Warranty on Fridge

BaZmO*

I bought a Fridgefreezer from DID about 18 months ago and the thing has gone on the blink. I went into DID and to ask about getting it repaired and they gave me the service number for the manufacturer. Gave them a bell and they said that there'd be a basic call out charge of €120 to get someone to have a look at it as it out of it's 12 month warranty period.

Is that all the warranty you get on an item like a fridge? Surely not?

replytohere2004

Check out this thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055136579

Let us know how you get on.

Kensington

Most fridges generally have a multi-year warranty alright, however, most of the warranties only cover labour for the first year - the remainder of the warranty will only cover parts so you will end up paying labour on any repairs outside this period, only the cost of parts will be covered. Hotpoint are one such manufacturer who do this - parts are covered for 5 years, but labour is only covered for the first year.

byte

With a basic callout charge of €120, I presume the appliance is an Indesit/Hotpoint?

Easy_81

Hey Bazmo,

Check this link and that should sort you out.

http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Learning_Zone/Guides_To_Consumer_Law/Shopping/

It will explain your consumer rights, and any repair carried out if the good maybe faulty should not be at your expense.

Good luck.

BaZmO*

Cheers for the replies folks. Went back to the shop and they refused to do anything about it as the fridge was bought over a year ago. So at the moment my only option is to take the hit on the call out charge which is €120. Which I think is highly unfair for an item like a fridge. It's not as if the item is something that you could break by misuse, it's a fecking fridge!!!

Is it worth my while speaking to the manager of the shop or am I wasting my time? The law doesn't seem to be on my side with this one.

badlyparkedmerc

Callout charge is a bit hefty - paid around 90 a year ago, usually though the parts are reasonably cheap. If they don't have the parts they usually come back a couple days later but only charge the single call out.

If it's outside the warranty there's little the seller can do - they'd have to pay pretty much the same price as you to get it fixed, they won't have anyone in house who could look at it. If it's within the warranty it's the manufacturer who foots the bill.

Part about fridges that I find annoying is that with new features they've become less reliable, frost free is a problem - there's a temperature sensor that can eventually fail, and there's a heating element (melts and evaporates the ice on the cooling element) that also can fail.

Kensington

BaZmO* wrote:

Is it worth my while speaking to the manager of the shop or am I wasting my time?

Probably not. I would certainly take it up with the manufacturer though. They may agree to cover the labour charge, or maybe go 50:50 on it so it may be worth a try. But they may not, as unfortunately the terms of the warranty state labour is covered for only the first year.

byte

Yeah, Kensington's idea is definitely worth a shot.

Ring the manufacturer, or maybe the Irish distributor of the brand.

cc

whether its a fridge, shower, car etc you should really check on what warrenty is offered when buying rather than 'discovering' what it is later

BaZmO*

cc wrote:

whether its a fridge, shower, car etc you should really check on what warrenty is offered when buying rather than 'discovering' what it is later

I'd say you're a great person to have around after an accident. :rolleyes:

Anyway, as Kensignton has said, Hotpoint's warranty only covers labour for 1 year and parts for 5.

A service engineer came out the other day to have a look at it and said the thermostat had gone. He ordered another one and said that he'd be back tomorrow. I asked him if I should pay him on Saturday and he said that there would be no need to as it is covered under warranty. I asked him if he was sure and he said that's what it says on the system. I wasn't going to argue! He did however say that come Saturday the cost might be on the system.

Kensington

Good to hear, hopefully you won't be charged anything. Hotpoint might just not bother, I mean, a thermostat certainly should not go in just 18 months!!!

Best of luck with it anyways, hopefully they'll cover it!

miju

BaZmO* wrote:

A service engineer came out the other day to have a look at it and said the thermostat had gone. He ordered another one and said that he'd be back tomorrow. I asked him if I should pay him on Saturday and he said that there would be no need to as it is covered under warranty. I asked him if he was sure and he said that's what it says on the system. I wasn't going to argue! He did however say that come Saturday the cost might be on the system.

Is the engineer actually coming out to you today? From working in Hotpoint for 2 years (up until March of this year) I can tell you if an engineer orders a part they take at least 3-5 days to arrive from UK as they're not held in Ireland and on a Saturday theres only ever about 3 engineers covering the whole country who are only working a half day.

Then when the engineer pops out 2nd time with the part he'll charge you then and wont fit the part until he's paid.

Parts gaurentees aren't worth a **** with Hotpoint or Whirlpool. My 16 month old fridge broke two weeks ago and was told it was ****ed good and proper so they would replace it. But they actually charged for a the replacement as well as €80 call out charge. Only got my replacement yesterday

If the landlord hadn't been the one paying I would have been ripping the heads off them.

