Product Recall - Grasslin QE7 Water Heater

0utshined

This seems like the most appropiate place to put this.

There has been a product recall on Grasslin QE7 Water Heater Timers. Some of ye may have this model installed in your home, I know I did. If you do then you need to ring 1800 946 360 to arrange an engineer to come out and fix/replace it.

simu

One of my neighbours called around about that last night and it would appear that all the aprtments my building have these. (At the time, I thought he might have been a crazed water heater false alarm fetishist).

Ya gotta love how much effort they made to get the message out to the general public (sarcastic). :mad:

0utshined

I only found out due to a letter from my management company. I thought they were looking for money so almost didn't open it!

The cynic in me would say that by printing an ad in the Irish Times they have legally fulfilled their responsibilities but don't want it to be common knowledge as it will cost them a lot to replace the product. Of course we all know multinational corporations don't behave like that don't we? (Fight Club anyone?). They're owned by GE so they're not a small company by any means.

Anyway, I gave them a call and they're going to send an engineer out to replace it so i'm happy. It's only a 5 minute call so it's worth it for peace of mind. Hope yours gets sorted too!

MoeHawk

I didnt check yet, dont know what a water heater is

0utshined

A water heater will look something like this.

It's for heating the water in your apartment for baths showers etc.

The timer seems to be what's at fault and it'll look something like this.

In fact the Grasslin timer doesn't resemble that very much, it is more rectangular with a dial on the right hand side. It will say Grasslin and QE7 on it though. You should check your hot press, it's a 2 second job.

Mailman

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y173/proud_darcy/waterheater.jpg

simu

0utshined wrote:

The cynic in me would say that by printing an ad in the Irish Times they have legally fulfilled their responsibilities but don't want it to be common knowledge as it will cost them a lot to replace the product. Of course we all know multinational corporations don't behave like that don't we? (Fight Club anyone?). They're owned by GE so they're not a small company by any means.

I read the Irish Times just about every day and didn't notice anything so if they had an ad there, it must have been a fairly unnoticeable one. The only on-line source I could find with info about it was an obscure local newspaper from Manchester in England!

Does anyone know where Irish law stands on things like this?

0utshined

simu wrote:

I read the Irish Times just about every day and didn't notice anything so if they had an ad there, it must have been a fairly unnoticeable one. The only on-line source I could find with info about it was an obscure local newspaper from Manchester in England!

Does anyone know where Irish law stands on things like this?

My Management company gave us a copy of the ad to allow us to check it out but it was a third-generation indistinct copy. Fair play to mailman, that seems to be the ad I've seen and a much clearer version at that. Searching online I've seen a few references thought not through Google for some reason. Wrong search term maybe?

I'm not sure what the situation is with respect to their requirements under Irish law. I could check it out but i'd rather see how their engineer deals with it first.

Borzoi

simu wrote:

I read the Irish Times just about every day and didn't notice anything so if they had an ad there, it must have been a fairly unnoticeable one. ?

It was about A4 size on IT Friday May 6th - Unfortunately I've no way of scanning it

Gilgamesh

you don't live in Royal canal park do you, outshined?

they fitteed the entire estate with them, still have to call them myself
the management said they recommend the residents to call as GE are treating eng users as priority.
would have thought it would have been better getting them t ochange all in bulk, would save worktime for GE

babaduck

We have them fitted in a few developments & they are addressing individual users first & giving the contractors the last batch for a bulk replacement

Gilgamesh

babaduck wrote:

We have them fitted in a few developments

do you work for them?

vibe666

better picture here:

0utshined

gilgamesh I don't, I live in Naas. I've had mine replaced now, it seems to be a problem with the front plate on them but it's a relatively quick fix.

babaduck

Gilgamesh wrote:

do you work for them?

You must be joking - they're a very common timeclock & a lot of electrical contractors use them in houses & apartments, hence the huge recall.

homeOwner

Has anyone else been notified about the recall of the Grasslin water heater and if so have you been able to get it replaced?

I made an appointment with them for yesterday and was given a window between 8am and 2pm. I took the day off work and the engineer never showed up.

My sister who lives about 10 mins away in another apartment block had an appointment for yesterday afternoon between 2pm and 8pm. He didnt show to her place either. This is her second appointment, he didnt show the first time either.

