LG put this man’s life on ice: How to get satisfaction from a company that doesn’t want to know about you

THERE’S a lesson about how to complain in Andrew Burkett’s experience of ­“refrigerating my life with a bag of ice and a borrowed Esky”.

Public Defender. Andrew Burkett has been using his his parent's esky for several weeks because LG fridge has broken down.

THERE’S a lesson about how to complain in Andrew Burkett’s experience of ­“refrigerating my life with a bag of ice and a borrowed Esky”.

On September 22 Mr Burkett wrote to Public ­Defender exasperated with LG’s alleged failure to fix his 18-month-old refrigerator, which had broken down 11 days earlier.

Andrew Burkett and his broken LG fridge / Picture: Cameron Richardson

“As I write this email I am yet to receive a call from anyone at LG. Currently I am ­refrigerating my life with a bag of ice and a borrowed Esky,” Mr Burkett said.

In his message he claimed his phone numbers had been blocked from reaching LG’s customer service line. LG has not denied this.

On September 13, Mr Burkett rang the line for the first time and arranged for a technician to visit his Bondi Junction unit.

He took September 16 off work to be home. The technician arrived late and was gone in 10 minutes, telling Mr Burkett he would be contacted the next day about a ­replacement fridge.

When no one rang during business hours, Mr Burkett called LG. He was told it would take another 24 hours to replace his fridge.

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No one rang the next day, either. Mr Burkett called but got nowhere. He rang from work. The previous calls were made from his mobile. The next day he tried again — from work and his mobile. From both he got “your call cannot be connected”. He asked a colleague to try. Success. The next day, September 20, he tried once more.

“Your call cannot be connected.” But his father was able to get through. Three days later he contacted me seeking help. I wrote an email to LG. In it I explained the problem, the outcome I wanted and by when. I attached a picture of the fridge warranty and provided Mr Burkett’s and my contact numbers.

I then rang the number for LG’s PR head. I got reception which would not put me through. It was against “policy”. I made it clear this was the only call LG would get from me. Within the hour Mr Burkett received a call from an apologetic LG, promising an upgraded fridge — pronto.

LG wouldn’t comment to me. This is a company Choice says has a history of poor service, so no wonder they didn’t want to talk.

You may be thinking the approach I took only works for the media. It doesn’t.

Airline Customer Advocate Julia Lines recently told me an aggrieved consumer should only ever ring once and write once, setting out the same things I did plus what you intend to do if the problem is not fixed, such as make a formal complaint to the appropriate ombudsman or NSW Fair Trading.

Meanwhile...

TV REMOTE NOT SO MAGIC

THE “Magic Remote” that came with Danny Conaghan’s expensive LG Smart TV stopped working properly under warranty. Operating the internet functions of the Smart TV with the non-magic remote was cumbersome.

At first LG said its Magic Remote stopped working due to “wear and tear”. It was eight months old.

Later it simply switched off communication with Mr Conaghan. So I asked LG to call him and reach a resolution. LG responded by saying it had reached an outcome. It would not say what it was. I asked Mr Conaghan and he said LG hadn’t spoken to him. Choice scored LG’s TV equal-sixth of 11 brands for reliability in its latest survey.