Chapter Eight- The Next Step
Unfortunately, soon after Christmas 2004 Pat fell ill and was unable to cope with the upheaval of having the fitters in. With me not being able to take any more time off until February I telephoned to rearrange and a new date of 16th February 2005 was set. Conscious of Anglian's abysmal appointment-keeping skills I telephoned them the week before to double check that they were coming and that they would be fitting the replacement worktop and not just having another look. The girl assured me that they were coming on that date, morning, 9 to 10, and to fit the worktop so, the night before, we emptied all the top sections and drawers out and, once more, barricaded ourselves and the cats behind boxes in the dining room. Ah, the forgotten joys of pre-installation boxing.
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16th February 2005. Dining room full of boxes, cats safely out of both dining room and kitchen areas, Pat and I waiting. Niggling doubts started to appear. 9.30 I could bear it no longer. I telephoned Haydock only to be told by Mr D that I had cancelled the appointment due to illness and they were still awaiting a new date. "OH NO", I said, "I made a new date, TODAY, early am, I confirmed it by phone with your office last week and you ARE going to fit it today! I have taken a day off work specially and I have no more leave left, If I have to take any more time off it will have to be unpaid. So are you going to pay me lost earnings and commission?" He said he would phone me back in 10 minutes.
15 minutes later I phoned again, to be told that the fitters would be with us by 10.30.
Wonder of wonders. They were! Then ......
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Problem number one. They thought it was an electric oven. It is gas. Well, it seems they could disconnect it but they would need the gas fitter to reconnect it. OK, go get a gas fitter. A few telephone calls later and the fitter is arranged, we think, for the next day, subject to me phoning my favourite place - Haydock. Tomorrow is bad enough but manageable, but when my favourite person on earth, Mr D, tells me he cannot get a gas fitter until Friday! No can do (we have a cat show to run and Pat has a hair appointment at 4pm Friday, well, the Club Chairman has to look her best on show day!), Saturday then. OUT OF THE QUESTION! Eventually we arrange for Friday so long as he is there before 2pm. Wonder of wonders he actually comes early, though he does moan about the cats - look, mate, they live here, you don't!
Oh, and I forgot to mention, the refrigerator. In early January 2005, within the space of a week, the plastic edges of ALL the shelves and the crisper cover tray shear off, rendering the refrigerator virtually unusable. I telephone Anglian first and am told I have to contact the manufacturers, it is nothing to do with their 5 year guarantee for the kitchen (well, it wouldn't be, would it)! I telephone Hotpoint and am informed that as the refrigerator is out of guarantee – by about a month – I will have to pay for an engineer to come out and “assess” the situation, at a cost of £90, which might be reduced to £45 and, if found to be a manufacturing fault, would be refunded. Unfortunately, due to Pat's ill health , I am unable to pursue this until 2nd March when I finally manage to telephone again. To say that I am disgusted with the response I receive is an understatement.
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At first I am informed that as the refrigerator is out of guarantee I will have to pay for the parts. Upon enquiring as to the cost I am told that this will be just over £73! For 3 shelves?????I tell them to forget it, I will pursue this under Trading Standards, but then find my paperwork and discover that as I had returned the guarantee card when the refrigerator was fitted I would be eligible for 5 years free parts guarantee. I telephone again and this time am told that, yes, the shelves will be free (yippee!!) BUT (isn't there always a "but") have to be fitted by a Hotpoint engineer. I beg your pardon?? I do not believe what I am hearing. A qualified engineer to place three shelves in a refrigerator, a job my 8 year old nephew could do blindfold! I say, not entirely sarcastically, that presumably this will cost more than the shelves. The answer is obvious, yes it will. It will cost £90 no less, BUT, and I can hardly contain myself at hearing this, the parts will come with a free 12 month guarantee. WOW!!! Big deal! Especially as they only seem to last for 13 months anyway, at which point, presumably, I will once more be faced with the option of paying £73 (plus inflation) for the shelves or £90 (plus inflation) to have them fitted by an engineer for “free”. Forget it, I will write a letter of complaint to Hotpoint (or Indesit as it now seems to be) and, failing any action on their account, at best I will, somehow (maybe on eBay or at a car boot?) find, beg, steal, borrow or make some new shelves to fit or, at worst, continue as we are doing, with the shelves propped up by tins of beans etc. Yes, you did read that correctly. Goodness only knows what the beans think and it does restrict space slightly but hey, at least we can use the fridge!
It now seems to me, and, no doubt to many of you too, that Anglian not only supply the cheapest and lowest quality materials possible at an inflated price but also use appliances of similar “quality”. Moral, avoid Anglian Home Improvements fitted kitchens and Hotpoint refrigerators at all costs!
Is that the end of the story?? Who can tell, but given the record so far, I very much doubt it.
UPDATE MARCH 2005
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Hotpoint/Indesit contact me, new shelves are on their way! At last, PROPER customer service - WELL DONE HOTPOINT/INDESIT!!! Now maybe you could let Anglian watch one of your training videos .....................