De Longhi Coffee Maker/Kenilworth Repair Centre

Jennypops

Hi,

Just looking for a bit of advice and opinions on what I should do.

My hubby bought a delonghi coffee maker for me on dec 20th 2009 for my christmas present. Coffee maker was used circa 20-25 times at most. In October 2010 a problem appeared where the water would come out the top of the machine at the part where the top sits into the main body of machine if you get me, somewhere it should not be coming out basically. Also there was a smell of burning or something strange off it when turned on- obviously as soon as this started happening I got onto Debenhams where it was purchased but they directed me to DeLonghi as I could not find the receipt (normally really fastidious with filing receipts but we were getting our kitchen renovated and it got lost in the works somehow)

DeLonghi were great, told me to bring it to their service centre as listed above so I did and collected it a couple of weeks later, my delay as we were going away to wedding. Got it home and went to try it, not working again, this time the bit where the coffee comes through. tried it a few times and defintely something wrong. Got back onto Delonghi again, same this as above bring it in to the service place.

Today, I called the service centre to be met with the rudest most condescending person I ever spoke to. I was told that as I live in Meath, apparently I should clean the machine every 3 weeks, irrespective of how often its used (? does that mean the machines sitting in a shop unused need cleaning?!) as I pointed out to the service guy machine only used 20 odd times always using filtered water. Basically he told me that filtered water doesnt matter and he didnt think that coffee makers should be sold outside dublin to anywhere that has hard water! I pointed out that my mother in law who lives down the road has her coffee maker since the 80s and it works fine..he told me this was impossible! Ok so now I dont know what my own mother in law has in her kitchen but he does!!

So what I am wondering is..where do I go from here, he 'fixed' the machine whilst speaking to me on phone with an industrial cleaner and told me to come get it. I can not understand how a coffee maker can need industrial cleaner after so little use and also whilst I am fully aware that appliances in a hard water area I only use filtered water and as per the instructions supplied with the machine it needs to be descaled every 200 uses.

There is a lot of other issues I have with the manner in which this service centre handle customer service and how they deem it appropriate to patronise and dismiss a customers questions but I will take that up with Delonghi and ensure that anyone I know never goes near this shop.

I guess my issue is the fact that a coffee maker that cost over 200 quid and was used so little has these issues and the info contained on the instructions does not seem to be whats recommended ie it should state that in a hard water area even if using filtered water machine should be cleaned every xx times of use. If that was the case it would not have been the machine I would of asked for for christmas. My other appliances which have been in use for 6+ years all work fine...so perhaps it was not the brand I thought it to be.

Sorry for long post.

dudara

You can reasonably expect a repair to be permanent (i.e. last the lifetime of the product without the fault recurring, as long as it's used within normal parameters).

You've already had the machine in once for repairs, which were not permanent. If this second repair fails, I would ask to speak to a manager, express your disappointment, and seek a replacement or refund.

wmpdd3

dudara wrote: »

You can reasonably expect a repair to be permanent (i.e. last the lifetime of the product without the fault recurring, as long as it's used within normal parameters).

You've already had the machine in once for repairs, which were not permanent. If this second repair fails, I would ask to speak to a manager, express your disappointment, and seek a replacement or refund.

the op is not claiming from the retailer as there is no proof of purchase

dudara

Understood - However, if De Longhi are repairing this under guarantee without dealing with the retailer, then I would make the same request from them as they have accepted to deal with the OP.

duran

hey, i bought my other half the delonghi for the same christmas as a pressie and the same thing has happened with our one. the water is not pouring directly down into the jug and is leaking all over the counter. i have descaled it and cleaned it thoroughly but no joy. we only use it every second or third sunday so it has not been used that much. the only way round it as far as i can see it to leave it on the kitchen strainer and tilt slightly forward and the coffee goes straight into the jug. hope this helps