Getting a manufacturer to replace a faulty appliance

orange-juice

Hi there,


I had a ceramic hob fitted by a small business owner (a self-employed appliance guy) about 9 months ago. The hob was to come with a 2 year warranty which I registered immediately. I paid by bank transfer, not credit or debit card.



The hob cracked within 9 months of use and I lodged a repair about 7 weeks ago with the warranty provider (A company called Repair Tek).



Initially, they said a guy needed to come out, inspect the hob and check for no user error, even though the crack is about 30 cm. The 3rd party they put me in touch with advised me that they didn't need to come out and could just put one on order. This happened within about a week since I logged a call with them which seemed positive.


Since then, they've been going about things incredibly slowly. Repair Tek said the hold up was because the the replacement hob is out of stock from the warehouse that they order in from in France. They then contradicted themselves again by saying that they've finally authorised a replacement and were going to get the appliance engineer who I used first time round to replace it for me. They said the onus was on him to replace it and then for him to invoice the warranty provider for the work. I told them that there was no way this would proceed as they expect, and to no one's surprise, the engineer declined their offer.


This has now been supposedly passed to the manufacturer who in turn are telling me that my hob is discontinued, and that my options are either getting one that is of lower spec (and cheaper) installed as a like for like is out of stock and they do not know how long it'll take for it to come in or I claim a refund from the appliance engineer.



I know I'm being messed around. I would love to be provided with some sort of template or technical legal-ese to use to vent my frustration and show them that I'm not happy with the service, I expected better when I chose the hob that supposedly came from a reputable brand and I just can't put up with it anymore..?


Thanks in advance.

JJ_Egan

You have no rights against the manufacturer .
Your consumer rights are against the vendor .
The warranty would give you certain rights subject to its terms .


Key here is item not available and no templates will make it available .
A letter before action to the warranty company may help but again it cannot magic a non exsistent hub .

orange-juice

JJ_Egan wrote: »

You have no rights against the manufacturer...

You make valid points about my consumer rights, I thought I would have more against the manufacturer.


In light of this, I might try the vendor as he was a business I worked with a lot in my previous line of work.



Are there any legal-ese/templates/technical jargon I could use with him as in that other previous line of work, when there were problems with the appliances that he fitted, he would just deflect it back on to the manufacturer warranty?

JJ_Egan

See links at the top of the page .

macman

OP, you don't need any legal jargon at all. Your statutory rights are with the retailer, not the manufacturer, the majority of them under CRA 2015.
The only rights you have with the manufacturer are those granted to you by the terms of their 2 year warranty.

bris

macman wrote: »

OP, you don't need any legal jargon at all. Your statutory rights are with the retailer, not the manufacturer, the majority of them under CRA 2015.
The only rights you have with the manufacturer are those granted to you by the terms of their 2 year warranty.

It's been 9 months so the onus is on the OP to prove the blame lies with the product. Not an easy thing to do when physical damage is the problem, and a crack will look like physical damage.

orange-juice

Just a quick update, so I accepted the manufacturer's offer to putting in a replacement hob of a lower spec.

Unfortunately when their engineer came out, they'd said they couldn't replace it because the broken hob wasn't installed in line with the installation guidelines, the hob has to be installed 760 mm away from the cooker hood but in my case, the difference in length is 500 mm or so:mad: On top of that, their engineer also said that in order to wire in a new hob, they'd have to take out the integrated fridge freezer - this i take issues with as this wasn't necessary when the broken hob was fitted. They did however offer to leave the new hob with me, so that I could get it fitted elsewhere which I now regret declining (too many things going at that time.. I didn't think the original guy would have made any mistakes).

Anyway, it looks like the circumstances have changed. The guy who fitted it for me first time round seems insistent that I rely on the manufacturer warranty, which now seems to be null.


I know the guy, who is a sole trader, has reps for each brand that he deals with.. I'm sure there's something he can do, but I can't seem to find the appropriate links/docs in the stickied threads to persuade him to do it :mad::mad::mad:


1. Should I have a leg to stand on with my guy? When he provided me with a quotation of costs to fitting hobs he had in stock, he did provide me with the brand and model numbers, could he argue that I should have researched them to check the installation could be done as per the specfications of my kitchen (that seems desperate of him?)
2. Or am out of luck enforcing my rights, due in part to the time period in question, unless I go to court as per Martin's recent podcast?

This came out more as a ramble than a cry for help but if there is any further guidance, that would be most appreciated.

zoob

The recommended clear distance of between 650mm (for electric) or 750mm (for gas) above any surface your hob.
It looks like the exsisting hob should not have being installed in the first place
Did you pick and buy the hob yourselves and get the appailnce guy to fit it?

orange-juice

zoob wrote: »

The recommended clear distance of between 650mm (for electric) or 750mm (for gas) above any surface your hob.
It looks like the exsisting hob should not have being installed in the first place
Did you pick and buy the hob yourselves and get the appailnce guy to fit it?

Hi Zoob,


No. The appliace guy whom I hired quoted me on two hobs that he could possibly fit. I paid him to supply and fit.