Appalling (and strange) customer service response and warranty not honoured.
I have a Franke Instante 4-in1 Boiling Water system which I purchased 2 years ago. Recently there has been a constant drip from the overflow into the overflow vent. Yesterday I got a professional plumber to look at this. There is a section on page 11 of the manual which suggests that this fault is probably caused by the pressure being too high. In line with the suggestion in the manual, the plumber fitted a pressure reducing valve - for which, obviously, I had to pay for the part and his labour. He warned me before fitting it that the fault might, however, be with the tank itself which meant that the new valve possibly would not work in which case I needed to contact Franke as the system was still under warranty. It did not work and is still dripping. Franke outsource these enquiries to an outfit called GLR Direct and I called them this morning. I was taken aback by the hostility of the response. The fault, I was told, was obviously due to something that had happened when the boiler was installed - I.e. the water pressure parameters had not been adhered to. I pointed out that there was no evidence of this and it was quite unfair to make this assumption as there simply might be a fault with the boiler unit. No, I was told, this was not the case - and did I have the pressure readings for when the boiler was installed two years ago! Since it was 2 years ago and I did not fit it I found this line of enquiry unreasonable. Also, I am not a plumber (a 71-year-old retired publisher as it happens) and I have no way of establishing what the water pressure might have been or is now. The plumber who came yesterday looked at the guidelines in the manual and assured me he had ensured it was set at the level advised. I was actually spoken to by the GLR representative rather like a schoolgirl being told off by a stern headmistress. I was told that I was shouting (which I certainly was not but, as I pointed out, was on speakerphone) and it was basically inferred that I was lying and the pressure was too high when it was installed which had damaged the boiler unit. As the unit. was installed by a professional plumber who consulted the manual while doing so I find this unlikely. At the outset she asked what level the pressure had been set at by the plumber who came yesterday and I said I couldn’t really remember - which I could not as, frankly, I wanted it fixed not to know the detail of relevant water pressure. She got me very flustered, and accused me of contradicting myself. Eventually I pointed out that further discussion appeared to be useless as she was clearly determined not to honour the warranty and asked where I should address a complaint. I did say that I thought her response had been very unhelpful and she called me (I quote directly here) a “horrible person”. I am pretty astounded by this interaction. In all my years I have never had quite such a combative, unpleasant and unhelpful response from a customer service representative. I felt less like a customer and more like someone being cross-examined in court. Clearly, the warranty will not be honoured and, after 2 years, the boiler is damaged and needs replacement. I think this whole incident reflects very badly on Franke and would go out of my way to dissuade anyone from purchasing such a product from them as, clearly, the warranty by no means provides the protection promised.
27 de fevereiro de 2026
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