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A smashing deal in southern Spain
January 28, 2012 • Lead, Malaga • 19 Comments
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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• John Brenchley was so angry that he smashed the printer on the floor |
EXCLUSIVE by James Bryce
A FURIOUS expat was so angry at the customer service he received at electrical shop Worten that he smashed his new printer on the ground in protest.
John Brenchley took the drastic action after the manager at the company’s branch in Malaga refused to offer a refund or replacement for the faulty item.
Brenchley, who has lived in Spain for 25 years, had been forced to repeat the 100 mile round trip to the shop from his home in Almunecar after getting home to discover that the colour printer did not work.
But after examining the printer- which was required to be in its original packaging – the store manager informed him that the installation CD was missing, voiding the warranty.
On realising he had left the CD at home, and in anger at the manager’s refusal to test it, Brenchley took matters into his own hands.
“I am sorry to say that faced with such injustice and the fact that I had just wasted a lot of time driving all the way back, I lost my temper,” the expat told the Olive Press.
“I picked up the printer and held it above my head and then crashed it down onto the floor with all the force I could muster.
“Unfortunately it was still in a salvageable condition, so I continued kicking it which made large clouds of blue and red dust fly into the air.
“I am not proud of the fact that I lost my temper but at least it provided some amusement to the other customers.”
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Best to avoid the dreaded Wortens; they have one of the worst customer service and returns policies. This is the dozenth story I’ve heard about problems with faulty items and returns. It is best to use Wortens as a testing lab and then purchase online from a large supplier with a proper returns policy. Simples.
I do not know if that is a Spanish ,German or English etc etc. If I were you. I would write a letter to the company headquarters via email and request they provide you with a printer free of charge.
That’ sure to do the trick. Way to go, put the frighteners on ‘em.
….. in my experience the printer usually works after you gave it a good bashing.
Maybe worth forwarding this article to their local and HQ offices offering to publicise the generous compensation and apology that they might like to offer their dissatisfied customer
Why didnt he buy another similar printer at the shop and remove the CD and put it with the faulty one he was returning ? job done !
Another Brit yob!
How does losing ones temper translate to the person being a “yob” Anna? Do tell.
Get it on Amazon and live longer
And when they (inevitably) go the same way as PC City, everyone will scratch their heads and blame ‘la crisis’.
Right on Brian, Wortens is a dead-zone with more staff than customers. Extinction beckons.
After 25 years of living here you should know that stamping your feet will get you absolutely nowhere with a Spaniard. And since YOU were at fault for not returning the entire product, the manager had good reason to refuse a refund.
That said, this company is not well renowned for it’s customer service and even if you had returned the complete package it’s doubtful a replacement would have been offered. So what’s wrong with the ‘complaints book’?. You can’t beat the system, you have to master it.
Now you have lost your product, wasted fuel and behaved like a spoilt child in the store. Para nada.
Agreed Amparo. What did the manager do wrong.
Gresham. What the manager did wrong, used to be called “dumb insolence” in the forces. Nowadays, it’s called, “at the wind-up”
Well, anyone who expects customer service in Spain is going to be disappointed.
M.K. You are wrong. You reap what you sow…..
I recently bought a faulty electrical product from LIDL. Using their website I complained. 24 hours later I received a phone call from the manufacturer in Germany asking for an image of the receipt by email.
Three days later I received a replacement via courier.
Further, the following week I received 2 phone calls from LIDL asking if the issue had been satisfactorily resolved.
In addition I have, over the years received similar reactions to criticising comments I have sent using the Mercadona website. And our local (Spanish) traders fall over themselves to ensure customer satisfaction.
Brian,
Lidls is German and Mercadona operates more like a northern European operation.
That said I bought a pair of shoes from Lidl that were faulty and when I took them back a trainee manager tried to make me look small by shouting at me in front of other customers – he made a big mistake – I’m not English but Celtic, that does’nt work on me.
So in my louder voice I slated him in German which of course the idiot did’nt understand and then said in Spanish that I was going to email Lidls head office in Germany and get him sacked. He threw the shoes in a bin and he ordered the cashier to give me a refund – the next week he was’nt there and the same female cashier that had given me the refund was smiling and happy to tell me he had been fired.
Brian I think the same can be said of 99% of small traders anywhere, their actions directly affect their business.
Stuart Crawford. So, presumably you would expect the manager of, say, Dunnes here in Andalucía to speak Gaelic, or maybe he of Carrefour in Málaga to speak French, or maybe he of the local Toyota showroom to be fluent in Mandarin, or possibly the manager/ess of Zara in Tokyo to speak Castellano. I doubt if they would be well pleased at being called ‘idiots’ at not being able to do so.
The next time I go to Franfurt I will visit Lidl there and let off steam in my mother tongue to see how they react. Probably the same as the unfortunate soul you had a go at here.
By using the Complaints Book you would have scared him into realising his error and offer you a refund/replacement and he would have learned a lesson. A win win outcome.
Instead he has lost his job and Lidl now has to recruit and train a replacement. Who do you think will pay for that not inconsiderable task??. A lose lose outcome. Nice one.
Just for clarification:
Worten is a Portuguese retailer.