Should Manufactures have a 1-800 Number for Customer Support?

[webbie]

Stoveguy - the scene you describe is human nature. There are just as many bad dealers as good dealers, and many can't see the forest for the trees. Dealers, chimney sweeps and service people in general often take advantage of the fact that they are in a "trusted" position inside the customers house. In my opinion, this is doubly wrong. When someone trusts you, it seems as if you are even more obligated to try and be fair to them.

Well, you have the last laugh because you and your employer will probably be the heros of the matter.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

yeah craig, your right, i just got upset over it , yes we will come out of it looking good i guess, its just the impropriety of the thing. sorry about venting in here like that. somtimes things rub ya the wrong way, i try to help anybody that calls me even if it isnt my stove, ive had other makers customers call in , and i could just say "it aint my stove" and leave it at that, but i dont. i try to help, i'll lok up a company for them , give them numbers to call, i know guys here and there that are very good at older units that arent in production any more, and i send customers to them. i never , ever trash another brand, if i caught one of my techs doing so i would nail their hide to my barn door, it aint the way i do buisness. if everybody worked that way... well , like it is in here , things get done and people remember that. its the way it should be. guess i need to stop venting , thanks for the oppertunity craig, i really appreciate you guys in here.

 

[Tin_courier]

I'd like to weigh in here as a manufacturer's technical support guy. My company has chosen to work though our dealer almost exclusively, and deal with retail customers only in very rare situations. Typically, when I get a customer calling, it's because they want a second opinion on something their dealertold them. In the vast majority of cases, the dealer was right on.

If a customer wants to troubleshoot their gas stove, allright, but for a manufacturer to give the go-ahead for customers to perform their own service is trouble, IMHO. The big issue is liability, and I think by giving technical information out to customers we'd be giving them the idea that they should be doing the work, which I'm not comfortable with in most cases.


-Jeff

 

[stoveguy2esw]

you are right jeff when it comes to gas, gas goes boom, now, changing out a door gasket on a woodstove or an auger motor on a pellet stove is a different story, when we have a customer call in about a gas issue , we direct them through a few safe steps to determine problem, installations , valve replacements are different , they should be done by a pro,and our customers are advised as such. basic wood and pellet stove upkeep and repair can be done at customer level with our units as long as it is not extensive, if its that big a deal we handle differently obviously. our stoves are designed to be easily serviced at the customer level for the most part. with the exception of gas repair. we will not even sell a valve body , our gas units are set up with a "modular " setup which allows the valve set to be replaced as a whole (all the plumbing already attached and leak tested. all the gas service guy would have to do is literally disconnect the old intake line, remove 2 screws and 2 small bolts and lift the whole system out , drop the new one in and screw it down. then reconnect , leak test his connection , leak test the preassembled plumbing just to be sure (in case of rough handling in shipping) purge it and light it up. even with it being that simple , a gas tech should do it.

 

[Xena]

NO NO NO NO NO

Imagine what it would add to the cost of a stove for
a company like VC to have people answering stupid
questions that could have been avoided had someone READ THE MANUAL!

Good point but.....imagine how many questions could
be avoided if all stove MFG's had technical writers who
actually wrote manuals that were easy to understand?
I'm a very DIY girl and I always read
manuals. (One of my pet peeve questions when I visit a customer
with a computer that "doesn't work").

....but the manual that came with our St Croix pellet stove
had some sections that were unclear no matter how many
times I read the sections over.
Also had some contradicting info too. A quick call to
the MFG and a 10 minute conversation with a very
helpful guy there cleared things right up for me.
Maybe not an 800 number, but at least a # to call
for help if need be.

 

[elkimmeg]

Vc does have a customer service 800 tell## and customer support Email bases question and answer comsumers can use

 

[BrotherBart]

Vc does have a customer service 800 tell## and customer support Email bases question and answer comsumers can use

Consumer Call Centre
410 Admiral Blvd.
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
L5T 2N6
Telephone: 1-800-668-5323
Facsimile: 1-877-565-2929

 

[seaken]

Vc does have a customer service 800 tell## and customer support Email bases question and answer comsumers can use

Consumer Call Centre
410 Admiral Blvd.
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
L5T 2N6
Telephone: 1-800-668-5323
Facsimile: 1-877-565-2929

This is a relatively new service and not typical. Maybe it is the beginning of a change with how the manufacturer communicates with the end consumer. I would hope that VC will refer technical problems directly to the local dealer who sold the stove/FP. The dealer must stay in the loop with technical problems. But if it's just a chance to sound off to the manufacturer and improve the maker-user relationship then I am all for it. There have been many times when I could have used the input of the manufacturer instead of being all alone when trying to troubleshoot with an angry consumer.

I want to get the calls from the customers. What I don't want is to be left with no support from a silent manufacturer. This could be a good thing.

Sean

 

[elkimmeg]

My end of the year resolution will not allow me to mentiona manufacturer but the plant tour they were picking my brain to see what is perseived out in the market place
They also have e-mail customer support still in the planning stages
Seaken They must be monitoring this forum. They were prepared to answer every question I had. What struck me was the use of stainless steel bolts and 3000 drgree neveresieze
on the damper bolts, things we discussed here, on the rebuilding projects. They were quick to point it out to me and goose