Looking for advice

sadie11

We have a Neff Induction Hob which is 3 yrs old so out of warranty.
Last week the hob started smoking and smelt awful of electrical burning. We isolated the hob straight away.The hob hadn't been used for 2 days and was switched off.

I contacted Neff who agreed to waive the call out charge of £95 for an engineers visited but any parts would be chargeable.

The engineer visited yesterday took the hob to pieces and discovered the problem was a diode that had started to burn out and also damaged a nearby coil.
The engineer contacted customer liaison who said they could offer 60% off the cost of repair which we declined.
The repair would cost around £200 it's not the cost of the repair it's the fact that I would never be able to trust the hob again.

The engineer then rang his area manager who said that a diode would burn itself out and NOT cause an house fire.
I am reluctant to believe this as I'm sure anything that smokes could ignite.

Not sure where to go from here.

Any advice please

stevemLS

I think the 60% is pretty generous.

Surely if they are replacing the diode that eliminates component that was smoking?

neilmcl

Who did you buy the hob from, if it wasn't directly from Neff then the manufacturer has no legal obligation to you.

sadie11

stevemLS wrote: »

I think the 60% is pretty generous.

Surely if they are replacing the diode that eliminates component that was smoking?

Pretty generous 60% discount for a repair.
I don't think it is at all the repair will cost £200 the hob originally 3yrs ago cost £435.
That's nearly half the cost for a repair of a brand new hob.

Replacing the diode would eliminate the component that was causing the smoke but won't restore my faith in using the appliance. The fact I'm trying to make is if this wasn't discovered as quick as it was then the outcome could have been a lot worse. Potential house fire..

tomtontom

Every electrical item in your house has the potential to go wrong and cause a house fire.

rustyboy21

IMO, they have been quite generous, as others have said. The issue now is that you refusing this help, may make you worse off, as they may not offer the same offer again.


If the diode was at fault and they state that it would not cause a house fire, then why question it? They would not put you at risk, if the possibility is that it was dangerous, too much of a danger for them litigation wise.




What are you after? Is it a new hob, a full refund, what?


The only options you have, is getting an independent report done showing that the fault is inherent, if you wish to go down the sale of goods route for recompense.


With it being over 3 years old, the chances of anything like you may be wanting, could be very slim. I would contact them and arrange the repair, if they still honour it, or contact the retailer and see what they offer, or finally find another repairer, who will do it cheaper.

DevCoder

As long as they resolve the issue that caused the diode to start failing then I would be happy.

The diode is a protective device, it prevents voltage flowing the wrong way around (i.e. it ensures polarity is maintained). For the diode to start failing either it failed in itself or an external (to the diode) fault caused it to fail.

sadie11

[/B]

rustyboy21 wrote: »

IMO, they have been quite generous, as others have said. The issue now is that you refusing this help, may make you worse off, as they may not offer the same offer again.


If the diode was at fault and they state that it would not cause a house fire, then why question it? They would not put you at risk, if the possibility is that it was dangerous, too much of a danger for them litigation wise.

The simple answer to that is I would never trust the appliance again who is to say after the repair whatever caused the malfunction originally hasn't been fixed and will just happen again.
I am not prepared to take that chance and put mine and my families lives at risk.



What are you after? Is it a new hob, a full refund, what?

I haven't asked for anything just piece of mind.



The only options you have, is getting an independent report done showing that the fault is inherent, if you wish to go down the sale of goods route for recompense.


With it being over 3 years old, the chances of anything like you may be wanting, could be very slim. I would contact them and arrange the repair, if they still honour it, or contact the retailer and see what they offer, or finally find another repairer, who will do it cheaper.

Thanks for your imput.

rustyboy21

sadie11 wrote: »

[/B]

Thanks for your imput.

I am afraid that you are not going to be satisfied with any offer that you are given.


You have no automatic right to a refund, or replacement. The manufacturer is going above and beyond what they need to do. Even the retailer doesn't have to offer them either, after the time you have had it. If you want to take it further then you will have to pay and obtain an independent report showing that the fault was inherent and possibly dangerous, which it isn't. If you are not prepared to accept the repair, then you may as well go out and buy a new non NEFF hob and then come back on here and slag Neff off to anyone who cares to listen.


Things go wrong after a while, it doesn't make them rubbish or dangerous, it just means that something has broken. It can easily be fixed, will then carry on working the same as it has for over 3 years and you have no need to worry.


I feel you are just blowing this out of all proportion and are waiting to hear someone agreeing with you, which so far no one has. Your toaster could blow up tomorrow and burn your house down, nothing is safe. That's why you have insurance.

DevCoder

Agreed with Rusty, you can't claim on "what might have happened".

Spank

Parts fail, it's fact of life. What makes you think they wouldn't fix everything until its safe?