Charge for call out inspite of guarantee

ellenGB

My mum bought a Bosch fridge-freezer which could not maintain a low, safe temperature on recommended settings. Retailer replaced it. New one had same fault. Bosch engineer measured temperature over five days with own gadget and told us later that it was fine. We were promised the report but never received it, despite three requests. Fault continued. Last week, fridge made a lot of noise and rattled. Mum rang for emergency visit since it was clearly not right. Assistant promised to fit her in but didn't. Mum was not warned that she might be charged if no fault was found. Engineer arrived 9.00 five days after call, looked at thermometer which was 4.7, told mum it was fine and that she would be charged £95 for wasting his time.

Terms and conditions do not specify charge if no fault is found during first two years.

Retailer is refunding us for the fridge as it is not satisfactory but Bosch sent threatening letter. Very upsetting. Payment required immediately or they'll get the solicitors on to mum. She's 86.

I never saw the engineer do anything other than open fridge, look at thermometer and close fridge. I took photos of thermometer readings on mum's phone but they might say I'd placed thermometer in bath just before.

Just because the fault isn't obvious doesn't mean there isn't one. Does mum give in? A solicitor is more expense.

neilmcl

Fridge freezers can and do rattle, this is perfectly normal. The internal temperature can be affected by any number of factors, simply opening the fridge for any length of time will increase the temp. If there is no fault then they are fully entitled to a call-out fee considering it was an emergency call-out and they'd already been out previously to see that it wasn't faulty.

What evidence do you have that it was indeed faulty?

Esqui

A fee if no fault found is standard practice for most manufacturers.

tr82

Bosch did have an issue with a couple of fridge freezer models sold from about 2006 onwards, in that ice started to accumulate in the supposedly frost free freezer, which the plastic fan blade struck, causing the most almighty noise from the freezer unit.

Might it be related to that ? If so they should offer a free repair. And I'm sure their guarantee is 3 years not 2.

pitkin2020

Five days later is hardly an emergency call out. Call them up and explain you would have been happy to pay a call out fee had you been told and had the engineer came within 48 hours (or however many hours they said he would be) but as it was 5 days later its not acceptable.

smcaul

I would say that as the retailer is refunding you for the fridge then that is proof enough that there was a problem and that the Bosch engineer missed it.

I would write to Bosch and tell them this. I feel pretty sure that it would not even get to court if they went down that route as the above would scupper any attempts they might make to recover any monies.

ellenGB

Thank you all for your thoughts, even the unsympathetic one. I'm disppointed that I gave the impression of being rather unintelligent.

Our evidence that the fridge is faulty: on the recommended setting (3), it is too warm to keep food such as meat safe, i.e. at 0-5 degrees. This range is advised by the FSA as well as shops such as M & S and Waitrose to keep meat and fish. It is now 6.2. I'm aware that temperature icnreases if you open the fridge and add food, but the idea of a fridge is to cool the contents down fairly quickly to a safe temperature. If sceptical, the FSA have a press release online noting the importance of maintaining a low temperature as there has been an epidemic of listeria which has killed a number of elderly people. We can only keep to the recommended temperature (just) if we have the fridge on the highest setting (5). This means that the motor is working overtime and it leaves us with no way to reduce the temperature e.g. in Summer. Our previous Bosch fridge managed to keep to 2 degrees on setting 3 without problem for ten years. So did the Bosch that we hired while we waited for the replacement (Liebherr) which I bought. As for the sound, this fridge is very noisy. Visitors notice. Bosch is known for its relative quietness. For those who believe the fridge must be ok because it is sometimes 4.7 degrees C, would you like it to keep your milk and meat safe? Would you risk campylobacter?

Great idea about the fee for an emergency visit. We did indeed request one and didn't get it.

If manufacturers want you to pay for a call-out where they find no fault, should this not be in Terms & Conditions, or at least, agreed before the call-out? I've never heard of it. It wasn't in the guarantee. There are no T & C on the Bosch website for the UK.

Finally, it might be worth clarifying that the attempt to identify the fault was limited to opening the fridge, seeing the thermometer at that moment was on 4.7 and closing the fridge. If a doctor assessed patients with the same approach, I don't think the GMC would be terribly impressed. A lot of symptoms are intermittent. It doesn't mean that there's nothing wrong. It means you have to dig deeper.

Will write to Bosch today. Thanks smcaul.

tabla_2

according to the Office of Fair Trading Sale of Goods Act you have 6 years from the time of purchase to reclaim repairs if it's a manufacture's fault, but not it it's general wear and tear. You have to write to the store you purchased it from along with a report from an appropriate engineer/repaire man - not to the manufacturer.

Esqui

tabla wrote: »

according to the Office of Fair Trading Sale of Goods Act you have 6 years from the time of purchase to reclaim repairs if it's a manufacture's fault, but not it it's general wear and tear. You have to write to the store you purchased it from along with a report from an appropriate engineer/repaire man - not to the manufacturer.

That's completely irrelevant. Did you read the thread?

lindos90

I have the opposite problem with my fridgefreezer.

Its a single thermostat, and even on its mimimum setting the fridge is always minus 3 !