Teka dishwasher shambles

micks_address

hi folks,
I have a 2.5 year old Teka dishwasher which was supplied as part of new kitchen fit in february 2014. It started giving trouble last week so I contacted the kitchen supplier. The gave me the warranty support number to call Monday morning. I phoned yesterday and got through to a lovely person in the Uk. They took my appliance details and told me that they would arrange a service call. I asked if there would be a call out charge or parts/labour charge to which i was told no. That my appliance was under warranty for 5 years. Pleasantly surprised at this. Next I got a call from the service team in Tipperary asking me for address details and they wanted to arrange a service engineer to call. I asked again was it covered under warranty and they said yes... no charge... great I think... So a service engineer calls me a couple of hours later and asks me would someone be home this morning. I told him i could take the morning off from work and would be there to let him in. He said he'd try to be with me before 10. All amazing service so far. He called bang on schedule this morning and started looking at the machine to diagnose the problem. He took off the panel underneath the dishwasher and played with the dials and put some water in the machine to see if it was draining. Then it proceeded to tell me that I would have to pay him 65 euro call out charge and that i would need to cover any parts and labour. I was taken a back and said I hadnt expected this - that id been told it was covered by warranty. He told me it was only a 5 year warranty if I had 5 Teka products in the house. As I had no cash in the house I said i couldnt pay him - he packed up his tools and left - told me to call the service centre for follow up...

I called the service centre and they agree with him - that it wasnt covered by warranty and they had made a mistake... and that the UK service centre shouldnt have handed it over as a warranty claim to them and they would no longer be involved. I asked re the kitchen pan the repair guy had taken off - could he come back to replace that and they said they would call me back. I voiced my obvious disappointment re how I'd taken time off work and been missled yesterday by them. I told them the least I expected now at this stage was a diagnosis and a free callout and id cover the cost of parts/labour if they were worth doing over the cost of a new machine.

So this afternoon I got a call from the service manager in Tipperary on a private number. Again repeated everything to him.. He proceeded to tell me I was trying to pull a fast one and get my appliance repaired free out of warranty. He also said I'd been abusive towards the repair man today and the staff member in the service centre and that my angry attitude wasnt being very helpful. I told him at this stage the very least I wanted was for the repair man to return to my hour to replace the panel under my dishwasher and to leave the kitchen as it was before he arrived. He said he'd see what he could do and get back to me. I dont expect a call back from him.

I'm still quite angry about all this but wondering is there anything I can do? If my appliance is out of warranty thats ok - but it still doesnt change the fact I was told by the service centre in the UK and Ireland that it was under warranty and that I wouldnt be charged? Never mind the frustration of taking time off work and having an angry day to show for it.

Cheers,
Mick

micks_address

Quick update... Phoned UK service centre again and they said it is covered by warranty that they would phone the irish centre in morning and that the phone me again... Someone is going to look very foolish out of all this

ssmith6287

I would have imagined you need to deal with the kitchen supplier.

goz83

Since when does a 5 year warranty only apply if you have 5 products in the house from the same manufacturer? How ridiculous. I'd have been straight onto the UK office the moment the repair man asked for money.

micks_address

goz83 wrote: »

Since when does a 5 year warranty only apply if you have 5 products in the house from the same manufacturer? How ridiculous. I'd have been straight onto the UK office the moment the repair man asked for money.

Im still waiting for a call from the Irish service centre... I'll give them a while.. Im sure they be pretty sore about having to back down on their position

ted1

An Irish agent says 2 year warranty, the U.K. site says 5 but that it excludes dishwashers , did you register the machine with them ?
http://www.kks.ie/kitchen-dishwashers/teka-fully-integrated-dishwasher-DWI603FI

http://forthkitchens.co.uk/teka/5-year-parts-and-labour-guarantee/

micks_address

hi ted - i'm not that bothered about the warranty conditions to be honest.. i'm more upset about the fact i've been told twice by the uk and once by the irish service centre its under warranty... if they had to say it was out of warranty either of the calls to the uk id be happy enough... but they didn't.. and then the farce with the repair man yesterday

coylemj

micks_address wrote: »

hi ted - i'm not that bothered about the warranty conditions to be honest.. i'm more upset about the fact i've been told twice by the uk and once by the irish service centre its under warranty... if they had to say it was out of warranty either of the calls to the uk id be happy enough... but they didn't.. and then the farce with the repair man yesterday

There's often conflict between what a UK call centre and the local agent/distributor will tell you. For example it has lead to the situation that its a complete waste of time phoning the Argos helpline from here because nobody has told their phone jockeys that Ireland is a separate country so you simply go to the local Argos store and they will sort you out.

My money says that the Irish distributor for the OP's appliance is giving a shorter warranty than his equivalent in the UK and that's the cause of the confusion - the people in the UK call centre are assuming that the same terms and conditions apply here when they may not.

micks_address

but where do i stand after having a day wasted yesterday?

coylemj

micks_address wrote: »

but where do i stand after having a day wasted yesterday?

Your problems started when you allowed the kitchen company to fob you off by redirecting you to the UK distributor. Consumer rights say that the contract is between you and the supplier, not the manufacturer. The kitchen company supplied the appliance in a retail transaction - you purchased it from them as a consumer so legally they have the responsibility to sort you out.