Bosch - pay for engineer within warranty?

Refund_Queen

Hi,
Hope someone can help, I bought a Bosch fridge freezer from M&S in November 2009 but I think there maybe something wrong with it as the motor is on an awful lot of the time - including first thing in the morning when I come downstairs! (M&S website said that it costs around £2 a month in electricity but cant see that somehow!)

I rang M&S and asked for an engineer to come out to see if there is anything wrong with it. M&S put me thru to Bosch Customer Services and said theyd send out an engineer but told me that if the engineer doesnt find any fault they will charge me for a call out charge of around £80, said this was standard Bosch practice.

Is this normal?! Thought as it was within the years warranty that it would be free.

Thanks for any help!

Hintza

Refund_Queen wrote: »

but told me that if the engineer doesnt find any fault they will charge me for a call out charge of around £80,

Sounds fair enough to me. The man's time costs money and if they see it as a frivalous call then it is only fair to charge you for it.

mumOf2wonderfulkids

yeah pretty much standard from what i know,
if you get an engineer out and there is nothing for them to fix then it's wasting their time really.
all the times i have had this said to me there has always been a fault and never get charged.

Refund_Queen

Thanks for reply,

Dont condone fasle call out, but just thought as its within warranty they would send someone out without charging like Laskys did for my washing machine (dont ask!)

Am I right in thinking though that a new fridege freezer shouldnt run almost all the time? It isnt frost free like my last one and has quite a bit of ice in it already as my little boy can now pull the freezer door open

KeithP

Sounds like it is time for a defrost.

With less ice build-up inside, it should run more efficiently... leading to longer spells when the compressor isn't running.

The length of time it runs will also depend to some extent on how warm the environment is.

Refund_Queen

thanks keithP, thought that might have been it (sheepishly signing off!)

Darksun

Could you get one of those plug in energy meters to test how much power it's actually using? If it's significantly more than advertised then you may have grounds for demanding action from the retailer.

neilmcl

Refund_Queen wrote: »

Thanks for reply,

Dont condone fasle call out, but just thought as its within warranty they would send someone out without charging like Laskys did for my washing machine (dont ask!)

Am I right in thinking though that a new fridege freezer shouldnt run almost all the time? It isnt frost free like my last one and has quite a bit of ice in it already as my little boy can now pull the freezer door open

Are you sure you haven't got it set to high? Get yourself a fridge/freezer thermometer to confirm the fridge temp. It's normal to get some ice build up on the back of non-frost free fridges.

neilmcl

KeithP wrote: »

Sounds like it is time for a defrost.

With less ice build-up inside, it should run more efficiently... leading to longer spells when the compressor isn't running.

The length of time it runs will also depend to some extent on how warm the environment is.

He's only had it since Nov, shouldn't need a defrost yet unless he's got the settings too high.

KeithP

neilmcl wrote: »

He's only had it since Nov, shouldn't need a defrost yet unless he's got the settings too high.

Yes I agree. Except OP has already said that this may be due to a small boy who has worked out how to open the door (and possibly forgotten to close it again).

Refund_Queen wrote: »

...has quite a bit of ice in it already as my little boy can now pull the freezer door open