Stoves Q720GRF Problems

Track of the day Over The Rainbow - Bill Frisell.

How long should a modern double gas oven last? Ours will be six years old next January and has so far broken down three times. When it breaks down neither of the two ovens nor the grill will ignite.
Everything was working fine yesterday until it got part way through roasting a chicken. At some point in the cycle the burner went out - terminally.

This morning at 8:20 am I contacted Stoves customer service department.

"I can't give you a service callout date I've got to contact the engineers. Yes we have your telephone number."

I sat back and waited for a return call. I was still waiting at 12:20pm so I phoned again.
"We've passed it on to the engineers. They will contact you within 48hrs."
"48hrs! How am I supposed to cook in the meantime?"
"You've got a microwave haven't you?"
"No."
"Well what about a hob? You can cook very good food on a hob."
"Yes there's a hob. Luckily it's another make so it's still working."
"The best thing you can do is phone the engineers to find out when they can come out to you."

I thought that was why I was phoning Stoves but apparently not. I phoned the number she had given me but the number was engaged.
Eventually I got through.
"Sorry, we don't know anything about it. The best thing you can do is phone Stoves and tell them we haven't received the job details. If they get awkward with you tell them to phone us."
"Hello, it's me again. The engineers haven't received the job details from you."
"They have. We've faxed the details. They haven't entered them in their computer yet. You should hear something in the next 48hrs and the last person you spoke to shouldn't have given you the engineers' telephone number."

I pointed out that as the engineers were subcontracted and weren't 'their engineers', I would have been better off finding a repairman myself. It was explained to me that Stoves were only interested in getting my problem sorted out as quickly as possible because sending engineers out to a recall was costing Stoves money. Strangely enough I have the same objection to them sending engineers out. It costs me £60 or £70 a visit before they add on the cost of the parts.
Added to which, 48 hrs with a very expensive and very pretty but totally useless oven sitting in the kitchen sounds like lousy customer service to me.
The unit is a Stoves Q720GRF-DO though in Homer Simpson parlance that should probably read Q720GRF-Doh! They no longer make that particular model - I wonder why?

At 14:20pm I received a call from the engineers.

"Hello, I'm very sorry about this but we are fully booked until Friday. They've got it booked as a recall but we haven't been out to you before. I don't know whether you want to get back to Stoves about this to see if they can get one of their engineers out to you sooner."

48 hours have now turned into a week. If the oven hadn't cost so much, I'd write it off and start again with another company. In the UK it seems to be sales that matter, not customer service. It's about time these people realised that duff customer service actually reduces sales.

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