NEFF Dishwasher defect.

alanwilkinson

Hello Forum,

My 3-year-old NEFF dishwasher stopped working correctly and on investigation I have found what is probably a manufacturing defect in the internal case. The internal case has stainless steel top, back and sides and is joined to the plastic bottom water tray on the 3 leaving an opening for the access door. The dishwasher is integrated so when I pulled it out of the kitchen unit to disconnect the power I saw what looked like food along the external edges of the above-mentioned joint, on closer inspection I see there was also water there and this had made its way down into the base, probably affecting the electrical components so preventing it operating correctly. I'm an engineer so realise this problem is a defect as the bottom and sides are not designed to come apart once joined in manufacture.

I have contacted Customer Service at NEFF who say they could send a service engineer to take a look, a £95 call out plus parts £££, but they have already stated that if the issue can't be repaired they won't replace the dishwasher as its out of warranty. Reading further I find a defect problem should be covered by the 'Sale of Goods Act 1979' that states the responsibility for a defect such as this outside the warranty is down to the retailer who sold it to me - 'WREN Kitchens'. On contacting WREN they bounced the problem back saying it was not their responsibility but NEFF's.

Does anyone have any practical advice about tackling the problem so as not to protract the repair or replacement of the dishwasher? Has anyone had similar issues defects with NEFF Dishwashers or WREN KITCHENS customer service being evasive to their responsibilities?

AdrianC

They aren't being "evasive". You are currently asking for a goodwill claim outside the warranty period.

If you want to go legal about it, then SOGA puts the responsibility on you to demonstrate that it's an inherent fault, once six months have expired from purchase.

If the manufacturer refuses to give you a satisfactory response, then your legal recourse is against the supplier - you would need to take them to court, ideally with some kind of expert report to show that this was indeed a design or manufacturing fault, and not from - for example - rough handling of the tray or door in service - because you can bet that they will claim that's the case, if they can be bothered to defend it. Then, if you win, you'd most likely be awarded the value of a replacement dishwasher less an allowance for three years' use. What's the average life expectancy of a domestic dishwasher? If it's ten years, then that's a 30% reduction. Costs are not normally awarded.

Sounds to me like throwing good time, blood pressure and money after bad. Buy a replacement dishwasher from another manufacturer.

Guest101

Sale of Goods makes it clear that the responsibility is with the retailer. HOWEVER after three years it may be difficult to prove this was a fault with the product.


As you will have gathered, it's likely cheaper to replace than repair.


Items are not designed to work indefinitely, especially without regular maintenance, which no-one does anyway (certainly you don't mention it, so you haven't done it)


Also it's a completely random new post, in the wrong section and naming two companies.

Riggyman

There's a very good section on Consumer rights on this very website.

You should deal with Wren if this is who you bought the dishwasher from.

In my opinion, a dishwasher should last more than three years. So if you can show that you haven't damaged it and therefore it hasn't lasted for a reasonable amount of time, you are entitled to a replacement, a repair or a partial refund. Best you're likely to ever obtain is a partial refund.

If a dishwasher can reasonably be expected to last 5 years then perhaps you might be entitled to a 2/5 refund.

I'd definitely give Trading Standards a call for their opinion.

But as others have said, it may be a lot less stressful to just buy a new dishwasher if it wasn't an expensive model.

alanwilkinson

Riggyman thanks for the reply, you confirmed what I had presumed when I looked into the legislation, it's just nice to know I was interpreting correctly. At the end of the day the dishwasher cost £430 so if I boil it all down to cost then I would be looking at £170 at best being awarded, take off the fee to have its worthiness assessed and reported on then I'll be left with about £70 toward a new dishwasher. Need now to figure out if the aggravation I'm getting from the kids doing their own washing up is worth waiting for any compensation. No contest, I will just throw in the towel and take the useless germanic cube down to the recycling center before going down to the shops to get a dishwasher without a plastic tub in the bottom. There are some creature comforts in life you can do without and others you really do miss!

agrinnall

While I agree that a dishwasher is by no means a necessity your calculation is incorrect, if the fault is found to be inherent then the cost of the independent report is paid by the retailer, in which case you would get the full £170 (or whatever the agreed amount is, I think that's possibly on the low side). On the other hand, if you look on the Consumer Rights board you will find many complaints about Wren so you shouldn't expect to get your money without a struggle.

Apodemus

What was the actual cause of it ceasing to work? You would need to be able to show that the ultimate cause of death was directly related to the design fault that you are highlighting. If it is a good make, then it may be repairable on a DIY basis - if your engineering prowess is sufficient to recognise a design fault, it should be up to the job of fixing the machine rather than replacing!

lincroft1710

alanwilkinson wrote: »

Need now to figure out if the aggravation I'm getting from the kids doing their own washing up is worth waiting for any compensation.

Washing up will be good exercise for your kids. Get them used to it, when they go to uni and into student let, they probably won't have a dishwasher.

[Deleted User]

I've never really seen the point in Dishwashers - stacking up food (to some degree or other) encrusted crockery etc until there's enough to run the dishwasher (must be the best bacteria farm).

As against 20 minutes spent washing up (and I do cook from scratch and my kids have been washing up since they were 11.., and they know better than to moan or delay because their pc/games console tends to get packed into boxes lol).

lincroft1710

You have to scrape away loose food first, so not just simply put in dishwasher

[Deleted User]

There's always going to be some remnants for the bacteria farm.., unless you wash them first, which makes a dishwasher pretty redundant lol.