I have spent a fortune on the phone to these people trying to find out what is going on. THe help desk is somewhere in the UK so they dont actually have anything to do with the company who sends out the engineer, they just take the bookings.

I am waiting for "someone" to call me back to arrange another appointment, as they wouldnt do it over the phone when I called to complain that the guy didnt show up. I was put through to a different place than the one that takes the bookings.

This is getting ridiculous. Between my sister and myself they have made a fortune off the phone calls alone.

Has anyone else had a problem getting this done?

Victor

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=258033&highlight=Grasslin

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=262687&highlight=Grasslin

JP1977

I've phoned free phone number and arranged for engineer to call out and replace faulty timer twice. Both times no one turned up and no phone call.

It seems by placing ad in paper they satisfy legal responisibility but aren't so quick at replacing units.

Borzoi

homeOwner wrote:

This is getting ridiculous. Between my sister and myself they have made a fortune off the phone calls alone.

Has anyone else had a problem getting this done?

No problem with the guy showing - both times - once to fix it, once to fix it properly (different guy)

Did notice on the guys work sheets a long list of places, and all very spread out. Same guy working on jobs from Bray to Swords on one day - so there may be a problem with thanks to the UK call centre not knowing local conditions.

By the way the number is a freephone (1800) isn't it?

maeve49

Hi There!
I have had terrible problems with these people from Grasslin, I first rang on May 7th and got an appointment for the following week, as I live not too far from my work I asked them to give me a call on my mobile when they were on the way and they never called, never showed up, I had to ring back and go through the whole procedure on the recorded message, takes about 10 mins to actually get talking to someone, they made another appointment for June 9th - a whole month away, that was last Thursday and guess what they never showed up or never rang, I rang them on Friday and told them I was fed up at this stage, they have arranged for someone to call tomorrow - 16th and the guy said 'lets hope that they turn up this time' so I don't exactly have much confidence in them showing up tomorrow!

Luckily I haven't had to take time off work, but am annoyed, my apartment is only fairly new and not having a basic thing like hot water is really not on, they said it only takes 15 mins to heat the water for a shower, and this is definately not the case, it is only a new timer, it should work, they are putting us at an inconvenience for their manufacturing problems and then they can't be bothered showing up!

homeOwner

I think 1800 numbers still cost when you call from a mobile? Well if it is free, then that is something at least. I dont have a landline in my apartment so I was expecting a huge bill as I have spent well over an hour on the phone all in all.

They still havent called me to make an appointment so I guess I'll be on the phone to them for another 20 mins this evening.

Lets hope they show up this time.

maeve49

Aagh! I am still waiting for my Grasslin Heater to be replaced!!
I had appointment last Thursday and guess what they never showed up! thats the third time they have done this, I just rang them and nobody can come out until middle of July!
Homeowner - did the guy show up for you?
I have a new flatmate moving in next week and as this has been going on since begining of May I was sure it would be sorted out by now!

homeOwner

I had my second appointment for yesterday between 2pm-8pm. I called at 1pm to make sure i was on the list and was told that i was #3 on the list for the day. No one had turned up by 5pm so I called back. The guy tried to call the engineer but his phone was off. No one turned up. I am so frustrated at this point. I really dont want to waste another day hanging around for these people to turn up. But i have no choice. I am so mad I cant even tell you.

goingmental

Homeowner,
Have you had any success with getting your Grasslin replaced?
I have had similar problems, they were supposed to come back in may to replace it and never showed up,i made another appointment for yest(about 5 weeks ago) and even rang yest morn to make sure they were coming,and the time etc was all verified from 6-8. left work early to make sure i was there, and at about 7.30 discovered a letter in post box to say they had been there at 3.30 and there was no one there at the "arranged time".
I am going so mad about this, i mean this is a potential disaster,, all it takes is one person in the apt block to forget about leaving theirs on and the whole place could be affected,
Have rang this morning to complain(yet again) and am still waiting for the manager to ring me back,, i think i could be waiting,,,,,! :mad:

