A lousy customer service
By onedollar
@onedollar (781)
Belgium
December 16, 2007 8:48am CST
I recently had a bad experience with customerservice of a company that sells heating equipment. It's Junkers actually, they sold me a gasheater through a dealer 4 years ago. Now I discovered the plastic of a tube (the inner tube) that functions as exhaust tube for the heating is totally broken into pieces. It seems UV radiation from the sunlight has totally destroyed the plastic tube.
Obviously this is due to a fabrication mistake and they admitted this and offered a replacement tube. But since the warranty is only 2 years they will not come and replace it. I have to do this myself!!! BTW I installed the heating myself so I know how to fix it but that's not the point, they gave me a faulty heating so I think it's only reasonable if they fix it. The 2 year warranty is the required minimum in Belgium. I can understand that this applies to material inside the heater as there is wear and tear inside but a plastic tube should have a life expectancy of 30 years or more. Think of all the PVC tubes in your home!
I really don't understand this attitude towards clients, to have this fixed would cost them what, 3 hours work including time spent in traffic. One happy customer is the best publicity you can have. Where can you put an ad that has the same effect for the same price???
A non-happy client will cause so much damage. I won't recommend that company to all my friends and I'm in the agegroup of people that are planning to build or buy a house. They lose at least 20 to 30 potential clients.
It's just amazing how shortsighted companies are, the only think shortterm. In a competitive market where you can't lower prices the one thing that makes a difference is customer service, people even want to pay more for a good customer service. I really don't understand why businesses don't seem to get this. Especially with the internet bad publicity has a far greater impact than it used to have.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@angemac23 (2003)
• Canada
16 Dec 07
The best thing to do when you receive bad customer service is to tell as many people as possible about your expereince so this wont happen to anyone else. I used to think about how it would make the company loose business and blah blah blah but now I dont care. Businesses should understand that the customer comes first. We are the reason they exist in the first place and they dont want to take care of us, than they should not be in business anyway.
1 person likes this
@onedollar (781)
• Belgium
16 Dec 07
Yes unfortunately some businesses have tick skulls or at least the employees. I predict that in the comming 10 years the businesses with the best customerservice will survive. In a competitive market it's not price anymore that will attract a customer it will largely depend on the service after the sale.
@lucgeta (924)
• France
16 Dec 07
I understand your angry, most companies have limited life products.
If the warranty is 2 years, you should expect problems after that. Good thing the tube broke after 4 years :P
There are tons of products - computers, tv sets, phones, eletronics in general - that are made to last the warranty and no more.
I have no idea how many customers got the faulty product or how hard/easy is to fix it. Hope all ends well for you.
1 person likes this
@onedollar (781)
• Belgium
16 Dec 07
Yes but a gasheating is supposed to last more than 2 years. It should last even more than 10 years. You can have to replace pieces during it's lifetime but a plastic exhaust tube should outlive the entire thing. It's relatively easy to fix but it's about the principle.
If your washing machine breaks down and the pump needs replacement do they tell you oh just take that pump out and come and get a new one??? That's crazy?? On top of that it's winter time so I have to shut down the heating (it's freezing here) take of the exhaust , take a day of at work, drive 60 km to the store exchange it for a new one and install it, hope everything goes well or we'll freeze in our own house. I have two little kids and with this whether I don't want to do such a thing.
