Broken fridge freezer

leanne82duke

Hi I bought an indesit fridge freezer from currys last march and it has stopped working correctly, the engineer has just been out and he can't fix it until next week, I had to wait a week already for this visit.

Can I claim any kind of compensation from them, I will have to take 2 days off of work, plus go without a fridge for around 2 weeks plus I have had to throw out around £50 worth of food. Not impressed.

wealdroam

Does your household insurance cover spoilt food in this circumstance?

leanne82duke

I think it does, but I'm not sure if there is an excess.

I am more interested in wether I can get them to fork out for it as it's clearly a faulty appliance.

unholyangel

Have they admitted the fault is inherent?

bris

Not yet you cant, you are getting it fixed under warranty.

If you want to be able to claim consequential losses you need to go down the SOGA route which means geting your own independant engineer to write a repert stating the fault is inherent, this can be reclaimed if it's in your favour. But it can be difficult for an engineer to claim it's an inherent fault rather than just one of those things and any report can be challenged by their own engineer.

You also need to prove your losses, something you cant do if you have thrown out the food.

Best just getting it fixed, two weeks isnt that bad.

leanne82duke

2 weeks is bloody awful when you have 2 small children, I can't even store milk :mad:

I'm getting passed from pillar to post, indesit won't give me a straight answer. What's the chances of getting them to replace it? :rotfl:

But seriously, there product is faulty. It is causing my family no end of trouble and inconvenience.

Is there nothing I can do?

wealdroam

Store milk?
You don't need a fridge to store milk this time of year.
Stand it outside... it'll keep cool enough.

leanne82duke

Would you recommend that for meat and veg too? Bit of cheese sure the foxes and vermin would be happy.

Anyway is there actually anything I can do so we don't have to go another week with out a fridge?

unholyangel

leanne82duke wrote: »

But seriously, there product is faulty. It is causing my family no end of trouble and inconvenience.

Yes but is it inherently faulty? A product can become faulty through misuse, accidental damage, natural wear & tear, design flaw, substandard components etc. You only have rights in some of those circumstances and not all of them.

If they have admitted it was an inherent fault (and not misuse for example) then you should be able to get them to cover costs you have reasonably incurred as a result of their breach. However you do also have a duty to reasonably mitigate your losses.

For example asking a family member/friend if they can wait for the repair guy so you don't have to take time off work. Or asking them to store food so it didn't go off. Not always possible, I'm just giving examples of what might be considered as a reasonable attempt to mitigate.

Within the first 6 months from purchase if a product develops a fault, it is assumed to be inherent and its for the retailer to prove its not. After 6 months, the burden falls on the consumer to prove it was (inherent).

That's why I was asking if they'd admitted it was inherent, as you'd be on stronger footing. If they haven't admitted it, you may need to commission an independent report (which is refundable if found in your favour) but I'd speak to the retailer and ask them about reimbursement for losses first. They may pay up without the trouble of a report - especially if their own engineer has said its inherent).