Advice please

zoozoo1

I purchased a Hoover HPI604BC Induction Hob 60cm on 5 October 2019.  I was having my kitchen refurbished.  Having been let down by 3 different tradesmen (arranging dates then not turning up) and then Covid hitting it has only been installed yesterday by a qualified electrician.  I purchased a new set of pans suitable for an Induction Hob and trying them out last night found that only two of the rings on the hob work and not on all size of pans (not on the smallest pan 16cm)  The two right hand rings do not work at all with any of the pans.
I contacted the place I purchased it and they just gave me Hoover's contact details.  I spoke to Hoover and they said it will cost me over £100 call out (not including parts).  
If the hob was already faulty (although I've only just found out) where would I stand in relation to getting it repaired replaced by the company I purchased it from free of charge? 
Thanks
Ann

AskAsk

unfortunately it is out of warranty so there is not much that you can do.

grumbler

AskAsk said:

unfortunately it is out of warranty so there is not much that you can do.

Not really.

Warranty is optional and just an addition to the consumer rights set but the law.

And it says that goods must 'last a reasonable length of time'. Any judge will agree that reasonable time for a hob is more than a year unless you damage it.

The rights are against the retailer, not the manufacturer. If they fob you off again send them a letter before action and then go to the small claims court (online)

Goods buying rights

Small Claims Court

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi ZooZoo. You are almost certainly ok - you can prove it was fitted only yesterday.

As Grumbler says, warranties are largely academic. Products have to be of satisfactory whatsit, and a hob which fails within a day - or never ever worked - clearly isn't. Whatever is wrong with it was wrong with it on purchase.

Normally your issue would be handled by the retailer in the first instance, but it might be that in this case you are best going straight to Hoover with your claim, as you have. By that I mean that you make it clear from the outset what your intentions are; you can prove it was fitted only yesterday (in theory, it could be possible that it was fitted elsewhere for the past year, but I'm hoping that the truly immaculate condition of the hob coupled with the recently opened packaging will make it pretty convincing to them that you are being factual), and therefore have no intention of paying for a repair - it is not of merchantable quality. (You need to look up the most recent consumer protection act and quote it and the actual terms that apply here.)

Did the sparky actually open and remove the hob from its packaging? That would be useful additional proof that it was indeed 'new' on installation. 

If you go on the CAB website, you'll probably find template letters to use as well. Hoover might say 'Non' to begin with, but they'll soon crack. Most companies are taking into account the disruption caused by C-19.

fenwick458

It's worth double checking the connections, some hobs have a copper link you have to install between 2 terminals when wiring it up. I was once called to a fault where half of the hob didn't work, it was a simple fix when checking the supply I noticed the copper link was tucked in the side of the terminal block, not used
I've just googled the model instructions and it says terminals 1&2 are L, 3&4 are N, doesn't specifically mention inserting a link but the instructions look vague , it's worth checking or getting your electrician back to check it

neilmcl

AskAsk said:

unfortunately it is out of warranty so there is not much that you can do.

Unfortunately this is entirely incorrect. Th OP has their statutory consumer rights to fall back on via the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

@zoozoo1 The manufacturer has no duty towards you, you have to take this up with the retailer as they are potentially in breach of contract as the goods are not of satisfactory quality. As it's been over a year you're unlikely to get them to give you a full refund but you may get a repair, replacement or possible partial refund taking into account the time you've actually had the hob. They may ask you to prove the fault was there at the time of purchase, ie, inherent to manufacture, rather than for example user damage etc. You may have to pay for this but you are entitled to get this refunded should this prove in your favour.

Also bear in mind that if you used a credit card to pay for the hob then they are also equally liable and you'll be able to raise a section 75 claim with them.

So, as you can see, there's plenty you can do.

theonlywayisup

It may be your pans rather than your hob.  

There can be issues with small pans on some induction hobs, particularly when pans are coated (painted) or aluminium with induction-ready base, non flat base or a small contact surface area - it will not be as 'responsive' as a stainless steel/cast iron pan with a large flat surface area.   It may be obvious but you should always check that the pan has sufficient contact within the 'ring' and that it isn't too small for that 'ring' otherwise it won't work. 

An easy and cheap solution is to buy an induction hob adapter, which is like a thin flat slice that sits under your pan and makes the connection to the hob, thus allowing the pan to heat. Not as effective as a pan on the hob, but if your pan isn't working it may be a solution. 

Le_Kirk

I purchased a new set of pans suitable for an Induction Hob and trying them out last night found that only two of the rings on the hob work and not on all size of pans (not on the smallest pan 16cm)  The two right hand rings do not work at all with any of the pans.

Would this not suggest it is not the pans?

AskAsk

guys, i know all these consumer rights and so, but has anybody ever taken out a small claims in these situations against a retailer and actually won??

Jeepers_Creepers

AskAsk said:

guys, i know all these consumer rights and so, but has anybody ever taken out a small claims in these situations against a retailer and actually won??

No, but I was prepared to - and the company in question conceded before it happened.

AND that company was Apple. AND the product was out of warranty. AND I'd taken it apart to try an effect an out-of-warranty repair myself first. :-)

My argument - and, lawdie, it was an argument... - was that the cause of the problem - a cracked screen on an iPad Air - was only discovered when I remove the old one and tried to replace with it with new; it wouldn't seat as one battery cell had ballooned up by nearly twice its size. 

I also argued (CRA) that, even tho' it was out of warranty by a year, an item of that quality and expense should not have a failed battery within that time period. 

Ultimately it was only my adamancy that I would use MoneyClaim.org and the CRA to recoup the costs should they charge me that they gave up and did it FOC.

The bottom line for me is, if I truly believe I am being treated unfairly, I will keep on at them until they crack. Based on what ZooZoo has told us, I would pursue this if it were me, and I'm pretty sure I'd win.

Caveats - that it ain't an installation or operating issue as pointed out by others above :-)

ZooZoo, can you call out the installer first to check? Hopefully they could do this in passing - get access from below without having to remove it.

neilmcl

AskAsk said:

guys, i know all these consumer rights and so, but has anybody ever taken out a small claims in these situations against a retailer and actually won??

Not personally but there are plenty of people on these forums that have. The important point is that you should always be aware of your statutory rights,, so advising someone that there's nothing they can do is really poor advice don't you think?