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Barbs
April 6, 2011
Despicable Customer Service
On 20th March this year, our boiler which provides both hot water and heating, failed completely, thereby cutting off our heating and hot water supply as we have no immersion heater. We felt somewhat re-assured that the problem would quickly be solved as we had a Home Assistance insurance cover in the event of an ‘emergency’ such as this, through our home contents insurance with AXA.
I therefore telephoned the Homeserve helpline and was put in touch with a company called Storm Heating, who I was told was their largest sub-contractor in my area. Again, I felt fairly re-assured when they called me shortly to confirm an appointment for the next day. Sure enough one of their engineers arrived between the specified hours and identified the problem, but was unable to fix it as two parts were required which would have to be ordered. I was later contacted by Storm who said that the parts would be ordered and should hopefully be with them by Wednesday 23rdh. I stressed to them that we really were rather desperate as we had no back-up for the hot water and our only source of this was 1 kettle between 2 adults and 2 children and three electric heaters to heat a four bedroomed house!
Wednesday 23rd came and no news from Storm. I contacted them again and was then told on Thursday that the parts had arrived and someone would call me on Friday between 8.00 am and 10.00 am to confirm a time for the repair. As I had already taken Monday off work, my husband took time out of his annual leave to house sit on Friday.
The booking was confirmed as they had said and was scheduled for the 8.00 am – 12.00 pm slot. At 12.20 pm they had still not arrived or called. My husband was beginning to feel a little anxious and contacted me at work. I advised him to call them and their reply was that when the engineer arrived to pick up the parts, the wrong ones had been delivered. It seems that no one had thought of contacting the customer to inform them of this. We were now beginning to get somewhat worried as to the type of company we were dealing with and Monday – Friday was quite a long time to wait for a so-called ‘emergency’ service. I made my feelings of displeasure known and was again re-assured that the problem would be solved quickly. I asked if a courier could be organised to get the parts, but was told that this was not possible. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that they were all in meetings, but that someone would definitely get back to me before 9.30 pm. Suffice it to say no one did.
By this time we were all having stand-up washes in 2” of water in the bathroom basin, as our two flasks and one kettle could only sustain this volume. My husband was going into work early to have a shower and I and my children parcelled ourselves amongst our neighbours and begged for a shower every other day to retain some demeanour of cleanliness. My daughter (teenager) washed her hair in cold water to maintain her credibility as a ‘cool teen’!
On Monday I was again telephoned by Storm who promised an engineer by the next day. Oh joy, some hope arrives, surely this could not last for ever. By this time my broker had also come to my assistance to push them for a final outcome. Again, my husband took a second day from his annual leave and waited patiently and longingly for that call on Tuesday.
Again, before 8.00 am Storm confirmed that someone would arrive between 12.00 pm and 5.00pm armed with the correct parts. Twenty minutes later they called again to tell us the news that the wrong parts had been supplied yet again! Who were their suppliers? Who was their parts manager? Why had they not been sacked by now?
I am not an unreasonable person, but this was day 10 so far, was this really an emergency service? My husband, who had now taken off 2 days from work, contacted AXA who were pleasant enough, but directed him back to Homeserve. He was put through to Jonathan from the claims department who said that someone would call us back. After 3 hours my husband called again and was told Matthew was dealing with it. He was advised to call Storm again. Storm refused to let him talk to a manager. At about 7.00 pm, Dan of Storm rang (10 hours after his initial call). He said that someone would call us on Thursday morning to confirm a visit.
On Thursday, my broker contacted me to check if everything was OK. It was not!!! We were going around in circles and were still no nearer to having the boiler repaired. My broker advised me to call Homeserve again as Axa were still unable to help. Again I spoke to Jonathan who said it had been passed to Angela, who was unable to take my call and I was told that Ryan, one of their managers was now dealing with it. I told my broker this latest bit of news. He was also pretty angry by now and said he would deal with this. Homeserve told him that the claim had been closed??????!!! He demanded that it was re-openend immediately as it was nowhere near concluded. Who had authorised its closure? My broker then came back to me with some names – Andrew ... of Homeserve and Dan from Storm who were going to sort out this problem. Both called me back!!! Apologies and promises were made for Saturday. Perhaps this was finally it.
