Miele Aftersales - As Good As It Gets

[karatedragon]

Hi!

I want to tell you all about the brilliant aftersales service I recently had on my new Miele Washer Dryer. I have had it about 8 weeks and when it was drying it would make an awful rattling noise generally after some time into the drying cycle and when the machine was particularly hot. The little orange screen also became covered with gibberish and would go out and then if I tapped it would come on.

I spoke to Andy (Washerhelp's Sensei) and he advised me to contact Miele right away. When I did I was threatened with the fact that if no fault is found then I would be charged upwards of £90. This really put me off as the fault was intermittent and I felt it would be my word against an engineering expert.

The problem continued and Andy Washerhelp really urged me to get a service call. He also advised that I recorded the sound. I did this and it proved most useful. When I spoke to Miele the second time the helpful operator was concerned that I felt unable to have made a call earlier due to the previous operator's threats.

The engineer came out within in two days. Not bad really considering it took 3 weeks for Hoover to come out to my old machine under guarantee to repair the leaking powder draw.

The upshot of this was the arrival of a very efficient engineer of 28 years experience working for Miele, who treated myself and my home with respect. The name of then engineer was emailed to me the night before complete with a 90 minute time slot. Amazing as we now live in an age where, lets be honest, service is pretty non existent and provided any time between 8am and 6pm. You then end up sitting indoors wondering if anyone will actually decide to turn up.

He confirmed there was a fault. I could not hear anything but this was his experienced ear! The parts were then ordered and fitted a week later. Only a week later due to myself being unable to be in until the following week as I was offered an earlier appointment.

The cost of this repair? Thankfully £0.00 as it was under guarantee. But... the bill he left with the zero amount to pay did list the prices:

£295.19 - Electronic Control Fascia

£266.51 - Tumble Dryer Fan Unit

I assume this would also be plus labour and VAT!

I really want to thank Andy Washerhelp for all his help as I know I messaged him a lot of times and tried to email him the sound file with the dryer's awful noise. I hope Andy will continue this site and he has my full support and gratitude for taking his time to provide this forum.

Cheers Dude! Respect!

KarateDragon

[pilotpete@hotmail.co.uk]

Hi!

I spoke to Andy (Washerhelp's Sensei) and he advised me to contact Miele right away. When I did I was threatened with the fact that if no fault is found then I would be charged upwards of £90. This really put me off as the fault was intermittent and I felt it would be my word against an engineering expert.

KarateDragon

My Sister had similar experience (but is quite hard to intimidate), but providing it is explained clearly and in a polite manner then there should not be a problem.

This I suppose arises out of call outs for problems that could easily have been checked before hand from the manufacturer’s handbook – blown fuse, loose wire, blocked pipe etc though some people may be prepared to pay £90 for these to be checked.

Sisters problem was blocked outlet pipe which she managed to fix without calling anyone out.

Unfortunately intermittent faults are obviously the hardest to fix especially if not there when the engineer calls. As Andy said gather evidence, record noise, photograph display. It is very worrying when this happens close to the end of your warranty period so its worth calling and reporting saying the fault is intermittent. Ask for a reference number so that should the fault reappear again you have a claim history that relates to the warranty period

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Thanks for posting your experiences Karatedragon. I remember that you were genuinely concerned about the "threat" of a charge if no fault is found. This is common to all companies and (as Peter says) it's due to the considerable time and money they waste on wild goose chases when some customers think they can get an engineer out free of charge and as many times as they want. You can get some people spotting a few drops of water in front of the washing machine and instead of thinking it could be the dog's bowl that got kicked will just call out an engineer to give the machine a free check-up.

I recognised this as a potential concern for washing machine owners and have a section specifically covering it (which I pointed you to) Here's a link for any one else - Can repair company charge me if their engineer can't find any fault?.

The standard of service you received, with an email introducing the engineer and giving a 90 minute slot (that's fantastic) and only a two day wait, plus an expert engineer all costs a lot of money to run - and you've paid for it in the purchasing costs. One important fact that many people fail to appreciate is that the "guarantee" and after sales service for any product isn't paid for out of a companies profits, it's paid for by the customer - it is part of the purchasing cost. That's why the after sales service for many cheap or budget washing machines is frankly abysmal. One personal incident that helped highlight this for me was when my son saved up for his first big TV for his bedroom. Out of the few he'd short-listed I advised him to go for the Philips but he chose a cheaper brand. It arrived in a flimsy cardboard box with nothing but an inch gap between the front of the screen and the cardboard box. When switched on there was a big bluey-green patch on the picture that wouldn't go away. A TV engineer I knew advised me the tube had "most probably had a knock".

The tv was sent back and he ordered the Philips instead, which came in a much sturdier box, with a thick sheet of polystyrene padding in front of the screen and thick reinforcing around the entire tv. I remember the metaphorical penny dropping as the obvious revealed itself. Part of the reason the other tv was cheaper was because they'd cut back on the protective packaging!

Broadening the topic onto more general products not just washing machines

I have a few quotes from John Ruskin (1819 - 1900) on my contact-me page, which I don't think are seen often enough. Even in the 1800s this guy had it nailed 😉

"There is nothing in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little cheaper, and he who considers price only is that man's lawful prey".

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort."

I'd hate to appear pompous or even smug about the quality issue. I'm certainly in no position to always buy the best, and I know many people can be forced to buy the cheapest all the time out of necessity. Those Miele spares prices are certainly frightening! I just think people should be much more realistic about the quality of many "cheap" products made today, and the standard of service that comes with them as well as the hidden cost of buying rubbish, which mostly ends up costing much more in the end.

Until more people become sceptical about why something is so cheap instead of blindly lapping up the cheaper and cheaper products in the shops, people will remain, "that man's lawful prey". Unfortunately though, we've now reached a stage where the consequences of throwaway products are affecting the planet and it's about time Governments put a stop to all these companies peddling rubbish disguised as viable purchases.