Problems with Currys Coverplan/Whateverhappens for an LCD TV

[Mister_Tez]

[short story: TV faulty. TV picked up for repair. TV then lost instead of re-delivered...]

 

Sorry for the long post, but... here goes:

 

I bought a Samsung LE26R73BDX HD Ready LCD TV from the "Currys" store in Cambridge’s Retail Park back in December 2006.

 

At the time of purchase, I gave in to the salesman and also purchased Currys' extended warranty scheme, called "Coverplan" (it has since been rebranded as "Whateverhappens").

 

A few weeks ago, I thought I finally had justification for taking out the extended warranty, as my trusty Samsung developed a rather annoying fault

 

I first noticed it on Tuesday 1st September: a dark vertical line on the right hand side of the screen, running all the way from the top to the bottom. The line wasn't perfectly straight, and had a curve in it at the top. It appeared on all channels and inputs. How noticeable the line was depended on what was being watched, on the colour, the brightness, etc. On some things, you had to look for it. On other things, you could not help but see it and be distracted by it.

 

I phoned the Currys' "Coverplan" ("Whateverhappens") phone line (an 0844 number!) on Thursday 3rd September, and explained the problem to the woman who eventually answered.

 

She told me they aim to resolve things within 21 days, and that if the TV could not be repaired (or was beyond economical repair) then I would be issued with Currys vouchers to purchase a replacement. She booked an engineer visit for Monday 7th September, and from what I recall she said that if the engineer confirmed that the TV was faulty, he or she would then take it back to the service centre.

 

So I used a day out of my little remaining annual leave to take the 7th off work.

 

Monday 7th came, and the engineer phoned me in the morning, to say he'd be here "between 12:00 and 15:00".

 

So I waited… he finally phoned back shortly after 2pm, and said he’d parked at the Grafton and needed directions.

 

"The Grafton? Erm, that’s a bit far to be carrying my TV back to your van," I said to him.

 

"Oh no, I'm not taking the TV. I’m just coming to give it a look," replied the engineer.

 

He turned up a while later, after I acted as a human SatNav and gave him turn by turn directions over the phone.

 

The engineer checked the TV out, and agreed that there was a fault. He phoned his supervisor, who told him that they wouldn’t have the parts for that sort of fault on a TV of that age.

 

He then phoned to arrange the "Uplift" of the TV, and was told by a different person that they would actually have parts for this TV.

 

"Uplift" was finally agreed for Monday 14th September, as any earlier date they offered was too short notice for me to take yet another day off work.

 

So, I used yet another day's annual leave, for the following Monday.

 

Monday 14th September came, and I phoned the 0844 number to find out if they could give me any kind of time window for the "Uplift".

 

"Between 11:30 and 15:30," I was told. And so I waited…

 

Two guys from the Currys Home Delivery service turned up in the afternoon, gave me the paperwork, and took away my TV

 

In its place, I temporarily set up the little 14″ portable from the bedroom Better than nothing…

 

After giving Currys a week, I phoned the 0844 number on Monday 21st September. After navigating the menus, and waiting on hold, I finally got through to someone.

 

The man I spoke to said that my TV had been assigned an engineer that same day, and that it would be assessed later that day. He advised me to phone back on Wednesday. Why on Earth did it take a whole week before they even had a look at it?

 

So, anyway. I phoned back on Wednesday 23rd September. The man I spoke to looked up my details, and said that the system said… "No fault found". No fault found? NO FAULT FOUND?!

 

I explained that there definitely was a fault, and that their own call-out engineer had seen it and confirmed its existence.

 

The man said that perhaps the system had not been updated, and that I should phone back again on Friday. He also said that the TV would still need "bench testing" anyway before being sent back.

 

So, I got home on Wednesday 23rd, feeling rather annoyed with Currys' service so far, only to find a letter from them sitting there waiting for me.

