New washing machine drum leaking

RobertOc

Hi all,

I recently purchased a brand new washing machine drum from a third party retailer who are directly supplied by Hotpoint, however when I installed the unit I found that it leaked from underneath. As a precaution I checked that the seal had been made correctly with the bottom hose and when it leaked again I contacted the company I purchased it from who advised that:( the hose may need to be replaced.

I purchased a replacement hose which did not resolve the leak but on inspection I finally found that there was a hairline crack in the drum and that is where it was leaking from.

I contacted the company again who then advised that the supplier would not replace the drum as it had not been fitted by a qualified engineer. Note: at no point in the sales process or when reporting the first instance of leakage did they once advise me that the unit had to be fitted by a qualified engineer to satisfy the guarantee and because I had fitted it myself then I must have caused the damage.

I have tried to reason with them to try and reach a resolution however I am at a loss as to what to do. I have a family with 2 children and no washing machine to use.

Where or what can I do from here? What are my rights as far as returning the item is concerned?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Robert.

whitegoods_engineer

Maybe you should have called in somebody who knows what they are doing?

RobertOc

Hi there,

Your response is hardly helpful!

The reason for fitting the unit myself is that I am compitent and capable of performing this task through years of experience and to be hones the cost of an engineer fitting the unit would have amounted to the same as purchasing a brand new washing machine.

The crook of the problem is that the vendor did not notify me that the guarentee/warantee would be void if I fitted the item.

What responsibility is it that the vendors have and are they now responsible for righting this problem?

Please do not respond with pointless innapropriate answers that are of no use when all I am trying to do is seek advice.

Many thanks.

deanos

Reject it under the sales of goods act, its up to them to prove its not faulty in the first 6 months, they cant do that over the phone without looking at it

texranger

well this is standard when you purchase such parts, any warranty could be void if you fit the parts yourself and most companies will say it is void.

if you read the paperwork that come with the drum it will say something like "must be fitted by a competant engineer/person or you risk the warranty being void"

i had a similar problem when i had my brother fit a new headlight in my car, once fitted this still did not work, so took this back to the shop and they refused to do anything as they say it was not fitted by a competant person until my brother showed the shop his mechanics certificate. then shop then replaced the light and had a mechanic who rented a garage at the back of the store fit this to make sure it worked.

RobertOc

No paperwork with the drum, nothing on the receipt, no advisory note to state this.

Anymore advice on this?

Helllllp.

deanos

If there is nothing to say otherwise about getting a pro to install then reject under SOGA

tbw

I'm a bit confused (doesn't take much at my age !) - I thought the op just replaced a leaky hose, not the actual drum?

deanos

tbw wrote: »

I'm a bit confused (doesn't take much at my age !) - I thought the op just replaced a leaky hose, not the actual drum?

I recently purchased a brand new washing machine drum from a third party retailer who are directly supplied by Hotpoint, however when I installed the unit I found that it leaked from underneath. As a precaution I checked that the seal had been made correctly with the bottom hose and when it leaked again I contacted the company I purchased it from who advised that the hose may need to be replaced.

I purchased a replacement hose which did not resolve the leak but on inspection I finally found that there was a hairline crack in the drum and that is where it was leaking from.

I contacted the company again who then advised that the supplier would not replace the drum as it had not been fitted by a qualified engineer. Note: at no point in the sales process or when reporting the first instance of leakage did they once advise me that the unit had to be fitted by a qualified engineer to satisfy the guarantee and because I had fitted it myself then I must have caused the damage.

I have tried to reason with them to try and reach a resolution however I am at a loss as to what to do. I have a family with 2 children and no washing machine to use.

Where or what can I do from here? What are my rights as far as returning the item is concerned?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Robert.

RobertOc

I purchased the drum as the bearings had gone in the old one, normally you can just get away with replacing the bearings themselves however the indesit machine I have is a heat welded plastic drum and so you have to purchase the whole thing.

When I had fitted the drum and found that it was leaking I rang the vendor who said that the bottom hose may need replacing, first try and reseat it and if still leaks try a new one. New one purchased and fitted correctly but still have leak.

Closer inspection, drum with water in, tipped back at a slight angle, wife holding steady, looked and low and behold could see that water was coming from hairline crack in drum but the water was only being pushed out as the drum rotated causing a small amount of pressure inside.

RobertOc

By the way just to note that it was not until I had purchased the new hose and then rung them back to say it was still leaking that they quoted "Ah well, your not covered by guarantee as you fitted it yourself, it will be £40 for us to come and inspect it for you now or you can bring the whole washing machine down to us.