Hoover fridge-freezer: ...still going!

Llyllyll

I bought a brand new Hoover fridge-freezer in May 06.

In early 2008 in started to rust (although the casing is plastic!) from the inside out. After much too-ing and fro-ing explaining to Hoover that although it was out of its year warranty that I expected a fridge-freezer to last longer than 21 months (and a complaint letter to the directors) they arranged for a replacement.

When this replacement arrived in early June 08, after dragging it through the house, they discovered that the plug was smashed and the unit could not be used. I refused this fridge-freezer and another replacement was arranged.

Another replacement arrived in late June 08.

For the past 6 – 8 weeks this unit has not been defrosting correctly and ice is forming on one side of the fridge. Engineer examined it on 11/03/09 and said that the insulation was faulty. He also said he would ring me that afternoon (which he didn’t). I did not receive a call yesterday nor today either. I rang Customer Services just now (no apology for the non-communication at all) and they told me that they propose to re-gas the system as that “usually sorts out most problems”.

I have had to take time off work for each delivery and engineers visit and will have to take more time off when they come to re-gas it.

Personally I think Hoover would have problems making a sandwich yet alone a reliable, functioning fridge-freezer and would prefer to have my original purchase price back and look for something better.

My questions are:

• Are my expectation too high and am I being unreasonable?
• Do I have to accept another fix and/or possibly replacement again at a later date?
• How long do I have to accept shoddy workmanship/fixes and at what point (if at all) can I request a full refund?

I’m getting to the point where it would me cheaper if I scrapped the current one and bought a new reliable unit rather than lose more time from work.

As usual grateful for and advice and/or pointers.

Thanks

Art_2

You are not being unreasonable in your expectations. You bought a fridge/freezer and you expect it to perform correctly.

Hoover do appear to be trying to sort out the problem for you. How long was the original warranty for? Remember your warranty does not start afresh with each replacement but from the date of your original purchase.

You will not get a full refund so you have to accept that any further problems will only be dealt with by repair or replacement.

Hoover closed their last factory in the UK today so this may cause difficulties in any future problems you have.

Regards,
Art.

Llyllyll

Art wrote: »

Remember your warranty does not start afresh with each replacement but from the date of your original purchase.

Thanks for the reply.

Are you sure about this? It can't be true can it? Surely the warranty on any new replacement product shoud start from the time that particular item is bought/delivered?

Art wrote: »

Hoover closed their last factory in the UK today so this may cause difficulties in any future problems you have.

Yes, I don't live far from the factory but that's never helped with getting passed problems sorted...:mad:

oldMcDonald

Llyllyll wrote: »

Personally I think Hoover would have problems making a sandwich yet alone a reliable, functioning fridge-freezer and would prefer to have my original purchase price back and look for something better.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I can't help you with this one, but understand the sentiment above totally.

We had a problem with a Hoover washing machine and after loads of letters and phone calls we eventually gave up and replaced it - we had 4 kids aged 4 and under and needed one. A few months later the exact same model was featured on a consumer rights type programme and it was a very common problem with that machine.

If I were you I would continue pushing Hoover to sort it - I still regret not doing so ourselves even though it was several years ago, now.

Art_2

Llyllyll wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

Are you sure about this? It can't be true can it? Surely the warranty on any new replacement product shoud start from the time that particular item is bought/delivered?

Yes, I am sure. If you think about it you could end up with a new product for the rest of your life if you returned it once a year and got a new warranty every time.

If I were you I would try and get this resolve ASAP before Hoover disappear. Then you might not have any luck at all.


Regards,
Art.