 

Opened it up… it alleged that my TV had actually been repaired already, and said that re-delivery had been scheduled for Tuesday 29th September (after they allegedly failed to contact me to arrange a convenient date: Strange… No message on the landline, no message on my mobile. I did have a missed call on my mobile on Tuesday, but it was from a blocked number, and no voicemail was left, so if that was actually someone from Currys, they didn’t put much effort into contacting me).

 

"Further to your flat panel television being repaired in our workshop…"

 

Hmm. Now, if I hadn’t talked to anyone on Currys’ expensive phoneline, that letter would have cheered me up, and made me feel impressed at what would appear to have been their speedy repair service.

 

But, the thing is, seeing as someone told me that it had been deemed that there was "No fault found", I have to wonder whether they’ve actually done anything at all with it! My current assumption is that the "engineer" somehow failed to notice the fault, marked it up as "No fault found", and just flagged it for re-delivery, generating a standard "your TV has been repaired and will be returned" letter.

 

[OK, maybe I’m wrong, maybe they somehow managed to fix my nearly three year old TV really quickly, without needing to order parts for a TV that is no longer actually made, and it's actually just their communication (both internal and with customers) that sucks.]

 

Anyway. I phoned the Currys/DSGi support line again last Thursday 24th, to find out just what was going on.

 

They told me that it was still down as "no fault found", and that a return had been actioned (explaining the letter… well, apart from the part of the letter saying "Further to your flat panel television being repaired in our workshop").

 

I then phoned their delivery centre (another expensive 0844 number), and asked for the delivery date to be changed from Tuesday 29th September to Monday 28th September (off work today anyway).

 

The person I spoke to on Thursday confirmed the change to the re-delivery date. He confirmed that it was now set for Monday 28th September.

 

So, today, I got up early (early for a day off), as I had to wait around for the delivery people…

 

I had tried to phone the automated line on Sunday night, to find out the 4 hour delivery window, but it didn’t work... so I phoned again this morning and spoke to someone instead.

 

I was told "Between 8 and 12".

 

And so I waited, and waited, and waited…

 

It hit 12 noon, with no sign of the delivery people, and so I phoned up the delivery centre again…

 

I gave my details again, to a different guy than before, explained the situation again, and he told me he’d transfer me to someone else and I got put on hold again…

 

Finally, someone else answered, and they told me… the TV had not been sent to the delivery centre, and was still at the service centre.

 

What?!

 

So why was I given a delivery window of between 8 and 12?

 

"Sorry sir, I don’t know. You should phone the service centre."

 

So, I phone the service centre (0844). Explain it all again, get put on hold again… the guy comes back, and tells me he doesn't know what is going on. He says he will phone around to investigate, and will call me back.

 

I wait a while, and he phones me back… They still don't know what is going on, and have escalated the issue, but it appears that for the moment they have actually LOST MY TV. It’s not gone out for delivery, nor is it at the delivery centre, but the people at the service centre can’t find it there either.

 

So now I have to wait for a callback. Possibly today. Possibly tomorrow.

 

If I'm lucky, I might get my TV back in "a couple of days".

 

Great. So I have to take another day off work. But I don’t know when. And I can’t take Thursday or Friday off this week, or Monday off next week, as my supervisor is off on those days, and I'll be covering for him. And I just know that when it does eventually come back, it will have the exact same fault as before, because the service centre people seem to be blind and couldn't find it.

 

 

Utter farce.

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

I think we have CAG should have a monthly award for the worst customer service, I nominate DSGi.

[Mister_Tez]

I had a callback later on Monday afternoon, from someone in the "Medics Team" (some sort of escalation/resolution team or something).

 

He didn't actually seem to have been briefed on the situation though, so I had to explain it all again.

 

Various people on the phone, since I first reported the fault, had told me of a "21 day rule", where if the problem has not been resolved by 21 days since the original fault report, you can request that the item is written off & then be issued with vouchers to the value of a replacement of "equivalent specification".

