Consumer World Blog by MrConsumer

[See update at end.] MrConsumer has a favorite saying: if you have consumer transactions, you will have consumer complaints.

My purchase of an 8000 btu Goldstar air conditioner was difficult from the start. Best Buy had advertised it in its circular for $30 off -- $139 -- a great price. I ordered it online despite the fact that the website had not been updated with the sale price yet.

Customer service refused to issue the $30 refund saying that not all Best Buy advertised prices are honored online. Not taking no for answer, I climbed to the top of the corporate ladder. Less than an hour after complaining to the president's executive resolution team, I received notification of the $30 refund.

Now it comes time to plug in the little darling after sitting in its sealed box all winter. The thermostat is between three and five degrees off. So in order to get it to 68 degrees, you have to set it to 63 or 64. Since I like it even colder, it would never be possible to get it to achieve the coldest setting. So I called Goldstar repair.

They set up an appointment for a Monday. I called the repair shop the day of the appointment to find out what time they were coming. The repair shop that Goldstar had hired to do the work had no record of such a work order. When I called Goldstar back, I was connected to their air conditioner customer service department, I believe in Santo Domingo (or some such place again). The person there is baffled, and transfers me to a US person.

John in the US was most apologetic and said that sometimes orders just don't go through the system. He found a different, closer repair shop and did the paperwork himself. I asked for his extension just in case I had to call back. 4775.

The local repairman showed up several days later, no part in hand... but just to verify that the thermostat needed changing. He said he would order the part, since they don't stock it... and it should take about a week.

It is now two weeks, and the a/c man has not returned. I called the local repair shop, and they said they ordered the part two weeks ago today. They suggested that I call Goldstar to complain, because Goldstar is more likely to expedit the shipping if I called rather than the repair shop.

I called the main (only) Goldstar number and got the parts department. They refused to talk to me about the order because I wasn't the local repair shop! I called back at least five more times, and got shuffled from department to department and to Santo Domingo and back a few times. Ultimately I found out from the parts department that there was an "accounting issue" with the repair shop and they were not shipping out any parts to them. "Accounting issue" is apparently a euphemism for "they owe Goldstar money."

Now what do I do? I'll call my helpful friend John at extension 4775, I thought. Do you know that Goldstar does not have an option in its voice answering system to enter an extension? I called multiple times asking people in parts and departments unknown to transfer me. His line was busy I was told twice. Somehow I figured out he was in their Huntville, AL office (not at headquarters in NJ where they don't even answer the phone numbers listed by Verizon) and called directly bypassing the 800 number.

I wound up with someone (Becky) who said John was not in his office. My luck. I gave a sketch of what was happening and she put me on hold. I gave her no identifying information, however. She came back on the line and said they will either clear up the "accounting problem" or find another installer to come to the house (and they will ship the part to him). She said I should expect a call (presumably from the new repair shop) soon.

How could any company have such a screwed up phone system, ordering process, and (lack of) follow-through? (See Panda story below.)

Maybe before the warranty expires the repair will be done. Stay tuned.

UPDATE 6/28: Now it is a week since Becky said she would arrange to have another repair shop do the repair... I have heard nothing.

I called back "John," the original very helpful customer service person, and he arranged for another shop to do the repair. He said they could not just send him the parts ordered by the previous shop. The new shop would have to come out to diagnose the problem, and order parts after that. Uggg. John did say that maybe the new shop would agree to short-circuit the process.

I called Mr. Appliance (and probably should have introduced myself as Mr. Consumer) and believe it or not they agreed to order the necessary parts, thus only having to make a single trip to my house.

Stay tuned.

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# posted by Edgar @ 6:16 PM