
My fridge died. Fisher & Paykel charged $149 to tell me. Here's what I said. - hoodoof
Dear Fisher and Paykel consumer insights:<p>You have been sending me emails to ask my opinion but I would rather tell you in an email.<p>1: the Fisher and Paykel service person who came advised that my fridge is dead and needs replacing.<p>2: the fridge is probably only about 8 to 10 years old.<p>3: the service call from Fisher and Paykel cost me $149<p><i></i> when someone finds out that their fridge is dead, they immediately are in the market for a new one.  Any clever company should know at this point that is knows what none of the other appliance companies know - i.e precisely who wants to buy a new fridge.  This is incredibly important information<p><i></i> Fisher and Paykel has two key questions to ask itself at this point:
“What does this consumer think about Fisher and Paykel right now?”
“Will this consumer buy another Fisher and Paykel fridge?”<p><i></i> The answers are likely to be:
Well I am unhappy because my Fisher and Paykel fridge just died.
I am even more unhappy because Fisher and Paykel charged me $149 to tell me my fridge had just died.
I need a new fridge, and it cost an extra $149 because I got a service call first instead of immediately replacing the fridge.<p>My fridge should have lasted longer than 8 to 10 years but it’s probably similar to the life of other such products in the 21st century.  It doesn’t matter much to me.
The answer to this question should matter ALOT to Fisher and Paykel.  Right now you know I need a new fridge and you also know that how I feel about Fisher and Paykel is either negative or neutral.  You should fix the relationship and give me incentive to buy again from you.<p>When Fisher and Paykel sends a service guy, who says the fridge is dead, Fisher and Paykel should charge me $0, not $149.  At this point Fisher and Paykel should offer me incentive to buy another Fisher and Paykel.<p>Right now I am out of pocket $149 and need a new fridge.  I’m thinking it probably won’t be a Fisher and Paykel.
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hoodoof
I post this here because there are such obvious business lessons in this
situation.

So your client has just found out that your product has died and needs to be
replaced .... do you charge them $149 and wave goodbye, or do you build upon
your existing relationship with them and get them to buy from you again?

If you're running a startup hopefully the answers are obvious.

If you are a giant multinational company then you probably don't care so much.

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qbrass
Strategically, you charge them $149, then give them a discount on a new fridge
that's $149 minus the actual cost of the service call.

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hoodoof
Yes I think it would be to their advantage to say, well you just paid $149 for
the service call to hear your fridge is dead, and we love you so here is a
$200 voucher towards your next Fisher and Paykel fridge.

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taguilar
Hi - I work at Fisher and Paykel and I'm sorry about your experience. We'd
really like to dig into this more. We typically don't charge that for service
and we do usually give a discount if someone wants to replace a product. I
would totally be happy to look into this more. Can you email
hr@fisherpaykel.com and let us know a few more details about what occurred?

