Broken washing machine

[khitajrah]

Ergh - I'm getting seriously fed up. in June 2005 I purchased a washing machine from John Lewis in Aberdeen and despite the £25 shipping cost (right into my kitchen) it was still half the price of the same machine available in a local appliance shop.

 

It had a two year warranty on it covering parts & labour. A week before the warranty ran out my washing machine died so I phoned the number on the warranty papers. John Lewis use a sub-contactor who use another sub-contractor based in Shetland. I was assured everything was covered by the warranty and I would see no bill. A few days later the Shetland washing machine fixer fellow came to do his job. He needed to order a new part. I waited and waited and waited and spent a fortune in the Laundry in Lerwick. He came with the part - it didn't work and needed another part. I waited and waited. He came with another part - which didn't work either. Meantime, despite the parts & labour warranty, I received a fairly substantial invoice from the Shetland subcontractor.

 

A few days ago the subcontractor telephoned me to ask why my bill, sent out in early July, hadn't yet been paid. My machine still hasn't been fixed. I'm now on the telephone again with John Lewis trying to get the cover sorted - they say everything is covered and I shouldn't see a bill and the local subcontactor says I'm to pay the bill and be reimbursed by John Lewis.

 

I have no idea what to do - any suggestions?

[Medziotojas]

You could try the Citizens Advice Bureau.

[filskadacat]

It's so many years since I even opened a copy - but once upon a time the answer might have been to write to the Sunday Post who had a sort of 'name and shame' consumer page. The Sunday Times do one in the Money bit but it tends to be more about bank accounts and share certificates. Perhaps some other papers do sth similar?

[tlady]

I would hope that trading standards should be able to help you out ..

 

trading.standards@shetland.gov.uk

[Guest Anonymous]

From bitter experience of this sort of thing.

Many stores on the Mainland, (not saying John Lewis), claim to have agreements with local repairers when in fact they do not.

Sometimes repairers do work on behalf of these stores, invoice them, and never get paid, so they adopt a policy of invoicing the customer, who can claim from the store against the policy.

If the Mainland stores were a bit more honest in their warranty practices it would help, but until they are, any major appliance which you are likely to rely on, like a washing machine, is better bought locally.

It may cost a little bit more, but not a lot. George Robertson, for instance have been known to beat Mainland prices on many occasions, although that may just be on specific models which are popular and which they can afford to buy in bulk quantities.

Threaten John Lewis with Trading Standards, that should bring results. But don't be too hard on the repairer. He most likely hasn't had his warranty claims paid in the past.

[Fjool]

Don't hand over any money. The subcontrator should be invoicing John Lewis, not you. If the person who has done the work gets paid, the problem becomes entirely yours.

[Ghostrider]

This is going to hinge to a certain degree on who ordered the work. Did John Lewis contact their repair contractor with a job order, who in turn contacted their Shetland sub-contractor with a job order, who eventually turned up at your house to do the work. Or did you contact the local sub contractor direct and ask them to come out and do work which would be covered under guarantee by John Lewis?

 

If the former, then its' entirely John Lewis' problem, chew off the ears of the highest managerial level you can blackmail, threaten or scam your way on to the phone with at the Aberdeen store, and if possible at Head Office, about both the pitiful guarantee service you've received so far, and the fact their contrcators are hassling you because John Lewis doesn't pay their bills.

 

Unfortunately, if the latter, a more "softly softly" approach may be necessary, as if John Lewis wanted to make full use of the loopholes in front of them, they *could* argue that as you called the repairman, you ordered the work, therefor are responsible for paying for it. And unless you have anything in writing and signed, from John Lewis in which they accept full responsibility for this particular job, and name the repairman who has done work as the person they are ordering to undertake it, you'll have a very difficult job proving that they are responsible for the cost. Unfortunately word of mouth on the phone is only good as long as the person in question is honourable and actually is in a position to give such undertaking and order such work, otherwise it's just one persons word against another.

[khitajrah]

This is going to hinge to a certain degree on who ordered the work. Did John Lewis contact their repair contractor with a job order, who in turn contacted their Shetland sub-contractor with a job order, who eventually turned up at your house to do the work.

 

This is exactly what happened and I have all the dates/times/job numbers to prove it.

 

I'm just such a coward on the telephone!

 

Thanks everyone for your advice.

[Ghostrider]

^^^ Definitely John Lewis' problem then. Forward the bills you've received from the repair contractor on to John Lewis, preferably by Recorded Delivery, tell the contractor you've forwarded them to the person liable for payment, and as has already been mentioned, have Trading Standards give John Lewis an almightly kick up the khyber just to keep it all moving along.

[Guest Anonymous]

Someone previously mentioned The Sunday Post. Their 'Raw Deal' page is excellent at solving this sort of thing.

Any Scottish based company threatened with exposure in that page will jump through hoops to make amends for their wrong doing before it gets to print, so worth mentioning that you intend to write to the paper.

[moorit]

, I received a fairly substantial invoice from the Shetland subcontractor.

 

A few days ago the subcontractor telephoned me to ask why my bill, sent out in early July, hadn't yet been paid. My machine still hasn't been fixed.

 

I would ask for the machine to be fixed first, then I would start the argument about who is paying. Why is the sub contractor asking for money if he hasn't fixed the machine ?

[sheepshagger]

If john lewis contracted da guy dae are liable, if du contracted da guy du may be liable but when I lived sooth and used J.L. dae alwis sorted things oot wi oot ony fuss.

gud luk

[Fifi]

Khit phoned the number on her warranty documents so she's isn't contracting the local bloke to do the work, she has correctly gone to who her agreement is with - John Lewis. John Lewis are usually a pretty switched-on company with a good reputation - I would imagine they would want to get it sorted out. Khit's rightly contacted them regarding getting invoiced from the local bloke. She shouldn't pay him and tell him to contact John Lewis directly to sort it out with them. Any problems - go to Citizens' Advice Bureau and/or Trading Standards as someone has already mentioned.

[ISOT]

I had the same problems with John Lewis a couple of years ago and ended up having to draw a line under it and buying a new machine locally.

I know some people may not have the ability to go and do this but to be perfectly honest I wish I had just bought locally in the first place as it was quite surprisingly as cheap as buying off the internet to get your appliance delivered and installed in your home. The shop staff were excellent to deal with, the delivery men went out their way to install the machine in a tricky area and the company have an excellent reputation locally for a great back up service, hence I have bought a whole new range of Zanussi Built-in kitchen appliances and am delighted with my service and BILL! All in all my advice would be to buy locally next time and save a lot of hassle.

 

p.s - Go and buy a Sunday Post today and give them a phone they will have it sorted in a couple of weeks.

[khitajrah]

They just delivered my washing machine now - all fixed. I think they've sorted out payment through John Lewis as well.. so, no bill.

 

Is that a record though... it only took 6 and a half months to get my washing machine fixed and returned.