BaZmO*

Engineer arrived today at 9.30 replaced the thermostat and didn't charge. Also said that the thermostat would be under warranty for another year. Happy days!

miju

BaZmO* wrote:

Engineer arrived today at 9.30 replaced the thermostat and didn't charge. Also said that the thermostat would be under warranty for another year. Happy days!

lucky you well done

BaZmO*

Just an update. The fridge stopped working again on the day the thermostat was replaced. :rolleyes:

Another engineer came out a week after to have a look and said that it wasn't the thermostat that was the problem it was the compressor. He ordered another one and came out this morning to replace the faulty one. The new compressor was also faulty so the fridge still ain't working. Won't be back out until the 6th of November with a replacement. :rolleyes:

It's a real pain in the áss at this stage. Over a month without a fridge. :mad:

We moved into our apartment about this time last year, and our fridge packed it in about mid-September. Rang them up (Whirlpool i think) and asked them to replace it as it was under a year. They said fine, they'll get back to us. Rang me abck a couple of days later and said that it had actually been bought in July of the previous year and was out of warranty.

Turns out the builders had bought it and fitted it in July but we moved in in Oct. Our management co. would have nothing to do with it, so i just rang Whirlpool again and played hardball. I said that I'd only signed for the apt. in October and that, as far as I was concerned, they owed me a new fridge. Told them that I was making a list of all the food I was throwing out and was gonna bill them for any time I had to take off work. Also, If they were unwilling to replace it, that I was gonna buy a new fridge myself and bill them for it.

Had a new fridge within the next 2 days.

Might be worth a shot, especially the bit in bold above. Especially if they've accepted liability. To be without a fridge for a month is unthinkable.

knighted

BaZmO* wrote: »

Just an update. The fridge stopped working again on the day the thermostat was replaced. :rolleyes:

Another engineer came out a week after to have a look and said that it wasn't the thermostat that was the problem it was the compressor. He ordered another one and came out this morning to replace the faulty one. The new compressor was also faulty so the fridge still ain't working. Won't be back out until the 6th of November with a replacement. :rolleyes:

It's a real pain in the áss at this stage. Over a month without a fridge. :mad:

they are winding you up -to replace a compressor in your home will be a nitemare for them ,thats why the engineer told you the new one was faulty ,he didnt want to do the job and gives you a far off date -heres the proceedure -reclaim the gas in your fridge ,cut the copper tubes and remove the compressor ,fit the new one ,do ur all the electrics ,braze or weld the copper tubes back to the new compressor ,THEN vacuum pump the system (recommended time for this is 24 hrs to get zero atmosphere) then refill with gas -in my opinion and experience they are wasting your time ,if they going to do the job they should just do it or take the unit to the workshop -there are very few engineers out there nowadays that can do this procedure "properly" and i will nearly gaurantee that you will have problems down the line with this fidge -chance your arm and ring them and demand a replacement until the job is complete as it is unrealistic to be without a fridge for that lenght of time

BaZmO*

knighted wrote: »

they are winding you up -to replace a compressor in your home will be a nitemare for them ,thats why the engineer told you the new one was faulty ,he didnt want to do the job and gives you a far off date -heres the proceedure -reclaim the gas in your fridge ,cut the copper tubes and remove the compressor ,fit the new one ,do ur all the electrics ,braze or weld the copper tubes back to the new compressor ,THEN vacuum pump the system (recommended time for this is 24 hrs to get zero atmosphere) then refill with gas -in my opinion and experience they are wasting your time ,if they going to do the job they should just do it or take the unit to the workshop -there are very few engineers out there nowadays that can do this procedure "properly" and i will nearly gaurantee that you will have problems down the line with this fidge -chance your arm and ring them and demand a replacement until the job is complete as it is unrealistic to be without a fridge for that lenght of time

They're not winding me up, I was there when he was doing the job and I seen him take the new compressor from a box and replace it. I'm also an Engineer so I know what would need to be done to replace a compressor.

You might be right about ringing and trying to get a replacement in the mean time because it's a right pain the amount of time it's taking to get done.

miju

its about a 2 hour job to fully replace a compressor, not that long

BaZmO* wrote: »

It's a real pain in the áss at this stage. Over a month without a fridge. :mad:

feel for you.i though 2 weeks without a fridge was bad

knighted

miju wrote: »

its about a 2 hour job to fully replace a compressor, not that long

yes to replace a compressor it would only take two hours but to do the job properly with a mobile vacuum pump to get the atmosphere right down it would take 24 hrs of suction ,otherwise you leave moisture in system and leads to problems down the line with ice crystal formation inside the system ,as i said very few who can do this 'properly' -in a workshop scenario with proper vacuum pumps it would take less

my point on them winding you up was maybe taken wrongly -a hotpoint engineer has to do 10 calls a day ,5 days a week and every second or third sat for half the day ,so if he spends a couple of hours on your fridge ,in theory he has to work late to complete the remainder of his calls .thats what i meant by winding you up ,or not being truthful ,as when i was offered a job with them a few years ago this is what was explained to me ,its more or less up to yourself how you complete them as you dont get overtime if you have to work late to complete your allocated work or calls -

muju ,you might be able to confirm this as i noticed you worked for them for two years -where you an engineer?

miju

was an engineer then moved into their call centre to try avoid the calls in the first place. what knighted said was pretty on the money except the engineers dont have to do 10 calls a day.

they have 10 slots a day which is supposed to take on average 45 mins - 1hr. so for example a pot call would have 2 slots