Life is (not) good!

Well before you start wondering whats wrong, if you take a close look at the title you would realise that's its the now famous tag line for LG Electronics! Wondering what's not good? Well this is another classic case of poor customer service.

We had bought an LG Split AC 1T, after a lot of R & D and seeking opinions from friends, comparing prices and brands. Given it was the first time I was buying an AC I didn't want to rush it up too! After a lot of comparison and thinking we (Reema & me) planned to go for LG. 3 days later the LG team came down to install the AC in our bedroom. About 2 hours later it was all done! And we were celebrating. After living through the hot summer of Chennai for almost a year that too on the top floor of a residential building, I was relieved to have the AC hoping to have a peaceful sleep then on. All was good till a couple of months ago...There would be days when the AC temperature would remain at room temperature. Not bothering too much about it thinking some loose contact or something we let it be. About 4 weeks ago the temperature control stopped functioning completely. Given the summer was setting in I got flustered and went to the terrace to look for any noticeable faults. Not finding any I finally decided to call LG customer care as the AC was still under warranty. Like most of the customer care teams their back end is also located in Gurgaon / Noida belt. It was a Sunday and I was told that I would get a call in 2 hours and a visit in 24 hours. Consoling ourselves we were waiting for action to be taken.

24 hours had passed by

Forget the visit even the call had not happened! When contacted (obviously) a different executive picked up the phone with the same standard templatised conversation ending with the assurance same as earlier. 24 went to 48 hrs to 4 days to a week. And through this time I had made enough and more calls, screamed at the customer care, tried speaking to their local office here in Chennai. In between all this we were suffering with sleepless nights... A whole week later I get to know that the service centre assigned by the call centre doesn't cater to the area I stay in and the complaint has to be registered all over again. I rather obviously lost my cool!!!!

1 week gone - Engineer Visits

Finally after a lot of begging, pleading, shouting and screaming the engineer did visit much to our relief. After doing a few checks he confirmed that the problem is a gas leak and the same needs to be filled which he did. A few minutes later the AC was switched on. And all looked fine! We were happy...dreaming of a peaceful sleep. And we did have...only for couple of days before the AC temperature control conked again!

Week2: 2nd Engineer

After a follow up with the engineer & the service centre the 2nd engineer came 4 days and some more sleepless nights later. His analysis threw a different problem this time with the AC unit in the house! With the promise that the unit will be taken to his office the same day he left. By now I neither had hope nor belief in anything they were saying.

Pedestal fan a substitute for an AC?

By now I had 2 weeks of sleepless nights. It was showing a work as well. Not able to bear it anymore I went to Rathna Stores (http://bit.ly/iCl0is) in Pondy Bazaar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pondy_Bazaar) looking for immediate respite. After going through some cooler options which I didn't find any good I ended up buyng a good pedestal fan. Wondering how will it substitute an AC? Well it will not but help bring some respite to the heat during the night!

Meanwhile the ordeal continues

The service centre did send the engineer on Sunday (14 days & counting) to unplug and the carry the AC unit for repairs. When requested he informed that he will try his best to get it rectified and install on Tuesday! As if we believed him.... Tuesday became Wednesday (17 days & counting)...more excuses, pleading & screaming followed...

The D Day

It was Thursday...a whole 18 days after I had complained the rectified AC unit was again installed in our bedroom. Engineer tried to apologise for the delay. Even he realised it was futile. That night after 18 days we had our LG AC which was functioning!

The next few days were spent hoping its not a one off and everything is OK. We both realised it was not 100% OK. Cooling was not effective and fast as before, the sleep mode strangely is not working as it should, the power mode is not as intensive / effective. But given what we had gone through the last thing we were wanting to do is give another complaint!!

What we have gone through may be rare, as a percentage of all complaints in a graph inside the corporate boardroom (with perfectly functioning ACs) it may be minuscule but I still wanted to share my experience and just hope that nobody else have to go through this!!!