No "Peace of mind" with Hirsch's "Comprehensive Maintenance Plan" & extended warranty

Item: Hirsch's
Rating: 1
Author: Carmen B

I purchased a SMEG gas/electric stove at Hirsch's in Boksburg on 15 May 2016. At the same time we paid for an additional 3 year Hirsch maintenance contract. This brought the total years covered to 6 years for the appliance which at the time we thought was a responsible call to make. The shiny new product was delivered and worked well for the first few months. A few months in though the left hand front plate of the gas top would literally burst into huge flames whenever we tried to ignite it several times almost causing injury to the operator. My husband contacted Hirsch several times to report the fault and finally he was put in touch with a SMEG representative who subsequently came out to our premises to take a look at the fault. The SMEG consultant advised that the spark plug for the plate may be faulty but apparently the plate did not almost set him alight whilst he was inspecting the unit so he elected not to replace the faulty spark plug. He however told my husband to give Hirsch a call should the problem re-occur for the spark plug to be replaced promptly. A few days after the technician had delivered his message to us we tested the plate again and the usual problem persisted. Due to other committments and time constraints associated with having technicians come out during working hours when normal people need to be at work we pretty much avoided using that plate for any cooking to avoid the frustration and serious hazard it posed to our safety. I however had a few days leave in April 2017 and decided to contact Hirsch to co-ordinate with the SMEG consultant to come out and actually replace the spark plug which in my opinion they should have done on their first visit to our premises. I contacted the Hirsch Boksburg store on Tuesday, 25 April 2017 and reported my request to Sonja after sharing my customer number, Invoice number, specifics of the issue and my physical address with her. After rather a lengthy telecom with Sonja she advised she would contact me the following day to advise when the technician would come out to resolve the issue. It seems that even with my customer number, invoice number, address and my confirmation of the product Sonja possibly could not find our information on their system as she kept asking me to confirm where I had bought the product, what it was, what our address was, etc. I advised Sonja that I please needed the consultant to come out either on that Thursday, Friday or early the following week whilst I was on leave and she suppossedly made a note of that on her system. Needless to say Sonja did not contact me back with any update or otherwise. I thought we should give them the benefit of the doubt and elected to wait another week to hear back as there had been some public holidays which might have hindered communication between Hirsch and SMEG (or so I thought). However by Saturday, 6 May 2017 we had still heard nothing back from either party. My husband called the Hirsch Boksburg store and was transferred to the same Sonja in their service division whom I had spoken to in April to report the fault and request a technician. Sonja sounded puzzled when she started asking him all the same questions she had asked me even though he provided exactly the same details from the tax invoice we had originally been issued by Hirsch as I did. She sounded even more puzzled when she asked who we had reported the issue to previously and he advised her that she had spoken to me. She promised to follow up on the progress and call him back to give him an update. It is now 12 May 2017 and neither my husband nor myself have had any feedback from Hirsch's and nobody from SMEG has contacted either of us either. I find it absolutely unacceptable that Hirsch is so quick to 'sell' products and ' comprehensive maintenance plans' at hefty prices BUT yet when customers require the after sales service of actually dealing with issues associated with these products Hirsch's does not seem in anyway interested or committed to assisting customers in getting the matter resolved and in the process providing value for money and creating that relationship of trust. From the way this matter has been handled by Hirsch's to date it is painfully clear to me that our household has wasted money on a Hirsch's "Comprehensive Maintenance Plan" which will certainly not provide us with the peace of mind Hirsch 'guarantee's' on the cover of their documentation. I can only hope that reporting the matter here will finally help us get the matter resolved by Hirsch.

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