Study the below scenario and complete the questions that follow.

Call Plumbforce Direct at Your Peril – AVOID! Called Plumbforce Direct because boiler was not working. I was told it was R7 200 + VAT for a call-out, which included any minor faults like repressurising the boiler or a small washer needing replacing. The engineer arrived and claimed there were four things wrong with the boiler and it would cost R10 000 + VAT to repair. I had a call from Sylvia at their office to explain what it needed. There was no way this boiler needed four things replacing. I told her this and she got very defensive, insisting that their engineers would not lie about something like this. I got another company in the following day and the engineer repressurised the boiler and it has been working perfectly fine for three weeks now. The new company only charged me a R650 + VAT call-out fee. Repressurising the boiler should have been done by Plumbforce Direct as part of their call-out fee. I have been in touch three times with Plumbforce Direct, informing them of my dissatisfaction with their engineer. I requested a refund but this has been ignored. This company is scandalous. I wish I had read the reviews on Trustpilot and Yelp before calling them out. They have an 86% bad review on Trustpilot. That is over 352 bad reviews out of 410. They have 5 out of 6 bad reviews on Yelp, too. Customers all claiming, 'Fraud', 'Conmen', 'Avoid' and RIPOFF', etc! How is a company like this allowed to operate with so many complaints against them and yet trading standards do not step in to investigate them? They are just appalling.

Question 1

Imagine that you are Sylvia from the above complaint. You are very aware of the claims of fraud levelled against Plumbforce Direct. However, you know that the reason Plumbforce Direct’s services usually cost more is because the engineers are tasked with fixing any problems in boilers instead of just the problem at hand. This allows the boiler to last longer as future problems are addressed in the present. You decide to write a letter to the press to explain this situation.

Write this letter to the press, making use of the above complaint as an example of the claims levelled against Plumbforce Direct. Make sure to use the inverted pyramid format and pay attention to your language and grammar

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Dear Press We would like to address the recent complaint made against Pl umb force Direct It i... View the full answer