After waiting months and receiving four service calls, my $3500 LG air-conditioner is still not fixed. I wrote the following e-mail to LG on the 6th of December.
Attention: The Service Manager.
My air conditioner has been out of commission for over two months now. You have sent repair agents to repair it on no less than four occasions. Parts have been replaced and the unit is still not functional.
My complaint is about how LG have handled this matter. Your slow response and inability to get this unit repaired in a timely manner is unacceptable. LG have publicly listed their Consumer Complaints Procedures on the LGE Australia website. It is clear that these procedures are not followed because if they were, my complaint would have been resolved in a positive and expedient manner and I would have been kept informed of proposed actions, expected time frames and the progress of the resolution. No-one at LG has ever contacted me about how this issue is being resolved - instead I have had to call LG repeatedly to get any attention paid to this matter.
I expect someone to contact me with details of how this issue will be resolved.
Regards,
Jonathan O'Hare
I received the following reply later that night...
Dear Jonathon
Thank you for emailing LG Electronics Australia. We regret to hear of the issues you have experienced with your air conditioner.
The unit is covered by a Manufacturers repair warranty - this is designed to protect the customer from any manufacturing fault that may occur during this period. This means that should a manufacturing fault occur during this period, the customer will not be charged for the cost of repairs for either Parts or Labour - It is a repair warranty as opposed to a replacement warranty. Nonetheless, we accept that your unit has had numerous repairs and that your situation may involve some investigation to see if there is some other solution we may be able to offer you. Please fax a brief summary along with all previous service centre reports to:
ATTN: Karine Fax: 02 8805 4243
I hope this has been of some assistance.
Kind Regards,
Karine Wyatt
Correspondence Officer
LG Electronics Australia Pty Ltd
ABN 98 064 531 264
2 Wonderland Drive Eastern Creek,
NSW 2766
Australia Tel : 1800 643 156
Fax: 02 8805 4243
IMPORTANT NOTICE This email, including any attachments is a confidential communication between the sender and the intended recipient. They may contain legally privileged information or copyright. You should not read, copy, use or disclose the content without authorisation. If you are not the intended recipient or you have received this email in error please contact us at once by return email and then delete both messages. We do not accept liability in connection with computer virus, data corruption, delay, interruption, unauthorised access or unauthorised amendment. This notice should not be removed.
To which I replied
Dear Karine Wyatt,
Thank you for your response to my e-mail.
I regret to inform you that receiving your polite and kind words and explanation of my warranty via e-mail has not helped at all as my air conditioner is still not working.
I will not be faxing any information to you as you already have all my information and are aware of my situation.
I have not asked for more than the Manufacturers repair warranty and your own Consumer Complaints Procedures to be honored. Right now I have an expensive air-conditioner that is not operational in the hottest months of year. We have been waiting for our warranty to be honored now for over twenty-five weeks. This issue does not need investigation. It needs a resolution.
LG have a billboard on the side of our local shopping center boasting LG as a world leader in air-conditioning. It's a shame you can't say that about your after-sales support. I believe it's time for LG to prove that "LG acknowledges that a complaint received gives LG the opportunity to maintain confidence in its product or services" as quoted from your own website.
Regards,
Jonathan O'Hare
It is the 20th and I have not received a reply. It has now been over six months and my air conditioner has been non-operational. Allow me to quote a lie from their website.
We provide you with the best customer care.I don't feel as though I have been provided with any customer care whatsoever and despite what Karine Wyatt writes in her e-mail, I certainly don't feel protected by LG's warranty. In fact, I would describe it as being subjected to LG's warranty!
Then there is the Consumer Complaints Procedures. I have listed them before.
One can read them here : http://au.lge.com/support/consumercomplaintregister.jsp
It is clear that LG do not really care for complaining consumers. Best to ignore them apparently.
Some guy in Emerald travelled over 200 kilometers to do his first and only call out to our air-conditioner. We only ever saw him once... in June, or July, can't be sure now... He left to order a spare part and never came back. We rang LG after about a month and they informed us that that guy wasn't their service agent anymore. Prizeman Electrical apparently are not impressed with LG either. Gladstone's local service agent for LG is currently Prizeman Electrical & Refrigeration Service. They are not the bad guys here. They've been around five times now to do LG's bidding. The last three times they've recommended to LG that the whole unit needs replacing - which LG has flatly refused to do. So far, they've replaced a circuit board and a compressor. What LG are asking the service agent to do now is replace the condenser coil.
Now for those of you not familiar with air conditioners, that's about it. There's a condenser coil, a compressor and a circuit board. And that's it. The only original bit left in my outdoor unit will be the casing. Pretty much everything inside has been replaced. Well, pretty much everything inside is supposed to have been replaced. You see, LG have sent a condensing coil for a different model. It won't fit my unit. So it'll have to go back again. And they'll have to send another one out.
Apparently I'm not the only one they're upsetting here. The refrigeration mechanic is furious. To the point where she has mentioned possible legal action against LG.
Now I'm not sure exactly how it works with the service agent but I believe they get paid per repair. If that is the case, then the agent would only get paid some measly minimum amount even if they had to do many repeat call-outs and many hours of work, like in my case. If I remember, I'll ask her next time I see her.
I'm just sick of the whole thing. One can take the complaint further but even the ACCC can't actually force the company to do anything. I can blog about it, but unless it gets read by someone who can do something about it and actually gives a shit, then it's just online noise. And they know that you would actually have to spend your own time and money jumping through rings to try and force them to do the right thing and that if you did take them to court they would definitely be able to spent more money than you on lawyers and such.
Those that read this can learn from my past experience and may act upon it if they so choose. If you are in the market for an air conditioner perhaps this is reason enough for you to choose a brand who is committed to providing good after sales service. Don't just take my word for it - Google "LG warranty" and see if you can find anything positive that doesn't come from an LG website.
Bet you can't!
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