Freezer broken after just 11 months!

Daisypod

A few days ago our hotpoint freezer just stopped working, it is only 11 months old and its a full sized upright freezer which was full of food. To say I am gutted is an understatement.
I contacted the shop I brought out from who have liased with hotpoint and got me an appointment to have an engineer look at it in 2 weeks. Firstly I am annoyed this is going to take so long secondly both the shop and hotpoint who I have contacted separately have said there is nothing that can be done about how out of pocket I am due to do much food having to be thrown away.
Can anyone advise me as to whether I have any choice about waiting so long to get it fixed and if I have any come back on how out of pocket I am with the food? It isn't with claiming on insurance as our excess is more than the food was worth. Thank you.

DCFC79

As its 11 months old you have to prove (by getting a report done) it was inherently faulty.

Can you not ask friends/family to store the food until you get a new 1/current 1 repaired ?

Daisypod

It was working fine though for the 11 months so would that class it as inherently faulty? As I didn't realise for a while most of the food had already defrosted and wasn't able to be rescued.

sjbrun

Daisypod wrote: »

It was working fine though for the 11 months so would that class it as inherently faulty? As I didn't realise for a while most of the food had already defrosted and wasn't able to be rescued.

an inderpendant report will show if it is faulty or mis use.

Without a report the shop may not help.

DCFC79

Maybe reading this will help

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchange

brewthebear

Fit for purpose electrical items such as freezers will come under this rule regardless you should have cooked as much as you could and had family round

[Deleted User]

Daisypod wrote: »

Can anyone advise me as to whether I have any choice about waiting so long to get it fixed and if I have any come back on how out of pocket I am with the food?

You don't have any comeback at all. Do you really expect to be fast tracked a replacement, just because you still have food to store?

Most refrigerated produce will hold up long enough for it to be consumed.

Daisypod

No I do not expect to be fast tracked for to that as the food is already ruined (over £70 worth) as I said it was already defrosted by the time I realised, ice cream, frozen veg, frozen left overs etc cannot be refrozen and we couldn't possibly eat it all in the couple of days following, not to mention that I try to be frugal and we are on a tight budget so I had all our weeks meals ready and planned and they were in the fridge and would have also spoiled if I had prioritised the defrosted food. I am just shocked that a freezer that it's is than a year old broke and Hotpoint and the shop just shrug their shoulders at me and think 2 weeks is an acceptable time to wait

[Deleted User]

Daisypod wrote: »

the shop just shrug their shoulders at me and think 2 weeks is an acceptable time to wait

You have to realise that limited resources are made available for repair/ replacement. It really is not reasonable to expect the shop to have enough people on call to respond immediately in the manner you seem to expect. If they did, it would not be economical (or profitable).

naedanger

Daisypod wrote: »

A few days ago our hotpoint freezer just stopped working, it is only 11 months old and its a full sized upright freezer which was full of food. To say I am gutted is an understatement.
I contacted the shop I brought out from who have liased with hotpoint and got me an appointment to have an engineer look at it in 2 weeks. Firstly I am annoyed this is going to take so long secondly both the shop and hotpoint who I have contacted separately have said there is nothing that can be done about how out of pocket I am due to do much food having to be thrown away.
Can anyone advise me as to whether I have any choice about waiting so long to get it fixed and if I have any come back on how out of pocket I am with the food? It isn't with claiming on insurance as our excess is more than the food was worth. Thank you.

I suspect 2 weeks would be seen as reasonable.

I believe you can claim for loss of food, assuming the freezer was inherently faulty. So if it is not too late I suggest you take photos of the freezer contents.

If the retailer disputes that the item was inherently faulty then you need to prove on the balance of probability that it was. However I would wait to hear what they say. They may not dispute that fault was inherent. (By the way an item being insufficiently durable is an inherent fault.)

How did you pay? If you paid by credit card then you can take action against the credit card company rather then the retailer. However I would wait on the retailer's response before taking that action. If you did pay on credit card then I suggest you read the following article. It explains why taking action against the credit card company can be advantageous.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases

unholyangel

Daisypod wrote: »

It was working fine though for the 11 months so would that class it as inherently faulty? As I didn't realise for a while most of the food had already defrosted and wasn't able to be rescued.

An inherent fault is one which was present at the time of sale but not necessarily apparent.

For example if they hadn't soldered something correctly, it may work fine for months before eventually deteriorating/breaking - despite working correctly for months the lack of conformity was present at the time of purchase therefore its inherent.

naedangers given some good advice for the food - take pictures if possible and if the item is inherently faulty, you'll be able to claim damages from the retailer.