Regretably, on Saturday again, I received a call at 7.45 am to say that they were coming in the morning and by 10.00 am the story changed to one of the parts being out of stock. By that time I had had enough and made that quite clear to them. I then contacted Andrew of Homeserve and said that we had exercised enough patience and that I would get my own engineer in to finish the job and send the bill to Homeserve as they had failed to provide an emergency service and had left us without heating and hot water for 14 days! This he agreed with.
In case you are wondering about whether the parts were particularly difficult to obtain, Worcester Bosch confirmed that they were readily obtainable and one of their largest suppliers to the trade – Gas World confirmed to me that they were actually in stock when I called them on Saturday. My engineer arrived on the Monday 4th April, at 2.00 pm with the correct parts and completed the job in just over an hour, which is what I would expect from any emergency service! He also told me that he couldn’t see anything wrong with the original parts and the problem was probably due to the deposits in the boiler which the first engineer had already cleared.
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Caroline A
March 8, 2011
Appalling service
This is the first time I have ever been driven to publicise a complaint about a company - normally I don't have the time or energy! Storm Heating however have won the dubious compliment of being the first ever organisation to drive me to give up some of my precious free time, because I would really like other people not to have to go through the same hassle and angst as I have over the last few days (plus over a week of cold water...yep - no sense of humour left). Listed below are the sequence of events. I will leave it to the reader to judge whether or not my complaint is justified. I hope you also have a chuckle along the way - if I wasn't waiting for hot water I would have to admit that they are so bad they are almost funny.
Saturday 26th Feb
Nice Storm Heating engineer (yes, some of their engineers I'm sure are great) comes round, after a call the day before to Homeserve. Tells us we need a new circuit board for our boiler. We have no hot water, but think it will all be fixed in a couple of days.
Monday 28th Feb
We phone Storm Heating. Takes a long time to get through on their number. Give up after waiting around 10 mins. Phone again later. This time get through after about 5 mins. Am told they are waiting to hear back from HomeServe re authorisation for the work. Don't have time to ring today (busy job!).
Tuesday 1st March
Phone Homeserve. They tell me that Storm Heating have told them the boiler is "beyond economical repair" and that we need a new one. A little more digging tells us that they can fix it, but that it's in their view not worth it. As we are planning some building works later in the year and need to properly plan what kind of boiler we need and its location, we decide to go ahead and mend the boiler anyway and do it privately. Homeserve will pay £200 towards cost of new one / repair, and we decide to pay the remaining £170, so that we have time to work out where / what new boiler we need later in the year.
Homeserve e-mail me the exact parts required and labour time.
I phone Storm Heating. Again, it takes a LONG time to get through. Finally, after a couple of attempts, someone picks up the phone. I explain the situation, and ask to have the parts ordered and an engineer booked. Please find direct quotes of the conversation.
Storm Heating Lady: I can't do that
Me: Oh? OK - so, can you put me through to someone who can help?
SHL: No, there's no-one here today who can do that.
Me: You are a big national company with a 24 hour helpline. What do you mean - "nobody can help"?
SHL: June's not here and she deals with private clients.
Me: I have the exact codes and details of the parts that need ordering, and I just want to get them ordered and an engineer booked. Surely someone can help me with that? You can't just have one person in the whole company who can do that, surely?
SHL: I'm sorry, but only June can do it and she's not here today.
(You will forgive me for interjecting at this point that SH Lady wasn't coming over as particulary bright. Or helpful. Or really as giving any indication that she gave a damn about me and my useless boiler and my cold water situation).
Me (giving up) Well, can you ask "June" to phone me first thing in the morning please, as I have 2 small children who are not coping particularly well with freezing cold showers. Oh, and can you please use xxxxx number to contact me please, not the others on the system, as those are for my husband and he's away on business at the moment.
