Warning don't buy Indesit/Hotpoint!

whitegoods_engineer wrote: »

Well what a tirade from Bionic Woman.


So we are all idiots and just turn up when we want to!


I wish that people would not make such stupid comments.


I'm sure that Bionic Woman is one of those people who think that the engineer sits waiting by the phone, ready to rush to her aid when her appliance breaks down. Oh what a luxury that would be!


Well you need to be aware that however hard it is for you that your machine has broken down, you are just ONE of a list of customers that the engineer will attend that day, and your call is no more important nor has a higher priority than any other!


In the whitegoods trade, major manufacturers and retailers have an engineering workforce who carry out a large number of calls every year. I myself do approximately 2,500 visits per year.


The engineers start the day with a big list of calls, usually in a wide geographic area (3 or 4 hours actual driving during the course of the day, let alone repairing appliances!) It is not uncommon for engineers to set out each day with 14 plus jobs, all of whom expect us to accommodate their school runs, shopping trips, doctors appointments etc.


I do 10 + jobs a day currently and I call each of my customers with an estimate of when I will be with them. I say “between 1 and 4” or between “11 and 2” etc etc. I always stipulate that this is purely an estimate since I cannot tell what time I will be at the customer's house until I am walking up their garden path! So If I tell a customer it will be between 10 and 1, it is not a promise, it is not a guarantee, it is an estimate. I will get there as soon as I can, but don't expect me to give you a precise time as it is simply IMPOSSIBLE!


Almost every day when I say, for example, “I estimate that I will be there between 1 and 4”, somebody will say “can you narrow it down?” or, “ will it be nearer 1 or nearer 4?”
I DON'T KNOW, AND IT'S JUST AN ESTIMATE, THATS WHY I GAVE A 3 HOUR SLOT!!!


Then I get there at 4:10 and the customer says “You're late” NO I'M NOT LATE, IT WAS AN ESTIMATED TIME!!!!!!


We simply do not have the luxury of being able to give customers times since each repair we go to is unique and takes varying amounts of time to complete.


As for repairs, like any other job, we are not perfect. We sometimes get it wrong, sometimes we damage floors or units, but in the 2,500 visits I make a year, with the best of care, I will occasionally damage a floor or something, that's life unfortunately, and it would be a miracle if in doing that many calls no damage ever occurred!


Again with diagnosis we can't always get it right 100 percent of the time. Sometimes faults are not self evident or are intermittent, with the appliance behaving perfectly during the engineer's visit. Often it is the customer, overloading machines, failing to do the basic maintenance required. The vast majority of the time, as proven by the stats produced by every whitegoods organisation I have ever worked for, we get it right, and the customer gets a working appliance.


We get a snapshot visit of each appliance we attend. I wish I had a pound for every time I've been told that the 'noise happens every few weeks'. (I know, I'll move in with them and wait then!) We're not miracle workers, we do the best that we can in the limited time we are able to devote to your appliance.


The comment on buying from John Lewis made me laugh, Do you think the nice man from John Lewis (who gave such great service) who sold you the appliance will come out and fix it then? No, it will be the manufacturer!


To say we are all idiots is just so insulting.

Oh and the comment from you that the engineers don't care what state they leave your property in, what a stupid statement!

Dear White Goods Engineer

If you read my posting the an engineer didn't turn up even in the 4 hour agreed time slot he'd turn up whenever it suited him - so if he was booked from 1 – 5pm he would turn up a 9am and call me from outside my property asking me where I was?!

As for your patronising tone - I don’t think for a second that someone is sitting waiting for my call but I do expect when I book an appointment for a week or two's time, then confirm the time, then take time off work, that the engineer will be there as confirmed by the company. Really white goods engineer - is that too much to ask?

Glad the comment about John Lewis made you laugh – as little bit of humour might stop you from being so uptight.

No, dear White Goods Engineer, I don't expect the sales man to come out and fix it. You really are quite patronising. I know and expect, that the after sales will be reputable and that if I encounter any problems, as I have with Indesit and its poor excuse for staff, then John Lewis will deal with it quickly.

How do I know this? Because many of my friends and family have brought electrical goods from John Lewis and the after service is amazing. My parents had a fridge freezer from Hotpoint which broke down frequently. Hotpoint, remarkably, were terrible in their customer care and attempts to repair the item. John Lewis intervened and resolved the problem very quickly and then eventually replaced the product.

I'm sure if you had experienced even a tiny bit of what I have with Indesit too;such as their terrible customer service and appalling unreliable engineer, you would be seething. Especially when they mess you about and then damage your property - as this guy has done to my kitchen.

Yes White Goods Engineer, damages & accidents do happen but to not have the decency to admit at the time that he had damaged my property, hoping I wouldn't notice! Why should the engineer care? After all they're insured and the company pays for the damage so why not hold your hands up and admit to it?

But the audacity of walking away and leaving my property damaged, not admit to it, until I complain and also leave my property a mess? I have loads of repair people in from various companies and service industries from the gas man to builders and they have all cleaned up after themselves and respected my property.

Thank for your breakdown of your day and how you operate – really interesting. I'm more than happy if someone comes around the given time slot. I don’t sit there clock watching but like I say don’t expect an arrogant service engineer to turn up at 9am when it's been confirmed on the 3 occasions that they'll be arriving in the afternoon. I’m self employed so if I take time off I don’t get paid. So White Goods Engineer I can’t drop everything whenever the engineer decides he’s going to turn up. You would hope Indesit would be bright enough to hire intelligent staff, who understand the reasoning behind scheduling appointments and

Likewise White Goods Engineer, I don't sit there waiting all day in case repair person decides to turn up early. If I make an appointment, I'll be there and I’ll wait patiently for the engineer to turn up.

As for stupid statements – when did I say Idiot? I said incompetent, inconsistent - but really must you make sweeping statements? You really do need to read my posting properly. :huh:

Maybe, you work for Indesit, and if so poor you, but my only experience is this appliance and this service engineer who has been rude, unreliable, left my place a mess and so White Goods Engineer, this is the assumption I will make. No other service company I’ve used has ever behaved like this or sent round such a rude and unpleasant service engineer,

Perhaps if you too spent your hard earned money on an item, which then failed, and then you experienced a company and engineer who have messed you about, left your home in an absolute mess and damaged your property, hoping you wouldn’t notice, you’d als be fuming and perhaps even ranting?:mad: