You may have noticed that there has been a bit of a kerfuffle (fun word!) about tumble driers. In particular, ones from the Whirlpool group – Creda, Hotpoint, Indesit etc. Some of them appear to have a tendency to gather fluff and catch fire, possibly burning your house down to the ground in the process …
You can check on-line to see if you have one of the (several million) dodgy driers, register the item, and Whirlpool will arrange for someone to fix it. Eventually. We registered in January. They made a guess at sometime in September. Maybe! Some people will have to wait till next year.
Or, they will sell you a new one at a discount. Some people have some very negative things to say about that particular offer.
We waited patiently. Things do go wrong in life, and a lot of dodgy driers take a long time to fix. We understand that.
In May, they emailed us, saying that they would be fixing ours in June (and would we like to buy a new one? We declined the offer to buy.)
In June, they emailed us, saying that they would be fixing ours in [blank], and would we like to buy a new one? Again, we declined the offer to buy.
Being a little concerned, we phoned them. The first try found an idiot who could not hear us, complained when we spoke louder, and couldn’t figure a post-code. I hung up, and tried again. This time, I got a better line, and a more intelligent agent. We were assured that [blank] was not a new month, invented by the Whirlpool group, but meant that they would arrange a fix this month (June).
Being a trifle cynical, and June having only a week left to go, I contacted Whirlpool via their Live Chat facility. I got a chap by the name of Kieran. It may even have been his actual name! I asked when they would be fixing my dodgy (potentially lethal) tumble drier. He fiddled around a bit, and told me that he had arranged an appointment for the 28th of August 2016. Not June. Not [blank]. August!
I complained that I had been told June. By email, by phone. He stated that email dates were ‘estimates’, but offered to put me on the ‘cancellation list’ in case an earlier opportunity came up in our area.
I told him that Whirlpool were throwing out dates ‘like confetti’, and were basically telling lies ‘in a potentially life-threatening situation’.
I told him that I could not accept his 28th of August appointment, and signed out of the live chat. So, of course, he emailed me a confirmation of that date. What an idiot. Kieran with a ‘K’.
So I phoned Whirlpool again. Got a lady who would not disclose her name. She found no trace of Kieran with a ‘K’. Said it would be June. She checked with her manager (hopefully not Kieran with a ‘K’), and again confirmed that it would be June.
I asked “What would be in June?”. She had difficulty in answering my question. She could not what would be happening to who and where, but it would be ‘in June’. I asked her again and again, like some recalcitrant witness in a court case.
“Would a repair be happening in June?”
“Would they be contacting us in June?”
“Would they be arranging an appointment in June?”
“Would that be June 2016, in the Christian Calendar?”
I eventually got her to agree to “Whirlpool would be contacting us in June, 2016, to arrange a date for the repair of our defective Indesit tumble dryer.”
To be frank, I do not believe that she understood anything that she was agreeing to. I did emphasise to her (and Kieran with a ‘K’) that all these communications would feature in any court case that arose, in consequence of their actions.
Whirlpool has slightly less than one week to go. I predict that I will NOT hear from them in the next week. Then I will contact them again, and see what utter nonsense they come up with.
This is a situation where several tumble dryer fires occur each and every week. And the remedy is being conducted by people who lie, get confused, and are hopelessly incompetent.
I find myself trapped between Scylla and Charybdis. (it’s a classical situation. Do a Google, and look it up!)
Whirpool. Indesit. Hotpoint. Creda. (and a few other home-brands). Remember the names. Remember how they deal with their own mistakes. Look elsewhere before buying. Your home may depend on it!