I'm the guy who sees the glass more on the full side in life and looks to find the good in all, however am at the point of exhaustion with Whirlpool! Would really like some input from all people out there and especially from those who have dealt with situations like this. Will try to keep it short with the detail. (Photos taken from my iPhone and whirlpool.com)
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| Water Heater |
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| Thermostat |
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| Burner |
Bought my gas water heater (6.5 year warranty) not quite 2 years ago, had my previous around 10 years. In the last 1&1/2 years I had to have my Thermostat replaced 6 months after buying it, they replaced it and sent a repair man for free next day, not to bad right? 7 months later my Burner goes bad, I call and its no problem we'll ship one out to ya tomorrow, No repair man but I can manage the replacement, still not to bad right? 5 months later we wake 3 am to the strong odor of carbon monoxide in the house and had we not had a carbon detector I wouldn't be writing this or would my wife and 2 girls. My water heater is not venting properly was the response I get, didn't matter that my last one worked perfectly for 10 years as well as this one for 1&1/2 years. Replaced for a few hundred dollars worth of new double insulated pipe and it seemed to be working better. Now 3 days ago, 4 months later my Thermostat goes bad again. I call and talk with the assistant to get a new one, explained my last year and a half and ask at what point do we recognize I got a faulty product and it needs to be replaced?
Her response is one that led me to a more direct conversation that is never pleasant to have but sometimes necessary, She says, O we never replace the tank we just replace the parts! Then she says I can get that part out to you but you will need to pay the shipping! I said, so someone has to die to get a new tank!??? (long pause & no response to my question) so then I say to her you don't understand, I am not paying the shipping and I need that part from you tomorrow! She says we don't pay the shipping, I said we'll your not going to replace my tank, you did cover shipping the last 2 times and you will this time to!
She responds with, I'm sorry but we can't do that either, so I repeat again to her my previous comment and tell her that I need to talk to the person who is over her because because it was obvious she wasn't going to be able to assist me. She then replies after a pause, We will cover the shipping but it will be standard 3-5 days to which I reply that's not happening and I need to speak with your supervisor. I did ask her how she would like to go 3-5 days without hot water as well as that this was not about money but about principle, and that I was a very unsatisfied Whirlpool customer. She refused to connect me with her supervisor and so I told her one last time, I will not wait 3-5 days to replace their faulty Whirlpool products nor was I going to pay the overnight shipping charge! One last long pause to which she responds, Okay but this is the last time we pay the shipping! I didn't say it but wanted to say how many more times am I going to replace these parts? I had my last water heater for 10 years and never replaced or repaired anything on it!
Would love to have some feed back and if you are someone who works in customer service my apologies. I was not rude but had to be very direct and she refused to let me speak with her supervisor.
Not sure where to go from here?
*If your in sales I'm pretty sure I know where you'll tell me to go!!!
Should I...
Count my losses?
Keep repairing parts every 4-5 months?
Talk to Lowes where I purchased it?
By more carbon monoxide detectors and hope for the best?
Can't wait to get back to some much needed gardening time!
If you hung in there through all the details much thanks to you appreciate ya reading and giving any input you may have.
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First of all, I admire your directness and efforts! Well done really, to have gotten as much as you have from them. You are an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteYou can write to the CEO/higher up management (you may have to scour the net to get that info as their minions are told not to give that info out)--we have had amazingly good results by doing that with various companies which gave us egregious service. Sometimes we waited years to get a response, but we always got what we wanted and sometimes more!
For example, we did that with Pan Am Airlines decades ago. We wanted about 800 bucks refunded and we were told, no, no, no. But we kept trying by going to higher and higher management. Finally after two years, we get an apology and a check in the mail. Soon after that, the company went bankrupt. We bankrupted Pan Am. LOLOLOL.
You can tell them that you will tweet, blog, facebook, google + (my preference), that is, all available social media about your being stuck with an defective product that Whirlpool refuses to replace (did you check the warranty to see if replacement is covered? Even if it is not, it should be replaced anyway by principle). Put that in your letter to the higher ups also. If you annoy the minions (and yes, always say it is not with/about them you are angry, and be polite and calm, after all, the poor sods have to work for this badly managed company and are more miserable than you are).
Bon courage and bonne chance!
Ooops, did not complete my sentence: If you annoy the minions....they will sometimes relent and pass you to a higher up.
DeleteI am a minion and I don't like being spoken to like it is my fault something goes wrong all of the time. Be nice to everyone, be persistent about speaking to a supervisor.
ReplyDeleteI always get what I want when I treat everyone nicely.