Have mercy on your call centre staff

A Defy washing machine I had bought less than three months ago malfunctioned. I informed the shop from which I purchased and they contacted Defy Service who said that a technician would be sent to have a look at it. No technician came, and after about 3 days the shop phoned them again and the issue was "escalated." They said a technician would phone me to set a date. No call from the technician. The shop contacted Defy again, and were told that a technician would be coming a week later, on a specific day, and that he would confirm this. He did not. The shop phoned them again, and they said Richard, a technician, would come the next day. I took a day's leave and waited for Richard to come. He did not. The next day the shop contacted Defy once again to be informed that Richard's vehicle had broken down the previous day and that had made it impossible for him to come. OK, vehicles break down, but no call from Defy, after I had waited all day, to inform me of this. The shop phoned to tell me that Richard would come the next working day, which he did. I took another day's leave. Richard did come. Problem solved. But what a saga. Please, Defy service centres, COMMUNICATE with your clients. Keep them in the loop. Yes, they are going to be disappointed when delays and breakdowns happen, and they might get angry at you, but that is better than silence. It's your job to communicate, so please do it. If you are very busy, which you seem to be, let the customer know that it will take time. Better to disappoint the customer at the beginning than to play the silly "escalation" game with them. Better to tell them it will take two weeks so that they can go and do their washing in a neighbour's machine than to make them sit and guess. This is called basic customer service: to be honest with your clients. And it will make your call centre's job so much easier. Those people must be exhausted at the end of the day with people repeatedly complaining about delays. This can be easily prevented by telling them clearly that they might have to wait a week or two.