Big warranties/go assist- anyone come across them?

cheesedoffwithdebt

My old Miele washing machine broke down this week and I understand that only Miele themselves will repair their own products. I googled to locate them and inadvertently contacted a company whose site was something like Miele pros .that appears to be a cover for the true company which is either go assist or big warranties - I have emails from both so I'm not sure who I did business with.

They said they get Miele out but do fixed price repairs plus a warranty. It sounded good so I signed up but then got emails from two companies, go assist and big warranties.

Miele finally called to say they didn't have any available slots for two weeks and in all of this I decided it was probably time to get a new machine.

Checking the terms and conditions from these companies I had cancellation rights but they said they wanted notice in writing so I sent an email asking for a refund of the first months warranty premium plus the fixed price repair cost.

My beef is that as a consumer I have the right to do this- as they didn't reply to my email I called yesterday and was subjected to the rudest tirade from their cancellation team. They should not comment on my choosing to cancel - the guy was an abject bully implying i was making a huge mistake and refusing again to write and confirm they'd processed my cancellation request. He was both rude and sarcastic- If i was an elderly or vulnerable person I might have capitulated .

He was carping on about them being fca regulated - in that case they are obliged to have robust procedures involving treating customers fairly and responding to complaints whether oral or written .

Not sure what my next move will be - I've contacted visa who said they'll take it up it the refund doesn't show after five working days .

On principle I feel I should take this further to protect other potential customers- any ideas ?

DCFC79

The big warranties are fsa regulated so maybe it was them who you spoke too. If it were me I would have gone direct to miele themselves.

cheesedoffwithdebt

I would have dcfc79 but the initial website looked like it was the Miele repairs site- they use it as a front for the warranty business . I feel it breaches a lot of consumer regulation by not being clear- I'm no dunce and it confused me

Alice_Walker

Are they issuing you with a refund? If so, probably best to let it go.

What is the name of the website in question? The closest I could find was https://www.mielerepairpros.co.uk, which is very clearly not an official Miele site. Perhaps it was a different one?

cheesedoffwithdebt

As long as the refund comes through- sorry but when a company is that arrogant I feel it warrants a bit of a mention in a public forum- job done.

cheesedoffwithdebt

Alice_Walker wrote: »

Are they issuing you with a refund? If so, probably best to let it go.

What is the name of the website in question? The closest I could find was https://www.mielerepairpros.co.uk, which is very clearly not an official Miele site. Perhaps it was a different one?

The point is- the site Miele repair pros is a cover for contacting a warranty company. I got the impression from it that they were able to repair Miele products, in fact they just do the warranty and get Miele in. Under fca rules advertising and promotions must be clear and not misleading- two of my friends saw it the way I did- it's not clear .

Watthot

We took out a policy with Big Warranties, paid a one off repair cost for our dishwasher and the first monthly premium to cover all our kitchen equipment. One month later our dishwasher still isn't fixed. When you phone customer services they are very apologetic but that's as far as it goes. We've had an engineer here twice, both times we've been told the dishwasher is fixed but it isn't. They wont give us our money back (£180) and seem very unwilling to help in any way. Calls and emails don't get returned. It took 3 phonecalls over 2 weeks to get the policy documents emailed to us! We have received a very quick phonecall followed by an email when they couldnt collect the next month's premium however! I wouldnt advise anyone to use this company, the service is awful! We're beginning to think it's a {Edited by Forum Team}! Really dont know what to do now, any advice would be much appreciated.

mfowlis

Booked a repair (fixed price parts and labour) at a date the following week for repair. Have all details of cooker and parts needed. Confirmed price/that was all included in this, and date twice on the phone.
They do this dubious arrangement of splitting the cost into the repair and warranty on the repair/cooker.
Engineer called to check model/fault etc. No show on the date agreed, called engineer and he said parts hadn't been ordered as needed approval by service company. Called service company chasing, giving details again.
Then get email saying the cost of parts and labour exceed the "limit" and the repair will cost another £117 on top of the "one price parts and labour" already paid!
I reject the repair at this point (it's now a lot more expensive than other options, plus not repaired when agreed).
I email company advising rejecting under distance selling regulations as under 14 days.
Two days later get call from obnoxious agent who argues about why I am cancelling the repair, and then says they are withholding £79 odd of the amount paid as an "admin fee", when I tell him they can't do that under the distance selling regs he says they don't apply.

Email them to confirm I dispute them withholding any monies.

Not sure if I have any recourse via Credit card company that I paid on.

Please avoid this company! Hiking price from what agreed and then charging a penalty for cancelling is very {Edited by Forum Team} practice!

Sharms

This is a disgraceful company stay away. If they fix your problem you are the lucky ones. Any sort of issues They spurt terms and conditions. {Edited by Forum Team}.
After taking out a repair with a £200 one off payment and £8:95 and month warranty. 6 weeks and 4 engineers visits later (this is after I had to constantly call them enquiring about had appointments been booked, had parts arrived were the engineers actually coming as no contact) I was still without a fridge. They were aware from the start I had two young children and was having to buy food daily as fridge. I decided to cancel my contract and wright off the monies paid (not to mention an extra£100 pounds for parts, they did not mention considering I had £200 all in fix booked) and buy a new fridge. Called them to cancel and told ok. Then a week later started receiving texts and emails to contact them. Guess what they now want £50 to cancel a policy for a fridge they failed to fix so never was actually covered. And the {Edited by Forum Team} of a company is trying to take the money out my account without my authorization.
Be very wary of these people. They sublet all the work out and even though I was signed up to Go Assist. It's BIG Warranties and 3rd party engineers you deal with

Saz1970_2

I have also had a terrible experience with Go-Assist and Big Warranties after contacting them to get my dishwasher repaired. I'm taking advice from Citizen's Advice and am in dispute them for a refund but so far they haven't replied to any of my recorded delivery letters. AVOID! I wish I had.

WALK9763

I've also had a bad experience with Go Assist. My credit card claimed a Charge Back which Go Assist are trying to argue but they haven't got a leg to stand on so I'm hopeful.
What I don't understand is that if you look for Go Assist reviews there are some fairly good ones on reviews.co.uk (how do you leave a review on that website by the way - or are you invited by the company)
But if you look on Trust Pilot, Go Assist comes under the name of The Home Company and EVERY review is trully shocking.....