A recent case of a Whirlpool air conditioner bought from Flipkart has brought out the issues customers may face when dealing with big e-commerce platforms and their service partners. The problem began on 5 March 2022 when Ashok Mor purchased a Whirlpool AC from Flipkart for his elderly parents living at his native place. Along with the AC, he opted for a two-year extended warranty provided by Jeeves, a service partner of Flipkart.
This AC was regularly serviced by the authorized Whirlpool technicians for a period of more than two years without any problem. The situation took a turn for the worse on 20 July 2024. The customer booked a wet service with a Whirlpool technician, who did the job and instructed the customer to switch on the AC after four hours.
When the AC was turned on after six hours, the MCB immediately tripped. After checking the MCB, the customer again waited half an hour and turned the AC on, only to be again presented with an error code E6 on the indoor unit. It was around 7 PM, and at 38 degrees Celsius outside temperature, it was impossible to arrange for a technician’s visit that night. Concerned for the comfort of his parents, the customer called up a local technician to look into the situation.
Investigating the problem, the local technician found that the Whirlpool technician had made a horrible mistake during service, letting water seep into the printed circuit board of the AC. The local technician suggested calling Whirlpool again since the problem seemed to be beyond simple repairs.
The next day, a Whirlpool technician visited the place, carrying some more bad news in his pocket. He said that the damage was beyond warranty and the cost for repair could go as high as ₹12,000. He asked me to contact Jeeves since the extended warranty was purchased from them. Now, this entire scenario was making this customer frustrated and cheated because of Whirlpool’s negligence in matters of responsibility. As a result, his aged parents were left outdoors in the open all night due to the malfunctioning AC. The customer was desperate and had to procure and install a new AC.
Finally, the Jeeves technician arrived on 24 July 2024 and took parts from the AC with the promise of repairing it in about a week to 10 days. No receipt was issued to the customer for the parts taken, making him quite uneasy about the whole process. He waited patiently for 10 days and contacted Jeeves’ customer care enquiring about the status of the repair work. To his dismay, he was told that their systems were down and they could not process his complaint at all.
Five days later, there was still no update or resolution; hence, he tried to follow up once again with Jeeves; the same response ensued. At this juncture, frustrated and at his wit’s end, he decided to take his concerns to social media in a bid to expose the poor service and accountability of Flipkart, Jeeves, and Whirlpool.
The incident has taught consumers one very important lesson: never depend on the extended warranty and service contracts from the big retailers and their partners. Sometimes these are sold as peace of mind, but it really is very complex—sometimes right down to this poor customer’s discovery.
The customer’s plight underlines the need to have strong customer service backed by accountability of companies that assure dependable after-sales service. It also points to the requirement felt by consumers to remain vigilant and proactively seek redressal in such matters.
To this day, Jeeves and Whirlpool have not provided him with sufficient resolution. As he waits, he is taking to social media with his story, in hopes others are more careful when purchasing appliances and extended warranties from e-commerce platforms.
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