HOME TRUTHS:FOR ANYONE who's ever been reduced to the level of a screaming, jabbering loon when doing battle with a company that refuses to acknowledge its obligations under consumer law, the next time it happens it might be best to refrain from frothing at the mouth and go straight for the jugular.
Some firms appear to implement a deliberate three-point policy which I call the three Fs. Fudge the issue at all times. Fob the customer off. And frustrate every effort the consumer makes to air their grievance.
This often has one of two outcomes: they win and you slink away defeated thinking that life is too short and you don't have the energy to fight them; or you become so incensed at the treatment you vow to hunt them down and make them pay.
Not that a bit of anger is necessarily a bad thing in these situations, but if you're losing sleep over it and starting to entertain even vague thoughts of homicide, it may be time for another approach.
I mention this because on September 29th my porch door fell out. A large teak door that would take three grown-ups to carry (or two burly weight lifters), it just crashed to the ground. Although fitted less than a year ago, the door just snapped off its hinges which we believe weren't robust enough to take the weight of the door. In shock, and with the terrifying thought that someone could have been killed had they been standing near it, I phoned the company that supplied and fitted the door expecting them to immediately send a team around to investigate how it happened, offer a grovelling apology (preferably on bended knee) and replace it while offering guarantees that this would never happen again.
Not a bit of it. Instead they tried very hard to ignore the problem. It took two days for the service manager to call me and, sounding concerned, he promised to call me back "first thing" the next morning. He didn't and subsequently ignored my e-mails and phone messages. Three days later the general manager finally replied to an email saying he was keeping my details on file (very good of him) and that someone would be in touch. When a sales rep eventually called he seemed surprised that we expected the company to supply a replacement door free of charge and said the company wouldn't be taking responsibility for what happened. Out of frustration I called the Consumers' Association of Ireland and was advised to send a registered letter quoting the Sale of Goods and Supply of Service Act 1980 (Part II, Section 14 (3)) stating that "goods are of merchantable quality if they are as fit for the purpose or purposes for which goods of that kind are commonly bought and as durable as it is reasonable to expect having regard to any description applied to them, the price (if relevant)...".
I wrote that as a service person from the company refitted the door in August 2007 after we had problems with the original door fitted by a builder, he should have done it in such a way that there was no danger of the door falling out, or failing that, "alert us to the possibility that the door could fall out in the future". I said if they felt they weren't responsible, it was up to them to come out and assess the door and prove it. Finally I asked them to reply within five working days and cc'd the letter to the Consumers' Association.
To my surprise, on the fifth day I received a response from the general manager saying that as a gesture of "good will" they would replace the door free of charge. It took several weeks of pursuit before someone came to fit a new door last Friday. They probably should have re-imbursed us the cost of having the door painted to match the rest of the porch but we were so worn out we just wanted them to fill the gaping hole that was letting in the cold.
By wearing us down they eventually got us to compromise on what we wanted but had we not followed the Consumers' Association's advice I'm guessing we'd still be getting the three Fs treatment and reeling at the injustice of it all.
- emorgan@irish-times.ie
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