Comet fridge/freezer given up

Aaaaant

Ok, so I bought a fridge/freezer from Comet 13 months ago - September 2005 - and it has now finally decided to stop freezing. Everything has totally defrosted. It's been like this for three days now. Also two of the drawers will not shut either.

I know I have some consumer rights, but what are they and how do I enforce them? Shall I telephone them first?

Thanks for your advice!

hjb123

Did you take out any warranties etc? It may be worth you contacting Conusmer Direct who will advise you what your rights etc are, I am afraid to say though that Comet arent exactly the best retailers when dealing with faulty products!

Aaaaant

No I didn't take out any warranties - there was just the standard 12 month manufacturers guarantee!

hjb123

Right, well even so it should have lasted longer than what it has - get onto Consumer Direct or Trading Standards and clarify your rights before getting in touch with Comet.

Good Luck!

mustrum_ridcully

hjb123 well it depends, under the Sale of Goods Act you're entitled to a reasonable quality of build and for it to be fit for purpose (or something like that) so if you can argue that it wasn't then you might be able to get it fixed at least.

I don't know the cost of the fridge freezer, I suspect that if it happened to be the cheapest available (£100 say) then it maybe tricky. But if it was a pricy one (£500 say) then you should be able to argue that if you paid that much for a fridge/freezer it should be able to last more than a year so it wasn't truely fit for purpose.

As has been said contact CAB and TS they should be able to advise you.

hjb123

Sorry but I believe whatever price you pay for a fridge it should last longer than 13 months!

gyzmo

Quite correct. Goods should be as described, of reasonable quality and fit for purpose. A freezer that packs in after 12 months (hmmmm, just after manufacturers guarantee!) in my mind does not fit those requirement.

don't worry about not having a warranty, they are only in addition to statutory rights, and so not replace them. you certainly have a case for a repair. however, there is the element of "fair wear and tear". I don't know much about freezers, so dont know how much they "wear and tear" over 12 months, or what their expected lifespan is.

But you definitely have a case and the Consumer Direct website has template letters that you can use to write to the company.

montrose5

What make is it. I bought a fridge freezer from Comet scumbags who told me it only had 12 months warranty so would need to extend. Packed in after 14 months but on checking the paperwork found out the makers warranty was 2 years(glad I didn't buy the 'extra'warranty)

maplegirl2011

bit different but i had a tumble dryer that packed up after 13 months . the engineer came out and due to the fact i said about trading standards, sale of goods act etc and that i would be taking court action, he phoned his bosses and he just changed my purchase date on his computer to one month later to get around the warranty. you can only try

Whits

montrose5 wrote:

What make is it. I bought a fridge freezer from Comet scumbags who told me it only had 12 months warranty so would need to extend. Packed in after 14 months but on checking the paperwork found out the makers warranty was 2 years(glad I didn't buy the 'extra'warranty)

So at what point did Comet become scumbags

A manufacturer makes something, somebody else then sells it but the maker isn't responsible. What kind of logic is this?

gyzmo

Whits wrote:

So at what point did Comet become scumbags

A manufacturer makes something, somebody else then sells it but the maker isn't responsible. What kind of logic is this?

The manufacturer is responsible, just not always to the end user. In the case of faulty goods, the seller is responsible to the buyer. In turn, it is down to the seller to take it up with the manufacturer. When you buy something, your contract is with the seller and not the manufacturer.

if there is an extended warranty, then there is a contract between teh manufacturer and the buyer, but this goes beyond statutory rights (which is where the issue lies here). Thre are other exceptions, but they are beyond the scope of discussion (did that sound too textbookish?!?!)