Part 4 - The Washing Machine Problem
- Xoxowos
- Jul 21, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 3, 2019
As we planned on cruising for long periods of time with our motorhome, one of our requirements was to have a compact washer/dryer installed in our garage.
During the Dusseldorf show, as we sat down with the sales rep from Morelo factory to configure our motorhome (our dealer was not able to make it — or maybe had more important stands to attend to!), we have specifically emphasized that we would like to have a washer/dryer fitted BEFORE delivery.
As we do not live in Germany and unfortunately do not speak German, it would have been somewhat a challenge to find a good company to do the job (ie source the appliance and fit it properly). Another reason being, should there be an issue with the installation and/or operation of the washer/dryer, we did not want to take part in an never ending sequence of blames between factory and installer. Even though -for some reason- the factory did not fit washer/dryers, they sure must have tens of qualified contractors in their contact lists capable of doing the job.
During our meetings in Dusseldorf, the factory sales rep stated that he would certainly be able to sort this out. Because the issue had become a discussion topic during these meetings, we wanted to make sure that all is well understood (especially considering language barrier) to avoid last minute surprizes. After re-establishing contact thanks to the “stop production“ crisis, we asked the factory sales rep to re-confirm that a washer/dryer was going to be fitted as per our request. He got back to us replying that he never promised to undertake such an installation and that the factory would never install third party products but only set up preparations for it, and that the vehicle was overweight etc.
Well, it certainly would not come to anybody’s surprise that the motorhome is literally made up of third party products (ie engine, chassis, transmission, levelling system, air suspension, dishwasher, oven, fridge, hob, TV, satellite, sound system, navsat, heating system, batteries, inverter/chargers, pumps, tanks etc), so not sure what was meant by it.
Under normal conditions, our dealer was supposed to have taken care of this matter but he seemed to have vanished into thin air as we had not heard from him since months.
From our past business dealings, we knew that Germans usually tend to adopt a direct approach in complicated situations and almost never bother to present alternatives. “Sorry but No” is a short answer and mostly does not require further action. We believe the sales rep attempted to get out of the situation to avoid additional work, as opposed to taking an extra step and propose alternate options (like finding a company who would take care of the installation) and make the customer happy. Not saying this is wrong, but more likely a consequence stemming from cultural differences. Was not being/speaking German a factor? I guess we’ll never know…
Anyways, we wrote a polite email to Morelo emphasizing our frustration about the situation, and asked whether they could refer us to a qualified workshop that could buy the washer/dryer and fit it onto our garage (at our cost) before delivery. They got back to us saying that they arranged a company to do the job and asked about the model that we’d like to have installed.
Following our payment (around 2500 EUR), they called the installer, had the washer/dryer fitted, and sent us pictures of the installation.
This certainly was not a big ask, especially considering the fact that we were ready to pay for the service. However, it required going through numerous exchange of emails and follow ups.
At any rate, another issue sorted — until next round of hiccups…
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