SHL assured me of all the above.
Weds 2nd March
9.30. No call from June. 10.30. No call from June. 11.00. No call from June. I had been in meetings or busy at work most of the morning and hadn't had the mental strength to face their "helpline". Anyway, at midday, I cracked. Rang. Waited for ages. Gave up. Rang again. Finally someone answered. June had stepped away. She would phone me back. Two hours later. No call. Getting angry. Receptionist at work (witnessing me pacing up and down on my mobile) very sympathetic, and we shared a mutually enjoyable quick chat about the general rubbishness of plumbing companies. Phoned AGAIN mid afternoon (and I am someone who normally never does anything "personal" in work time. But come on! Cold showers!!!) Oh, and I sent an e-mail as well. Still haven't had a reply (it is now Tuesday 8th).
Again was told "June was not at her desk". At this point started the first step of my decline into general harpiness, and asked to speak to a "manager". Daniel came on the phone. I covered the background, and then had the following conversation.
Daniel: June was off sick yesterday and she is very busy today having to catch up.
Me: And I'm very sympathetic to June, but surely you can't have your entire business depending on one person? That's very unfair to her if nothing else? Surely one of the women who answer the phone could deal with placing an order or pass me to someone who can? I manage a team of 5 people, and as it happens one of them is off sick today. But we are answering her phones and picking up anything urgent of her work. This is a management and process issue - it's not June's fault.
Daniel - Well, it's my first week here, so I'm sure I will be working on improving things.
Me- Well, I wish you the best of luck, but as a customer I'm really not interested in the details of what is happening, - I just want to get some hot water. Could you please organise for me to have an order for the parts placed and an engineer booked.
(You may note, dear reader, that by this point I was beginning to display a distinct lack of my normal charm).
Daniel promised to phone me back. I went into a meeting, clutching my phone, and ended up having to phone back a couple of hour later. Guess what. First "muppet" lady had not bothered updating my phone number, so poor Daniel had been trying the wrong numbers. When we eventually spoke he indignantly said I had not been reachable. I once again gave my mobile number, and told him that I had already asked that the other contact numbers be deleted. Clearly that message had not got through. Eventually at 5.30 I spoke to someone who took my credit card details and, hallelujah, said she would order parts. She was not of course able to give any dates, timings etc. but said someone would ring me. PS. I asked her what contact details she had on the system. Still had the old ones. Gave Storm Heating (for the 3rd time, sigh) my mobile number. She promised to update it.
Thursday 3rd March
Get a phone call from an engineer (I think) saying I would receive a call between 8.00 and 10.00 the next morning (Friday). At least last lady spoken to changed the contact details on the system. Hurray!!! As luck would have it the Friday timing clashed beautifully with the first weekend that my husband and I were having away from the children for 2 years. BUT, I decided to pay someone locally to "house sit" on Friday, so desperate was I to GET HOT WATER, and not to come back from the weekend to the same problems. The plane was leaving at 11.00, so I reasoned that that would give me time to receive the call and text the nice house sitting young lady with the time and details so that she could come to our house. And I specifically told the nice South African Storm Heating man on the phone that I was getting on a plane at 11.00, so would I definitely get a call? Yes, he assured me.
Friday 4th March
The mobile does not leave my side, apart from going through the x-ray machine at the airport.
9.00. No call. 9.30. No call. 10.00 No call. I am beginning to detect a pattern...
At 10.15, I give up. I am beginning to feel that this is a deliberate strategy of torture and battle of wits. And yes, before you ask, I DID consider going to another company, but then I would have had to pay for a fresh call out charge, AND Storm Heating already had my credit card details. And anyway, how much worse could it get????
Finally get through on the "your call is important to us" Unhelpful line.
Storm Heating Lady: - You're due an afternoon appointment, so someone will phone you after 1.30.
