Argos, Indesit and the washing machine

jaxjax123

We bought a washing machine in February from Argos. Yesterday we tried to open the door and the handle came off in my hand. Well we phoned argos who gave us the number of indesit. They say we need to pay £105 for a call out charge then for parts because it is accidental damage not mechanical.
Surely this isn't right?

neilmcl

When in feb did you buy it. If it's less than 6 months then ask Argos to prove it was accidental damage, if it's older than six months then it'll be up to you to prove that it's not. Generally speaking a handle's not going to break unless you put a lot of pressure on it, was this just after a wash, did you wait until the safety lock disengaged?

jaxjax123

We took delivery of it on the 18th of Feb so just a few days late. The lock was disengaged I was going to put some washing in it. There was no exsessive force the door handle is a strange design and only about 3mm thick you just pull it and the door comes open its not a moving one like I have used before.

We have since contacted Argos back and they too say that we can not claim because it is not mechanical so we have used a washing machine for 6 months costing £400. I don't expect an item of that price to have a door that would break that easily.

somethingcorporate

Given the timings it will be down to Argos to prove you broke it and not for you to prove that it is an inherent fault (6 months is the cut off).

Get back on the phone to them / write them a letter. If they continue to be difficult write them a letter before action and if they continue to ignore then start proceedings in the small claims court.

kaya

i am very confued as a to where all this "inherant fault" and "six months cut off" stuff has come from? the sales of goods act states that goods must be of satisfactory quality, i dont recall anything about timing or inherant faults?

kaya

jaxjax123 wrote: »

We bought a washing machine in February from Argos. Yesterday we tried to open the door and the handle came off in my hand. Well we phoned argos who gave us the number of indesit. They say we need to pay £105 for a call out charge then for parts because it is accidental damage not mechanical.
Surely this isn't right?

clearly argos have a crystal ball and can see into your washing machine, it is up to an engineer to decide if damage is accidental or mechanical, if the door handle was faulty/not secured properly that would be mechanical, unless they are insinuating that you broke it rather than "it broke" which is nothing more than an assumption made by an argos employee

jaxjax123

I have called them back and told them it is unfit for purpose. I also said that I bought the item from Argos not Indesit and they said when I took delivery I accepted the t&c which state it supply and delivery only so the item isn't an argos item.
Thye then out me though to Indesit again I explained to them it was not accidental and it just snapped with no force and they said that if I wanted it fixed we could take out the warranty for £6.99 a month or pay £105 for a engineer to come out to asses the situation and tell me how much it would cost to be fixed.
I told them I have contacted consumer direct and I am waiting a response from them.

somethingcorporate

kaya wrote: »

i am very confued as a to where all this "inherant fault" and "six months cut off" stuff has come from? the sales of goods act states that goods must be of satisfactory quality, i dont recall anything about timing or inherant faults?

Proving goods are faulty
If you bought the item within the last six months, it’s the trader’s responsibility to prove the item wasn’t faulty when you bought it.
If you bought your item over six months ago, you may have to prove the fault was not caused by accidental damage or wear and tear. You can do this by getting a second opinion from an independent expert.

From: (about half way down) http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Consumerrights/Yourconsumerrightswhenbuyinggoodsandservices/DG_194650

jaxjax123

Well I think it's cased closed anyway. Indesit just called to offer me warranty but he said any glass or plastic on the machine is not covered by any of their warranty. So the engineer would come out and say this anyway also and if we did by the warranty it wouldn't cover the fault.

somethingcorporate

Don't do it under warranty, your rights are under SOGA against Argos.

Indesit have nothing to do with it.

jackieb

It hardly seems fair.

Are you handy? Would you try to manage fitting a new handle yourself?