[Resolved]  Whirlpool India — Lackadaisical attitude towards replacement of new Microwave Magicook 20C

Address:

Pune, Maharashtra

If their is an organisation that boasts of a brand value but in reality does not possess / deserve one, it has to be whirlpool. Thanks to the incompetent staff they have employed for handling customer complaints. On 18th Jult, 2010 we had purchased a microwave (Magicook 20C) from their dealer "Dass Electronics Trading Co. (P) Ltd. When the engineer (Mr. Prabhakar) from Whirlpool visited our place on 21st July, 2010 for giving a demonstration of the appliance, he found the microwave was not in working condition. After initially trying to check and set right any faulty wire joints etc in the appliance, Mr. Prabhakar called up Mr. Nair ([protected]) at the service centre to lodge a complaint for replacement of the device.

Subsequent to this we lodged a complaint (complaint reference No. B220076) with the dealer, Dass Electronics also, to ensure early action. After this we again received a call from the Whirlpol centre informing us that their engineer would agin visit our site to check for the complaint, and they sent us an SMS with the Service Request no. (PN[protected]) on 22nd July, 2010. On 23rd July, 2010 another engineer from Whirlpool visited our place, however he did not even remove the microwave from the original carton to check for the problem and just went away saying the replacement would happen the next day. The same day we got a call from Mr. Satish ([protected]) from Whirlpool India saying that he had received our complaint and was looking into the matter. To our shock and dismay he suggested we get the faulty component called PSB replaced in the NEW MICROWAVE we had just purchased and tried to convince us that this was the way out as replacement with a new microwave was a tedious and difficult process.

On our insistance, he agreed to take up the case for replacement of the whole microwave as what he was suggesting was just a shortcut and easy way out for Whirlpool India to be able to float their defective products in the market to helpless consumers. For this he promised us that he would get the replacement done latest by Monday, 26th July, 2010. On the agreed day, we did not get any call from Mr. Satish, so we called him up in the evening ourselves to hear his disgusting response of first not remebering the case at all. And then on selectively recollecting the details, he backed off saying that he had never committed for delivery on Monday, 26th July. After much argument he agreed that he had indeed comitted the same, however as their internal procedures could not be completed he would get the microwave delivered on Tuesday, 27th July, 2010. So we agreed as we had no other option, the dealer as well as Whirlpool were not agreeing to process refund for the defective aplliance.

On 27th July, 2010 we got a call at 1435 hrs from Whirlpool office stating that the papers had been processed and we could expect to receive our microwave by 2000 hrs on the same day subject to them finding a tempo for delivery, else it shall receive the same by 12 noon on 28th July, 2010. When by 1945 hrs on 27th July we did not hear from Whirlpool India, we called up Mr. Satish to check on the status and he informed that the papers were under process (COMPLETELY CONTRADICTING THE EARLIER CALL WE RECEIVED FROM THEIR OFFICE) and it would still take some time for the replacement. Here again after much discussion, when we informed him that it was not possible for someone to saty at home just to receive a new microwave after 12 noon on 28th July, 2010 he agreed that he / the driver would call us at 1030 hours on 28th July informing the time of delivery. Despite him sounding so aggressive while communicating this to us, we did not receive any call from him / the driver till 1130 hours, so we called him on our own, after which he put us on hold for 3-4 minutes and then disconnected the call. Subsequent to this we got a call from the driver saying that he will try to reach the place earliest by 1600 hours, inspite o[censored]s informing loud and clear that noone will be available at that time to receive the appliance. When we contacted Mr. Satish wth this problem, he plainly refused to understand the situation and very coldly said we could approach consumer courts if we wanted to, but he will not get the product delievered before 1600 hours. Such lackadiasical and callous approach to customer grievances, shows complete lack of empathy in the policies of Whirlpool India and their lack of commitment towards their consumers. Talk of endorsements / advertisements making the customer the focal point for the organisation?????? When their staff literally harass people mentally, by their uncouth and unconcerned behaviour towards the very people (CONSUMERS) because of whom the organisation exists?????

We would appreciate that the organsiation takes serious note of such complaints and acts on the feedback provided well in time, to save bad word of mouth publicity. We would personally never even think of buying any other whirlpool appliance for ourselves / anyone else, let alone recommending the brand to friends / family.