LG Fridge Freezer compressor failure

MarkAx

Hi I need some help on my consumer rights please.
I purchased a LG fridge freezer in Jul 2019 for £ 1680
In Jul 2022 the compressor failed . I contacted LG paid them £ 175 for an engineer call out.
He agreed the compressor was dead and would order a spare as it was covered by a 10 year warranty.
LG don't have any spares with no eta. and they and the engineer have said the machine is unrepairable..I have the engineers report and e-mail from LG confirming this.
(I think that there are no spares because there was a class action in the US against LG with regard compressor failure which they settled and then changed the compressor design )
I then went to the merchant who sold me the machine and is now trying to liaise with LG .
In the meantime LG have now contacted me offering me £ 1180 to "buy" the machine back.
As this part has a 10 year warranty which they say is included in the buyout price !!
In my opinion although only 3 years old this machine hasn't "lasted a reasonable length of time" and if it could be fixed would last another 7/10 years .
Do I have to accept a discounted price through no fault of my own or could I ask for a new comparable machine ?
Many thanks for your help
Regards

sheramber

What does the warranty say about  the item not being reparable?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

In terms of consumer rights they can reduce the refund after this period of time, best to haggle over the amount and see if you can squeeze a bit more out of them. 

What action they should take under the warranty will depend on the terms.

Alderbank

While we wait for the OP to tell us the terms of the warranty we can consider his rights under consumer legislation.

In my opinion although only 3 years old this machine hasn't "lasted a reasonable length of time" and if it could be fixed would last another 7/10 years .
Do I have to accept a discounted price through no fault of my own or could I ask for a new comparable machine?

Quite right, it hasn't lasted a reasonable amount of time and the courts would agree with you. Consumer law allows the retailer to refund what you paid minus a deduction for the amount of use you have had. They propose a deduction of 10% a year for three years use. Straight line 10%pa deduction over an estimated life of 10 years is very reasonable and you should accept it.

A new comparable machine? Simple answer is that a new machine is not comparable to your 3-year old one. They could give you a used, 3-year old model of the same fridge, to put you back in the position you should be in. Anything better would be more than the law strictly requires (although of course nothing prevents them choosing to do that).

...if it could be fixed... In civil law, if, might have, could have, nearly, don't count (they do in some other branches of law).
What did actually happen is all that matters.

Manxman_in_exile

Alderbank said:

While we wait for the OP to tell us the terms of the warranty we can consider his rights under consumer legislation.

In my opinion although only 3 years old this machine hasn't "lasted a reasonable length of time" and if it could be fixed would last another 7/10 years .
Do I have to accept a discounted price through no fault of my own or could I ask for a new comparable machine?

...Consumer law allows the retailer to refund what you paid minus a deduction for the amount of use you have had. They propose a deduction of 10% a year for three years use. Straight line 10%pa deduction over an estimated life of 10 years is very reasonable and you should accept it...

I'd agree.  10% pa straight line reduction over three years is a pretty good response.

Otherwise depends what the terms of the warranty say

macman

If you are depending on your manufacturer's 10 year warranty, then what you can get is determined by the t and c's of that warranty. What does it say?
Otherwise, you would have to claim against the retailer using your statutory rights under CRA2015, which does not require a replacement to be offered.

MarkAx

Cheers guys for the responses...I am going to reach out to LG asking for a discounted machine ( !) or to try and increase the offer.
First time I have come across a company  ..LG.... who just couldn't give a monkeys about it's customers...yeah I know ..naive !!

Last question  If I try a section 75 on the retailer would the claim be for 100% of what I paid them or do they try and knock the amount down for 3 years of use ?

Alderbank

Mark, you still haven't told us what the LG warranty actually says and who the retailer is. They would help us to give better advice.

s75 gives you the same rights with your bank as you have directly with the retailer. No more and no less.
You are still in discussions with the retailer? Banks say don't try s75 until you reach deadlock with the retailer.

Essentially the bank will look at the case through the eyes of the court judge. If they decide they would lose they will pay up to save their court costs. When the retailer tells them they have offered you full refund less 10% a year for 3 years of use I believe they would reject your s75 claim.

Manxman_in_exile

MarkAx said:

... First time I have come across a company  ..LG.... who just couldn't give a monkeys about it's customers...yeah I know ..naive !!

Last question  If I try a section 75 on the retailer would the claim be for 100% of what I paid them or do they try and knock the amount down for 3 years of use ?

Be careful what you wish for.  As Alderbank and I have already suggested, LG's offer to you is quite reasonable in the circumstances.  You can go back and try to get more out of them by all means, but as to them "not giving a monkey's", I think they've made you a very fair offer.  (Unless you can point out where in the terms of their warranty they should be giving you a better result).

If you try a s75 claim on a 3 year old fridge freezer where the manufacturer has in effect offered to return 70% of the purchase price, I'm not sure you'll get any further...

MarkAx

Ok so LG were good enough to send me this

Parts**

Warranty Period

Compressor of Refrigerator, Direct Drive Motor of Washing Machine,

Inverter Magnetron

10 years

** This extended parts warranty is applicable on specific parts only. The consumer will be charged for labour

after the product warranty has expired.

If, after reading the instruction book trouble-shooting guide, you believe that there is a technical fault with the

product, you should contact the LG Electronics Customer Information Centre.

LG Authorised Service Dealers and Authorised Service Centres in other EU Countries will comply with the

warranty on the same terms and conditions as those normally offered to consumers in that country.

In case of difficulty, details of our authorised Service Centres can be obtained from our Service Department,

who will also be pleased to help you with regard to queries concerning the guarantee or the use of your product.

Details are shown below.

•

This warranty is only valid when accompanied by the original Invoice, sales receipt or confirmation from

LGEUK of the warranty period. If the serial number is defaced, missing or illegible, the warranty with LGEUK

is null and void. In this case you should contact the dealer from whom the product was purchased.

•

LG’s obligations are limited to the successful repair or,

at its discretion, replacement of the product or

defective components.

So they confirm the part is covered
and  regards last sentence , because they can't fix it ,the discretion part is a financial offer ?  which isn't mentioned in the wording ?

Manxman_in_exile

If that is the wording of the relevant part of the warranty, then it would appear that if LG cannot successfully repair the machine then they are not obliged to do anything.  But they might - purely at their discretion and out of the goodness of their heart - deign  to replace either the fridge/freezer or the defective part.

It would appear that the warranty does not require them to offer you any monetary "refund" at all, so if they've offered you £1180 then perhaps you need to reconsider it before they retract it.

That's my take on the warranty anyway.  Others may disagree with me.

I'm not convinced you would get a better result if you tried to enforce your statutory rights against the retailer rather than going down the warranty route with LG.  Again, others may disagree...