Hotpoint Fridge Freezer problem

50Twuncle

We have a 3 year old Hotpoint FFA52 Iced Diamond Fridge Freezer - the first 2 1/2 years, it was fine - then 6 months ago, it started to make strange noises and not running cold enough (we had to turn it right down) - we called out a Hotpoint service engineer at a cost of about £120 - he took one look at it and told us that it needed defrosting (this IS a FROST FREE Device !!) - He sprayed some quick defroster on the elements and left us with a quiet fridge freezer...
It is now doing it again - 6 months down the line - we don't want to call out the engineer at a cost of £120 again but feel that we should not be having such problems.
This is poor inherent design and as such, should be covered under SOGA ?

rich13348

Frost free fridge freezers have a fan in them that circulates cold air from the evaporator which is behind a piece of plastic. You may find that the evaporator has become clogged with ice or the fan is becoming blocked with ice and preventing it circulating. Have you read the manual for it. It will give you advice on how and when it is necessary to defrost it.

EssexExile

It should defrost itself regularly in the background, it's obviously not doing that for some reason. Too many possibilities to speculate on here. Check Hotpoint's repair policy, when I worked for them the machine was guaranteed for 12 months after any repair, but since they've become Italian I suspect they're not as generous now. Anyway, I'd call them & tell them the repair wasn't successful will they please come & do it again.

50Twuncle

My wife has called out the Hotpoint engineer again - he is coming tomorrow
The cost of the repair is ANOTHER £109 - The phone call took the best part of 45 minutes - being passed from pillar to post and back again several times
The first woman that she spoke to accepted that since the repair was only 2 weeks outside of the 3 month warranty (from the previous repair) that it would be free - but we STILL had to provide debit card details
Guess what ?
Hotpoint STILL TOOK PAYMENT from the card - that same day !!
After being passed through 7 different people - my wife was just so glad to get a day for repair - that she neglected to ask for confirmation that the repair would be free !!
So - what bothers me is that the engineer will just do exactly what he did last time (a quick ten minute defrost) - What are our rights ?
Especially as this will be the second charged for repair in under 4 months ...
IT WILL DO IT AGAIN !!
And - looking at Hotpoints website - it says "Repair Guarantee – our repairs are guaranteed for 12 month"
So - should we be charged after less than 4 months for the same fault ?

50Twuncle

rich13348 wrote: »

Frost free fridge freezers have a fan in them that circulates cold air from the evaporator which is behind a piece of plastic. You may find that the evaporator has become clogged with ice or the fan is becoming blocked with ice and preventing it circulating. Have you read the manual for it. It will give you advice on how and when it is necessary to defrost it.

The manual simply says "
The refrigerator has an automatic defrosting function: water is
ducted to the back of the appliance by a special discharge
outlet (see diagram) where the heat produced by the
compressor causes it to evaporate. It is necessary to clean the
discharge hole regularly so that the water can flow out easily."


Which implies that no user intervention is required, short of checking that the hole is clear (which it is)

50Twuncle

OK Engineer came this morning
Defrosted elements behind centre of fridge / freezer
Told us - that we shouldn't have an ice build up...
Replaced circuit board
found faulty board
replaced original board
told us that he would return on Friday to try again
No sign of a refund from 3 months ago
UNIMPRESSED

EssexExile

I assume he's trying to change the board that tells it to defrost regularly, hopefully he's checked the wiring continuity, thermal cutouts & the heaters & believes the only other possibility is the board.
If you can find where it says repairs are guaranteed on their website I'd take a print of that as evidence. I can't offer advice on how to fight Hotpoint nowadays, in my day the area manager had a lot of freedom but I don't think they have area managers any more.
In the engineer's defence sometimes a faulty item does come out the box, he can't have lots of spares because he probably works on the whole Indesit range of appliances & his van is only so big. Of course some engineers don't deserve any defence.;)

50Twuncle

I have emailed Hotpoint who claim repairs only guaranteed 90 days ( can't see 90 days anywhere on website)...

50Twuncle

Fridge was supposedly repaired 2 months ago by engineer (£120)
However pump is now going 24/7 So we are giving up and getting a new fridge freezer tomorrow
HOTPOINT ARE POOR QUALITY
DO NOT BUY A HOTPOINT !!