Miele 'customer service'

Doc_N

missile wrote: »

Where did you buy the appliance? A good retailer will assist you to resolve the issue.

It's a detailed technical issue concerning an oven and a problem with the Pyrolytic cleaning system. Beyond the knowledge of John Lewis, I'm afraid (as most things are these days), and even Miele had to refer it to someone in the technical department for a proper answer.

A more detailed manual would have helped, but it shouldn't be necessary to wait for 40 minutes every time you need to contact Miele - bearing in mind this is for all calls, of whatever nature, including service calls.

They're still pushing out the same excuse they were using in January about a problem IT upgrade - and frankly, if they can't sort out a computer issue in their call handling, what hope have they got of sorting out software and firmware issues in their very expensive machines?

David_Aston

Sorry to hear of your problems Doc. I have always found you very helpful on Water Softener decisions, and suchlike.
We have stuck with Miele over the years because of longevity and decent performance. Certainly, like you, I have found actually trying to contact them very hit and miss. Is Abingdon in some altered dimension, when it comes to communications?

Doc_N

David_Aston wrote: »

Sorry to hear of your problems Doc. I have always found you very helpful on Water Softener decisions, and suchlike.
We have stuck with Miele over the years because of longevity and decent performance. Certainly, like you, I have found actually trying to contact them very hit and miss. Is Abingdon in some altered dimension, when it comes to communications?

Thanks. I've made contact with them now, of course, but it's the difficulty in so doing that I flagged up. It's pretty much the norm now to have to wait at least half an hour to get through to them, and that's just unacceptable for a company that professes to place such a premium on quality. Like this for example:


"Miele Service

Miele customers enjoy preferential treatment: thanks to our fast and efficient after-sales service operation which has been voted best in its branch of industry many times over. Even if you need personalised instructions on appliance use or professional cleaning of your machines, Miele will gladly make a home visit. We will always be there for you. That's a promise!"

A huge joke when it's impossible even to talk to anyone without waiting 30-40 minutes!

Waldir

It took them a month to fix my 1 year old dryer... for a wire that broke out of its connector

PSpary

Miele must be the very worst company I've dealt with. I bought a dishwasher, which has broken down every six months since new. Over a five year period I've spent a small fortune with Miele in maintenance costs. Trading Standards advised me to contact them 'one last time' to give them a final opportunity to put the matter right before they would become involved. After weeks of negotiation, Miele agreed to replace every part on the machine (? what). Fingers crossed it'll be okay now. I fully empathise with anyone trying to contact their Service Department - horses and cowboy hats spring to mind!

Doc_N

Seems to be a company very much living on its past reputation. Used to be the last word in excellence and reliability but now seems to have gone the same way as all the cheapo firms. Apart of course from the stupidly high prices.

maisie_cat

Doc_N wrote: »

Seems to be a company very much living on its past reputation. Used to be the last word in excellence and reliability but now seems to have gone the same way as all the cheapo firms. Apart of course from the stupidly high prices.

Agreed, they do appear to have rested on their laurels and do not realise that customers have long memories when it comes to large ticket items.
I wouldn't buy another Miele appliance, my fridge freezer has been a problem from nearly new. The first item broke after a few weeks and Bentalls referred me to Miele who were not interested. The second problem was a year later and when the door seals split in year 3 and they wanted £800 or so for new doors I gave up.

Pantzz

Our 9yr old Miele washing machine developed a fault, would not power on, totally dead.
I called Miele customer service and within 3 days their service engineer arrived and has replaced an electronic pcb board under the original 10yr warranty.
Most machines would not even last this long, let alone have a service engineer repair it at no cost under warranty.
I have to say how impressed I am with the impeccable quick Miele service received
I would absolutely recommend Miele

Spank

I got a bean to cup machine in the Amazon Prime sale last year for my mothers Birthday a couple of months later. Despite Miele not getting her warranty card (she says she posted it, but I have my doubts) when she phoned up last Friday to get a new water tank rather than tell her it wasn't registered, the nice guy on the phone (she likes to chat) registered her machine and told her it would be posted on Tuesday. Thanks to them and Parcelforce it arrived on Wednesday.

JoeSaponic

The real Miele surfaces only when they have your money, as they stonewall in the hope of avoiding their responsibilities and you are left with the dawning awareness that all those ‘tested to destruction’ 10/20 year guarantees mean nothing. Miele’s attitude to customers is bad by design and is the same more or less everywhere. It derives from head office in Germany, which is why it’s so consistent.

Indeed with dissatisfaction growing the company appears to be using 'invitations' and ‘feedback farms’ as a counterweight to all the hostility. I understand the term 'feedback farms' to be a colloquialism for rented buildings in remote parts of the country lined with banks of computer terminals where housewives, the unemployed, immigrants, students and such like can earn a bit of pin money.

Read the Trustpilot reviews for heavens sake! At an in excess of 80% 1-star strike rate they had to do something. One chap was told they wouldn’t repair his machine, which was under warranty, until he removed a critical review. Another sceptical review submitted to the Miele website itself never saw light of day.

I’m suspicious of all ‘feedback’ these days. Even allowing for the idiots who offer glowing reports after taking delivery only a day or two earlier I’m continually astonished by the high ratings at ‘reputable’ sites like John Lewis, a company I know from my own experience tells lies and which I suspect ‘massages’ feedback to keep criticism at manageable levels (dissatisfied buyers of poorer selling items being allowed the greatest leeway).

