trades Description Act and a Supply of Goods and Services Act, all of which are supposed to help protect the consumer when buying goods. When it comes to suing a company or retailer under these Acts, as I have done, trying to get help and advice from Trading Standards or Citizen's Advice is hopeless. No-one can help or give any advice on court procedure or whether you stand a chance of winning your case. I would be interested to hear if any one would consider forming an action group to confront Powerhouse's new owners Pacific Retail.
ALAN BIGGS...5 November 2003
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I purchased a Bush DVD player in January 2003 .
It has recently become faulty. On returning it to Powerhouse I was told the story of the company going into administration and that I would have to contact the manufacturer. I have contacted Bush this morning to be told I would need to pay 7.99 "administration fee" or wait to see what happens with the administrators of the old powerhouse stores. Seeing the comments from other customers it appears i have little choice but to accept the charge and be grateful.
Richard Thomas...5 November 2003
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I purchased a phillips 32pw6506 from powerhouse in jan 2003.
Unfortunately we also purchased a 5 yr guarnatee costing 260.00 for which we cannot claim back if we dont use it in the next five yrs becos we did not return the paperwork within 30 days. We were not informed we had to do this. We feel we have been let down by everyone concerned powerhouse phillips and endeva, how can this continue we have been messed around we have lost 260 and god knows how much money in phone calls and it seems like everyone involved just puching responsibility on to sum 1 else. F Kasujee .. 10 November 2003
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I bought a Denon stereo from Scottish Power 7 years ago and took out the extended "warranty" with Powerplan.
December 2002 saw the stereo breakdown beyond repair. Powerhouse replaced my old stereo with a new one without any problems. Since then the new stereo has broke down 3 times and has been for "repair" twice with the same fault always occurring. When I play a CD, sound only comes from L/H speaker. It's OK with the radio. I told powerhouse a repair was no longer accaptable with a replacement being the only satisfactary outcome. Since it is under the 2 year manufacturers warranty I assumed it would be no problem. How wrong could I be. Powerhouse came up with several excuses not to replace it all of which were nonsense. Denon tell me the supplier must honour the warranty. I have a 9 month old stereo which is faulty, has been away for repair for a total of 6 months and no-one is willing to accept liability. The situation with Powerhouse going into administration seems to be a good decoy.
Scott Begley .. 21 November 2003
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Caused 900 of damage to a brand new kitchen.
The washer leaked water the first time it was used but because it had been bought 5 weeks earlier and stood idle waiting to be plumbed in [at my new house] they said I was not entitled to a refund or replacement. I will never buy any product from this abysmal retailer ever again and can only recommend you advise your friends and family to steer clear also. You can see why they went bust now..........
Alan C Turner ... 27 December 2003


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