Faulty product dispute with John Lewis and Samung - Small Claims?

jgallcash

Hi all,

I used to be an avid reader of this board but our first born child has put pay to that over the past 18 months or so

I have a long winded dispute with John Lewis / Samsung about a faulty fridge freezer and I wonder if you could advise me as it's looking as though I'll need to go to small claims. I'll post video links of the problem below so you can see just how bad the issue is.

I purchased a new Samsung Fridge Freezer from John Lewis back in June 2015 (paid on Credit Card) and at the end of October the item started to develop a loud grinding noise that occurred every hour or so. I duly took a video of the problem and contacted John Lewis. They are apparently unable to view video files but contacted Samsung on my behalf and arranged for an Engineer to attend to resolve.

A few weeks later towards the end of November and the Engineer attends and looks at my recordings of the problem and says that Ice has formed catching the fan at the rear. He takes 15 minutes and says its fixed. Half hour after he left the problem was just the same - so i took a video and called the engineer directly back from on the mobile number he called me from.

To his credit he said that he would come back in an hour or so. He attended an hour later and tried again. After he left for the second time about an hour had passed and I thought it was fixed but the problem started again :mad:

I called him back again - determined to have the issue fixed the same day and he came back after his other jobs and said that he was confused but would order parts and return in a week to fit them.

He attended a week later on the cusp of November / December (we are on to visit four now) and replaced the parts. When he turned the Fridge back on the noise started just the same and he witnessed it in full flow. His last ditch response was that he was going to try and level the fridge a little better to see if that worked :D:D Suffice to say that it didn't. It did reduce from every couple of hours to about 3/4/ times a day though.

We left the issue for a few weeks over Christmas as our son was in hospital and were away for the holidays so I chased the matter up at the beginning of January.

John Lewis were very polite and helpful and explained that after three attempts at a fix they ask the manufacturer to replace the item and they requested a pick up number from Samsung. Apparently Samsung refused this request and wanted to send the engineer to attempt a fix again. John Lewis promised this fifth attempt would definitely be the last attempt at a fix. I was very unhappy as I thought I'd been more than reasonable but begrudgingly agreed to try and resolve the issue.

Last week the same engineer turned up and didn't do anything other than look at the Fridge. He spent 20 minutes trying to recreate the problem that happens 3-4 times a day but couldn't. He told me that he was confused but that he would request the item be written off.

I contacted John Lewis yesterday to chase this up and they said that the engineer didn't file a request to write it off but instead said he could find no fault :mad::mad::mad:

John Lewis have spoken with Samsung who would like to come for a sixth attempt to view the problem and I have told them in no uncertain terms that this isn't going to happen. Five times is more than enough to try and resolve a problem with an item that is about 6 months old.

I feel that I've been more than reasonable having taken time off work every time to allow the Engineer to visit and to resolve the matter. I've not once asked for any compensation or a refund - I simply want the same item - one that works.

So finally my question is - how do I proceed?

Do I issue a letter before action to John Lewis and go ahead with Small claims? I've not done this in about 3/4 years so am not up to date with these kinds of matters.

Apologies for the long winded post. Here's some videos of the problem:

https://youtu.be/InvQ3ZxFevc

https://youtu.be/QUzo431WyME

m0bov

I would contact JL on the phone, tell them they have had reasonable opportunity to fix it and you want a replacement sent out today. Send a LBA and give them 7 days to resolve if they refuse.

cono1717

If John Lewis have advised it's their policy to replace a product after the third repair then that is what they should be doing they are trying to chase a return number from Samsung so they don't have to bear the cost but your contract is with JL not samsung.

If you have anything written down to verify the 3 repair thing they said then go after them based on that. Explain you were willing to give them till the 5th despite them saying it would be done after the third repair and you don't think it is unreasonable to ask them to follow through with their original statement.

jgallcash

All contact with JL has been via telephone so I don't have the three attempt rule in writing unfortunately.

I've told them that I'm not allowing a sixth visit and that whilst I appreciate they've been much more polite and helpful than Samsung that ultimately my contract is with them and they need to resolve the matter otherwise I'll serve a notice before action.

They are going to call me back today at some point.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself here but having written down the whole incident has made me angry because it's clear that I've been a bit of a pushover.

Do you think I should ask for some kind of gesture for all of the inconvenience and taking 2.5 days off work so far?

cono1717

Did you get a name of the person you spoke to who said the three repair policy?

I wouldn't go asking for compensation but I would add that to your argument "I have been more than fair in allowing you two additional repairs that went past the three that XXXX said I would have to have before a replacement was sent, and I did all this at no cost to you only to myself through taking days off work, surely you can appreciate how I am reluctant to take another day off for a fault that has been the same fault since the beginning, a fault that has been unable to be resolved despite 5 visits, a new part, a re-adjustment". [And a partridge in a pear tree]

jgallcash

No name either unfortunately. I usually am savvy enough to get the name but I was having a meltdown moment having tried to speak with Samsung Customer services at the time and the call was to John Lewis to say that I'd not be dealing direct with Samsung - only via JL.

I'll await the call from JL and see if the Customer Service rep can confirm the three attempt rule. and go from there.

In the meantime I'll look at an old letter before action and draft up just in case

Thanks so much for the responses so far

neilmcl

The key phrase at hand here is "significant inconvenience". You must press this point when speaking to JL as according to SOGA any remedy must be carried out within a reasonable time and without causing a significant inconvenience. You should be able to clearly argue that you've been overly patient so far and any further delay at getting a replacement will indeed be such an inconvenience.

Also, you could remind them that, although not applicable, but with today's legislation they wouldn't have been able to get away with multiple repairs as you would have had a remedy after a single failed attempt.

jgallcash

neilmcl wrote: »

Also, you could remind them that, although not applicable, but with today's legislation they wouldn't have been able to get away with multiple repairs as you would have had a remedy after a single failed attempt.

What's this in reference to Neil? Is it new legislation?

m0bov

jgallcash wrote: »

What's this in reference to Neil? Is it new legislation?

Yes, CRA.

wealdroam

jgallcash wrote: »

What's this in reference to Neil? Is it new legislation?

The 'new legislation' is The Consumer Rights Act 2015 - which only allows the seller one chance of a repair.

But the CRA only came into effect for sales after 01 October 2015.

The Sale of Goods Act is applicable to your purchase and that places no limit on the number of repairs as long as they're done "within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience to the buyer".

jgallcash

Thanks again guys.