Makro, Is the extended warranty “underwritten by Old Mutual” worth the money?

Makro, Is the extended warranty “underwritten by Old Mutual” worth the money? My opinion Hell NO! Well in the last couple of year I have had 2 extended warranty claims for appliances purchased at Makro. First one took about 7 months to resolve, legal action/advice was used to reach a resolution. The second which is still currently on the way is already in the 5 month region. We must note that these are sold as onsite warranties. Basically will repair at your home for your convenience.

While these warranties are sold to, to be a quick onsite repair resolutions by the OEM, this does not happen. I thought maybe I am one of a few that has these issues, so I took to the internet to check reviews on these very services, Makro, “Underwriter” Old Mutual warranty and repairs, with “Ombudsman” Omni service. I found that the complaints on the web are astronomical, some clients, same unit repaired 5 times and taking up to 9 months, at the time of reading this, that appliance was still not working. But! Let me share my experience, My appliance has been removed from my property, at month 3 into the claim and has been gone for 2 months now. Brining us to 5 months into the claim and NO! appliance. I have a Whirlpool 14 place top of the range dishwasher that I have purchased from Makro just over 2 years ago, and on this very day of purchase, a sales person appeared within seconds to sell me the 5 year extended warranty. I took this to gain piece of mind.

Well the appliance failed, just after 2 years, which means the OEM warranty is done, and the Makro warranty is now in effect. I submitted a claim for an on-site repair, as promised by sales. Makro sends a repair technician out, to diagnose and check which parts are required to repair the unit. They kept me updated, sending me SMS’s, to show, the parts has been ordered, and kept updated through the order process, till arrival. At a point of 3 months into this claim, they send the repair centre technician from Panaservices “of which I was advised that they are the Whirlpool agent” to collect the machine for the parts replacement. Gave me a date of 6th December 2022 for return of the unit, repaired. After about 2 weeks at Panaservices repair centre, I get a call to advise me that they are s****ping my appliance, due to, “uneconomical to repair”. Makro, call centre agent, notifies me that I will be refunded, my original purchase price or the lowest selling value on the current appliance. As I could not grasp what was happening, as the unit was removed to be repaired and to be returned on the 6th December. I requested a full report on the machine of which I was denied. We must remember this machine still belongs to me. I now had to entered the legal route “Ombudsman” Omni Service, to gain access to a repot and parts required to be replaced. After a few calls of fighting with everyone, they finally send me a half hearted report, very little information, a parts quote is included for around R10 000. At this point I realise that Panaservices in not the Whirlpool OEM but some sideline repair centre. I take it upon myself to get hold of Whirlpool as a non dealer for costing on the parts. I receive a quote from Whirlpool for the stipulated parts, from the report, for around R1300. Immediately, I relay this information to Makro management, and at this point start to involve the ombudsman and executives in this fiasco. I dispute a pipe to be replaced for around R800, no response, from either Makro or Panaservices. All of a sudden, an additional part is required, remember this is after they have s****ped the machine, this part comes in at an additional R3300. Still not the R10 000 quote presented by Panaservices. I request my machine to be moved to Whirlpool for the repairs to take place, even at this point they do not move this machine to the OEM, but continue with the s****ping on the unit and the negotiation to return my money, with an additional alternative, “I can get the machine back, repair it myself, but the warranty lapses”. This Whirlpool 14 place dishwasher is currently at a replacement value of R11 000, my funds to be returned is R7 000. I will now be out of pocket an additional R5000 and of course no remaining part of the 5 year warranty, as this will not be continued, you need to repurchase this.

The question again, Are these warranties worth it? My first encounter on the Makro warranty, my legal fees, the fighting, the time spent on calls, months of inconvenience, cost me more than the replacement was worth. My second encounter, I have spent so much time and money on calls and legal fees, inconvenience without my appliance. I have again exceeded the value. Now, to get my machine back, I need to hand over an additional R5000 to replace what I originally purchased, 2 years ago with a 5 year warranty. At a R5000 repair Makro should have repaired this machine and continued my 5 year warranty. They did not do this. While the quote is at R10 000 to repair I can see it is not worth repairing an R11 000 machine, but after I provided them, with an OEM Whirlpool quote for parts cost of R5000, showing that the Panaservices repair centre is over charging them, still no resolution gained. The machine does not get sent to the actual OEM for repairs, the insurance executives of Makro do not get involved, I need to continue to request informational updates, continuously “of which they take days to respond”. Makro just washes their hands off on this, with no interaction with their clients, a great no care attitude and absolutely no service, and no management interaction. Absolutely Shocking!

Now lets look at this financially, They take your money and for 2 years they have no obligation to you, as the OEM holds the warranty. Only in year 3 does the Makro warranty come into effect. They have held your money and invested it for 2 years. At claim status, they send the appliances to a repair centre, that is not the OEM, of which will definitely be more expensive than the OEM as they need to add margins to the parts purchase. As per above you can see double charge. If Panaservices repairs my machine at R5000, Makro still needs to carry the warranty for the remaining 3 years, of which at all cost they seem to want to get out of, as after the repair/replacement, Makro cancels your warranty. They still hold your money you paid them, for the warranty, and do not provide you the promised 5 years service. This to me seems like a pyramid scheme. It seems as South Africans we accept this poor services, fight for 5 months, pay an additional R5000 to have you appliance repaired/replaced, of which you have paid for a 5 year warranty, while you are inconvenienced, and a don’t care attitude from the Supplier Makro, and the insurance underwriter Old Mutual. Absolute poor show of a warranty not worth it a all.