No fridge/freezer for over a month.....HELP!

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Hi,

Just had some horrible news :mad: our fridge freezer decided to stop working about 3 weeks ago - just started warming everything up . I got straight on the phone trying to sort it out with Indesit and they booked an engineer....who came a week later. 1 week with no frigde and children is tough. The guy came, took one look and said he needed to order parts which would take approx 7-10 days and then he'll be back(or rather i'll get a call). They booked me in for today (this was last week, so now it has been 3 weeks and no fridge). I phoned them this morn to double check the time slot so i knew when to pull the fridge freezer back out and was told, sorry we had to cancel because someone booked the time slot wrong (needs a 2 visit time slot to repair, they booked one) :mad: now i was furious, they hadn't even bothered to let me know.

Then to make matters worse, the next slot is in another 2 weeks :mad: :mad: :mad: .

I am sooooo angry as if i would have known back when it died, i would have simply gone out and bought another whole new fridge/freezer. It has cost me a fortune to extend the cover for another year, it was just out of its 4 year warranty when it went and buying food on a daily basis is proving terible as i can no longer keep things as milk, cheese, marge, any of the essentials. It is just so tough with a young child about the house, having to eat the same foods over and over...which means my daughter is now refusing to eat.

Sorry for the rant but i'm getting so mad i just really need to vent it.

Ps. i don't know if i've posted in the right place - please pick me up and move me if need be.

latecomer

Get on the phone and demand that its either fixed within 48 hours (working days) or they give you a full refund for all the extended warranty fees as its obviously not worth the paper its written on.

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Do you think i could? I am worried i'll leave myself worse off by cancelling it now. Basically i had a warranty with Curry's and the went funny died about 3 months after it ended. So i phoned Indesit (it's a hotpoint fridge, cost aprrox £500 new, hotpoint are run by Indesit apparently) and they offered i either pay individually for each call out (first call out £109 + then for any work parts needed after) or pay a one off £156 for all call out fees/cover/etc for the next year. So in a way, i am really lucky i chose that option, but its just become hassle.

I did ask that why if it was their mistake was i still waiting so long and was told because the fridge needs re-gassing (?!?) it needs a specialist engineer. She did tell me she done everything to get an engineer asap and has even had to call this one from another region. She is being very helpful, took control and promised she'll keep me updated herself from now, which i hope she does. But its just really bad that it has gone this way and i dont know if i can survive another two weeks.

Do you think i have any way of sorting something? As i cant get to town everyday to buy fresh food for that day alot has been spent on take-away food which is expensive and making us feel sluggish and moody (yes really).

I suppose if i hadn't been so organised and phoned them this morning i would have had more of a case for a formal complaint. I really cant afford another fridge at the moment, especially as i have spent so much trying to survive without one over the last 3 weeks, grrrr!!!!

I did tell the lady i thought it was such awful service as i have a baby who needs milk, etc (bit of a fib, she is 2.5yrs, but still).

latecomer

Its got to worth a try. I'd be very unhappy after a week nevermind the time you've been without. you've paid for a warranty so they should either fix it or replace it. Waitig for 5 weeks is not acceptable particularly with a young child and no easy access to the shops.

Get back on the phone and ask to speak to a manager. If you haven't already done so, make notes of the times you call and who you speak to. Be firm but polite and keep pointing out thats its been broken for 3 weeks and not going to be fixed for another 2. Ask about formal complaint procedures and make sure you follow them, send any written communication by recorded delivery.

Good luck

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Thank you - i will do just that! Fingers crossed!

papalaz

check the terms on your policy, im pretty sure the terms on D&G's say appliance has to be repaired within 5wks but i may be wrong. This date will start from the 1st engineer visit to the appliance.

Becles

In the mean time - have you got a cool box?

Our new fridge/freezer was delivered. They installed the new one and told me to let it settle overnight before turning it on, and the freecycle people had collected the old ones on the delivery date. Turned it on the next day and it didn't get cold. There were no replacements in stock, so we had to wait for an engineer who said it wasn't worth fixing, and then wait for it coming back into stock. It was a very cheap offer and we couldn't afford to pay extra for another model.

As I was pregnant and paranoid about food safety, we kept everything in a cool box out in the garden, and my neighbour kept a set of ice packs in her freezer and swopped them every morning for me. It worked and we all lived to tell the tale!

my_gorgeous_ellie-belle

Thank you - i am still getting no luck - telling me there is nothing more they can do.

I did buy one of those mini fridges but it only fits and about 4 cans of coke (lol, thats not what i'm filling it with, just an idea of size) BUT it needs switching off for a few hours every 48hrs or it does the reverse and heats up which we experienced in the first few days of having it

I'm feeling a bit better today as we have had a nice dinner.

Does anyone know of some ideas of dinners i can make without the use of a fridge? I have just a tiny milk and some butter in the fridge, lol.