The ramblings of Keane Ingram

As I mentioned before, we ordered a new washing machine from Best Buy as our old one was on the blink. Today was the delivery date. I'd had a call on Wednesday to confirm that the delivery date was today and that they'd be here between 9.30 and 1.30. I thought this was brilliant customer service, as I'd selected the free delivery option where you can only specify the day, so to be given a time slot in advance is excellent.

I then got a call this morning, telling me that they'd be here around 10.30 and apologising for the delay due to traffic. Again, it's touches like this that make me reconsider all my previous terrible experiences of arranging for things to be delivered.

So around 10.30 the washing machine arrives. Here's where things start to go downhill. The bloke delivering it asked if I had any tools to help with the installation. I thought this was a bit strange as you'd expect someone who installs washing machines to have their own tools. Then I found out that the bloke was only technically employed as a delivery person rather than someone who installs things, hence the lack of tools (and training it turns out, although he had received training on a previous job). To be fair, the bloke was very polite and friendly and apologised plenty of times for the poor service, which isn't his fault. He said he'd make a note to refund the money I paid for the machine to be installed (£9.99) as he couldn't remove the locking bolts without any tools (and I didn't have any suitable tools).

The machine is installed now - I had to go to B&Q and buy a socket set so that I could remove the bolts, and everything appears to be running smoothly (and much more quietly than the old one!) I've complained to Best Buy via their website, so we'll have to see if I get my refund. I'm disappointed in a way because up until then I'd been really impressed with Best Buy's customer service. They seem to be going out of their way to make a good impression, and if the machine had been installed correctly I'd have been very happy (although I see on Quidco that you can now get 15% cashback rather than the 10% I got, which is a little annoying as I would have had an extra £15 cashback, but can't complain too much).