Repair Plan/Guarantee

mermaid-tail

Hello!

Long-time lurker here, with my first post.

When I purchased my Hotpoint fridge freezer from John Lewis, it came with a free two-year guarantee. It also came with a one-year guarantee direct from Hotpoint.

The one-year guarantee is now about to expire. Hotpoint have sent me a letter offering me a 'Hotpoint Repair Plan' for £3.67 a month if I pay by direct debit, or £54 if I pay in one go.

My question is, if I decide not to purchase the Hotpoint guarantee now, will it mean that I can't choose to buy it later when my John Lewis guarantee runs out? Also, should I actually worry about paying for a guarantee? This is my first time owning white goods, so I'm not sure if it's even worth it.

Any advice that you can give would be very welcome.

Rachel:T

phill99

Don't buy it. There is very little to go wrong with fridge freezers and they have a high life expectancy.

Extended guarantees only benefit one person and that's the person selling to you.

penguingirl

All our appliances our hotpot bought over the last 4 years and we are frequently being sent junk mail about buying additional warranties, so I wouldn't worry about. Sometimes we are offered them for appliances we don't even own (most recent was a tumble dryer)

mermaid-tail

Thank you everyone! I won't worry about it. I don't want to jinx it but our fridge freezer has worked fine so far and I've never had one go wrong on me before.

ic

I've just had to replace my original white goods - both my fridge freezer and washer dryer have lasted short of nine years. If I'd paid for extended warranties in that time, I would have paid two or three times their value again.

DaftyDuck

I have a Hotpoint fridge freezer, now demoted to the garage. It's nearly twenty years old. It did "break" once... about two weeks after buying it, a hinge failed. Man came, man fixed, man said it should last over ten years without trouble if it got through the first six months.

Save as much of the £54 as you can, and put it towards the next "white good" you need.

(I have just disposed of a Candy washing machine and a Lec freezer (so not exactly top-notch!), both bought 1997, and only disposed of because the rust was getting bad. That rust was mainly caused by me not cleaning enough, and steamy utility rooms, not by the items leaking).

Meadows

You should not need to buy until the 3 year period is almost up (the manufactures warranty expires before the year you bought).

Whilst I would normally say don't buy these extra covers they are a waste of money, almost four years ago we bought a tall AEG Fridge and AEG Freezer.
Because of stock issues /availability we purchased from separate places John Lewis & Currys each offering an extended 3 year guarantee (for free) making it a five year guarantee.

Okay I thought something for nothing won't need it!!!
After just over two years the fridge went on me (a few days before Christmas and with a full fridge of food :eek:, because of the time of year the earliest they could get to me to repair was in the New Year :eek::eek: panic stations we had to rush out and buy a small fridge that we could get in the car for the perishables, while all other things lived in cool bags in a covered/enclosed passageway.

Then after new parts where order and replaced (mid January) all seemed okay until earlier this year (14 months on) I noticed things were not staying as fresh as they should, time passed and I decided to get a thermometer, and guess what the fridge was sat at around 8°, so called them out and to cut a really long story short after waiting and waiting for parts, etc. we were six weeks down the line still not fixed (trusty backup fridge once again in use again). They came to fix a sensor last Friday and broke the fridge completely :mad:.
Result is that from my free extended warranty (four years after goods purchased) my £700 AEG fridge is being replaced today with a brand new fridge! I was offered a two year extended warranty (2 from manufacturer and buy the other two years) for £62.80 (cheaper to pay over 10 payments or be charged £10 more for paying as a lump sum :think:).

So as I know that you should not have to buy these extended warranties and never do as a rule, talk to any of the engine/repair men and they all say the same THINGS ARE NOT BUILT TO LAST THESES DAY, CHEAP COMPONENTS, and I think you are lucky if you get something that lasts for many years regardless of what you pay! Not like when we bought years ago (I still have a Zanussi Dishwasher going strong some 23+ years later).

And start to look at who makes what and they all seem to be made by the same company these days, where I would not any longer touch a Zanussi with a bargepole I find my AEG goods are made by the Electrolux group!


Electrolux: own well over 50 brand names among the more well known ones are AEG, Tricity Bendix, Zanussi. Currently, The Electrolux group also make the John Lewis brand washing machines.

Candy: own Hoover, Zerowatt and Kelvinator among others.

Merloni: own Ariston, Indesit, New World, Philco, Hotpoint, Creda, Cannon, GDA, English Electric,Thorn (and many others)

ian103

We always look at the cost of the warranty against the purchase cost of a new appliance. Generally its not worth it unless the item is very expensive.