Mini fridge not cold enough, manufacturer test states instead that my unit is very cold, what now?

erik85

JJ_Egan said:

I wonder if the room was to cold .(Yes it definitely had, it was installed along an empty wall in actually the coldest bedroom of the house )

Manufacturer says nothing wrong , why on earth would they falsify the result .

If the manufacture has tested then its likely that an independent report would come to the same conclusion .

equally, why would I falsify what I am saying. I had the unit for months, I know the unit isn't working as expected as I was the actual user actually using it.
As I said, I know nothing on the test they run, and for all I know, without meaning to fool me, they could have ran their tests in a very cold room and got those results. Their probe could be mis-calibrated. There could be many explanations around the test outcome potentially not being right.

It then sounds like I will have then to accept a knowingly non-working fridge back, spend time to research for an independent engineer to produce their report, and then it will be a fun game of which report will be deemed more trustworthy!

erik85

Alderbank said:

Erik, when you ran your test at home can you remember how much the motor was running?
You say that the fridge ran at 11C which means it was cooling a little from ambient of say 15C but was above the set temp.
I would expect the motor to run 10-30% of the time. Was it running continuously or hardly at all? These indicate different kinds of fault.

Again, comparing to our main fridge, I would say the motor was on for a comparable amount of time. Probably the 10-30% estimate you suggest is about right

Aylesbury_Duck

erik85 said:

JJ_Egan said:

I wonder if the room was to cold .(Yes it definitely had, it was installed along an empty wall in actually the coldest bedroom of the house )

Manufacturer says nothing wrong , why on earth would they falsify the result .

If the manufacture has tested then its likely that an independent report would come to the same conclusion .

equally, why would I falsify what I am saying. I had the unit for months, I know the unit isn't working as expected as I was the actual user actually using it.
As I said, I know nothing on the test they run, and for all I know, without meaning to fool me, they could have ran their tests in a very cold room and got those results. Their probe could be mis-calibrated. There could be many explanations around the test outcome potentially not being right.

It then sounds like I will have then to accept a knowingly non-working fridge back, spend time to research for an independent engineer to produce their report, and then it will be a fun game of which report will be deemed more trustworthy!

It sounds like it's working, though.  Wait and see how it behaves when it comes back.

On that point, read the instructions before plugging it in.  Often, fridges and freezers should be left to settle for a period after transit before being switched on.

erik85

Aylesbury_Duck said:

erik85 said:

JJ_Egan said:

I wonder if the room was to cold .(Yes it definitely had, it was installed along an empty wall in actually the coldest bedroom of the house )

Manufacturer says nothing wrong , why on earth would they falsify the result .

If the manufacture has tested then its likely that an independent report would come to the same conclusion .

equally, why would I falsify what I am saying. I had the unit for months, I know the unit isn't working as expected as I was the actual user actually using it.
As I said, I know nothing on the test they run, and for all I know, without meaning to fool me, they could have ran their tests in a very cold room and got those results. Their probe could be mis-calibrated. There could be many explanations around the test outcome potentially not being right.

It then sounds like I will have then to accept a knowingly non-working fridge back, spend time to research for an independent engineer to produce their report, and then it will be a fun game of which report will be deemed more trustworthy!

It sounds like it's working, though.  Wait and see how it behaves when it comes back.

On that point, read the instructions before plugging it in.  Often, fridges and freezers should be left to settle for a period after transit before being switched on.

Thanks for the pointer, I have always let the fridge settle before plugging in. Or not putting any hot food in. 

Alderbank

erik85 said:

...I will have then to accept a knowingly non-working fridge back, ...

I think you are being rather harsh.

erik85

Alderbank said:

erik85 said:

...I will have then to accept a knowingly non-working fridge back, ...

I think you are being rather harsh.

Sorry, how am I being harsh? Again, I had the fridge for months. I could experience it under performed, for a very long time. I was patient, as it was summer and god forbid the room temperature perhaps was too high at 25C; but as the colder temperatures drew in, there hasn't been an improvement.
My thermometer tests the mini fridge at 11C, when the exact same thermometer is placed in our main fridge, it reads 3C.
Drinks in the mini fridge were without a doubt luke-cold.
I treat the fridge with the care of a baby as it was so under-performing (i.e. no hot drinks put inside, any room temperature item would have been stored in our main fridge to get to a cold temperature so to not over stress the unit, we distanced the unit from the wall to make sure there was enough breathing space, spent just so much time in trying to balance the loads inside, etc), and then I am told I am being harsh because I label as under performing a 190 GBP compressor fridge unit which is only capable of delivering 11C in a room of 19C?

Sorry, I don't think I am harsh at all.

Aylesbury_Duck

erik85 said:

Alderbank said:

erik85 said:

...I will have then to accept a knowingly non-working fridge back, ...

I think you are being rather harsh.

Sorry, how am I being harsh? Again, I had the fridge for months. I could experience it under performed, for a very long time. I was patient, as it was summer and god forbid the room temperature perhaps was too high at 25C; but as the colder temperatures drew in, there hasn't been an improvement.
My thermometer tests the mini fridge at 11C, when the exact same thermometer is placed in our main fridge, it reads 3C.
Drinks in the mini fridge were without a doubt luke-cold.
I treat the fridge with the care of a baby as it was so under-performing (i.e. no hot drinks put inside, any room temperature item would have been stored in our main fridge to get to a cold temperature so to not over stress the unit, we distanced the unit from the wall to make sure there was enough breathing space, spent just so much time in trying to balance the loads inside, etc), and then I am told I am being harsh because I label as under performing a 190 GBP compressor fridge unit which is only capable of delivering 11C in a room of 19C?

Sorry, I don't think I am harsh at all.

The point is that when it was last checked, it was working normally.  I don't believe the manufacturer will have gone to the trouble of falsifying a load of tests just to keep you quiet, so something's either fixed itself in transit or something was wrong with the place/way you were operating it.  It seems from your description that it's the former.

If it's not working when it's returned to you, then speak to Amazon (with whom you have the contract) to see what your options are.  They may ask for a report, in which case you can get it tested again.

erik85

Aylesbury_Duck said:

The point is that when it was last checked, it was working normally.  I don't believe the manufacturer will have gone to the trouble of falsifying a load of tests just to keep you quiet, so something's either fixed itself in transit or something was wrong with the place/way you were operating it.  It seems from your description that it's the former.

If it's not working when it's returned to you, then speak to Amazon (with whom you have the contract) to see what your options are.  They may ask for a report, in which case you can get it tested again.

Agree with all you are saying.
I just wish there was an easier way as I spent already so much time around this fridge to tweak it to try to make it work better; then waiting months before contacting the manufacturer as it was the warm summer months. Also, shipping a fridge back and forth is not the smoothest sailing of activities.
Now is November, I departed with my 180 pound seven months ago and probably had only two months top of usage from the fridge. Not my best 180 pound investment; c'est la vie I guess.

JJ_Egan

Not harsh but quoting Consumer Laws where they don't apply to the manufacturer is a waste of time .

Be aware that the vendor can send it to the manufacturer for a report .

MarvinDay

It might be something as simple as the appliance being low on gas due to a leak and when the manufacturer receives refrigerators or freezers to be tested, the first thing they do is to carry out a re-gas to ensure that the item being under check is starting from a known condition.

If this is the case, when you receive it back it might be working as expected but could gradually drop in performance over time so it may be worth checking the temperature on a regular basis and keeping a written log of the results so if it fails again, you can submit this to help your case.