Samsung! £300 to repair but only 90 guarantee???

teachergirl

Hoping for some advice...sorry if this post is long. I own a Samsung 12kg ecobubble machine which cost me £988 in December 2014. Recently I started to have problems with the machine. It is out of its two year warranty but the motor is still within the 10 year warranty period. A local repairer came to have a look and told me he thought it might be to do with the motor so to call Samsung as it would have to be their contractor to qualify for the 10 year motor guarantee.(he charged me nothing) That's fine I don't mind having to pay for a repair. So I call Samsung who inform me that they do not have their own repair people but they do have approved companies to use.
I call the repair company,(Global FX) they have a £100 call out charge. This seems high but I agree to pay. Then I am informed that they cannot tell me until the day what time they will come but will give me a two hour time slot on the day. My husband and I are both teachers. So cannot just take the day off so I have to arrange for a friend to come around. When he comes he stays for 10 minutes and tells me that I need a new PCB board. Does he have one with him, no. Cost £120 plus another £50 to fit. We then also have to go through the whole "we cannot give you a time, you have to wait in all day" palaver again. As his visit has cost me £100, for 10 minutes work, I am not impressed. I ask how long the repair will be guaranteed for. He does not know? He has to phone his boss . His phone has no battery so I lend him mine. The answer is 90 days.
So I am expected to pay £270 for a repair to a £988.97 washing machine, a repair that they will only guarantee for a mere 90 days!l :eek:
Surely this cannot be right. I tried the helpline which was next to useless. Then I e-mailed the company and the long and short of it is, they say It's not their fault they are not responsible for the contractor and they seem to think a 90 guarantee is acceptable. What should I do next?

powerful_Rogue

Four choices.

1) Buy a new machine
2) Accept the repair
3) Get another quote from elsewhere
4) This link into number 3. Get an independent report stating that the fault is an inherent one and present that to the retailer. They will then have to refund the cost of the report and find a solution (repair, refund (could be partial) or exchange).

JJ_Egan

As above and their is nothing wrong with a 90 day warranty on a repair . Even more so considering the age of the machine .
An alternative local repairer may do a better job .

photome

May help you, a washing machine repairer told me a few years ago not to buy a "large" drum machine as the motors and spindles are only made to cope with the smaller drums, ie they use the same ones on both small and large drums and they are not man enough to do the job on large drums.

If that is the case it may help you as it may be an inherent fault, of course if it is just a pcb then ignore me

teachergirl

photome your reply is interesting. Firstly because it is a large drum machine and secondly because he told me it was the PCB. there are only two of us in the house but I like to be able to wash the duvets in it. But I will bare this in mind for future purchases. Interestingly it is working fine at the moment. It is the companies "nothing to do with us" attitude that I don't like. I used to own a Dyson washing machine( no longer made.) It was not very reliable but Dyson always came out to service it and mend it. Frequently charging nothing at all and guaranteeing the repair for a year. Consequently I am fiercely loyal to the Dyson brand but currently will never buy a Samsung product again.

[Deleted User]

A 12kg capacity is top of the range for a domestic appliance. Certainly the same capacity can be had for a cheaper price, but that doesn't address the Op's problem.

photome wrote: »

a washing machine repairer told me a few years ago not to buy a "large" drum machine as the motors and spindles are only made to cope with the smaller drums

I think that was a broad generalisation from one individual that should not be taken as gospel. In my experience, manufacturers do not use the same such components on the larger machines as they do for their smaller versions.

photome

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

A 12kg capacity is top of the range for a domestic appliance. Certainly the same capacity can be had for a cheaper price, but that doesn't address the Op's problem.


I think that was a broad generalisation from one individual that should not be taken as gospel. In my experience, manufacturers do not use the same such components on the larger machines as they do for their smaller versions.

Yes it was a generalisation, I was only passing on a comment.

Have you fitted any components on a larger drum machine.

He told me he had

[Deleted User]

photome wrote: »

Have you fitted any components on a larger drum machine.

I've not fitted any components personally, but I've examined the specifications on several makes of large washing machine. Certainly the cheaper versions use cheaper components, but not ones which are not suitable for a larger drum.

adonis

Have you tried posting on the white goods forum op?
with respect to the posters on here that know their stuff there may be more on there that know more about your specific machine.

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/forumsphpbb3/

neilmcl

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Four choices.

1) Buy a new machine
2) Accept the repair
3) Get another quote from elsewhere
4) This link into number 3. Get an independent report stating that the fault is an inherent one and present that to the retailer. They will then have to refund the cost of the report and find a solution (repair, refund (could be partial) or exchange).

You've forgotten option 5, ie, exercise your statutory consumer rights and get the retailer to offer a remedy.

neilmcl

Teachergirl, as I mentioned above you do have the option of exercising your statutory consumer rights via the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA), I'm surprised no-one else has mentioned this given we're in the Consumer Rights forum. It very much sounds like this is a fault inherent to manufacture, a PCB shouldn't normally be giving out on a 3 year old, top of the range, washing machine.

I'd be getting back to the retailer that sold you the machine to see what remedy they will offer, which can be one of, repair, replacement or partial refund.