Faulty Cooker Hood - Magnet

moonpenny

(Originally posted on the Consumer board with no replies so thought you people might be able to help!!!!!)

Can someone please shed some light on how to handle this problem!

2 months ago, I had a Magnet kitchen fitted by my builder.
The kitchen was bought from the "trade" part of Magnet but I paid for it in full with my Debit card over the phone before it was delivered.

Kitchen looks great but the cooker hood (extracer one!) has never worked properly, in fact it has not been finished as builder thinks there are some parts missing. The whole thing vibrates violently and sounds like an aircraft landing!

Builder has tried soring it out with Magnet and they said the engineer from the maker will come out and have a look. They then phoned me to say they were sending out some parts (no-one has been to look to see if any parts are missing)

Still nothing so I phoned Magnet and demanded a new cooker Hood (not a repair job) as I paid them , not the manufacturer but they fobbed me off and told me to contact engineer again.
They contacted me last week to say engineer would come out between 8 till 6 pm and I said as the builder had to be there, he would contact them himself to arrange a time. Nothing from them at all.

What are my rights? I see it that as I paid Magnet then it is their problem and they should send a new hood but where does builder come into it.

The "trade" order was in his name so is it his problem?

Sorry for long winded story!

evokit

If theres bit missing it could be magnet or manufacturer.
you should have your own manufactuer guarantee, although magnet supplied the applaince they dont guarantee it as they all come with a manufactuer one.
You should register your item by phone and at the same time explain the issue and they should send someone out to look at it. your builder shouldnt need to be there.
It would be the manufactuer who is responsible for all repairs, faulty products and replacing regardless of who fitted it.
Just call them a kick off a little and you will get somewhere.

cddc

Good advice above from Evokit.

Though some retailers (John Lewis for example) may replace eletrical items themselves, the resposiblility for repair or replacement more normally lies with the manufacturer in these cases. I would mount a two pronged attack on both Magnet and the manufacturer and between them I am sure they will find a way to resolve the issue.

Would also add that this is one of the problems with buying a kitchen via a trade outlet. You do not hold the warranty, the tradesman does because it is they who purchased the goods from the original supplier, not you. Even if you paid Magnet trade the money, the order is not in your name therefore you are not the customer in their eyes, your builder is. Therefore sorting warranty problems can become a bit of a mare. you may need to get your builder involved in hassling them both to resolve it, if he is willing to.
My local Howdens branch is so geared to trade it wont even sell end users replacement hinges. they have to find a tradesman to sell them one!

They should be better value to start with but you can end up with much more hassle in the long run if problems occur.

katejo

cddc wrote: »

Good advice above from Evokit.

Though some retailers (John Lewis for example) may replace eletrical items themselves, the resposiblility for repair or replacement more normally lies with the manufacturer in these cases. I would mount a two pronged attack on both Magnet and the manufacturer and between them I am sure they will find a way to resolve the issue.

Would also add that this is one of the problems with buying a kitchen via a trade outlet. You do not hold the warranty, the tradesman does because it is they who purchased the goods from the original supplier, not you. Even if you paid Magnet trade the money, the order is not in your name therefore you are not the customer in their eyes, your builder is. Therefore sorting warranty problems can become a bit of a mare. you may need to get your builder involved in hassling them both to resolve it, if he is willing to.
My local Howdens branch is so geared to trade it wont even sell end users replacement hinges. they have to find a tradesman to sell them one!

They should be better value to start with but you can end up with much more hassle in the long run if problems occur.

I was quite concerned to read this as I am considering buying a kitchen through Magnet Trade or Howdens. I was already thinking that it would be better to order appliances myself but what happens if a problem occurs with the units after completion? If someone were to use these trade outlets to do up a kitchen before sale of the property, would the buyer have any recourse should a fault occur with their new appliances? the buyer would have no info about the fitter/no contact with them.

evokit

Katiejo - I wouldn’t worry where you buy theappliances either yourself or through your supplier, but in sayingthat if you go through a big chain opposed to an independent thereless likely to help on your behalf, but the appliance company will give you the sameattention regardless. just depends on there customer service.

