Since 2008 I have had five insurance policies with Domestic & General to cover all my kitchen appliances.
I currently pay £59 a month. In September I reported that my frost-free integrated freezer was faulty, and six days later an engineer called.
He could not rectify the fault, and said he had ordered a part that another engineer would fit.
Eight days later he arrived, only to say that the freezer was, in fact, not repairable and that he would have to order a replacement. That was delivered a week later, but it was too big.
Since then I have been chasing on a daily basis and all I get is an automated response sent in the middle of the night or early morning. Eventually, I was told by the product placement team that they could not source a freezer that would fit and offered £518 so I could buy a suitable one myself. If I hadn’t phoned again I don’t suppose I would have been contacted.
This has been going on for six weeks and I have never received a telephone call from anyone, an apology or explanation for the appalling service. On one occasion staff hung up on me when I told them their customer service title was an oxymoron – I think she thought I was calling her a moron. The service has been terrible – is this normal? JP, Totnes, Devon
You are far from alone in complaining about Domestic & General – we have been getting many letters along these lines in the past few months.
A lack of promised call-backs seems to be a recurring complaint. Maybe the company does not employ enough staff.
Domestic & General said: “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to JP. We take great pride in providing the best possible service to our customers and recognise that we fell short on this occasion.”
It has agreed to pay you an extra £250 compensation to cover the delivery charge and for the failed installations.
Meanwhile, I would strongly urge you and other D&G customers to consider whether these products offer good value.
You were spending £59 a month – which may not sound too bad until you consider that is more than £700 a year. White goods are so much cheaper now that almost all of us would be better off sticking some money in a savings account and repairing or replacing goods as required.
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