Kenstar Dishwasher---marketed by Millenium Appliances(part of the videocon group) based in hyderabad.A very good machine, but has a few glitches which need attention from time to time. As mentioned in an earlier review by kiransmith; ideal in all respects including the after sales service and support. All that existed till sep of 2006; after that it has been a sorry story of abandonement and leaving the customers in the lurch after giving them a 5 year warranty period.
The manufacturing unit has been closed down , the maketing personnel and the technicians relocated. all this i’ve gathered after a lot of chasing up.(spent a total of 8 hours over it!) When there was malfunction with my unit and I tried to contact the service personnel. the numbers were all defunct. In frustration I tried to contact the maketing people; who would not answer their phones or pretend that I had the wrong number. On trying to contact the factory I got a message saying, " check the number you have dialled". This alarmed me.
From a dealer I got the number of a call centre for kenstar appliances---but they would not register a complaint for the dishwasher. They gave me a service centre number--there too they they said they were helpless as they only dealt with some appliances but not the dishwasher. Ultimately we managed to contact the head of services and support for kenstar products who promised to look into the matter and call back, but never did. On calling him a second time someone else answered his cell phone and asked us to contact the dealer from whom we had purchased the machine!!! the machine was being sold directly from the factory. After turning nasty the technicians were sent a one time affair.
We were told that if a component needed replacing they would be helpless. The management had changed. Support services were no longer being offered. The 5 year warranty that was given is not worth the paper it is printed on. the only reason we purchased the machine at the time was because we were told that it was being manufactured in hyderabad and the 5 year warranty. The dishwasher was aggressively marketed for over a period of 6 months.
And after that this is the state of affairs. If in future anything happens to the appliance, which is an electronic one, it will be a waste of Rs25, 000.And this is something not expected of Millenium Appliances which happens to be part of the VIDEOCON group. they were the ones to introduce washing machines to the market and had such a good maintenance support that one would not have expected such brutus like behaviour from them.The kenstar dishwasher producers have quietly packed up their bags and stolen off into the night . The least they could have done is left enough service and support for the next 5 years to honour the warranty they have guaranteed.
By then the market for dishwashers would certainly have picked up.and they could have been back in buisness with the reputation of having reliable after sales service lacking in other brands. and I must say that, as long as they were existing, the after sales service of the kenstar group was excellent.