bad customer service | Mommy Adventures

Tag Archives: bad customer service

The broken fridge

I have been making large quantities of dinner to stick in my brand new awesome fridge so that I don’t have to cook so often. Especially in summer. Because down here, it gets fracking hot. Like 43 degrees (109.4 f). Ick.

One such heinously hot day was New Year’s Day. I went to the freezer to get some ice, which we had an abundance of, since there was actually room for numerous ice trays in there, unlike in our old freezer. As I shoved my hand down into the cold of the ice cube bin, my fingers touched water. Water. Crap. We checked the fridge. The stuff in there wasn’t very cold either.

We turned the dials all the way up, hoping that would prompt the fridge to actually start cooling stuff.

It didn’t.

We unplugged it and plugged it back in again, thinking maybe it would be like a computer – everything on a computer seems to fix itself when you turn it off and back on again.

That didn’t work either.

The light still came on when we opened the door, but no matter what we did, that darn fridge wouldn’t turn on and actually cool stuff down. I called Appliances Online, where I bought it from, only to be told that there were no servicemen working that day because it was a public holiday. The guy said he’d put it on record and someone would call me in the morning to sort it out.

No one did.

By noon, I still hadn’t received a call, so I called them instead. They didn’t know anything about my call the day before, nor had anything been done or recorded anywhere. They called Kelvinator, who then called me later that day.

“So when can I get someone out here to look at the fridge?” I asked the lady on the phone.

“Not today,” she said rather rudely, like I was a total idiot for having the mere thought that someone might be able to come that day “It’s already 2 o’clock and they’re booked out for the day. I’ll book you in for tomorrow. You will get a call between 7 and 9 tomorrow morning to let you know what time.”

I didn’t.

I called them at 9:10 and they still didn’t know what time someone would come. “We’ll call you back by 1o and let you know.”

They didn’t.

I called them back at 10:10 and they still couldn’t tell me what time.

Finally, after I called them a third time, possibly a fourth (I can’t remember), they gave me a time frame.

They told me that the service technician calls half an hour before coming to give us a heads up. “Someone will definitely be home,” I told them “but we have two little kids and don’t always get to the phone in time, and sometimes we don’t hear it, so even if we don’t answer the phone, still come and knock on the door.”

“If you don’t answer, the serviceman will assume you’re not home, and won’t come.”

“But I’m telling you, someone WILL be home. Even if we don’t answer the phone, we will be home. Can I just call the serviceman back if I don’t get to the phone on time?”

“No, it’s a blocked number, you can’t call him back, you have to answer the call or he won’t come.”

Sigh. Such great customer service, they are so accommodating. I’m being sarcastic, in case you didn’t pick that up.

A few hours later, I got the phone call. “I’m 5 minutes away, is there parking, there?”

So much for the 30 minute warning. “Just on street parking, the garages are for residents only.”

He didn’t seem impressed.

Turns out the thermostat on our less than one month old fridge was broken. They didn’t have any in stock, and it would be 7-10 working days before they got another one. In the meantime, we would have no fridge/freezer in 40 degree heat.

He must have felt bad for us though, as he called his “nice boss” (not his mean one. There were two) and got permission to get us a whole new fridge.

I waited the whole next day (Friday) for them to call and let us know when we’d get the new fridge.

They didn’t.

I knew it wouldn’t happen on the weekend, so I called them on the Monday.

“Hi, I was just wondering when we would be getting our new fridge?” I asked the lady who answered the phone and creepily knew all of my details without me telling them to her. From the caller ID and then inputing the number on the computer, I assume. Still creepy though.

“I’ll have to get the paperwork finalised and get back to you, but the fridge is out of stock and will take 7 days to come in.”

“So you mean nothing has been done yet? The serviceman was here on Thursday. Four days ago. We haven’t had a fridge for a week, and you mean to tell me that the new fridge hasn’t even been ordered yet? All of our food spoiled. We are living out of a cooler that only has enough room for a block of ice and a thing of milk. We have to get take away food every day. I also want to claim all of my spoiled food, and the ice that I have to buy every day.”

“Um…ok, I’ll just get a manager to call you back within 4 hours.”

A couple hours later, the manager called. “We don’t usually compensate for food spoilage, but I understand the special circumstances, so I’ll send you a form and you might be able to have a claim.” Special circumstances as in their people don’t bother doing their paperwork…

This is the email they sent me in regards to my food spoilage (FYI Kelvinator is owned by Electrolux):

Dear Sheri

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.

As advised, foodloss is not covered by Electrolux warranty; however, as a gesture of goodwill Electrolux would be happy to assess your (freezer compartment) foodloss claim on this occasion.
Please provide receipts, if available.

Um…gee…thanks for that “goodwill.” I hardly think that when my less than a month old fridge dies on me and spoils all of the food I’ve stocked up, it’s goodwill to pay me for the loss. Maybe you should make/test your fridges better, so that they last more than a few weeks? And of course I keep all of the receipts from everything I stick in my freezer. I’m a receipt hoarder. I just can’t help myself, I need that receipt for a carton of ice cream. Not. I don’t keep receipts for food!

Somehow, after all of my complaining, they managed to find a fridge that very day, and delivered it to me the next day. It is working, but it’s only been a couple of weeks. We’ll see what happens in a couple more weeks. I’m not holding my breath, but I am hoping this one doesn’t kick the bucket, if nothing else, so I don’t have to deal with them again.

If you enjoyed reading this, please vote for my blog. All you have to do is click the link below. That’s it… Clicking the link brings you to the Top Mommy Blogs home page. You don’t have to do anything else. Any clicks from my site to theirs is a vote. THANKS!