A lost opportunity for a customer for life

We have an 18 month old LG Dryer that has broken down and required new parts three times in the 12 months we’ve used it after moving into our remodeled home 6 months after buying it. Granted, we do a lot of laundry, but my Kenmore handled it for 5 years without complaint. When the LG fails, it simply doesn’t dry. And every repair cycle has left us with wet laundry for 7-12 days. We've replaced the igniter and now we are replacing some other part. With a family of six people (three younger than 7) – you can only imagine the volume of laundry we produce. Unreal. So, after calling the repairman for the third visit in 12 months, I called LG and said – this particular unit is a lemon – you have to agree that different failures three times over the course of a year is outside of manufacturing tolerances. I’d like you to replace the unit.




For 30 minutes, I heard how that was impossible because the unit is more than a year old. For 30 minutes, I heard that I can call the repair people as much as I like to fix breakages. Not until the very end, when I told them that I would go public with the story to the best of my ability, did they say we will connect you with our Voice of the Customer/customer advocates. The rep then told me that he completely agrees with me that it should be replaced, but LG policy is against him.




What a lost opportunity – LG could have created an advocate for life by standing behind their products (like Nordstrom does), apologizing and making plans to deliver a reliable, comparable machine to our home. Perhaps send us rolls of quarters to take our wet laundry to a Laundromat to dry it. Or send a laundry service until the dryer was repaired or, preferably, replaced. Instead, we are sitting on wet laundry and hoping that LG’s Voice of the Customer agrees that a premium brand trying to establish itself in the US should over-extend on customer service – it will pay off in droves.

Stay tuned for more about it.