Domestic & General Insurance.

patters1978

Hi
Don't know if this is in the right forums so sorry if it is,  Also i appreciate that currently there are more wider problems around the world than mine but in my opinion i have paid for something so i should get what i paid for. 

I brought a American Fridge freezer 4 years ago from AO and took out the plan to insure it paying i think around £12 a month,  this cover is provided by Domestic & General.
6 months ago the Ice making part of the FF broke and to be honest i completely forgot i had the insurance on it,  anyway forward to the start of the year find details and make a claim.

Today the engineer has left after attempting to fit a door for a later model that didn't fit,  this is his third time visiting my house to repair the ice maker without success.
I'm left now with them ordering another door that is out of stock (and supplied by china) with no lead time for delivery,  when the engineer was on the phone to head office the lady he spoke to asked if the FF worked as it should the engineer said no its not making ice to which she replied yeah but it still freezes stuff!.

Now like i said before its only a ice machine and far more serious things are happening in the world today but i brought the thing for a ice machine i paid over £400 at the time to have the ability for it to make ice & i have since paid an extra £576 to make sure it worked as it should.
We have had to take 3 days so far off work to be available for the engineer and now looks like it might be a fourth! 

My question is the lady on the phone said that as long as we have the part it needs to be booked as a repair but at what point are they not being realistic about repair time?
Its now getting close to being 3 months for repair with multiple visits like i have said,  don't they have to repair within a certain time frame?
What are my rights here....

Cheers

shaun_from_Africa

patters1978 said:

Its now getting close to being 3 months for repair with multiple visits like i have said,  don't they have to repair within a certain time frame?
What are my rights here....

If you were claiming under your statutory rights then the repair has to be carried out "within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer" .
However, this doesn't apply when claiming under a warranty as you are tied to whatever terms and conditions are written into that warranty.
Claiming on your statutory rights (under the consumer rights act), would be very difficult after 4 years as you could well be asked to prove that the fault was due to a manufacturing defect and if you did this, the retailer can opt to give you a refund instead of a repair and this refund can be a partial one to cover the 4 years use you have had from the appliance.
For a 4 year old fridge/freeze that cost about £400, I wouldn't be surprised if you got £100 or less refunded.

patters1978

shaun_from_Africa said:

patters1978 said:

Its now getting close to being 3 months for repair with multiple visits like i have said,  don't they have to repair within a certain time frame?
What are my rights here....

If you were claiming under your statutory rights then the repair has to be carried out "within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer" .
However, this doesn't apply when claiming under a warranty as you are tied to whatever terms and conditions are written into that warranty.
Claiming on your statutory rights (under the consumer rights act), would be very difficult after 4 years as you could well be asked to prove that the fault was due to a manufacturing defect and if you did this, the retailer can opt to give you a refund instead of a repair and this refund can be a partial one to cover the 4 years use you have had from the appliance.
For a 4 year old fridge/freeze that cost about £400, I wouldn't be surprised if you got £100 or less refunded.

Sorry i think your miss understanding.
I'm paying domestic and general for appliance insurance during the plan any repairs are free and if a repair is not possible they will replace (probably voucher) regardless of how many years I've owned the product 
The FF didn't cost £400 it cost an extra £400 to have an ice machine the total cost of the FF was £1000

So with regards to appliance insurance is there a "within reasonable time" clause with a insurance policy?

patters1978

also another issue i have is the policy runs for 4 years then has to be renewed or cancelled next month is my 4th year so policy will be finished? 

shaun_from_Africa

patters1978 said:

So with regards to appliance insurance is there a "within reasonable time" clause with a insurance policy?

As I said previously, you are tied by whatever terms and conditions are stated in the warranty paperwork. If it doesn't state anything about repairs needing to be carried out in a certain time frame then you are reliant on their goodwill if you want them to replace the unit.
Even though it's being provided by D&G insurance, the chances are that it is not an actual insurance product that you have been paying for, simply an extended warranty.

JJ_Egan

patters1978 said:

also another issue i have is the policy runs for 4 years then has to be renewed or cancelled next month is my 4th year so policy will be finished? 

Yes if you dont renew it .

reasonable time that's down to the warranty as said . Read its T&C and it may tell you more .

If it was me i would try writing a nice letter explaining your problem without any waffle .