BEKO broke my fridge and refuse to re-compensate me

cookies_and_crem

Hi all,

I wonder if someone can help.

I am one of those unfortunates who had a fridge-freezer affected by the recent faulty product modification.

I dutifully booked a BEKO engineer to come and 'fix' my fridge, they came on the 16th July and at 9pm 17th July I realised that the damn fridge wasn't cold. Was warm in fact. And the meat I was going to remove from the freezer to defrost was already half-cooked in the freezer (slight exaggeration, but it was totally defrosted as was everything else).

In a nutshell - BEKO 'broke' my working fridge freezer while trying to modify their shoddy merchandise.

So, I re-booked had to book yet another day off work, and spent cash on take-aways and microwave food as I had no fridge freezer - not to mention the £100 odd worth of food that was ruined after their initial intervention.

I wrote a letter to BEKO asking for £100 for the ruined food and £150 towards my loss of earnings, and compensation for spending a day chundering as I hadn't realised my PG tips was accompanied by BEKO inspired gone off milk (I am milk intolerant so it didn't occur to me that there was anything wrong with the milk - don't ask why I still drink milk it's obvious I am a glutton for punishment, hell I bought a BEKO fridge!)

Anyway, they have refused. And told me to claim from my home insurance, for which I am sure they wouldn't pay my excess or increased premiums. I know I was chancing my arm asking for the £150, but surely they should compensate my ruined food?

Is there anything I can do?

Many thanks in advance.

An embittered Cookies and Crem.

visidigi

the irony here is the fridge worked before BEKO touched it. It now doesn't.

When you booked the engineer to fix it after the new part broke it did you inform them of the lost food as a result of the negligence of the engineer?

Compensation for the food I can understand - the chundering (man I havent heard that word in years) isn't really something you can 100% prove came from BEKO's actions - I would go after the food - point out to BEKO that the excess on your insurance is higher than the claim you would make and in any case, the outcome was a direct cause of the negligece of BEKO and you should not be out of pocket for it.

Advise them you would like them to reconsider and pay the £100 worth of food that was ruined, if not you will seek recompense through thr Small Claims Court - maybe even avoid the personal letter this time, just send them a LBA (letter before action) which is available in templates linked to in the top stuck threads on this forum.

cookies_and_crem

Thanks Visidigi, just to clarify (and to inform) - I was informed that some of the parts that BEKO are replacing are faulty. So, the part they replaced was faulty hence my fridge not working.

Chundering (I am east end:p). And I know I was chancing my arm. I was going with the approach of ask for more get what I was hoping for (i.e - the £100). Anything more is a bonus.

I informed BEKO of the ruined food etc - spoke with customer services. Apparently their default position is no especially as 1 in every 7 of the replacement parts don't work (engineer told me this as most people notice fairly quickly and call them back).

I shall send the LBA and see what they say. Do you think I should take out the further £150 or leave it in (chancing right arm this time!)

Cookies and crem.x

visidigi

so to be clear, your fridge worked.
BEKO engineer came to replace the part which they are doing as part of a recall - at the point they arrived the fridge was working as normal (with fire risk)
BEKO engineer replaced the part with the one he had been given as part fo the recall process
following day fridge isnt working.

If thats right...then you have a case to reclaim the food value as without BEKO's intervention you would still have had that food (although you may have had no house...)

I would drop the £150 - like I say you really have no proof the two events are connected. The engineer has seen the food as it was there when he arrived to replace the part.

Got for the £100 - they are 100% liable and in any case, I am very shocked to hear a replacement part already has a 14% or so failure rate before fitment!

cookies_and_crem

Got it in one (good point re my house!)

I'll drop the mebeinggreedy and go for the £100.

Yes - the replacement parts have a high failure rate. I was told to listen for the fridge hum and hour after they left (this is the first repair) and I swear it was humming. The lights were on but the fridge itself stopped cooling.

Hence why I am livid. Totally shoddy behaviour. This isn't just about my ruined goods, BEKO have behaved badly with this. How can you KNOWINGLY replace dangerous parts with a high failure rate of parts?