Me: But I was told that someone would phone me between 8.00 and 10.00?
SHL: No - that's only if you're having a morning appointment.
Me: So why was I told I would get a phone call between 8.00 and 10.00?
SHL: (pause). The system's telling me that you're due an afternoon appointment.
Me: But I'm getting on a plane in less than an hour and after that I won't be contactable.
SHL: (clearly thinking she's dealing with a complete loony, and to be fair I'm beginning to sound deranged even to myself). Well, the system says you have an afternoon appointment.
Me: Can I speak to Daniel please? (He at least appears to have a couple of brain cells to put together).
SHL: Daniel is away from his desk at the moment
Me: (Resignedly, and speaking very slowly).OK. Let's do this. I am going to give you a different number. PLEASE ask your engineers to contact that number. This lady is sitting at my home and will be able to let them in. Can you get them to ring her directly please, as my mobile will not be working.
That is where we leave it. And we have a lovely break, where I decide not to check or text or e-mail house sitting lady, because it's the first break we've had for 8 months, and I don't want it ruined by high blood pressure. So I spend a lovely couple of days in Spain. It's rainy and cold, but I have fantastic HOT showers and I don't have to speak to Storm Heating. Bliss.
Monday 7th March
Waiting at airport - I breathe a big sigh and text nice house sitting lady (who I paid, by the way). Did they contact her? Did they arrive? Is (miracle of miracles) the boiler fixed?
The answer, of course, was "No" to all of the above.
I ring Storm Heating and treat all the customers at Malaga airport Starbucks to a full blow by blow account of my travails to date. They are quite fascinated. The lady at Storm Heating - not so much. Clearly, she is dealing with a mad woman. Any sympathy? Any genuine apology? No. Anyway, what had happened? She wasn't really able to answer, apart from saying that:
"Well, the computer says that an engineer did turn up, but no-one was there, and there was a motor bike in the front garden".
Quite what the significance of the motor bike was I never did find out. I pointed out that we have no motor bike, nor have ever seen one parked in the street, and besides, I'm not really interested in the motor bike, I want to know whether anyone tried to contact the number I gave them on Friday. She wasn't able to answer that. She then said that an engineer was booked to come for that day (Monday).
Me: And did anyone think to check whether anyone would be there today?
SHL: Well, he wasn't able to do the job on Friday so he's coming today.
Me: And did anyone think whether it would be worth checking if anyone's in before sending an engineer? (Yes, I was repeating myself).
SHL: Well, he's been booked.
Me: On whose authority?
SHL -DEAD SILENCE
Me; OK, here's what I am going to do. I am going to stay at home all day tomorrow. Can you re-book the engineer for tomorrow.
SHL: Yes - I'll cancel the one for today.
Me: Well, I would like a morning slot please, as I am really at the end of my tether now, and I don't want to wait all day for someone to arrive and then be told at the end of the day that no one's coming. Not that I have low expectations or anything.
SHL: You can only book all day slots I'm afraid (but really she didn't sound at all sorry. Funny that).
And here's the rub...TODAY I get told that "but you didn't request a morning slot. It would have been on the system if you had."
AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH...
Oh I can't be bothered to bore you or me with any more of the painful detail. Suffice it to say that today, Tuesday 8th, I have had to phone I think 5 times. Guess what time the engineer arrived? 8.35 IN THE EVENING. My husband actually thinks they are now doing this deliberately for some kind of sick kick. It is now 22.30, and the poor man is still here. He is actually very nice, and no, I have not taken any of this out on him. I even made him a cup of tea with some biscuits.
BUT I WOULD RATHER SLASH MY WRISTS THAN EVER HAVE TO DEAL WITH STORM HEATING AGAIN!!! Poor management, training, processes. If I delivered quality like that in my job I would deservedly be sacked.
I think I am going to block my credit card payment and get them to stay on hold for 10 minutes twice a day for a week before I agree to pay it. And a personal apology from their Managing Director would be nice too.
You have been warned...
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