Complaint Review: VIP Link Whirlpool Appliances - Internet

1)  There is no 'ship separate' option on partners.  Never has been in the 5 years I have used the service.  I was wondering if I was nuts and missed that option, but just created an order to see...  Nope.  No option to split up the order, and this is from their own site in the terms and conditions of the delivery (see bold):

• Home delivery consists of delivering a Major Appliance to the home.
• The Quality Express or Third Party delivery agent will call to set up a delivery date and time once the product is available for delivery.
• Quality Express has scheduled routes for certain areas on specific days.
• Your order will ship when all the products are available. All orders ship complete.
• Deliveries in outlying areas may take up to an additional two weeks, after the product(s) become available.
• The home delivery service is not available in Hawaii, Alaska or outside the continental United States.
• Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico are not included in this program.
• Please inspect your products at the time of delivery. After the products have been signed for and accepted, the products will not be exchanged for damage.
• If a product appears damaged at the time of delivery please bring it to the attention of your delivery agent. They will handle the issue. Do NOT accept the delivery if your product is damaged and you want to return it.
• Returns or Delivery/PickUp Refusal on non-damaged items can result in restocking fees up to $75 per unit.
• No returns for any reason will be accepted 30 days after delivery.
• No returns for any reason will be accepted on installed products.
• Please Note: If you experience a problem with your product after it is installed and in use, it is under warranty. Returns or exchanges through EPP cannot be made at this point.
• Please call the number located in your use and care manual or visit the Brand website to set up a service appointment.

2) The previous user missed the point...  I actually agree that if you are going to use this service, to split up your order so that you get the free shipping and discount, but when you reach that point, stop and create a new order.  It breaks up your order so that the entire order isn't held back from a single item.

3) The problem with the service, with large orders, is that if there is a single item that is unavailable when they ship to the regional for delivery to the home, they hold the order.  If the item comes into stock (the item that was missing) during the week, they DON'T HOLD THE ITEM FOR OUTSTANDING ORDERS.   That means that if you ordered a microwave and a dishwasher and the microwave is not in stock (so it doesn't get shipped to the regional for delivery) but then the microwave comes into stock later in the week, you aren't guaranteed to get the microwave.  They don't hold stock for outstanding orders.  You either get lucky or you don't.  I waited for a month to get my order shipped to the regional for delivery.

4) The service is good as long as you know how to work it.  You must know the limitations.

I have been using the VIPlink program and partners programs (and their earlier itinerations, even before the internet) from Whirlpool Corp to purchase appliances and other items for over 25 years. Probably over 50 appliances in fact...

When you place the order, you can choose to have it sent partially or only completely. Also, as these itesma re from regional warehouses, inventory lags so it may show as available then be unavailable later on that same day.

My guess is that the complainer here had them all tagged to be delivered together to save on delivery costs and then was disappointed when he did not get a partial delivery.

My experiance has been very favorable and I just made my Christmas gift purcahses a couple of days ago from the website.

When reading reviews, it is helpful to note that generally only complainers write reviews and seem to take it personally when things don't always go their way, even if they, in reality, caused the issue themselves........

The above report is pretty bleak and the delivery process from Whirlpool sounds like it needs to be improved.

I have ordered appliances on four occasions through this program (three dishwashers and a washer and dryer) and had no delivery issues.

It would seem like a good idea for Whirlpool to have someone facilitate larger multi-appliance orders and not handle them the same way that Whirlpool handles the smaller orders of the type that I have placed.  Ordering a single appliance (or a washer and dryer) from Whirlpool works fine.

I understand the person's frustration in regards to the availability of product on their order, but I too have placed numerous orders via the VIP Link program and have never had quite the issue.

If you review their Terms and Conditions page, it clearly states that "Product availability is variable.  There is no guarantee that all products will be available all the time.  Product substitutions may not be available."

I suggest for people in the future that if you don't receive any notification that an item is on backorder, then call the customer service line.  A few minutes for a double check will save days or weeks of grief.