The engineer, both of them in fact, told me that the non-working parts are no uncommon at all.

Thank you so much, I will send a LBA and feedback as soon as I get news.

Louiset1974

The exact same thing has happened to me, I called Beko customer services and they have confirmed that they have had MANY customers complain of the exact same thing!!!

ellay864

I also had one of the affected fridge freezers and no problem (so far!) since the repair. But I was interested that you had a BEKO engineer come out as I had British Gas engineer. I assumed they just contracted out the repairs but maybe it was just in some areas. I had a full worksheet completed by BG, the same as they do for any normal BG work. I think if I had a problem I would also use that to arm myself with

cookies_and_crem

UPDATE:

So, Beko passed my issue to Comet from which the Fridge Freezer had been purchased. Comet asked for an itemised list of the goods in my freezer (fridge contents are not included as they are perishable apparently....) I gave Comet this based on what I could rememebr was in there and by using a well known supermarket website for the prices. Total was over £150 - my freezer was filled with meat/fish and a little veg oh and some icecream.

Comet called yesterday. Offered me £45 based on freezer 'capacity'. They must be shopping in the Twilight Zone because £45 quid will get you a bit of Sirloin Steak and a Lamb joint in most supermarkets (ok, slight exaggeration, but come on?!?!).

I told them that they could send the cheque if they wanted but I wouldn't cash it and will be taking this to the small claims.

Now I have a question - do I claim from Beko or Comet?

Kind regards

Cookies and Crem.

cookies_and_crem

ellay864 wrote: »

I also had one of the affected fridge freezers and no problem (so far!) since the repair. But I was interested that you had a BEKO engineer come out as I had British Gas engineer. I assumed they just contracted out the repairs but maybe it was just in some areas. I had a full worksheet completed by BG, the same as they do for any normal BG work. I think if I had a problem I would also use that to arm myself with

Beko sent the original letter to me so as far as I am concerned it was a BEKO engineer regardless of who was actually paying them. If you see what I mean. I don't think mine was a British Gas engineer though as I'm sure I would have recognised the uniform?

I have some form of confirmation of the repair, but I'm not too sure how useful that will be to me as the repair didn't actually repair!

Anyway, I am glad your repair was fine - You have nothing to worry about mine must have not worked at all once the part was out in. I'm debating sending someone an invoice for my time as this is totally unreasonable now.

Cookies and Crem.

Equaliser123

cookies_and_crem wrote: »

UPDATE:

So, Beko passed my issue to Comet from which the Fridge Freezer had been purchased. Comet asked for an itemised list of the goods in my freezer (fridge contents are not included as they are perishable apparently....) I gave Comet this based on what I could rememebr was in there and by using a well known supermarket website for the prices. Total was over £150 - my freezer was filled with meat/fish and a little veg oh and some icecream.

Comet called yesterday. Offered me £45 based on freezer 'capacity'. They must be shopping in the Twilight Zone because £45 quid will get you a bit of Sirloin Steak and a Lamb joint in most supermarkets (ok, slight exaggeration, but come on?!?!).

I told them that they could send the cheque if they wanted but I wouldn't cash it and will be taking this to the small claims.

Now I have a question - do I claim from Beko or Comet?

Kind regards

Cookies and Crem.

Comet are idiots. Just because stuff in a fridge is perishable, doesn't mean to say it wasn't ruined by the fault.

I think you need to issue against Beko (negligent repair) and Comet (breach of contract). One or both will settle immediately.

cookies_and_crem

Thank you Equaliser.

but both? You know, a part of me wants to leave it but I won't. This is nuts. They said that as the stuff in the fridge has a short shelf-life it isn't covered..... When my fridge was repaired it cost a fortune in re-filling it with everything. I think we spent £150 in 1 go just to re-stock (there is only 2 of us, but we eat a lot of meat and we don't necessarily buy cheap. Why am I even justifying the contents of my fridge!)

Anyway, I'll wait for their letter to come in then I will start proceedings. Do I split the claim? Or do I put both on with the total at my itemised costs?

Kind regards Cookies and Crem.