Still, don’t take my word for it. Here is ‘Tony’ at Trustpilot from the 14th July last:

https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/5f0e00d63f06f20bb4b15bda
WARNING - FAKE POSITIVE REVIEWS BEING POSTED

You will note that 253 postive reviews have been posted since Dec 2019.


"164 of these occured on a single day 21st May 2020
60 of these occurred on 28th May 2020.
The remainder over the last few days but mostly all grouped in a few days.

Seems like a marketing campaign just to imporve the poor score that existed in December 2019. 95% of these excellent reviews were "invited" by the company.

I had cause to complain about their appalling service and was checking back to see what other people were thinking."

Then there is ’Ex-Miele customer’ (15th June) who writes of being ‘contacted’ by ‘Miele agents’ regarding the review he left: https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/5ed7a90b25e5d209b8fbb95d ‘Pete’ (8th June) says you believe in fairies if you believe the sudden improvement in Miele’s ratings: https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/5edd774325e5d20a88aa39aa

My own favourite is from a German however - born and raised but now a Canadian national (and whose opinions I hope we will not simply dismiss in a silly, childish tantrum of ‘anti-racist’ approval-seeking). In ‘German arrogance’ he writes as follows:

https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/5eb57aed25e5d209b8e5842b

If you want to enter the world of German pomposity, arrogance, self-importance, smugness, inflexible rule-following, and officiousness, then buy a Miele. 

First, remember that very few plumbers — even the very best ones — are willing to install Miele dishwashers. They know what Miele is like as a company, and they don’t want to deal with German pomposity.

Furthermore, if a non-Miele plumber installs the dishwasher, a number of Miele warranties get voided.

 Miele itself installs almost all of the dishwasher it sells, which it claims that it is happy to do, and strongly prefers to do. This will probably be fine if you have a completely new house, and all the plumbing is working perfectly, and the installation is simple and complexity-free.

But if you are replacing an old dishwasher in an old house, and if you have any pre-existing plumbing issues that need to be simultaneously addressed, Miele won’t go near your house. Furthermore, they will also be completely unwilling to co-ordinate with a separate plumber to try to resolve any issues. 

This is official Miele policy, it goes right to the top of the corporation, and it is not merely the “attitude” of one or two installers. So you will find yourself stuck between local plumbers who don’t want to touch anything made by Miele, and Miele who does not want to go near your old house.



“Value-added” German products that are over-engineered and that function beautifully for a very long time are great, just as long as the only thing you are buying is the product. But what Germans do not do well, is service.

Have you ever tried catching the attention of a waiter at a restaurant in Germany? Or floor staff in a clothing store in Germany?

Germany has one of the very worst “service cultures” in the world. And Germany’s general cultural deficiency on this front only gets amplified when a German company sells a product that it is arrogant about, because the product is undeniably well-made and over-engineered.

All German premium product manufacturers are like this. If you have a Mercedes and you need service, for instance, you are no doubt already familiar with Mercedes arrogance and pomposity.



Who am I? I was born in Germany and raised in both Germany and Canada. I have two passports — German and Canadian — and spend about half my time in Europe, mostly in Switzerland, and the other half in Canada.

 So this is an assessment by a German, of a German product and its associated service, or lack thereof. I am a German who knows Germany and Germans only too well. I am someone who also has an “outsider’s” perspective on Germany, and who knows that “service cultures” vary enormously from one country to the next.



It’s because Germans are the way that they are, that they make great products, and they have a manufacturing-led export economy. But it’s also because Germans are the way that they are, that you never want to deal with Germans as people, as service providers.

 So just buy objects from Germans, and when they break after having lasted years, simply replace them. Never buy service from Germans, unless you enjoy being lectured, talked down to, interrupted, second-guessed, and belittled. Buy the hard objects that Germans make that require very little service, maintenance, or “customer” interaction; the objects that won’t require you to actually interact with Germans as people, and their abysmal service culture.



Unfortunately, many home appliances are not completely “service free” objects. So in my own case, even before my Miele dishwasher was delivered, I found myself reminded only too well of what it’s like to deal with a German company such as Miele. It’s a nightmare.

I then cancelled the order, and got my money back from the “agent” (Tasco), which thankfully is where I bought the product. Miele itself has a 10% cancellation policy, but Tasco was willing to refund the full amount.



I bought a Samsung instead."

An English engineer who'd spent two decades living and working in Germany recently confessed to being amused by all the 'German engineering' propaganda that keeps us eagerly reaching our credit cards. 'German engineering' was no better or worse than many other places in his opinion. And of course what might have been true thirty years ago no longer applies anyway in today's globalised marketplace, where even domestically produced consumer products are compromised by considerations of cost.

Did you know that when companies go under brand labels are simply bought up and used to re-badge inferior products? It's true. AEG for example is not the 'famous old German' marque it used to be - and hasn't been since 1990 in fact. https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/about-the-appliance-industry/manufacturer-information/2742-aeg-domestic-appliances

By the way Which? is running a campaign against fake reviews. I hope some of you sign up for it:

https://campaigns.which.co.uk/fake-reviews/