I bought an IFB 7 Kg Digital washing Machine one year back. This was bought second hand from a person who had used it only for a year. The machine has a warranty period expiring on September 2014. I had paid Rs300 and had an IFB mechanic install the machine at my place. I was provided with an official warranty transfer by IFB. The machine worked beautifully for the past one year till a few days back.
On that day 6th Nov 2012, the machine gave out a loud explosion and a burning smell and stopped working. The digital indicators too, stopped functioning. I lodged a complaint 10222789 with an assurance that the complaint would be attended to within 24 hours. When none turned up even after 30 hours, I contacted the toll free number 18604255678 and was given a run around by their clumsy staff- I was given wrong contact numbers to follow up on my own. After half a dozen wasted tries, I was able to get in touch with the local IFB service at Thane.
Their technician diagnosed the problem as a burned control card and said it will take more than 3 days, since their office did not carry spares. I had a look at the card and could not find a fuse protection provided on the card nor any for the machine. This indicates a design fault.
Added to this, I cannot understand why the Mumbai / Thane office does not carry spares.