goingmental

Homeowner?
Have you had any success getting it replaced?
Am gone mental since May trying to get them out,
they were supp to come at end of May and never showed(no calls either )
and i made another appt for yest between 6-8,, even rang yest morn to confirm,, and all was well.. they were on their way... at 3.30 !!
left note which i found at 7. had left work early to be sure to be there.
Rang AGAIN (5th time ) today and asked to speak to manager who has now put me on a "priority list" ya right,
wont hold my breath,
Thing that gets me is, if they are all supp to be recalled and some of them faulty,, what happens when someone else in the block turns theirs on and heads off and forgets about it.. the whole apt block can be affected,,
grrrr :mad:

homeOwner

I managed, after a long time spent hunting on the good ol internet, to find contact details for grasslin.co.uk. I fired off an email to their sales, finance and technical departments (the only email addresses on the web site) in the hope that someone would pass it on to the relevant person

I got a reply from the project manager in charge of the recall. He/She (I cant tell from the name which it was) was very appologetic and is appalled at what I experienced. I have his/her mobile number and have been promised to be top of the list for Saturday. They are personally going to make sure I get seen to. It appears it is worth complaining sometimes. Below is the reply I got, maybe you too should write to them.


***********************************************
Dear Mrs Foley,

many thanks for your e-mail. I'm the operations manager of this project.

I'm really concerned to read what happened below. I have really no words to
describe how sorry we are.

For your information, for the product recall we have established a completely
separate and dedicated organization, using one of our service companies to do
the field service replacements. It is concerning me that our call centre did not
advise you where to address your concerns to me on first instance. I will make
sure this will be repeated again, in order to avoid similar future inconvenient
in the communication.

We had in fact difficulties to meet all daily appointment of all our engineers.
Main reasons were delays in the way between single appointments, which made
several times impossible for our engineers to recover the appointment missed
during the same day. This problem affected about 3-5% of all visits done so far.
Dublin was the most affected area due to the high number of replacement we have
to do there. All engineers involved are fully dedicated only for the recall and
have no other jobs assigned outside of it.

To improve the situation we reduced the daily visits of each engineer, added
more engineers and put in place a team of engineers working on priorities which
sometimes where also creating problems in the visit routing.

I will make sure our engineers manager Mr. Findley, copied on this e-mail, does
assign your appointment right at the beginning of the morning on Saturday 9th
July of one engineer, so you do not need to wait again too long time.

I will make sure your situation will be overlooked by myself to ensure complete
conclusion.

In case of needs you find my mobile number below and you can contact me at any
moment.

We apologize once again for the inconvenient we have caused you Mrs Foley.

Many thanks for your understanding.

Best regards

GE Consumer & Industrial

Tiziano Christen
Field Operations Manager
AfterSales & Services


M: +41 79 6210266
Email: Tiziano.Christen@ge.com

goingmental

thats great thanks homeowner,
will send them a mail right away,, i am getting really fed up of this not having hot water when you need it lark, aside from the fact that its dangerous,
Am still waiting for them to get back to me from this morning,
I contacted the manager there who was all apologetic and said i would be seen tomoro morn, but i am fecked it i am wasting a whole sat for them to not turn up!!

goingmental

Thanks Homeowner for help on this,,,
I had a great email written and was about to send it when the engineer himself rang me and arranged sat morn to fix it,,
He arrived true to his word at 10 sat morn,
so happy days,,
just for anyone else going mad about this issue,, keep ringing that number and ask to speak to manager..
they are bloody useless company but you;ll get there in the end :rolleyes:

homeOwner

Glad to hear it got sorted in the end. I got mine done on Saturday too. They turned up at 10:30am. At 11:15am another guy turned up and was really annoyed that someone had been already. Talk about lack of organisation. I suppose that means someone else on the list didnt get seen to. Anyway, its done now.

Call the number!!!

Hello all!

please dont bite I`m new!

anyway I am having great difficulty
in getting my QE7 replaced,

like many others I took .5 a day off work,
and the engineer did not turn up.

I have now logged my call for the 3rd time,
and they told me that they can not longer
logf any calls because they do not have any
replacment parts!!!!!!

they did not even give me a option!

homeOwner

Did you call the person coordinating the recall (the details are given a few posts back in this thread). He should be able to help. I am sure if they have run out they will get more - it is their legal obligation to replace all of them.

Complain, complain, complain! Seriously it seems only if you shout loudest will you be listened to.

