AO refuse refund of faulty new washing machine

kbmg123

Bought a Bosch WAQ283S1GB on 29.06.15; delivered 30.06.15. Faulty from the first wash. Spin speed is 800prm at best not the 1400rpm it claims to be - washing is wet. Noise is so loud that unable to be in the same room when it's on spin.

Phoned AO and asked for a full refund. They refused and offered an engineer visit. Said it had water through it so they couldnt take it back now.

Wrote letter to AO stating SOGA 1979 and that I was refusing to accept machine and asked again for a full refund. No response at all.

Phoned AO again and they repeated the previous response. Said if it went back I would only get 45% of the value of it. Said maybe I didnt know how to use it and had I taken the transit bolts out.:mad:

Phoned credit card company who have put the transaction on hold while I try to get AO to refund me and collect the machine.

Will never buy from AO again.
Will now have to battle to get a refund that I feel I am entitled to as it does not match the advertised description. i.e it spins at about 800rpm at best and it sounds like a 747 taking off in my kitchen.

Any advice on how I will ever get my money back from AO?
Thanks

wealdroam

So did you remove all four of the transport locks? Sounds like a reasonable question to me.

Did you install the thing absolutely level - as described on page 30 of the manual?

There's a warning on that page:




Is it installed on a wooden floor?

shaun_from_Africa

When you tried the machine, how many items did you wash and what sort of items were they?


The reason that I ask is that I also have a Bosch washing machine and it has an inbuilt system to sense if the load is evenly distributed around the drum when it starts spinning.
If it senses that the drum is out of balance (if for example there is only one items in there that is fairly heavy when wet, such as a towel), it will only spin at a very low speed irrespective of what spin speed has been selected prior to starting the wash cycle. (as explained on page 17 of the manual in the link provided by wealdroam)

Another factor that can seriously affect the spin speed is the stability and levelling of the machine.
If it hadn't been levelled correctly prior to use, the whole machine will vibrate excessively once the spin starts and once again, the sensing system won't allow the spin to go past the lowest speed.

kbmg123

Removed all 4 transport bolts.
Used a spirit level.
Stands on a tiled concrete floor.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Did all of that before we used it because know how to install and use a washing machine.

wealdroam

In addition to Shaun's points, the maximum spin speed is also dependent on the programme chosen.

kbmg123

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

When you tried the machine, how many items did you wash and what sort of items were they?


The reason that I ask is that I also have a Bosch washing machine and it has an inbuilt system to sense if the load is evenly distributed around the drum when it starts spinning.
If it senses that the drum is out of balance (if for example there is only one items in there that is fairly heavy when wet, such as a towel), it will only spin at a very low speed irrespective of what spin speed has been selected prior to starting the wash cycle. (as explained on page 17 of the manual in the link provided by wealdroam)

Yep. Read the manual and did wonder about that. So I tried a different combination of washing and its the same problem.
Whisper quiet on wash and like a jet engine on spin and nowhere near dry enough to hang out.
If i then choose a spin only programme after that, it is dry., although still noisy.
So only of use to me if I use 2 programmes to do my washing which is not what I bought it for for £400.

kbmg123

wealdroam wrote: »

In addition to Shaun's points, the maximum spin speed is also dependent on the programme chosen.

Fair enough. But I thought that when the 1400rpm light was on that it meant it was going to actually spin at that speed.

As I said before, know aBout machines as I've used a fair few over the years and know that some programmes like to use a different spin speed.

Think its a real poor machine and not fit for purpose to be honest

Goldiegirl

I bought a freezer from AO, and we unpacked it, left it to stand, as per instructions, switched it on, it gave a gentle pop, and that was it - it never came on.

We phoned them, and before they'd do anything, they insisted on an engineers visit, 'to confirm it wasn't working'.

We arranged for the engineer, who confrmed it was broken, wasn't sure what was wrong with it, and wanted to try to order a spare part, to see if that would put it right.

I wasn't happy with a machine that had never worked, so phoned AO again, to ask for a replacement machine. I had to be quite assertive to get them to agree, but, once they had agreed, to be fair they were very good and I got the replacement at 7am the next morning.

I think you'll need to agree to the engineer visit, to move on to the next stage.

kbmg123

I can understand their point of view because there are some people who are unsure of how to use a washing machine etc.

However, I'm not happy to accept a repair job and I feel that an engineer is sent to do just that.

the fact that you had to be assertive after having an engineer confirmed what you already knew and told them makes me question the customer service dept at AO.

I won't be buying from them again; or recommending them

Leo2020

It reads to me like AO are refusing a full refund on the basis of returning under the distance selling regulations. But you want to return as faulty under the SOGA, perhaps the staff are confused about the two - this wouldn't be a surprise as staff in customer service roles don't seem to get training in consumer regulations.

However, in saying that AO have the right to confirm that the fault is a manufacturing defect opposed to customer damage/missus/error. I would let an engineer look at the machine to confirm the fault but make it clear to the engineer that you do not want them to repair it. If they confirm a manufacturing fault contact AO and request a full refund. If this does work please post back here what AO have said.

chickendipperbabe

Must admit, I'm no fan of AO customer services - every other aspect of their service seems pretty good tho.

The first and only time I'll ever use them they messed up and accused me of lying. basically I ordered something advertised by AO as having a feature it didn't actually have, between me ordering and receiving the delivery (three weeks passed) they fixed the error on their website.

They were basically useless, lots of attitude and at no point did I receive an apology for their mistake. lucky for me I had a print out of the order confirmation page and item page which clearly showed I was in the right. I wasn't too fused about this missing feature, I would have kept it had they apologised but after the attitude I told them I wanted a refund - they collected it the next day.

I certainly wouldn't accept a repair on an appliance faulty out of the box no matter what they say. I would possibly agree to an engineer to verify the fault but would stop him from carrying out a repair.