ASKO Customer Service Panned!

Today I had contact with the people who make my dryer. In case you are wondering, it is an ASKO.

This was what could only be described as a sucky kind of contact. It did not leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy. It did not leave me feeling like ASKO was concerned about me or my opinion of their business or their product.

Instead it left me seething.

And you know, honestly, I don’t often get into disputes with people who work for large companies. I usually feel sorry for them. They are under paid, under appreciated people, just like you and me, who have to spend all day talking to people who are pissed off because something doesn’t work.

So my conversation with this woman at ASKO goes something like this:

Me: My dryer quit working last night and I need to know who works on Asko dryers. I’ve called the place where we bought the dryer and they told me it would be almost two weeks before they can get someone out to even look at it.

ASKO representative: May I have the serial number?

Me: I don’t have the serial number. I’m at my office. I just need to know who to call in my area who can come out quicker than two weeks.

ASKO representative: Well I can’t help you unless you give me the serial number to document this call and verify the product is under warranty.

Me: I don’t think it is under warranty and at this point I don’t really care whether it is or not, I just need someone out here to fix the dryer. I need someone out here TODAY not two weeks from today. I have two kids and two adults in my family. We can’t go without a dryer for two weeks. We do at least two loads of laundry EVERY DAY.

ASKO representative: Well you can’t expect to have someone out there today. And I can’t help you without a serial number. Have you looked on our web page?

This question almost made me laugh. I AM the person the internet was designed for. I am always on the internet. If the internet goes down, I can not work. I ALWAYS check the internet first. But their web page SUCKS too; when you click on the link that says “Service and Repair” it says “Review Warranty Status.” Instead it should say, “Find ASKO repair people in your area.”

Me: Yes. And it asks me for the date of purchase, which I don’t remember, and the serial number, which I don’t have.

ASKO representative: Well I can’t help you without the serial number.

Me: You mean you can’t tell me who I can call who could work on my dryer in less than two weeks?

ASKO representative: Not without your serial number.

Me: Is there someone else I could talk to who COULD help me?

ASKO representative: Not without your serial number.

Me: There is no one else there that I can talk to?

ASKO representative: No.

Me: You don’t have a supervisor who might know who I can call who could come fix my dryer in less than two weeks.?

ASKO representative: He can’t help you without a serial number either.

Me: Can I talk to him anyway?

ASKO representative: He is in a meeting.

Me: Will you have him call me?

ASKO representative: Yes.

I gave her my name and number. This conversation took place before noon. It’s after 8:30 p.m. now and I’m still waiting for that call. What do you think the chances are I’ll ever hear from that guy?

The Husband went to the web site and actually put an “approximate” date when we bought the dryer. Neither of us remember exactly when we bought it. He came up with six names, hardly any of which still work on ASKO products; of the six names that showed up, four no longer work on ASKO products. When he picked a date, longer ago than the first, so the machine would have clearly been out of warranty, he got the same six names. They make it sound like there is a great pool of people waiting to do warranty work on ASKO machines when in fact there were really TWO who will do ANY work.

The Husband ended up getting the phone book out and calling every washer and dryer repair service company in the phone book. Apparently ASKO is not a very friendly company to repair for. Lots of the places he called said the same thing, “We couldn’t get parts for them.”

He even tried calling the distribution company in Dallas, Texas. His conversation didn’t go much better than did mine.

ASKO Distribution Representative: What’s your serial number?

The Husband and I had already talked about my snitty conversation with the ASKO Representative at the Customer Care Center and he, being at home, was armed with this information.

ASKO Distribution Representative: Your dryer isn’t registered. I can’t help you.

The Husband: I registered it when we bought it.

ASKO Distribution Representative: You couldn’t have done that or we would have it in our system. I can’t help you.

So.

The positive side of this little incident? I will mark ASKO off my list of dishwashers to consider when I finally get the energy to go look at them.

The moral of this story?

Buy a Kenmore.