Littlewoods - Hisense Fridge Freezer - Thoughts on this please

mikeylpool

Short version - We purchased a Hisense American style FF via Littlewoods in Nov 2020 and now have an uplift code from Hisense and interested in knowing whether can expect a refund or replacement.

Details:
Bought FF from Littlewoods in Nov 2020 in Black Friday deals (it cost less than the same item costs now on AO for example so very good price for the item).
Delivered to us in Jan 2021 and this is when we were billed by Littlewoods.
Nov 2021 it developed a fault (excess ice build up in the freezer) and engineer came out (We went direct to Hisense, rather than Littlewoods) and gave first diagnosis and orded a replacement seal.  
5 months later we were still messing around and have had 5 engineer visits in this time doing one thing or anything (Honestly this whole experience with Hisense was woeful, but that is another story)
A week or so ago the FF nose dived and ended up being worse (fridge not refrigerating, freezer cold but not freezing) and Hisense have issued me a uplift code to go back to the retailer with.

I am Interested in knowing whether people think we can expect (or are entitled to) i) Lw Store credit, ii) refund, iii) unit exchange.  i or iii better for us as Lw is not really something we need 600£ store credit as the items are normally more expensive and have no desire to buy a new FF from them - it was bought from them initially purely based on the price (example, the same FF costs £200 more than the same on AO).

Thanks all, looking forward to your thoughts.

Aylesbury_Duck

It's clearly faulty, which Littlewoods have acknowledged, and it was after six months.  That means Littlewoods have the choice of repair, replacement or refund.  They can reduce the refund to reflect the use you've had of the item (but it shouldn't be much of a reduction because you didn't get that much use of it).  They get the choice.  You can express a preference, but you don't have an entitlement to your choice of remedy. 

I suspect they'll go for partial refund.  Repair is likely to cost them too much, and as you've pointed out, with prices having risen, it'll probably be more expensive for them to replace it than to partially refund you.  What you might try is to negotiate a higher sum for store credit, e.g. if they offer £500 card/cash refund (no idea what you paid) and it would cost £600 to replace, ask for £600 store credit.  They get the sale, you get a little more than originally offered.

sheramber

Are you claiming under manufacturers warranty rather?

If so, it should state in the  warranty what happens if is not repairable.

Ergates

mikeylpool said:

Short version - We purchased a Hisense American style FF via Littlewoods in Nov 2020 and now have an uplift code from Hisense and interested in knowing whether can expect a refund or replacement.

Details:
Bought FF from Littlewoods in Nov 2020 in Black Friday deals (it cost less than the same item costs now on AO for example so very good price for the item).
Delivered to us in Jan 2021 and this is when we were billed by Littlewoods.
Nov 2021 it developed a fault (excess ice build up in the freezer) and engineer came out (We went direct to Hisense, rather than Littlewoods) and gave first diagnosis and orded a replacement seal.  
5 months later we were still messing around and have had 5 engineer visits in this time doing one thing or anything (Honestly this whole experience with Hisense was woeful, but that is another story)
A week or so ago the FF nose dived and ended up being worse (fridge not refrigerating, freezer cold but not freezing) and Hisense have issued me a uplift code to go back to the retailer with.

I am Interested in knowing whether people think we can expect (or are entitled to) i) Lw Store credit, ii) refund, iii) unit exchange.  i or iii better for us as Lw is not really something we need 600£ store credit as the items are normally more expensive and have no desire to buy a new FF from them - it was bought from them initially purely based on the price (example, the same FF costs £200 more than the same on AO).

Thanks all, looking forward to your thoughts.

If they offer a reduced refund, then a general rule of thumb would be the length of time it was working as a proportion of 6 years.

So if it was working from January to November - 11 months, that's around a 15% reduction (so they'd pay £85 for each £100 it cost).    If they try to reduce more than that, push back.  (e.g. as you initially went to Hisense, they might include the last 5 months in the "working" period)

mikeylpool

sheramber said:

Are you claiming under manufacturers warranty rather?

If so, it should state in the  warranty what happens if is not repairable.

Manufacturer warranty - just resulted in uplift code to take back to the retailer. It's up to them the outcome.

mikeylpool

The Outcome was brilliant.

Phoned Littlewoods and at first they um'd and ar'd. Talked about depreciation in value etc. We pushed back and the short of it that we got a full replacement with no addition cost even though their current retail price of the ff is £350 more than we paid originally for it.

Delivered the next day as well (we have it now) 

Ergates

Good result - well done.