PeterUK
October 13th, 2006, 18:32
With a dramatic little flash and exploding sound my kettle announced its retirement from active service today. I muttered a few expletives and went to check the guarantee card - still comfortably within the warranty period. Off I went to Home Pro in central Pattaya where I had bought it, the merest suspicion in the back of my mind that this might not be a simple matter to sort out. At the repair desk everything went smoothly for about five minutes - forms were filled in, reassuring looks given. Then the first brow furrowed and I was told that because Home Pro was only the dealer I would have to go elsewhere for the repair. My argument that I thought I was already at a desk labelled 'repairs' was met with a counterargument so convoluted that I have already forgotten it. I was given directions, even a little hand-drawn map, to the requisite repair shop off Third Road. After half an hour of searching high and low with an increasingly frustrated motorcycle taxidriver, I returned to the Home Pro repair desk a little angrier than when I had left. 'Yes, hard to find,' chuckled the same young guy who had drawn me the map. He advised me to try Numchai electrical instead. Well, for goodness sake, everyone knows where that is, up by Index on Sukhumwit Road, why hadn't he told me that in the first place? He gave me an apologetic look. 'So this time there will definitely be no problem?' I said with just a hint of menace. He nodded enthusiastically.
At Numchai's service department I was told that my brand of kettle was not one they could fix, Home Pro was always doing this kind of thing to them. Sportingly they agreed to diagnose the fault for me. A short wait and then I got the bad news - a shorting heating element, the kettle equivalent of a coronary thrombosis. It would cost over 1000 baht to replace the element; if I took it back to Home Pro they should be able to send it to Bangkok under the guarantee and I might get it back in a couple of months. Then again, suggested the helpful Numchai assistant, noting my look of horror, I could always buy a new one at Numchai instead. I confess this option had crossed my mind - the alternative of possibly killing someone at the Home Pro repair desk would be emotionally gratifying but in all likelihood fraught with future complications. So I did as advised and am now the proud owner of a spanking new kettle. Naturally, it comes complete with guarantee.
At Numchai's service department I was told that my brand of kettle was not one they could fix, Home Pro was always doing this kind of thing to them. Sportingly they agreed to diagnose the fault for me. A short wait and then I got the bad news - a shorting heating element, the kettle equivalent of a coronary thrombosis. It would cost over 1000 baht to replace the element; if I took it back to Home Pro they should be able to send it to Bangkok under the guarantee and I might get it back in a couple of months. Then again, suggested the helpful Numchai assistant, noting my look of horror, I could always buy a new one at Numchai instead. I confess this option had crossed my mind - the alternative of possibly killing someone at the Home Pro repair desk would be emotionally gratifying but in all likelihood fraught with future complications. So I did as advised and am now the proud owner of a spanking new kettle. Naturally, it comes complete with guarantee.