I would steer clear of Howdens, my mum had thecouncil fit one for her and doors have dropped and drawers ain’t tohot not even 12mnths on, councils put in the lower end of stuff yetthe units and hinges/drawers are the same unless you upgrade to theBlum.
but the doors are PVC edged and not so good.
If you buy appliances and register them in yourname before selling best advice would be to leave the paperwork withthe new buyer as they wont exchange the guarantee to a different namebut.... the appliance is guaranteed at the house address with whoeverregistered it.
With all these guarantees it doesn’t matter whofits the kitchen, if your fitter damages something this wont beexchanged.
Most fitters only give 12mnths on there workanyhow so leave there details if you feel needed.

From my side of things as I supply kitchens Iguarantee the units and doors against manufacturing default, as domost companies.
The thing is if you damage the door or carcassfrom knocking or by mistake then these are not covered by anyone whoever you go with.
The actual chances of a manufacturing default arerather rear hence the guarantees in the 1stplace.
If you install a foil/vinyl door then you increasethat chance of the above as there prone to the orange peel effectwhere the surface peels back from steam or the glue coming undoneover time.
This is something you could try and get sorted dueto the nature of the door if you have a length guarantee.
so if you buy to sell leave all info with the new buyers

Hope this helps

moonpenny

Thank You! for replies - The builder is trying to get an engineer out but it seems to have gone on for too long now.
(I never know what to do with gaurentees. Should I be sending them off?)

Also, I don't really know if the problem is due to the fitting(builder) or the actual appliance.
Got a brand new kitchen and have never been able to use the cooker hood once.

Alias_Omega

We have a Bosch extractor, purchased for £40 from Currys in a clearance sale. When it was fitted, it was faulty.

Bosch sent out an engineer to replace the fan section (£150), as Currys would of just refunded the cost of the item as it was ex-display.

evokit

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

I think this is a little tough on the hinge manufacturer.
Howdens, Magnet and Benchmarx use a FGV or Salice hinge, both are robust and capable of doing the job.
I suspect as its a council spec kitchen the door is more likely to have pulled from the screw.

The manufacture of the door is subject to debate.
Councils now have spec'd their kitchens so far down the budget spectrum that the specification of door is almost at paper level.
Magnets Strata, Howdens Greenwich or Benchmarx options range are all similar specifications. 15mm door , chipboard material, abs edged.
I'm not sure what you'll expect to get for a £600 budget and 3 companies fighting for every council contract in the UK.
.....

Magnet supply Blum normally to trade or is that an upgrade? Howdens have the option to uprgarde also.
But i can assure you the screws havnt come from the door or drawer runners. The doors are 18mm thick also.
But most the ABS doors are cheaply produced hence the ABS.
when my mums kitchen was fitted i checked it thoroughly as its my own trade (you just would).
My Ex also use to sell the council contracts for Howdens and Symphony, the two man players in that market and Howdens use the same carcass across the board weather its council or trade, as the only produce the two.
Its the nut shell you get what you pay for.

Meepster

Standard hinge on a Magnet kitchen is non-soft close, so Kitchen DesignR is spot on.

Blum clip-on soft-closers are an upgrade (and to be honest, for the price it actuals costs to upgrade, I don't know why everyone doesn't upgrade, it's a couple of quid per unit)

As for the OPs original dilemma: whilst it is true that, although you have paid Magnet directly, you haven't actually bought the kitchen directly. The kitchen is bought through the trademans account, the money you paid if actually paid into his account and then the money is allocated from this account, to payment for the kitchen.

The bad news: Effectively you don't have any contract with Magnet, your tradesman holds any and all warranties on anything purchased through his account and if you have any problems at any time, you will "officially" have to go through him.

The good news: 99% of the time, a branch will deal with you directly and get things sorted for you, however with an appliance that is either fully or partly installed they will always refer you to the manufacturer. The main reason for this is the Service Level Agreement (SLA) that is in place, which basically means that once an appliance is in any way installed, the manufacturer will resolve any issues.

I'm guessing these are Whirlpool appliances you are talking about? Usually they are pretty good at resolving issues. See what happens when the engineer comes out and if they don't sort things out from there, drop me a PM with more details and I'll see what I can do for you...