Repair Centre Woes

We bought a 3-piece reclining lounge suite from Rochester (Mall@Reds branch) 18 months ago. About two months ago, one of the reclining machanisms in the 3-seat bench broke. So, first-off, a really weak product, as it broke within its 2-year "mechanism warranty" period.

The branch was quite helpful at first to set up the warranty repair, but then the troubles began. It seems Rochester uses third-party repair centres (not their own dedicated centres) for repairs, so I was called by Solly from the repair centre to schedule an ON-SITE repair. We scheduled it for Friday 9th February 2018, and I specifically requested it be between 9AM and midday (12). I also had to make special arrangements with my employer to be at home to oversee the repair.

By 12 midday on the 9th, no-one had arrived, and I could not get hold of Solly or anyone at the repair centre. After a brief entanglement with the Mall@Reds branch, the branch managed, via their channels, to discover that the repair centre had decided to turn Friday the 9th into a Stock Take day, and all personnel were pulled from the floor to assist. All phones were also disengaged, which explained why I could not get through to the centre. To make matters worse, the repair centre elected to not inform me (or any of their other customers, I am certain) that they were not going to arrive anymore to collect my couch. And this while I had made arrangments with my employer...

The cherry on the cake was when, at around 0815 the following morning, we received a call from our security gate, informing me that a repair centre driver was waiting to enter the estate. Lo and behold, they just pitched the next morning without informing us - absolutely no communications. We were on our way to take our daughter to the GP, but of curse they do not take personal matters into consideration - they just arrived without warning. To make matters worse, the initial on-site repair turned out to be a COLLECTION, so now we are without a couch and still waiting to hear when it will be repaired.

Terrible communications, no commitment to initial arrangements and no consideration for clients, make this a terrible after-sales experience. Cudos to Angie at the Mall@Reds branch for her assistance, otherwise we would have been totally stuck with this repair.