Shetland Customer Service Again !!

[Ronald]

I have a Neff Microwave / oven combi that came with my fitted kitchen . Microwave stopped working, phoned Neff who advised I take it their Authorised Agent in Shetland, George Robertsons .

 

Disconnected it , got it in the car and took it as advised . When I went into said shop it all went wrong .. When I told the customer service agent behind the counter of my plight I was immediately asked if I bought it from them, No I said , it came with my kitchen . I thought so she said , we only look at things bought from us ! Well your website says you are a neff agent I responded . It also says we only repair things bought from us . So you won't have a look I asked. Nope that would mean our customers would have to wait longer for their repairs. I left ..

 

So , if they think this through , if it is beyond repair, or if they even said it was , where would I get a new one ?

 

If I need something else fot the house (like a sonos I have been eying up) where will I get that ?

 

I was expecting to pay for the inspection & Repair , surely they make enough money and dont need mine, I like to support local business , but they do not make it easy !!

 

Disappointed that the only local electrical shop has alienated another customer , Amazon for me from now on I guess ...

[Ironwithin]

I can understand why they only fix things that are bought from them.

[righter]

i have always had excellent service from George Robertsons.

 

Your recourse is with the retailer who sold the microwave...assuming it is within the guarantee period.

 

note what the sale of goods act says "The Sale of Goods Act offers protection against faulty goods even when the manufacturer's guarantee has run out. The act says goods must last a reasonable time - and that can be anything up to six years from the date of purchase."

[Teenie3]

The original post worries me greatly! Mainly because my new kitchen came with all NEFF appliances (and I paid extra for an extended guarantee)!

 

If Geordie Robertsons are the NEFF agents up here do they not have to fix anything that is still under guarantee and charge NEFF for the job?

It's not like they are loosing out - NEFF should be paying them for their time and business is business, whoever foots da bill.

[Ronald]

Yeah , and the manufacurer advised me to take it their Shetland authorised agent , George Robertson, who refused to look at it , and had a poor attitude . Had they looked at it and advised me it was beyond repair I would have ordered a new one from them . It cost 1k . I would have thought that part of being an authorised agent would include repairing appliances people had bought as part of a fitted kitchen etc . Obviously there would be a labour cost , which would have a % of profit built in.

 

I have bought other items from them in the past , but not this particular one . Certainly not be buying from them in the future though . Certain Shetland businesses greet about people buying from south , then do nothing to try and gain your custom ...

[Teenie3]

I've bought loads fae dem in da past too and never had any cause to complain. Shop staff are always very nice and helpful and recently ordered a bit through them for a broken appliance and they couldn't have been better.

 

Very worried though that if my new kitchen equipment goes feet up I'll be left high & dry!

 

Have you advised NEFF that they won't deal with your repair?

[Ronald]

Yep , they were very surprised ! They gave me the number for appliance rescue in brae and he is going to look at it . Neff stuff is good , hopefully you will have no issues during the warranty period . When we built the house the only thing not bought locally was the kitchen , main reason being we lived in Aberdeen at the time so it was easier to deal with the kitchen company down there . All the neff stuff coming with it . American fridge / washing machine / tumble drier / boiler etc etc was all bought up here .

[Ronald]

Neff also asked me to email them with the details, which I have also done .

[Silvercloud]

Station road garage do similar they only give courtsey cars if you brought a car from them, yet most Vauxhall garages do give courtsey cars while they repair your car down south no problem whether you brought car or not from them, just offering good service to their cutomers.

[owre-weel]

I can understand why they only fix things that are bought from them.

I can't. Surely it is in any local businesses interest to provide a service if they are the agent, it's not like they won't get paid for it. Maybe they don't need the money now, but the time may be when they will bite your hand off for any business, especially if someone were to open a similar business in competition.

 

As the OP states, he/she would have likely made future purchases.

 

If Robertsons are neff agents the should look at any neff appliance. This childish " you didna buy it fae wis" is poor business practice.

 

On saying that, I'm surprised that this has happened as I have always found them to provide a good service.

 

The problem is likely lack of competition, but that can change quickly

[tooney1]

To help you understand better - a lot of these exclusive manufacturer/agency type contracts including garages often get really low pay to fix something under warranty. The frequency doesn't exist here to make it worthwhile unlike down south, and local companies don't pander to poor rates like they do south since their is less competition and they actually need to concentrate on making money.

 

Aftersales is generally a selling point for buying local, and I don't see why they should fix it (especially if at a low rate) if they didn't benefit from the original sale.

[Silvercloud]

Surely if they are NEFF agents and they refuse to repair a Neff product under warranity then they should lose their agent rights from NEFF ?

At the end of the day they are representives of NEFF?

[banzai]

I was told by them There service to own sales with neff bosch an semins,which in my book is fair play,there a small local buisness priorotising what they sell id say that a good thing making sure they look after there customers,i no for a fact a certain local kitchen supplier sells appliances with kitchens sayin they buy them from george robertsons so they will fix them for you! Which is a lie as the kitchen supplier buys them south then when you try get them fixed you find this out! I was stung by this myself,to find id have been cheaper buying them myself locally and get the back up

[GT]

n'effin naff NEFF agents

[Silvercloud]

If you buy eg Neff product anywhere on the mainland and you move say different county/region on the mainland with your product and it breaks you can get it repaired now at your nearest local Neff agent, why should it be any different for Shetland, if you move here with Neff products etc from the mainland why can't nearest Neff agent now fix it, absolutely stupid just because you didn't hapopen to buy it from them in the first place, offer to fix it and your more likely to buy another product in the future from them if they provide good service.