REPORT 1

The "Guarantee Extension" that proved to be pure moonshine. A very frustrating experience!

Previous Experience

A Christmas catastrophe
When the original 12-month guarantee on the bathroom refitting done by Bathing Solutions was about to run out, the company offered the customer the chance to join a "Guarantee Extension" scheme for a suitable annual fee.

The customer made a point of getting an assurance from the head of the service department that the guarantee extension would cover all of the work done by Bathing Solutions, specifically everything to do with the bath and its pumps and electrical systems, and also everything to do with the larger hot-water cylinder installed by Bathing Solutions and its immersion heater. This assurance was given by Mr. David Lee.

The immersion heater had stopped working for no apparent reason in the past and Bathing Solutions had sent an electrician to fix it. It was only because the immersion heater was covered by the guarantee extension that the customer agreed to join the scheme.

Fast Forward to Failure
On Saturday 22nd December 2012, the customer realized that the shower was the right temperature with no cold water added. Which meant that the immersion heater had failed to create a tankful of water overnight and everything would be stone cold the next day. A call to the phone number offered by the confirmation letter for the latest extension of the guarantee reached the service department, where the customer was told that all the operators were busy but to keep holding and the call would be answered as soon as possible.

10 minutes later, the customer realized that, despite the cheeful recorded assurances, there was nobody there.

Monday, 24th December
Same result.

Christmas went by. Then the customer had a bright idea. What about selecting Option 1 for Sales at the telephone menu (instead of 3 for Lacki-Of-Service) to find out if there was anyone there. A very nice young lady apologized for the state of the phone system, said that everyone was on holiday until Wednesday 2nd January 2013 and offered an emergency number.

The customer left his name and phone number after the tone on the emergency number. Nobody called back.

Wednesday, 2nd January 2013
The customer actually managed to get through to the service department at Bathing Solutions and explained his problem. The young lady answering the phone seemed nonplussed. The customer assured her that she had the personal assurance of the head of the service department that the faulty immersion heater was covered by the guarantee extension. She put him through to the man who had issued the assurance in the first place.

Mr. Lee then informed the customer that the company had changed its policy at some point in the past – without telling the customer, of course. In effect, the customer was told: "Hard luck, it's not our problem, and by the way, all the money you've spent up to now on your guarantee extension was wasted."

Needless to say, the customer has no intention of renewing the guarantee extension this year.