Secret off switch on Samsung Fridgefreezer- not in manual - lost freezer contents

IWantMyOwnGenie

Hi everyone
My first post

I have owned a new Samsung American Fridge/Freezer RS7527BHCBC since December. Bought online via Appliance City for £726.

In March the entire contents of the freezer had defrosted, the value I have worked out to be £135 or so which all went in the bin as I had no idea how long it had festered. I turned off and on again which got it working. The temperature guage on the front then read 8 degrees for the freezer and 3 degrees for the fridge. Big difference to the -19 and -3 it had been reading before I switched off???!

The repairs engineer visited and before he even got into the kitchen, told me that I had probably accidentally triggered the 'demo mode' on the appliance which is intended for shop floors. This is done when you hold two of the touch screen commands together for a couple of seconds. He told me that this is the main reason for his call outs, that it is a ridiculous design and not in the manual. I always read my manuals, double checked and yes, absolutely right. He ran some tests, confirmed his suspicions and recommended I put on the child lock (which remains to this day).

Samsung have refused to offer anything towards lost ££s as this is not a defect! Citizens Advice say I haven't got a case against Samsung unless it is for negligence (warranty only covers defects - clever huh). I am not sure what the point is of an electronic temperature thing on the front that doesn't read correctly - anyone?! That would have alerted me to a problem with temperatures. And why the hec isn't this ability to turn off by accident in the manual?? I would have engaged child lock all along had I known that cleaning the screen could turn the cooling off. I think this is negligence on behalf of Samsung. Citzens Advice seem to be saying I should tackle Appliance City for a handout but I have no issues with them as they are great.


Anyone else have any experience of this secret switching and lost food? Does anyone have any advice please? Surely Samsung should have put this in their manual? How would I go about a claim of negligence against Samsung who are likely just to write back to me denying liability.

Thanks in advance

wealdroam

IWantMyOwnGenie wrote: »

Citzens Advice seem to be saying I should tackle Appliance City for a handout but I have no issues with them as they are great.

Appliance City may be great but they sold you an appliance that does not live up to your expectations.

It is Appliance City that sold you the appliance... so it is from Appliance City that you should seek to recover your loss.

Appliance City could in turn try to recover their loss from their supplier.

IWantMyOwnGenie

Thanks to everyone that posted help above. My update is for the sake of anyone else that may have this issue in future. Pursue pursue! As per my original post I didn't want to pursue appliance city so kept up my complaints to Samsung. The result was an apology for being fobbed off and the offer of a tesco food voucher for £50. This doesn't cover the full cost of the food lost but Samsung won't budge any further on that - seems £50 is the standard payout regardless of the size of your fridge. Thought it was worth updating the forum. Good news!!

Thanks again

wealdroam

IWantMyOwnGenie wrote: »

Thanks to everyone that posted help above.

What all of us?

IWantMyOwnGenie wrote: »

As per my original post I didn't want to pursue appliance city so kept up my complaints to Samsung.

Yes, but do you understand that Appliance City are responsible for the quality of the goods they sold you?

IWantMyOwnGenie wrote: »

The result was an apology for being fobbed off and the offer of a tesco food voucher for £50. This doesn't cover the full cost of the food lost but Samsung won't budge any further on that - seems £50 is the standard payout regardless of the size of your fridge. Thought it was worth updating the forum. Good news!!

Glad to hear you got £50 as a goodwill gesture, but I still feel that approaching Appliance City would've been the right thing to do.

Not quite your scenario, but this small quote from MSE's Consumer Rights guide is pertinent:

Know who's responsible

When returning items, beware shops trying the oldest trick in the book: saying they're not responsible for the shoddy goods and you must call the manufacturer. This is total nonsense!

If a company fobs you off by saying “go to the maker instead”, it's wrong. It's the retailer's job to sort it.

It doesn't matter if it's an iPod from a high street shop or a designer frock from a department store. If something's broken, torn, ripped or faulty, the seller has a legal duty to put it right as your contract is with it.

hollydays

I've used appliance city in the past and found them excellent.
There's a site called white goods you might want to put a warning about this model on their forum

IWantMyOwnGenie

I will look into that! Thanks!

IWantMyOwnGenie

Ooh noted Wealdroam.. I will add AC to my never ending to-complain-to list!!