Curry's Know How Rip-off

Flyamit

This is my first post so if my post appears in wrong place, apologies. But i am so upset by Curry's experience for past 2 days that i urgently enrolled on this site and posting this to warn all future Curry's customers, especially of so called KnowHow installation ripoff!

I ordered a dish washer from them and also bought knowhow installation and five year warranty. But i found their so called knowhow delivery staff simply not willing to offer the service which they promise, or they are simply not competent or they are simply lazy and do not want to deliver promised services.

I dont want to bore with you details but to give an example, they refused to pull out old dishwasher giving me excuse that my kitchen tiles need to be cut to pull out old dishwasher. After they left, it took me less than 5 minutes to unscrew low front panel and pull old dishwasher on my own.

After rebooking new know how installation they this time complained that old dishwasher pipehole s too small so simply refused to fit. More annoyingly they were rude and cited that they have 30 jobs to do in a day and dont have time for such installations.

I fortunately had a handy man onsite and he fitted this new machine within 15 min with no hassle.

I have lost all confidence in this so called know how service and now cancelled my 5 year warranty.

If you can stay away from this marketing rip off. These guys are just not good enough!

T_T_2

This is the wrong section as you say, more of a consumer rights issue. Nevertheless I'm still interested in discussing it.

A quick look at the know how website tells me all I need to know and makes it quite simple as to why they did what they did. Here is a quick copy and paste from their website...

We want to make sure you know what isn’t covered by our Laundry installation service so there are no surprises when we visit you at home.


From what I can see you have asked them to go beyond what their service actually provides and that you have failed to do all that was required of you.

• We cannot plumb two waste pipes into one
• We cannot make any alterations to your existing plumbing or electrical connections
• Installation only available when taken with a delivery service. Delivery charge may apply.

We can’t refund this service if:

• You haven’t completed the necessary pre-visit preparations above
• Additional work is required to complete the installation that we don’t cover above

Before we arrive please make sure:

• You are at home at the time we’ve agreed to visit
• Make sure we have clear access to the area you want your new product installed, and that it fits in that area
• Make sure you have all the necessary bits and pieces; e.g. connection hoses
• Check that you have the necessary electrical, plumbing and waste connections within 1.5 meters of the installation area

loracan1

Yet you miss;

*Deliver your new appliance and unpack it for you
*Disconnect your old appliance

They clearly didn't even try the second on the first visit.

The wording on the website is ambiguous - for instance, I wouldn't have guessed that the waste pipe or inlet pipes for a new dishwasher would be bigger than the one it was replacing and I don't think most people would be expected to know that. For "fully-qualified installers of electrical goods", they don't seem to have been too capable.

kwatt

I hate to defend Currys and, you've no idea how that grates me but...

If there is any and, I do mean ANY risk of damage to the property whatsoever they and almost any other appliance delivery team will walk away.

Quite simply, it's not worth the potential liability claim or grief. It's easier to take the flak for not doing it than ruining a kitchen, flooring or goodness knows what else.

It's the culture we live in I'm afraid, if there's blame, there's a claim.

Most delivery companies expect the old appliance to be disconnected and "easily" removed from situ. If they have to use a screwdriver or any other tool to remove it, they will walk away.

You have a far better chance of a more complete service and getting people that will apply common sense from the independents rather than the national chains but it will vary depending on the skills of the delivery team.

National companies will rigidly enforce the rules and employees are generally expected to act within them at all times or face disciplinary action against them if they fail to do so.

K.

Jaynne

kwatt while what you say is certainly true of what does happen thats not how its advertised unless you read the very small print.

This sounded like an extremely simple job, take out a dishwasher which required unscrewing a panel and fit a new one which required an adapter which wasn't a permanent change to the pipework.

If they can't do that just what is the point of the service, it seems well within the expectations of consumers?

Personally I'd make a complaint to the advertising standards authority as it seems like a case of misleading advertising to me.

T_T_2

loracan1 wrote: »

Yet you miss;

*Deliver your new appliance and unpack it for you
*Disconnect your old appliance

They clearly didn't even try the second on the first visit.

The wording on the website is ambiguous - for instance, I wouldn't have guessed that the waste pipe or inlet pipes for a new dishwasher would be bigger than the one it was replacing and I don't think most people would be expected to know that. For "fully-qualified installers of electrical goods", they don't seem to have been too capable.