 

As it was now 25 days since I first phoned (21 days since the engineer confirmed the fault, & 14 days since the TV was taken away to be repaired), I asked the guy from the "Medics Team" to initiate a claim for me under the "21 day rule", as I was fed up & did not want to have to wait for however long it would take for them to find & return my TV.

 

He agreed to this, & I gave him my email address (which he said should speed up issuing the vouchers, as once the claim was processed they could just be emailed instead of posted). He said it can take 10-14 days IIRC, but should be faster.

 

He told me he would still chase up what happened to the TV, & would call me back again on Tuesday.

 

On Tuesday, he called me back as promised, and explained that they had still not tracked down my missing TV. He said the system now seemed to show that it was set for re-delivery on Tuesday 29th (the original re-delivery date before I phoned to change it to Monday 28th), but they still couldn't find it. He said I may come home on Tuesday to find a note saying there'd been a missed delivery. [There wasn't however: no delivery was attempted on Tues, nor on Weds, or Thurs. I think they have truly lost it ].

 

I asked him again if the 21 day thing had been requested, and he assured me that it had been. He said it's now in the hands of the insurance side of Coverplan/Whateverhappens.

 

I got his name, and a geographical phone number instead of the 0844 number.

 

So now I'm waiting for my vouchers to turn up...

 

Some worries which remain though:

 

1) Fear that when I chase it up, they fob me off by telling me that the claim was never initiated.

 

2) Fear that when I chase it up, they fob me off by telling me that it's actually supposed to be 28 days / 6 weeks / 8 weeks instead of 21 days.

 

[Yes, I'm a rather negative person, but given what has happened so far, I have zero faith in anyone at DSGi sorting this out properly or doing what they promised].

 

I think we have CAG should have a monthly award for the worst customer service, I nominate DSGi.

 

 

They really are horrendously bad

 

Their communication is a joke too, not just with customers but between their own departments!

[barbaraanne]

Did you get the vouchers?

[Mister_Tez]

I'd forgotten all about this thread!

 

 

Yep, I did get the vouchers *Eventually*

 

[copy & paste from another forum]

 

 

The count so far:

 

• 36 days since I phoned Currys/DSG to report the fault on my Samsung LE26R73 LCD TV.
  
• 32 days since the "Tech Guys" engineer came out to look at my TV, and confirmed that it was indeed faulty.
  
• 25 days since Currys' Home Delivery service came and "Uplifted" my TV, for transport to the service centre.
  
• 11 days since Currys' Home Delivery service was supposed to deliver my TV back to me, but instead it was somehow LOST (unknown if while at the delivery centre or the service centre, neither could find it)... causing me to have wasted an entire day's Annual Leave - and my birthday.
  
• 11 days since the guy from the "Medics Team" (who my issue had been escalated to) first called me back and I requested vouchers for a replacement under the "21 day rule".
  
• 10 days since the guy from the "Medics Team" called me back the second time, to say they still had not located the TV, and to confirm that he had initiated my claim for vouchers to purchase a replacement.
  

 

 

So, I've been checking my email throughout the day, every day... no email containing a voucher code.

 

I've been checking the post when I get home from work each day, just in case they ignored my request for email delivery and sent the vouchers by the post instead... no post from anyone in DSG.

 

OK, he said it could take up to 10-14 days (not sure if that is actual days or working days?), but I would've thought I'd have received something by now.

 

So, today I decided to chase it up...Good job I did too

 

Now, I've had pretty poor customer service before from other companies (heh, I used to be an NTL customer...), but this really is getting ridiculous now...

 

Anyway, I phoned the "Medics Team" late this morning.

 

The guy I spoke to on Monday & Tuesday last week was not in, so I spoke to a different guy (got his name), and gave him a brief run down.

 

He checked the system, and found no sign of a claim having been initiated for me (let alone anything being sent out).

