Indesit SIA12 Fridge

martin907

Hi,
My wife and I bought a Indesit SIA12 tall larder fridge a few weeks ago from Tesco Direct. From day one we felt that the temperature was too high, certainly compared to our old Samsung one. We experimented with the temperature control (it does not have a temperature display) and although the highest setting reduced the temperature on the lower two shelves, it caused ice to form on the back walls and the higher shelves still felt too warm.

Tescos organised a visit from an Indesit engineer who stayed 5 minutes, measured the electrical functions but did not measure any temperatures. He declared there was no problem and that we should never use the top shelf for anything other than jars and bottles and told my wife that as the fridge is at the lower end of the price scale "You get what you pay for".

I complained to Tesco who were apologetic and organised a visit from a senior Indesit engineer. In preparation for his visit we bought a simple fridge thermometer and put glasses of water on all shelves and in the door in the fridge (recommended, as water shows a truer temperature than air). We put the themometer in each of the glasses in turn, leaving it in each for an hour before taking the temperature. When the control was set to 3/4 max temperature the lower shelf showed an acceptable 4 degrees but the upper shelf showed 9 degrees. and the door 10 degrees.

When the engineer came he used an electronic thermometer and declared there was nothing wrong with the fridge and that our thermometer must be faulty. He showed my wife the reading from the glass of water on the bottom shelf which was 0.0 degrees (but it wasn't frozen and there were no ice crystals - why? doesn't water freeze at 0) and the top shelf was 5 degrees, however he did measure 7 degrees on the door (above the recommended 5 degree limit). Could his themometer have been faulty?

However the long and short of it is food is not lasting as long as as it did with our old fridge, cheese is going mouldy, I can spread butter immediately after taking it from the fridge, in our old one it was solid.

I have since put two more digital themometers in the fridge and they show slightly higher temperatures, although that is an air temperature measurement. Is there a fool proof way of measuring the true temperature?

I have gone back to Tesco who said that their 28 day return policy only covers items that are unused and in original packaging but as I am clearly unhappy, they would contact Indesit again to see if they can do anything.

Is there any other action I can take if, as I suspect, Indesit say there is nothing that they will do.

JethroUK

I think you need an independent engineer check it out
Report that back to Tesco

If all you say is true, it might be worth buying a few thermometers to prove conclusively to yourself if no one else.

Personally I would start by buying a new fridge that kept my food properly and then thrash out. It might even strengthen your case.

The fridge is clearly faulty from what you say and you have a clear case for refund you just need to convince Tesco otherwise it's court.

I won't be buying indesit any time soon although tesco customer service is without peers as far as my dealings with them

chickendipperbabe

The engineer is kinda right, in a tall fridge its best to put the really perishable items on the lower shelves as cold air descends.

I've never been a fan of these tall fridges, much prefer the 50/50 type fridge freezer. We had a Beko model for a couple of years and it was useless, same issues as you describe and had to have the setting on high or near high for decent performance.

Cheap digital thermometers are sometimes wildly inaccurate, best off sticking to old school type analogue thermometers designed for use in a fridge.

Zandoni

I wouldn't get an independent engineer to check it out, that would be too expensive.


I'd get back in touch with Tesco and ask to speak to a manager and tell him you haven't accepted the goods as they are faulty and you want your money back.