The wording isn't especially ambiguous. They clearly state that they need clear access (which they didn't as the old dishwasher appears to have been tiled in). They also state that the customer is meant to have all the necessary fittings. It's common sense to most people that 'standard fittings' are anything but standard.

The reality is that Currys are offering what I'd describe as a 'numpty' service. In other words a very basic installation, the likes that a reasonably strong 5 year old should be capable of doing. If the job turns out to be anything but straight forward then a £20 installation service isn't likely to cover it.

wolfehouse

i think if you go into a currys store and ask for the installation the salespeople should make it clear that it may not be simple
and for instance you might need a plumber first if changing from one pipe size to another (e.g. a cold fill only washing machine instead of a hot/cold one)
they do not do this, just note your order and make the arrangements.

the good news is if you then get someone else to do the installation you can get a refund for that from currys. the bad news is you have to do it in-store.

i know its all in the small print, i just think they could point it out to you in store when you order.

Ionkontrol

Jaynne wrote: »

thats not how its advertised unless you read the very small print.

If you dont read the small print, then you are a fool and have no comebacks whatsoever. Harsh, but fair and legal. At least 60% of all complaints on this site are people not reading the small print.

Jaynne

Ionkontrol wrote: »

If you dont read the small print, then you are a fool and have no comebacks whatsoever. Harsh, but fair and legal. At least 60% of all complaints on this site are people not reading the small print.

While it's true that legally often but far always small print can be a get out clause for companies it is in no way in consumers interests.

When you're saying that 60% of complaints are due to the small print maybe that small print is actually misleading. It let's companies advertise ridiculous claims such as unlimited broadband* *subject to our fair limits policy and cases such as this one where customers like the op have their time wasted because the installation service simply isn't what most people would expect yet due to the small print the companies feel they can get away with it.

kwatt

Reading the terms of a service or warranty is a standard thing to do I would have thought.

The fact is that most people don't, I suspect mainly through laziness more than anything else and, from a business standpoint, you can't list every single condition that you might come across for stuff like this as it would be a short novel. You have to assume that customers will either apply some good old common sense (which seems to escape many) or simply ask about suitability based on their particular needs or circumstance.

The mistake that people very often make when it comes to this sort of stuff is to "assume" from a marketing snippet or tagline that the goods or service will meet their unique requirements.

But, let me take your example and tell you how it would be looked on from an industry perspective...

If we take off a panel who is responsible if the panel disintegrates when removed, it often happens that the mounts or screwholes are worn and fail?

Who is responsible if it doesn't refit properly?

What happens when you get the customer and, we do, that say the refitted panel is 0.5mm out of line and they want it refitted, who pays for that to be done?

Who is responsible for the supply and cost of the adaptor?

Who guarantees it?

Who guarantees the additional point of failure?

Who's responsible for any damage caused by any of the above?

The reality is that if any of it goes wrong the customer will automatically blame the company contracted to do the work and that carried it out. Whether its their fault or not they will have to carry the can.

So the company is faced with stark choices, either do it and accept all the potential costs if it goes wrong, walk away under the general terms set out or, charge accordingly.

Any one of the options will not please some people and there is no way in which to please all the people all the time.

You also have to be reasonable. From bitter experience I can assure you that many people are not. But then you also get a lot of people that don't even bother to read the simplest of terms for pretty much anything let alone ask in advance.

Is it reasonable to expect that amount of work to be carried out for the £20 installation charge? I don't think it is.

But then, I know that if you called a plumber or kitchen fitter to do that it would cost you upwards of £60 minimum to do that sort of work and highly likely a lot more depending on what was needing to be done. You'd also be expected to pay for the additional materials required.

I get where you're coming from totally and I think that a lot of these services are poorly worded in the literature but people have to bear in mind that these companies are trying to sell you this service to make money on it, if you don't need it, don't pay for it.

I also see the flipside of it and know it is really hard to put it across in a way that people both will read it and understand it.

K.

david29dpo

Couldn't agree more.
Do you know how much the insurance is for the compensation culture we now live in? Take your phone number, double it and add a 0...you will then be close.