Currys SAD FART claim

markhumpy

Hi, advice welcome please!
We bought a Kenwood fridge/freezer from Currys online in March 2019. We did not buy an extended warranty so the 1yr lapsed some time ago. It has now stopped working, i.e. stopped freezing/refrigeration. We followed Currys advice in attempting to reboot by switching off, leave for 48hrs, switch on, with no joy. So then contacted them again and were advised there was a £179 charge to call out out of warranty, but when i used the Consumer Rights Act card they said they would assess - this has now taken them a week to do and i have now had to pay the £179 for their engineer to come and assess after all! And we have to wait another week for their next available date - 3 weeks without it, good job it has been cold outside!
Under the SAD FART mantra i believe this product has not lasted a reasonable amount of time - 18 months for a fridge/freezer costing £600 - what do you think?
I do intend to use Section 75 protection if Currys dismiss my claim to them.
TIA, Mark

jon81uk

As its over six months old, you need proof that the fault was there when it was manufactured. Get a report done and if it shows that it is a manufacturing defect then Currys should pay for the report and the repairs.

DiddyDavies

Under the CRA, the onus is on you to prove an inherent defect and this applies whether you are claiming from Currys or using S75 against the credit provider.
If you already have a booking for an engineer to call next week, then unless you can find someone who can get there sooner and supply a written report before this, you would probably be best sticking with the planned visit for now.

JJ_Egan

CRA refund if due less 18 months usage is the vendors right .

DiddyDavies

markhumpy said:

3 weeks without it, good job it has been cold outside!

As you refer to the outside temperature, do you have this appliance in an unheated garage or somewhere similar?
If so, have you checked to make sure that it's suitable for such a location?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DiddyDavies said:

markhumpy said:

3 weeks without it, good job it has been cold outside!

As you refer to the outside temperature, do you have this appliance in an unheated garage or somewhere similar?
If so, have you checked to make sure that it's suitable for such a location?

I think the OP means as it's cold outside you can stick your milk in the garden by the back door and not worry about it going off.

OP if a report (either from you or Currys) shows the unit has failed due to something that wasn't caused by yourself then they should replace, repair or refund. A refund may be reduced to account for usage vs expected lifespan.

Currys should also refund the cost of the report (again either yours or theirs), an independent appliance repair person would be my personal choice over the Currys/manufacturer employee. 

pinkshoes

markhumpy said:

Hi, advice welcome please!
We bought a Kenwood fridge/freezer from Currys online in March 2019. We did not buy an extended warranty so the 1yr lapsed some time ago. It has now stopped working, i.e. stopped freezing/refrigeration. We followed Currys advice in attempting to reboot by switching off, leave for 48hrs, switch on, with no joy. So then contacted them again and were advised there was a £179 charge to call out out of warranty, but when i used the Consumer Rights Act card they said they would assess - this has now taken them a week to do and i have now had to pay the £179 for their engineer to come and assess after all! And we have to wait another week for their next available date - 3 weeks without it, good job it has been cold outside!
Under the SAD FART mantra i believe this product has not lasted a reasonable amount of time - 18 months for a fridge/freezer costing £600 - what do you think?
I do intend to use Section 75 protection if Currys dismiss my claim to them.
TIA, Mark

Currys are mostly correct. 
As it is more than 6 months old, YOU need to prove that it failed due to an inherent fault, rather than mis-use.

The £179 fee will be refunded if the fault is found to be inherent. You could also get your own engineers report if you can get it sooner than 3 weeks to prove it was an inherent fault, then use this to claim under your consumer rights. The would have to refund the cost of the report.

Currys then get to choose whether they repair, refund (partial) or replace. They then might want their own engineer to take a look if it is fixable so could take even longer...

So what they are offering sound fair. Just make sure they refund the report cost when it shows that it was inherently faulty. 

Manxman_in_exile

I'm always surprised by the number of fridge/freezers that seem to break down so quickly on these boards.  Our current F/F dates back 25 years this coming June and the one we had before that for eight years was a hand-me-down from the in-laws.

Unless a report clearly points to damage or bad handling after purchase, there ought to be a presumption that the item was faulty.  Abroken F/F after 18 months is a joke.

DiddyDavies

Manxman_in_exile said:

Our current F/F dates back 25 years this coming June and the one we had before that for eight years was a hand-me-down from the in-laws.

I wouldn't be surprised if both of those appliances were far sturdier and made of better quality components than many of the ones on sale today.
The tumble dryer I have is now about 18 years old and compared to many modern examples, it's built like a brick shi**ouse, made from heavy gauge metal and only a tiny bit of plastic on the front of it.
True, it might not be the most energy efficient one going but it's still working perfectly and not a sign of rust or corrosion despite it having been in an unheated garage for the past 9 years.

markhumpy

Thanks everyone for your very useful comments, much appreciated.
Currys Engineer has been today and found the fault to be a leak on the internals causing a complete release of all gas in the system, irreparable according to the engineer. Report will be submitted today and i am hopeful to get a response from Currys soon on next steps - so appears I should get money back on Engineer visit and will wait and see what they offer to replace it...

TadleyBaggie

But does the report say that the leak was due to a manufacturing defect?