Out of warranty washing machine

borzio

My 18 month old washing machine bit the dust last week due to a broken pcb. It cost £375 new, used 2 times a week for domestic clothes, in perfect condition. I believe this is not 'a reasonable time' given the amount paid.
It is out of manufacturer's warranty and Hotpoint want a one-off £150 labour+parts repair which due to the 18 months I think is unreasonable, especially as I have their free 10 year parts warranty.

Having read the sticky and other posts, I'm looking for answers to:


Do I address the complaint to the retailer or manufacturer?
Should I be looking for a repair, replacement or partial refund?


I'm also confused about whether the 5 year rule (for Scotland) applies as in the Consumer Rights sticky in this case.
Advice given will be appreciated

powerful_Rogue

borzio wrote: »

My 18 month old washing machine bit the dust last week due to a broken pcb. It cost £375 new, used 2 times a week for domestic clothes, in perfect condition. I believe this is not 'a reasonable time' given the amount paid.
It is out of manufacturer's warranty and Hotpoint want a one-off £150 labour+parts repair which due to the 18 months I think is unreasonable, especially as I have their free 10 year parts warranty.

Having read the sticky and other posts, I'm looking for answers to:


Do I address the complaint to the retailer or manufacturer?
Should I be looking for a repair, replacement or partial refund?


I'm also confused about whether the 5 year rule (for Scotland) applies as in the Consumer Rights sticky in this case.
Advice given will be appreciated

1) Retailer
2) The choice is at the discretion of the retailer. However, you will need to provide an independant report stating that the machine is faulty due to an inherent fault.

macman

I can recommend qer.biz.
They have repaired PCB's for me in the past and never had an issue. Obviously you need to be able to remove the faulty PCB yourself, or get an independent white goods engineer to do so. Typical repair cost is around £40.
The Whirlpool 10 year parts warranty is a con, as they simply charge up the labour rates accordingly. Unfortunately you bought a budget machine, and the life expectancy can be as little as 2 years on many (as low as 500 cycles).
You have no claim against Whirlpool: your statutory rights are with the retailer under CRA 2015. There is no '5 year rule'.

davidmcn

macman wrote: »

There is no '5 year rule'.

There is, in that it's the maximum period for making any claims. But it doesn't mean products necessarily need to last 5 years.

neilmcl

davidmcn wrote: »

There is, in that it's the maximum period for making any claims. But it doesn't mean products necessarily need to last 5 years.

And also that would be 6 years, as governed by the Limitations Act.

powerful_Rogue

neilmcl wrote: »

And also that would be 6 years, as governed by the Limitations Act.

5 years in Scotland from discovery.

borzio

Hi folks, many thanks for the replies:
powerful_Rogue: excellent, Currys it is then, saves messing with Hotpoint.


macman: I'll definitely look into it as I've seen the Youtube video and the replacement is easy, if fiddly.
The 10 years is a con, no doubt about that.
Didn't think we were buying a budget machine at £375, get your point though, and at 18 months we are well within the 500 cycle for 2 years.
Thanks for the CRA 2015 advice, that's priceless.



David + Neil: thanks for the input re timescale.


I'll get back to you all when I have complained to the retailer.

macman

Don't buy from DSG next time either; you could have bought the same machine from JL at the same price, and it would have had a 2 year JL warranty.
You are not going to get anywhere with Curry's. It's out of warranty, and for a claim to succeed under CRA 2015 beyond 6m you need to prove a pre-existing fault. That means obtaining an engineer's report first, at your expense. If your claim is rejected, which it will be, you'll lose that cost. You'd then have to go via the small claims process-so several months probably, with no w/m.
I've offered you a cheap and quick solution (£40 and about 4 days door to door). Sometimes you just need to bite the bullet.