John Lewis Looses the Plot  ii – The Zanussi years I purchased a Zanussi washing machine in August . The house electrics tripped on the 17th of October, traced two days later to an earth fault on  the machine which  is 30 days old by now.  The kitchen had a hot electrical smell.   John Lewis whom I bought it from have left me to deal directly with Zanussi repair agent part of the increasingly publicised John Lewis drive to ruin their service reputation. An engineer visited a few days after the failure and found a leak in the drum which had sprayed water on the electrical components and arcing had heated the wiring. This was manufacturing defect. Zanussi insisted that at this point,  30 days from new they were within there rights via consumer law and their own small print to repair  rather than replace. The Zanussi  service sub-contractor promised delivery dates for the new drum, wiring loom and other parts and arranged on two occasions to come and fit. On one of these occasions not bothering to communicate that they were not coming because some spares needed were not in stock. 20 days pass, John Lewis can’t or won’t bring the manufacturer to what surely is the fair conclusion replacing the machine. No the New John Lewis don’t do customer service like they used to,  they leave you at the mercy of the manufacturers. Zannussi insist we wait for the missing spares which may arrive on the 13th of November. The parts will be fitted on a date to be determined by them, if the parts don’t arrive or it doesn’t work after the repair . Zanussi insist they have to confirm whether it is a manufacturing fault or not. Nice to be a unpaid member of their research and development team.    Before now I would have thought it would have more economical all round to supply a replacement machine but alas no.   As for John Lewis it is sad to loose a trusted,  reliable name in the market place but this isn’t my only experience of them lately I am afraid     ‘Never Knowingly giving good service’    has become their new strap line in some areas of the business. As the economy bites for JL there is a positive on the horizon  -    Major savings on the Chrismas Advert costs,    JL’s  top table, Paula, Rory, Ed, Dave, Craig, Bėranggėre and Dino  will Dress as  Elves  and sing.  “Were not Dreaming of Whites this Christmas”  Production costs £100 all in.  Sorted