Philips (dis)service

Although this post does not really fit into any categories, I could not help myself but to write about it. I have worked for Phiilps for four years. In fact Philips was my first employer and it holds a special place in my heart. True to that, I generally make it a point to buy Philips products whenever I can and it makes sense. So we bought a Philips 27" TV last year and within 15 days, POOF!!! It blew up. I don't know what happened, but it just stopped working. I took it back to the store and replaced it with, well another Philips TV.

It was working well till now. I guess it was waiting till the labour warranty got over. As soon as it sensed that 6 months are over, it just died again one night. I called Philips service and they directed me to an Authorised service center. They charged $59 for a house call and told me that they will give labour estimate sometime later. I was scared and I called Philips arguing that since my TV had gone bad twice in 6 months, they ought to waive the labour charges as well. Graciously they agreed.

But it has been 3 weeks since my TV is out and there is no outlook as to when it will be repaired and returned to me. I am following up regularly. After so much of follow-up and waiting, I decided to call and ask for a replacement. I was not prepared for the kind of treatment I got and nothing could have prepared me for that. Without going in to specifics, I was told to wait indefinitely till the TV is repaired or the service center declared it irreparable after which Philips will decide what to do. I tried to argue that they cannot go on researching my problem forever on my time (The service center has not yet found the fault) when I am ending up paying the cable bill for nothing. In effect I was told that I was a sucker to buy Philips product and I am stuck with me. We thought of forgetting about the TV and buying a new one. But shelling out another $200 is something I cannot afford at my situation.

I wrote a letter (without keeping any hopes of any response) to CEO of Philips Electronics USA. That was two days back. I have not even got an acknowledgement of the email. The email I wrote is as below:

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Dear Mr. Zeven,

I regret intruding in your mailbox for such reason, but I had a totally harrowing experience with one of your customer service centers today while following up and requesting support on my outstanding repair request for my TV.

Brief background: My TV broke down suddenly and I requested the authorised service center to take a look & repair it. It was for the second time in about six months that my TV had broken down (I purchased the TV sometime in November 2005). I requested that since the TV has broken down twice in such a short period of time, that the labour charge should be waived and I was happy to know that Philips graciously accepted my request.

It has been more than 3 weeks now that my TV is out for repair. The authorised service center tried to fix it once, but it did not was correct totally and then he took it back. In his words, "The meters are showing that something is wrong, but we can't figure it out." Today I called the Service center and requested them, what seems reasonable to me, to replace the TV as it is taking way too long to repair it. Not only was I met with resistance and reluctance, I was quoted a string of policies which they said prevented them from complying to my request. Their demeanour was just short of hostile. I was told to wait till the time somebody decides that the TV is irreparable, even if it takes forever. They did not say it explicitly, but that's what they meant.

Without taking any names (I am sure they were just doing their jobs), I would like to request you to see what you can do in my case. My reference number with Philips service center is 3387C. The model number of my TV is 27PT5445/37 and the serial number is YA1A0535037349

Just to add a piece of trivia, I have worked for Philips for the first 4 years of my professional life and have seen how things work from the inside.

Although not really hopeful that this email will elicit any favourable response, I am writing to you just to let you know that such practices do not inspire consumer confidence, and at times when the market is open to competition and better quality of products and service.

Best regards,
Mukul Dharwadkar

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I am still waiting for response from Philips. But one thing is guaranteed. I am never buying a Philips product again and will tell my friends and families as well.