Advice please: Baumatic/Hoover/Candy charges £64.50 callout charge for a useless visit

IvanOpinion

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I removed a splinter with a sewing needle the other day.  I think that qualifies me as a surgeon.

I am sold, you couldn't carry out bypass for me please.
PS: If you don't have the correct bits I am not paying the call out.

Aylesbury_Duck

IvanOpinion said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I removed a splinter with a sewing needle the other day.  I think that qualifies me as a surgeon.

I am sold, you couldn't carry out bypass for me please.
PS: If you don't have the correct bits I am not paying the call out.

The good news is that you provide your own bits for the bypass.  Makes my margin even better because I charge a handling fee for the blood vessel I'll take from your leg.

A_Lert

"In the unlikely event that the appliance is beyond economical repair or cannot be repaired"

Seems to me this is the key point. Hoover are claiming the microwave couldn't be repaired and therefore the call out charge is payable. Your argument is that, based on availability of the bulbs from Hoover and other sellers, the item could be economically repaired and therefore there is no call out charge for an engineer who simply wouldn't.

I think you are in the right. "Beyond economical repair or cannot be repaired" means just that. It doesn't mean can't repair because the engineer will only use one supplier and they don't have the bits.

If you can get someone else professional to fix the bulb I think that strengthens your position (and gives you a fixed microwave). You can say that [company] fixed it for [price], and Hoover are going to have a hard time justifying why they couldn't do that.

(I assume that considering it's a built-in and you were willing to pay £129 for the repair, the cost of a comparable replacement including fitting would be quite high).

TuppenceWorth

I am not a legal expert...
Could have/ should have points are not that useful to the OP right now.
I don't agree with posters who are saying to just suck it up.
The call person said it was possible to replace. The OP booked due to this information. I don't see why the OP should be out of pocket due to receiving false information. OP would need clear evidence of the phone discussions IMHO 

Jumblebumble

tangowire said:

Hello, I need an advice regarding a £64.50 callout charge Hoover is asking me to pay while I don't think they provided the service they promised.

I booked a repair with Hoover / Baumatic to replace a bulb inside a built-in microwave bought in 2014. I explicitly gave them the microwave model number and I was told there won’t be an issue replacing the internal bulb for this model when I booked the visit

Hoover is now arguing their engineer was unable to conduct the repair so their £64.5 callout charge will apply.

When the engineer arrived, he didn’t move or open the microwave, He just checked his Ipad and told me this bulb model is not available anymore on their catalogue and there was nothing to be done. His best recommendation was just to buy a new microwave!

I think this charge is unfair because:

1/ the bulb I need for this microwave is widely available on internet and it took me 5 minutes to find the equivalent bulb on the Hoover website, it is also available on Amazon etc but they don’t care obviously.

2/ the engineer didn't even check inside the microwave what was the issue, so it is impossible for him to conclude he was unable to complete the repair as he claims. The only reason is the bulb was not available in his catalog.

I contacted the customer service several times and asked for cancellation of this callout charge given that a similar bulb is available, and the repair should have been done. Unfortunately, the last answer I got is: “As previously advised, our position remains the same and we are not prepared to enter into any further discussion.”

 I’d like to know where I can raise a claim because I refuse to pay £64.5 for Hoover to tell me a bulb I need from their appliance is not available in their catalog. What’s your recommendation?

 

Have you actually paid them ?
If so how did you pay ?