Good luck.

Thanks for that,

yeah I got his contact alright,

sent him a email earlier, a polite one
thaught i would start off on a good foot.

just got a call back from the 1800 number,
they said they would call me whenever the parts
are back in stock......


still no hot water!!!!!! :eek:

macronot

Hi All,
I am also waiting on the replacement parts shipping - About three weeks ago they informed me by voicemail (didn't ring me) that they could not make the appointment and where waiting on parts. Today i rang again thinking they had forgot about me but they are still waiting on parts. I was told an estimate of when they will be in is about 2 weeks. Still had me on there list.

el Bastardo

Yep. I had an appointment in May. They did a no-show. Rang them a few weeks ago and was told that they had no replacement timers. If my flat burns down, then they'll pay for it (and for my neighbours ones too!)

el diablo

so what`s the latest. anyone been talking to them lately. When does it all start up again?

el Bastardo

Been in touch with them today. New timers are expected in two weeks. Incidentally, my booster switch only works one time in ten!).

el diablo

they install temporary timers for thoes people who have no hot water...but you have to call the hotline to get one.....And i think they are developing new timer switches to replace the old ones...I`m getting impatient now

el diablo

I think it`s all ready to start up again for next week.......anyone been speaking to them recently........?

el diablo

it`s back on this week and new timer switches.....

anyone had a call out yet????

aniascor

We've been waiting since May to get this done. So far, they have missed three appointments... I spent an entire day off waiting around for them only for them not to show and my flatmate spent another day off waiting for them.

We even left our keys at the building reception one day, and when we got home it was obvious that someone had been in the apartment, and had started work on the timer, but they never finished the job. According to the guy at reception, they got called away on an emergency - which only leaves me asking "Did someone's timer catch fire then?"

I rang them twice this month only to be told that they dont have parts. The first time they said they would ring me back, and never did, so three weeks later when I rang them back they still didn't have parts. That was two weeks ago now. Still waiting for a call...

Meanwhile we are using boost to heat our water - who is going to pay for the ESB bill for that, that's what I want to know...

el diablo

we should all call them and demand to know when there will be ready to resume the call-outs. It`s dragging on too long now. the number is :

1800946360

el diablo

I called them again and they told me they will be ready next week.

homeOwner

I cant believe this is still going on. I am so glad I got mine sorted when I did. Have you not been able to leave the water timer on all summer? That would really p1$$ me off. Hopefully you'll get it done soon.

el diablo

But I hear they ALL have to be replaced, even the new ones that were installed during the summer, because they found another fault and they need to develop new parts.

s_gr

el diablo wrote:

But I hear they ALL have to be replaced, even the new ones that were installed during the summer, because they found another fault and they need to develop new parts.

Where did you here that el diablo? Was there another ad in the paper? I got mine replaced in may.

el diablo

I was told on the phone when I called them recently.

el Bastardo

Had my water timer replaced with a QE7+ today ... finally!

el diablo

I had my timer replaced a few months ago but all the timers that were replaced during the summer need to be replaced again with the new timers.

I`m not sure if many of you are aware of this. I suggest you call the helpline (1800 946 360) if you are in doubt. it`s VERY important....

el diablo

homeOwner wrote:

I cant believe this is still going on. I am so glad I got mine sorted when I did. Have you not been able to leave the water timer on all summer? That would really p1$$ me off. Hopefully you'll get it done soon.

I had my timer replaced a few months ago but all the timers that were replaced during the summer need to be replaced again with the new timers.

I`m not sure if many of you are aware of this. I suggest you call the helpline (1800 946 360) if you are in doubt. it`s VERY important.

homeOwner

You're kidding right! We have to go through this AGAIN!! So the one they installed could have burnt my apartment down and I was blissfully unaware, leaving the timer on all day when I'm not there.

I really, really, really hope I dont have go through this again. It was sooooooooo painful the first time.

s_gr

el diablo wrote:

I had my timer replaced a few months ago but all the timers that were replaced during the summer need to be replaced again with the new timers.

I`m not sure if many of you are aware of this. I suggest you call the helpline (1800 946 360) if you are in doubt. it`s VERY important.

I rang them before about this and they said that they dont need to replace the new ones they fitted...so where are you coming up with this information?