Breville "service" unimpressive - our BES900 still waiting for parts after 6 months

[Tassie_Devil]

It is so long ago I took it into be fixed I've forgotten the date. In desperation we now have a much less expensive EC680 Delonghi to satisfy our coffee addiction and it works fine.

I rang the service shop in Launceston this morning and were told Breville were not even answering their emails, let alone send the one part they want to complete the repair. Can anyone give me a contact email or number I can use to put in a customer complaint?

Unimpressive.

[Stan]

Try consumer affairs, an inquiry from them may get a quicker response.

[noidle22]

Very few parts are not in stock with Breville and their spare parts co-coordinator always returns my email enquiries same day.

Chances are the agent just doesn't know what is wrong and is trying to make up a cover story. Unfortunately a common practice these days.

What part do you need? Is the machine under warranty?

[TC]

G'day j_coulson,

In my opinion, this needs to go further than your service bloke. It is inexcusable and somewhere, somebody has royally screwed up.

Suggest you call them in Sydney, speak with whoever is the honcho in charge and rip him/her a new one.

[CoffeeHack]

I had a Sunbeam EM7000 sitting with a service agent for about 3 weeks waiting for a warranty replacement of the steam wand module - there was a genuine issue with the supply line however at the time I had a 9 month old baby and a wife suffering with severe insomnia (she couldn't even sleep when the baby was). If there was any a time we needed coffee-making facilities at home it was then!!

I was understanding of the delay however it got to a point where I wrote a slightly stroppy (but still polite) message direct to Sunbeam to escalate the issue, and lo & behold the part was soon sent out along with a free replacement water filter & group-head seal for my troubles! So my advice would be as above - to escalate the issue with Breville and not be afraid to threaten the involvement of the relevant ombudsman or consumer affairs department.

Good luck!

[Tassie_Devil]

G'day j_coulson,

In my opinion, this needs to go further than your service bloke. It is inexcusable and somewhere, somebody has royally screwed up.

Suggest you call them in Sydney, speak with whoever is the honcho in charge and rip him/her a new one.

Thanks for the advice.

There is a form to complete on their "Ask us Contact form" which I filled in but then after "Submit" got the message "Unable to submit your request. Please try again later"!!! So I sent the following to their email address 'AskUs@Breville.com.au'.

"Our BES900 coffee maker has been out of service for many months, awaiting repair. We have been told by the repairer (KT Electronics 1 Hobart Road Kings Meadows 7249 Ph 0363445665) that they have had a part on order which you have not supplied.

Yesterday I was told you are not even responding to their emails about supplying the part.

Our BES900 is well and truly out of guarantee but I'm getting most upset at this situation so am contacting you for an explanation before getting in touch with Consumer Affairs. At the moment I do not recommend Breville products."


Note I am avoiding phone contact with Breville because my hearing is not good, despite good quality hearing aids, and I just cannot understand some people on the phone, even with the help of a phone with a telecoil link.

[TC]

Looks pretty much like planned obsolescence to me. Breville probably hold parts for a couple of years then release a new model with subtly different parts. That way, they can have you purchase a new one when your current machine breaks and your local bloke can't get parts to fix it.

I'd suggest you ask someone to call Breville and rip a new one- on your behalf

[noidle22]

Breville probably hold parts for a couple of years then release a new model with subtly different parts.

Not true with Breville coffee machines. Parts are even still available for their Cafe Roma machines (10-15 years old) and all of the machines released since then. Majority of parts are always held in stock.

It is a true statement for most other manufacturers, particularly with their cheaper products that aren't designed to be repaired.

[TC]

Not true with Breville coffee machines..

Hmm...or maybe not not true...

Goes against what some of the owners of original BES900 machines have publicly stated- both here and elsewhere.

[noidle22]

Hmm...or maybe not not true...

Goes against what some of the owners of original BES900 machines have publicly stated- both here and elsewhere.

I'm just going off the direct knowledge I have from Breville as one of their agents.

[Tassie_Devil]

Breville will "try" to find a part!!!!

OK, got this reply from Breville, although the "Try" to source the part does not look good. I'll follow suggestions here and request a new replacement.

Dear John

Below comments : Advised from our Service Dept at Breville

Kind Regards
Scott





Hi Scott

Please advise customer that we have already got in touch with Rosemary at KT Service Agent

We will try to source the part required ( main pcb )and forward to agent asap for repair

Regards
Praveenk



-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Gregory
Sent: Friday, 9 September 2016 11:07 AM
To: Service Support
Subject: WO # 338168 - A complaint about non supplying a part for a BES900

Hi Service Support

Re below and Advise

Kind regards
scott

[noidle22]

What's actually wrong with the machine? At least it looks like there is some progress.

[Tassie_Devil]

Picked it up today BUT IT IS STILL NOT GOING!!!!!

The earlier note to Breville finally moved them along and they actually sent the required board to KT Electronics.

Picked it up this morning, turned it on for coffee this afternoon .... you can see the result in the following message sent to Breville.

Unimpressive (and that is praising the situation).


We have been without a working Breville BES900 for many months now. First repair by KT Electronics, Hobart Road Launceston did not work so back it went and it took 3 months before it was again repaired this week. It seems most of that wait time was because of a breakdown of communication between yourselves and KT, something I recently complained to you about so a missing control board was located and sent to KT.

So I picked up this morning and attempted to make a cup of coffee. At first it did not respond at all and only showed the "C" on the screen but then it finally woke up, heated the water to 91C, all lights came on, "Manual" button pushed, but NO response. Same with either of the other two lit up buttons. So it was switched off and then on again but was completely dead with no response anywhere.

I'm taking it back to KT tomorrow but am VERY dissatisfied with the BES900 as it seems it cannot be repaired. As a result of this experience I have not got a very high opinion of Breville products and find it hard to recommend them to others, although I must say the Breville grinder is OK.

I'll copy this and send it to KT so they know what I've told you.