We are renting a townhouse in Springfield and our landlord booked AND PAID FOR a service call to repair a roller on our refrigerator. I actually purchased the roller online from a parts website; all that was needed was the installation. Easy enough. My landlord made the arrangements with DVD ahead of time and told me I would get a call to set up the appointment. I got the call on a Thursday for and made an appointment for the following Saturday. I was told the appointment would be between 10 a.m and 2 p.m. We cleared our calendar and made sure we were home. Around 1 p.m. I got the call from the service rep who said he would show up within 30 minutes. Then he called back to say he cannot show up because payment has not been arranged. I told him that was not acceptable, that I had cleared my calendar, and that payment was already made. He started to tell me what, "I needed to do!" I told him he is not in a position to tell me what I need to do. I told him that he and his behavior on the phone were unacceptable and hung up.
I then called the dispatcher, a woman whom I am sure is a fixture at the Springfield store, said no he cannot show up because payment has not been arranged and he cannot show up without a guarantied payment. I told the woman payment was already made by my landlord. She said she tried to get a hold of him, but could not reach him so I would need to reschedule. I told her that I cleared my calendar to be sure we were home. I had plenty to do, but I made sure we were available for the service call. She said, condescendingly, there was nothing else she or anybody else could do and I would need to reschedule. The conversation got heated and ended with her using profane language.
I finally got a hold of my landlord, who lives out of state, and his property manager; both were enraged when they heard the story: my landlord because he assured me he left payment instructions; and the property manager because of how the situation went down and how much business he gives DVD appliances.
A short while later I got a voicemail from that the same woman who said the driver would be right over. I can only assume, my landlord and/or property manager got a hold of the dispatcher to make sure the service call would occur on that day. It did, two hours after it was supposed to occur; most of our day shot because of ineptitude on DVD's part.
After all was said and done, I am left with the impression of business that has poor communication practices that result in less than satisfactory customer service given by a staff of company representatives and technicians with ho-hum attitudes. Since I am a big Yelp contributor, this very same review will be posted on Yelp for greater audience; which links to my facebook and twitter accounts. Dick Van Dyke appliance would never be my first choice based on this nearly disastrous service call.
RESPONSE FROM Dick Van Dyke Appliance World:
We apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused during your last service call. It is our policy at Dick Van Dyke Appliance World to notify the person responsible for making payment prior to making any repairs. We attempted to contact your landlord several times but were unsuccessful. When we finally spoke with the landlord he authorized the repair and we contacted you to complete the repair. We realize that this may take a little more time to complete the repair, but we want to make sure our customers understand the total estimate before we move forward with the necessary repairs. Again, we apologize for the additional time it took to complete the repair, but our commitment is to keep everyone informed of the charges prior to the repair.
Sincerely
John Shepherd
Sr. Vice President
Dick Van Dyke Appliance World
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