 

He asked if I'd actually been told to request the claim myself directly. I told him no, I had asked the original guy from the Medics Team to do it when I first spoke to him on Monday last week, and I confirmed it with him when I spoke to him again on Tuesday last week. As far as I was aware, all I had to do was sit and wait for my voucher code to be emailed to me...

 

He said that maybe the original guy had done it in a different way (by just emailing the claim people or something), but he couldn't check that himself, so he would get the original guy to call me back tomorrow (as he is due back at work then).

 

In the mean time, he suggested I phone the claim side of things & see if they have a record of it. So I phoned the normal 0844 number & went through the options he told me to get through to the "21 day rule" claim people.

 

I spoke to a woman (stupidly didn't remember to get her name), and gave her a brief run down. She checked the system at her end, and found no record of a claim having been initiated for me.

 

She said that due to the poor service received so far, she would, on this occasion, pass it on to "Claim Management", and that someone from there should then phone me back within "24 hours".

 

So I'm now waiting on a callback from Claim Management and a callback from the original guy at the Medics Team.

 

I just want my code!...

 

Gave up waiting for a callback, and phoned them instead.

 

Phoned the Medics Team first. Told that the original guy I spoke to was *not* due in today, and that the Medics Team as a whole does not work weekends. Gave brief run down to the guy I spoke to. He said that he will look into it, and I may get a callback.

 

I then phoned the normal 0844 no. & chose options for the "21 day rule". Spoke to a guy who said he was from "Case Management". Gave him a brief run down. He told me that although I had not received a callback from them, it was still actually passed to Case Management, and that they are just waiting on confirmation from the Tech Guys of it being over 21 days. Once they have that (2 working days, plus don't work weekends) then they will issue vouchers. He told me I should still get a callback when it goes through too.

 

So, it seems that there has actually been some progress. I just need the Tech Guys to confirm to Case Management that it's been over 21 days (which it has been, easily!) and then I will allegedly get my voucher code. So I guess it should be sorted by Tuesday, maybe Monday if they get on it straight away.

 

I'm still not going to believe it though until I have the voucher code.

 

I've been given so much BS so far from people at DSG, and such horrendous communication and customer service, I have zero faith in them doing anything right.

 

The "Medics Team" seems to me to be a bit of a joke. They seem to be meant to be some sort of resolution team, yet so far they've resolved nothing - they've actually made it take longer.

 

if I had just phoned the claim line myself last week, instead of naively trusting the escalation/resolution people at the "Medics Team" to actually resolve my issue, I probably would have had the voucher code days ago!

 

 

 

Worst communication I have ever had from a company (and they also seem to have pretty awful internal communication too).

 

Worst customer service I have ever had from a company.

 

After I get the replacement, which I have to get from Currys because of the vouchers, I do not want to buy anything from any DSG company ever again.

 

---------- Post added at 12:18 ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 ----------

 

Just had an email from the first guy I spoke to this morning. He apologised that I was promised a callback from someone who it turns out wasn't actually going to be in today, & said he spoke to the guy from yesterday at home who also apologises.

 

He said that he had checked the claim system, and my claim is now on there, and that it would get chased up on Monday morning.

 

I replied with thanks. I also pointed out that I had checked with the claims people myself, so know it's on the system now. Also said to him that the only reason it is on the system is because I chased it up yesterday and found that nothing at all had been done...

 

And, at last, there is success!

 

I phoned Case Management this afternoon, talked to a helpful bloke who said I was actually on his callback list for today anyway. He gave me the code over the phone (he also said my voucher code should be on the way via email anyway, although it never did turn up...).

 

Went in PC World after work. Checked they had stock. Went home with a nice new TV

 

So, after however many days it has now reached, I finally have a decent TV again. And 'cos of the way prices have dropped & specs gone up, I've actually got a better & bigger TV than I had before, even though the voucher code was for £230 less than what I paid back in 2006.

 

Nice shiny new Samsung LE32B450, replacing the 14" portable taken from the bedroom, which temporarily replaced the Samsung LE26R73 that someone at DSG seemed to have lost.