Help needed - with fire manufacturer

mainvein

Hi i was hoping someone here could give me some advice with a little problem i have with a company called Winther Browne:

In February 2010 i bought a new fire for our new living room ready for the birth of our little boy.

12th March it was installed by a gas safe engineer and didn't work so we reported it to the manufacturer, gave all the details needed for them to get their own engineer to investigate.

It took the company 'Winther Browne' 5 weeks (thats right a whole 5 weeks!, in the meantime my little boy was born and about 20 phonecalls) to get their engineer to come and investigate.

He came out on the 16th April and got the fire working, said that a wire was loose in the back of the fire hence it not being able to start. So that was that, end of story so i thought.

So imagine my surprise to find an invoice on my doorstep dated the 1st of July (a whole two and a half months later!) asking for £148.68 to fix the problem as they claim it was an installation error not covered by the warranty (the installer told me that this box with wires was not even touched during the installation as the installation instructions tell you not to) leading me to believe that this unit was faulty when it was delivered.

I obviously do not want to pay this amount and find it very insulting especially when added to the fact it took 5 weeks to fix, many calls, some very unprofessional responses from both Winther Browne and their own engineer calling each other names.

Anyone know what my rights are with this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

steve and claire

Zandoni

The first thing I'd do is ring them tomorrow and explain that these wires were not touched during installation and see what their response is.

ryanfitton

The sale of goods act may be able to help you.

Because the wire was loose in the back then it would have been "Not fit for purpose"

It would also have not been of "Satisfactory quality" it wasn't "free from minor defects (problems)" and also it would not have been "strong and safe" if the wires were bare at the back and electricity were going through them then it could have started an electrical fire.

direct.gov.uk/en/governmentcitizensandrights/consumerrights/dg_182935

Hope that helps a bit

Freddie_Snowbits

I would suggest that the issue should have been dealt with by the installation engineer. If the fire was faulty, it should have been removed and a refund applied then. Were the installation booklet availabe for the engineer to fit nd was he recommended by the fire manaufacturer? Without this, I summise that the Fire Manufacturer has a point, that is was installed incorrectly.

mainvein

the installation engineer was a gas safe registered person who has done other work for me in the past with no problems. He installed it and couldn't get it to work, we both went through the installation manuals again to see if anything had been missed (which it had not) and then he contacted the manufacturer to see if they could help over the phone, and hence the long process began.

cannot see how he installed it incorrectly, control box attached to fire, fire slots into hole, connect pipe, thats it. I'll email them in the morning and see what comes back.

Brooker_Dave

mainvein wrote: »

So imagine my surprise to find an invoice on my doorstep dated the 1st of July (a whole two and a half months later!) asking for £148.68 to fix the problem as they claim it was an installation error not covered by the warranty (the installer told me that this box with wires was not even touched during the installation as the installation instructions tell you not to) leading me to believe that this unit was faulty when it was delivered.

I obviously do not want to pay this amount and find it very insulting especially when added to the fact it took 5 weeks to fix, many calls, some very unprofessional responses from both Winther Browne and their own engineer calling each other names.

Anyone know what my rights are with this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

steve and claire

Where did the fire come from?

In theory your contract was with the retailer, rather than the manufacturer?

unholyangel

Well technically its their responsiblity to prove the fault wasnt inherent within the first 6 months, however it sounds like its possible their engineer has done a report which states it was a installation error.

As a previous poster has suggested, try telling them the box wasnt touched during installation and the wire concerned had no need to be touched during installation and see what their reply is.

mainvein

the fire was bought from B&Q online, probably should have contacted them to say it didnt work, but we thought it would be quicker to sort out by contacting the manufacturer to see if there was any way to fix over the phone with their guys, and didnt want to remove it and box up again, as it would mean paying my installer to come out again and fit another fire.

i've sent an email to the fire manufacturer stating that there is no evidence to suggest that it was an installation error, so lets see what the response is.