[GTO]

How competent are these guys? The reason I ask is, I can't figure out whether its my bad luck or bad repairs by OnSiteGo. Got a Hitachi split air-con for my room 2 years back. Bought from Vijay Sales (as all my electronics are) and as always, took the 5-year extended warranty from Vijay Sales. OnSiteGo is their extended warranty partner. All was fine for the initial period, but it just conked off for the THIRD time in as many months. Yep, three problems in 3 - 4 months.

The first time around, it was the PCB which was repaired (or replaced?) by OnSiteGo.

Second time was a gas leak from the coil. Not sure if the coil was repaired or replaced.

Now today, it's a gas leak again.

Have never had a split air-con fail so often so my question is, is it a bad Hitachi air-con, or is OnSiteGo's repair quality poor? Even when it comes to cars, a bad mechanic can completely ruin an otherwise good car.

[Vizay]

my water purifier is with OnsiteGo Insurance. Didn't have any hassle with the regular replacement of filters. But repairs are altogether in different topic. btw, They must be having tie up/contract with other service agency in all towns. In that case, It depends on who exactly is servicing as well.

[beast_within]

Originally Posted by GTO

How competent are these guys? The reason I ask is, I can't figure out whether its my bad luck or bad repairs by OnSiteGo.

I have read the T&Cs of OnSiteGo, they do not repair the products themselves but get it repaired through brand authorized service centre, so I guess the authroized service centre guys have not done the due diligence.

[roamer012]

Originally Posted by GTO

How competent are these guys? The reason I ask is, I can't figure out whether its my bad luck or bad repairs by OnSiteGo.
Even when it comes to cars, a bad mechanic can completely ruin an otherwise good car.

Originally Posted by beast_within

I have read the T&Cs of OnSiteGo, they do not repair the products themselves but get it repaired through brand authorized service centre, so I guess the authroized service centre guys have not done the due diligence.

I read about these third party extended warranty guys when i was recently making a big ticket TV purchase. Had called up CROMA to enquire about offers etc and in the end i asked about extended warranty. To my question I was advised that "Sir, do not worry, your equipments will be repaired by Authorised Service Centres only". So I rephrased my question, "If I approach OEM regarding my extended warranty status, what reply will I get?" To which I was then advised that "They will not recognise your extended warranty". Further reading on e-commerce websites and other digital forums does not paint a very confidence inspiring picture of such service providers and such forums are full off negative reviews (There are other providers too other than On Site Go). Dropped my plans to purchase the extended warranty and even the TV itself from CROMA, Went to Sony Centre and bought my device at the same rate (Beauty of SONY is that they maintain same prices and schemes across channels so one never gets the feeling of being fleeced or missing out on a better deal) and will buy the extended warranty before the end of first year from SONY itself.

TL;DR - Buy extended warranties directly from OEMs instead of these third party service providers.

@GTO - Cut your losses and avoid heart ache, talk directly to Vijay Sales / OEM and get the matter sorted or write it off.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by GTO

All was fine for the initial period, but it just conked off for the THIRD time in as many months. , it was the PCB which was repaired (or replaced?) by OnSiteGo.
Second time was a gas leak from the coil. Not sure if the coil was repaired or replaced. Now today, it's a gas leak again.

Have never had a split air-con fail so often so my question is, is it a bad Hitachi air-con, or is OnSiteGo's repair quality poor?

Looks a combination of both, Hitachi A/C are terrible. They used to be very good like Mitsubishi's of today before they started manufacturing locally and came out with cheaper India specific kits. PCB failure and gas leakage can be 2 different faults but your current problems may be because of shoddy work previously unless there is a corrosion in the piping. What about other A/C - do they work properly? Salty air can be harsh on the pilings.

[aargee]

If you don't have answers, it's OK, but I don't know how much I can put in words here...

Originally Posted by GTO

The first time around, it was the PCB which was repaired (or replaced?) by OnSiteGo

When this work was done, were you overlooking? Did they remove the copper tube & refit again? If not then both issues are for sure isolated

Originally Posted by GTO

Second time was a gas leak from the coil. Not sure if the coil was repaired or replaced

Where was the leak? On the tube between the compressor & indoor unit or at the connector points? After filling the gas did they show you the pressure level within the limits?

Originally Posted by GTO

Now today, it's a gas leak again

My immediate thoughts are due to the above incompetent work, but again, hard to conclude without concrete data. If the above point was taken care, then there could be short filling of gas which they'll attribute to gas leak.

Originally Posted by GTO

Have never had a split air-con fail so often

Yes; if the job is done properly gas leaks occur, say once in 7-8 years of abuse. Our Onida was refilled once since 2007 where we did a complete cleaning of indoor & outdoor unit. Samsung that we got rid off in 2018 had a leak once since 2009.

Originally Posted by GTO

question is, is it a bad Hitachi air-con, or is OnSiteGo's repair quality poor?

