Here is my story with Kent and their dealers ever since I bought a Kent Grand Plus purifier in Dec-2009 from a dealer called Good Mineral RO in Bangalore- Multiple episodes of shabby work - read on!
Episode 1: Even before the end of one year started getting calls from various dealers for maintenance - they seemed to care more about my filter than myself! Called Good Mineral RO sometime in Nov-2010 and some filters were replaced promptly. One day after service, there was a major water leak from the filter and we had to switch it off. Took three days and numerous phone calls just to get someone to fix it.
Episode 2: Made the mistake of calling them again for a routine maintenance this April-2012 after my wife started complaining of change in water taste. Promptly came a "technician" called Mr.R and "found" the UV lamp needing replacement apart from the regular filter replacements. He convinced me into taking an AMC(for Rs. 4200 - which I now know is way more than other brands). Promised he would bring the parts the next day but did not turn up - but the cheque I gave was promptly encashed the same day!!After 3 days and multiple phone calls, he showed up with only the filters saying they did not have UV lamp in stock. Another 4 days before he comes back and replaces the UV lamp.
Episode 3: Exactly 2 weeks after this whole thing (mid May 2012), the unit just stopped working. No alarm, no sound nothing! After three days of trying to reach their "call center", I gave up and called the Kent Service Center(Bangalore) directly. Next day came a phone call from Good Mineral RO(could not believe it!!), telling me that someone would be coming that evening. This time it was another technician called Mr. N, who quietly declared that the SMPS(power adapter) has gone bad due to water leakage inside the unit! Again a promise to come the next day.
After this starts the most interesting part of the story!!
Episode 4: After not hearing from the dealer for more than 3 days, I started calling the "call center" every day, just to hear stories of how they will be getting new stock by 3 PM and someone would come at 5 PM. After a week of this drama, I lost patience and called the owner Mr.Nagesh and started bashing him. He coolly replied that I cannot expect better service than what I am getting for the paltry Rs.4200 I paid !! After 1 hour on the phone with him, with the call center guy "swearing" that I had called them only once so far, finally a promise that the issue would be taken care of at the earliest, whatever he meant by that!!
Episode 5: Next day came Mr.N with a shiny new power adapter and after trying it declared that the leakage was due to a cracked filter and dropped a bomb saying that the filter that was installed the last time(by Mr.R) was the wrong one(sediment instead of carbon) and that too in the wrong flow direction!!
Episode 6: Yet another promise of fixing it the next day and after multiple phone calls and false promises finally turned up last week(a full 30 days after the unit broke down) with a replacement filter but guess what - the unit still does not work!! Apparently this time the issue was something in the electrical parts and "beyond his skills" and so promised to get a KENT technician next time around!!
True to their reputation, he didn’t turn up even after 3 days so I called Kent Customer Center asking them to send a Kent Technician - not from the dealer. Same story, no one turned up the next day! When I called them yesterday again, they promised someone would come between 3:30 to 4 PM - anybody’s guess if it would have happened. But the surprise call came from Mr.N that he will come today and fix the issue once "forever" - should I have been hopeful!!
Episode 7: Came yesterday and tries a different SMPS(don’t know how he figured that was the problem - last time he was at my home he did not have a clue) and voila - the lights are glowing and all is well ?? Not really - how can this interesting mega-serial end so quickly? Now the TDS of the filtered water is too high and the blame goes to the poor RO membrane - just that it is a "new" membrane installed only a month ago by hero Mr.R !!
So, this is where the story(serial) stands now - do come back to know how today’s episode goes!!
UPDATE: Episode 8: Mr. N came with a working SMPS and a replacement RO membrane. The SMPS he installed last time was defective. But the replacement RO membrane is also a "housed" type rather than the recommended "welded" type. Once the RO membrane was replaced, the TDS showed improvement(around 100 PPM). Promised he will come back with a welded type membrane next day.
As with any promise, it is one week as of today and still waiting for the technician to come and complete the work...Kent Customer Service is calling everyday and checking if it is done, I am happy that they are at least following up!