Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Frustration

Oh my, where do I even start?

I have a vacuum cleaner that I paid a lot of money for two years ago. It was the highest rated by Consumer Reports at the time. It was a fabulous vacuum. In April we realized it was not working properly. OK so the wonderful lady who cleans for us actually told us it wasn't working. We took it to the store where we purchased it to have it repaired. They sent it off to be repaired. It cost $200 for the repair. We brought it home. I tried to vacuum and it wasn't fixed. It still cut off every time you moved it back and forth.

OK so how do you "repair" a vacuum and test it to make sure it works and send it back and it still have the exact same problem. Obviously their test of their work isn't very thorough.

I took the vacuum back to the store and talked to a manager. He of course "understood my frustration" but of course "could do nothing" but send it back to the service center to be repaired. He assured me that they would definitely fix the problem this time and of course at no additional charge. {Like they were going to get more money from me!} The vacuum was sent back to Dallas to be repaired.

We received the call this weekend that it was ready to be picked up. Michael went to get it. He tried it in the store before taking delivery. It still doesn't work! Yes it has been sent off twice and the original problem is still a problem! So tell me what they have actually been doing with my vacuum for the six weeks they have had it? Obviously not working on it. The service center guy's response was something along the lines of "Oh, we'll have to send it back to Dallas." That was on Monday. It hasn't been sent back to Dallas because one of the many "helpful" people I talked to today was happy to tell me it was ready for pick up! I think NOT!

I've just spent an hour on the phone trying to get to a person at the location that has my vacuum. I keep entering this vicious loop of automated systems and people who are no where near my location. I've been downright rude to a few who were beyond clueless. Forty-five minutes into this process I actually got someone who sounded like he might be helpful and my phone disconnected! I about cried. I have had to resort to leaving a message on an answering machine that assures me they will call me back in 60 minutes. Why don't I believe that?

I am ready to scream. If I haven't heard from someone by the time Michael gets home I'm just going over there to talk to a person. Of course by then I'm sure anyone with authority to help me will be gone for the day and they will be so sorry they can't help me.

Can I just say I know where I won't be buying my washer, dryer, and dishwasher I need to purchase in the next six months or so? Which is a shame because the washer and dryer I really want are only sold at this store.

Oh and I forgot to mention that the phone number listed on the web site and my receipt for my local store gives me a "this phone is no longer in service" message when I try it. On on of my less helpful calls the person transferred me to the wrong store and the person at that store was actually able to give me a working number for my store. But of course that number takes me to an automated system that takes me to people off site. Ah, but I digress.

I'm sure you will hear more about this saga before I have an actual working vacuum.
Jenn

3 comments:

Cathi_in_TX said...

Yikes! Sounds like a nightmare. I hope you get it resolved soon! Miss you!

Sherri said...

This sounds like a phone call to Clark Howard to me. He will either give you a phone number that works, or will take care of it for you. He loves stuff like this. He calls it customer no service issues. If you don't want to be on the radio show, you can leave them info on the website www.clarkhoward.com and they will call you back. Good luck!

Shelly Kelly said...

We need an update!