Fridgefreezer breaks after 18months - any comeback?

seanski44

HI,

Purchased a fridge freezer from Comet online in Sep 2004, it broke last week. I don't like the throw away and replace thing, so I paid for Comet to come out and fix it(£60). I have just been told by the engineer that it is irreparable. (there is no gas as its fractured behind the wet wall which is not removeable on this model)

I didn't pay for an extended warranty as I don't believe in them, but surely to break 6months out of guarantee its not fit for the purpose it was sold for? Also, as a minimum I'd want the money I paid for the engineer to come out off the price of a replacement. (They refused to give me a worst case scenario on the phone)

Have I any comeback? - Surely white goods should last at least 5 years? preferably 10? The fridge hasn't been moved since being bought 18 months ago.

Any suggestions of what to put in my letter to Comet head office would be gratefully received.

Hope I'm posting this in the right forum, and hope someone can help me.

Cheers

Sean

penrhyn

I know that Comet should be responsible for this, however I've had some success with getting out of warranty products fixed by going to the manufacturer.
Panasonic were particularly good replacing a faulty door on a 3 year old microwave(free of charge), which two years on is still going strong.

seanski44

penrhyn wrote:

I know that Comet should be responsible for this, however I've had some success with getting out of warranty products fixed by going to the manufacturer.
Panasonic were particularly good replacing a faulty door on a 3 year old microwave(free of charge), which two years on is still going strong.

Thanks for this - the model is ProLine which I believe is Comet's own brand, so I may end up at the same place either way!

Keep 'em coming

webmasterpolo

Good luck dealing with Comet, they are a nightmare see my thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=123817

You are right the machine should last a reasonable length of time, I would agree min. 5 years. As it is over 6months old it is up to you to prove the fault was there when the machine was bought. You could do this by getting an independant engineer report.

To be honest your best option is to complain to Comet and the manufactuerer without telling them about each other and see which ones fixes it.

Good luck.

-Web

magoogy

my cooker broke on me 3years after getting, but, i had also had lots of problems with faulty hinges and this was the 3rd replacement cooker - i got onto my local paper after comet wouldnt do anything as they said it was out of warranty - at the time the paper was doing a piece where they had someone who helped you fight for justice (bella magazine also does one still i think) - the guy managed to get me a replacement through some law about 'white goods' as in fridges, etc, should last for at least 5years and you shouldnt need a warranty due to this fact - i honestly do not know the details anymore but i am sure if you look and try find one of these consumer fighters from a magazine or maybe there is one online - they will fight and win this im sure.....

good luck

magoogy

just realised - i have the newspaper cutting somewhere - i will try and find it out and post back

seanski44

Hi all,

well I got this resolved.

I sent a letter to Comet complaining that I had paid the 'up front fee' to the service department in good faith of them fixing the appliance, and that as they weren't able to repair it, that I wanted at least some kind of discount on the replacement. I was as nice as pie because the purchase experience and level of service by the engineer was superb. I pointed out that I'm a regular customer and that I was horrified that the fridge could be irreparable so soon after purchase. I told them that it seemed as though it was not really fit for the purpose it was sold for.

Anyway, long story a little shorter, after they received the letter, I got a phone call from Comet Head Office and they offered to 'write off' the fridge-freezer, which means that they took the broken one away and replaced it FOC. I actually opted to pay a little extra money to get a branded (Bosch) machine instead as I didn't trust to a Proline again.

Anyway its been a long while resolving, and though in total I'm out of pocket the £60 for the engineer, at least they didn't turn around and say that I should have bought an extended warranty! I decided not to post this until I knew that it was real - and this morning I took delivery of the replacement fridge freezer!

So make sure you write to complain!

seanski44

magoogy wrote:

just realised - i have the newspaper cutting somewhere - i will try and find it out and post back

Oh, and by the way, I didn't even mention I work for the Local BBC!

Mumstheword

Great news!
And the key, I think, is to remain polite at first, you can always get nasty later, but it's very hard to go the other way!

seanski44

Had to post this. Completely out of the blue, Comet have also refunded me the £60 call out charge for the engineer! Well done Comet Customer Services!!!

magoogy

seanski - what you on about???????????