Just sent this to their customer service dept:
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I've just had the unfortunate experience of becoming one of your service plan customers, and it's been all bad so far. Zero points for customer service.
What happened?
The inlet pipe on the heat exchanger of my Vaillant ecoTEC plus 624 boiler cracked, and squirted water everywhere, so the boiler was out of action. I was advised by my plumber to join a Vaillant support plan as this would be the most cost-effective way of getting it fixed, because the plastic element of the heat exchanger is not available as a separate part. The whole expensive unit has to be replaced, apparently.
So I joined the support plan and an engineer called on Monday 25 January 2016, inspected the boiler and said he did not have the part (despite them carrying 95% of all parts, says the website) but would order it for Wednesday 27 January. I called Wednesday morning to find out when I could expect the engineer, and was told he would call after 1300 that day to fix the boiler.
He called about 1500, struggled to read the address on (I presume) his satnav but eventually found the house. Parked outside on a double yellow line, he said he couldn't find anywhere to park. I suggested:
1. He park outside temporarily and offload tools etc and then look for a parking space.
2. He use a resident's parking permit (which I offered) which would allow him to park in a resident's parking bay that he said he had found
3. He park in the local theatre car park 50 metres down the road, since he wasn't going to be very long. He said he didn't want to get a ticket, but didn't hear my response which was that it doesn't issue tickets.
He informed me that mine was not the last job, he had another one in Crawley to do before he got home. He then said he would go around again to look for a parking space. He didn't say he would just go, nor did he say whether or not he would report back. So I waited on the doorstep in the cold for 10 minutes, fully expecting him to come around again to say whether he had found a parking space.
He didn't turn up, and I subsequently found out (after calling your company) that he had just driven off (presumably to Crawley and then to his warm home). He did not look again in many of the parking bays in my street because he would have had to re-pass my house, and he didn't.
Conclusion
This is appalling customer service which I am paying for but not receiving. We have been without heat now for a week. It's mid-winter. If I treated my customers this way I wouldn't have much work in a very short space of time.
Call to action
I would expect from you one or more of the following:
1. An apology from the engineer for his dismal failure at customer relations
2. A refund on the support plan to help defray my costs, which amount to:
a) an extra day's heating using electricity (which costs 5x more than gas)
b) my lost two hours spent sorting this out when I should have been working
c) aggravation and stress
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I've just had the unfortunate experience of becoming one of your service plan customers, and it's been all bad so far. Zero points for customer service.
What happened?
The inlet pipe on the heat exchanger of my Vaillant ecoTEC plus 624 boiler cracked, and squirted water everywhere, so the boiler was out of action. I was advised by my plumber to join a Vaillant support plan as this would be the most cost-effective way of getting it fixed, because the plastic element of the heat exchanger is not available as a separate part. The whole expensive unit has to be replaced, apparently.
So I joined the support plan and an engineer called on Monday 25 January 2016, inspected the boiler and said he did not have the part (despite them carrying 95% of all parts, says the website) but would order it for Wednesday 27 January. I called Wednesday morning to find out when I could expect the engineer, and was told he would call after 1300 that day to fix the boiler.
He called about 1500, struggled to read the address on (I presume) his satnav but eventually found the house. Parked outside on a double yellow line, he said he couldn't find anywhere to park. I suggested:
1. He park outside temporarily and offload tools etc and then look for a parking space.
2. He use a resident's parking permit (which I offered) which would allow him to park in a resident's parking bay that he said he had found
3. He park in the local theatre car park 50 metres down the road, since he wasn't going to be very long. He said he didn't want to get a ticket, but didn't hear my response which was that it doesn't issue tickets.
He informed me that mine was not the last job, he had another one in Crawley to do before he got home. He then said he would go around again to look for a parking space. He didn't say he would just go, nor did he say whether or not he would report back. So I waited on the doorstep in the cold for 10 minutes, fully expecting him to come around again to say whether he had found a parking space.
He didn't turn up, and I subsequently found out (after calling your company) that he had just driven off (presumably to Crawley and then to his warm home). He did not look again in many of the parking bays in my street because he would have had to re-pass my house, and he didn't.
Conclusion
This is appalling customer service which I am paying for but not receiving. We have been without heat now for a week. It's mid-winter. If I treated my customers this way I wouldn't have much work in a very short space of time.
Call to action
I would expect from you one or more of the following:
1. An apology from the engineer for his dismal failure at customer relations
2. A refund on the support plan to help defray my costs, which amount to:
a) an extra day's heating using electricity (which costs 5x more than gas)
b) my lost two hours spent sorting this out when I should have been working
c) aggravation and stress
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