Faulty Miele Triflex Vacuum - less than 3 months old - Miele wants to charge for repair

michbright

I bought a Miele Triflex cordless vacuum in January. After less than 3 months use, the motorised brush head suddenly stopped working 2 weeks ago (6 April). I phoned customer services who were lovely and said that as it's less than 3 months old, it would be covered under warranty.  I sent it in to Miele and after hearing nothing from them, I phoned on Monday 18 April for an update on progress. They apologised that it had taken so long and sent me a £25 voucher as a 'goodwill gesture'.

This morning I received an email from Miele with a repair report, stating that the repair has cost £175 and the vacuum cleaner will be sent back within 3 working days.  It clearly stated at the top of the report that the repair is covered under the 2 year warranty.  Obviously, I phoned Miele and again spoke to a lovely customer services agent, who informed me that according to the repair report, there was no evidence of the appliance being dropped or water being sucked up or any accidental damage and she would look into why I had been sent this repair note and get back to me.  When I heard nothing back from her, I assumed that it had been sorted.

Then at 8:09pm I received an invoice for the £175 repair!  I was never contacted by Miele to say there might be a cost for this repair or even a quote for how much it would be.

Given that the appliance is less than 3 months old, has been well cared for, not misused or dropped, I feel this is not right and it clearly should not have stopped working so quickly.  I feel this is not fit for purpose, but I'm not sure how to go about complaining about this if Miele insists on me paying for this repair.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

pinkshoes

Did you buy the vacuum direct from Miele? If you did, then claim under the Consumer Rights Act rather than the warranty. 

What do your warranty T&Cs state about repairs? I would put it in writing to Miele to point out this was a repair under warranty as the vacuum had failed due to an inherent fault.

pramsay13

It sounds as though there is a mixup somewhere. Ask Miele how to make an official complaint and if that doesn't work report back for more options. 

michbright

pinkshoes said:

Did you buy the vacuum direct from Miele? If you did, then claim under the Consumer Rights Act rather than the warranty. 

What do your warranty T&Cs state about repairs? I would put it in writing to Miele to point out this was a repair under warranty as the vacuum had failed due to an inherent fault.

I bought the vacuum from Currys online.

When I phoned Miele customer services, they clearly stated it is under warranty and the repair report even states 'standard 2 year warranty applies'.  The person I spoke to this morning also said it should be covered under warranty.

I now know I should have contacted Currys in the first instance, but when it stopped working at 8am, my first thought was to contact Miele direct as I had registered the vacuum as soon as I received it.  I have now emailed Miele and asked them to look into it and I will follow up with a phone call in the morning.

I have also had a web chat with Currys (and received a transcript), who have said that if Miele do try to insist on asking for payment, I can go back to them for further assistance.

If I had done something to damage the vacuum head, I would happily pay for it to be repaired, but I didn't do anything apart from use the appliance in the way it is meant to be used.

michbright

pramsay13 said:

It sounds as though there is a mixup somewhere. Ask Miele how to make an official complaint and if that doesn't work report back for more options. 

I've sent them an email and I'll follow up with a phone call in the morning... hopefully it is just a mix up and it can be sorted out. in the meantime, I have been without my vacuum cleaner for over 2 weeks now.

mattyprice4004

The only issue you’ll have is that to use your consumer rights it would need to have gone through Currys - they can now wash their hands of it if Miele start messing around. 

michbright

I've just spoken to Miele, it does appear to be a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.  A request has been put in to cancel the invoice, which should be done within a few days... lesson learned. Go to the seller first. I normally do that, but on this occasion, I just didn't think.
 

TELLIT01

Pleased to read that it has been sorted.  Possibly a situation of many still working from home being the cause of a breakdown in communication.  I recently bought direct from VAX and had a problem with the power head on that after just a couple of days.  I e-mailed them and a new head was sent immediately.  They didn't even ask for the old one back.  Obviously easier to sort when the head is detachable.  Overall though, despite the confusion, proper customer service from both companies.

michbright

TELLIT01 said:

Pleased to read that it has been sorted.  Possibly a situation of many still working from home being the cause of a breakdown in communication.  I recently bought direct from VAX and had a problem with the power head on that after just a couple of days.  I e-mailed them and a new head was sent immediately.  They didn't even ask for the old one back.  Obviously easier to sort when the head is detachable.  Overall though, despite the confusion, proper customer service from both companies.

Yes, it's all been sorted now and I got a credit note from Miele yesterday. The annoying thing is that the power head is detachable, so I don't understand why I had to send in the whole thing, including the power head. At least it's all sorted now. My washing machine (also Miele) coincidentally need to be fixed last week as well and when I was talking to the engineer, he said that a lot of the time, these things are hastily made in the factory, hence why we as consumers see new goods breaking down more quickly now. My washing machine issue was down to limescale build up on the inlet pipe because we live in a very hard water area. Note to self: Keep water softener salt topped up at all times.