Difficult to conclude as it could be either

This is what I would do...
1. Call Hitachi technician, talk with him for sometime to understand if he has BS from his mouth or not & only then hand over the job to him
2. Stand with him, no talking, but just watch him do the job
3. Ensure that he doesn't leave a single screw left out when assembling back things
4. Ensure to check the pressure using the gauge after refilling the gas

[amit_2025]

Originally Posted by GTO

How competent are these guys? coil.
Have never had a split air-con fail so often so my question is, is it a bad Hitachi air-con, or is OnSiteGo's repair quality poor? Even when it comes to cars, a bad mechanic can completely ruin an otherwise good car.

Hitachi, For Sure. We had an old Hitachi AC in one of the rooms which served us well without any major issues for over a decade. Bought a new Hitachi AC a couple of years ago against the recommendation of our usual AC servicing guys.

3 Remote replacements in less than a year, Noisy in comparison to other AC's and Cooling effectiveness not half as good as the other Hitachi AC and all other AC's in the House

There quality sure has deteriorated over the years

You should show it to a FNG equivelant i.e. a trusted AC repair guy even if it means voiding the extended warranty.

[GTO]

Thanks guys!

One thing I have to admit is, OnSiteGo has a terrific turnaround time.

17th Feb: Their technician came & checked the a/c.

18th Feb: The a/c units (indoor & outdoor) were collected.

19th Feb: They were repaired and installed back in my room.

I sure hope this air-con doesn't break down again, at least not in the near future.

[Arun_S]

I have a Carrier A/C, I renew my AMC with Carrier directly. For the first 5 years 3k per year. After that around 4.5 k. The service and the turnaround time both are good.

As suggested if possible switch to OEM Service in future.

[aarnav_b]

Just got the extended warranty from them when I purchased LG front load washing machine from Vijay sales, as they were giving a really good deal with the bundle, hopefully nothing untoward happens

[Annibaddh]

Originally Posted by GTO

How competent are these guys? The reason I ask is, I can't figure out whether its my bad luck or bad repairs by OnSiteGo. Got a Hitachi split air-con for my room 2 years back. Bought from Vijay Sales (as all my electronics are) and as always, took the 5-year extended warranty from Vijay Sales. OnSiteGo is their extended warranty partner. All was fine for the initial period, but it just conked off for the THIRD time in as many months. Yep, three problems in 3 - 4 months.

The first time around, it was the PCB which was repaired (or replaced?) by OnSiteGo.

Second time was a gas leak from the coil. Not sure if the coil was repaired or replaced.

Now today, it's a gas leak again.

Have never had a split air-con fail so often so my question is, is it a bad Hitachi air-con, or is OnSiteGo's repair quality poor? Even when it comes to cars, a bad mechanic can completely ruin an otherwise good car.

My personal experience with Hitachi has been outstanding. The product so long as serviced on time has never given me trouble (about 5 yrs of servicenow putting it into an AMC). Cooling is also way better than all other brands I've used bar General. It must be a lemon you've landed or something at onsitego.

[snr]

I didn't have a great first experience. I signed up for AMC (AC, refrigerator, washing machine) and paid 2000 INR approx. Once the payment was done, some technician came home and asked what machine was wrong. I was perplexed and said I didn't raise any complaint. Turns out he was told that some machine broke down and he came to repair it.

This was I think the initial days and there was a miscommunication. The AMC works only for machines which have had a breakdown already. I asked for a refund and they refused. Anyway, I hope they have improved their policies.

[GTO]

Companies sometimes do something, that just totally blows you away! So the Hitachi air-con in question broke down yet again. When the technician visited our place (fast turnaround time as always), we asked for the matter to be escalated as it is the 4th time the damn Hitachi broke down. I said "please replace parts, don't repair them as it's clearly not working".

We spoke to the escalation manager who told us "you have clearly gone through a lot of trouble with this air-conditioner. Our company will give you a credit note of the value of your air-conditioner which you can use to buy another air-con from Vijay Sales. What's more, because of the pandemic, it might take time to get you a new a/c, so we will repair your current a/c too. You can use it for this month".

Incredible! I appreciated OnSiteGo's turnaround times, but this is next level stuff.

[pannags]

Originally Posted by GTO

We spoke to the escalation manager who told us "you have clearly gone through a lot of trouble with this air-conditioner. Our company will give you a credit note of the value of your air-conditioner which you can use to buy another air-con from Vijay Sales. What's more, because of the pandemic, it might take time to get you a new a/c, so we will repair your current a/c too. You can use it for this month".

Incredible! I appreciated OnSiteGo's turnaround times, but this is next level stuff.

Wow! This is truly incredible. Thanks for sharing.

I just signed up for a Device Protection Plan and will likely also take their extended warranty for a Macbook Pro I bought for my daughter. Their overall cost, BTW, is the same as Apple's own extended warranty and device protection plan, with better terms for claims.

[ani_meher]

I too have a positive review for Onsitego. I have a nokia phone, and they have repaired it twice in extended warranty period from Nokia official service center. I get the updates from Nokia on SMS, and the costs of repair were around 1.5-2k for first, and around 10k for second time, for a phone costing 16k and extended warranty costing 700rs. Onsitego picked up and dropped the phone at home both the times.

Now I make sure to buy their extended warranty for any new device.