Faulty washer dryer & property damage

mChavez

Hi All,

I would be very grateful for some advice on the best way to approach the following issue:
I have purchased a Hisense washer dryer from AO in March 22. It has worked fine until 2 weeks ago, when it suddenly developed multiple faults (faulty door lock error & lock clicking & sticking, controls developing a mind of their own & freezing, etc).
The washer was still under warranty (it's only been 7 months), so I immediately reported the fault to AO and Hisense. Hisense got an engineer out, who took the washer apart, checked & tested it and reported that he could not find any damage or problems at all & the machine was working to full spec. Engineer's advice was that I should keep using the machine & contact Hisense if any issues come back. No repairs were carried out.
The lock error came back the same day (!) and then disappeared, so I reported it to AO and Hisense, who booked another engineer visit, however, before the engineer could arrive, the machine suddenly went into a buzzing & clicking frenzy, followed by a lot of sparking/minor fire at the wall plug before I killed the power at the mains fuse box. Thankfully, nobody got hurt, and the property damage is miniscule.
The machine is now pretty much dead, however, at the moment AO and Hisense refuse to accept any liability for electrical damage to my property (very minor - just a burnt socket) and intend to repair the machine by replacing the motherboard, mains cable & the lock.

I would really appreciate some help with a few questions:

1) I am absolutely confident that the fire was caused by the faulty machine - I've had no electrical problems in the 9 years I've owned the house; the plug & the socket were inspected by the first engineer & he reported there were no signs of damage just a few days before the whole thing went up in flames. The machine, on the other hand, has been playing up recently.
2) Do I have to accept the warranty repair? The damn thing has caused one minor fire already, and I don't think it's safe to keep running it, even if one of their engineers claims it's OK after the repair (been there, done that already).
3) Who do I push the claims with? AO or Hisense?
4) What is considered a reasonable warranty repair time? I've got 3 small kids, so it would be extremely problematic to live without a washer dryer for weeks. 

Thank you very much.

Aylesbury_Duck

1. You're almost certainly correct.
2. That depends whether you pursue action via the warranty or your statutory rights.
3. Same as 2. Hisense for warranty, AO for consumer rights.
4. Depends on what the warranty says.  That may make consumer rights a faster option to pursue.

I'd start by telling AO you want to reject the machine in accordance with consumer rights.  Don't get fobbed off with a warranty.  Let us know what they say and people can advise accordingly.

mChavez

Thanks. Does it matter that it's past the 6-month time period since purchase for consumer rights route?

In regard to electrical damage, AO said that if I get a sparky to inspect the socket & report that it was the appliance that caused the damage, they will reimburse the sparky fees, but that sounds unrealistic to me - it seems unlikely that anyone can make a statement of cause & effect here since the washer is fried and the socket is destroyed.
Any thoughts on what to do here?

Hisense claimed the second engineer reported that the machine broke down because of faulty home electrics - I've already challenged that, as that was not what the engineer told me, he never inspected the socket or the plug in any detail and told me that he was not a qualified home electrician (his job is fixing appliances). I got a copy of his report and there's not a word in it about anything being caused by faulty electrics, so Hisense customer services are clearly making things up to cover their behinds.

unforeseen

If the socket is fried then it is more likely a bad connection in the socket itself was the cause. If it was the machine then I would have expected the fuse in the plug to blow.

My money is on the socket being worn causing a poor connection to the plug. 

I am not saying that the machine itself isn't faulty but the socket problem is/was probably unconnected and there is a good chance that it would have happened regardless. 

shiraz99

Aylesbury_Duck said:

1. You're almost certainly correct.
2. That depends whether you pursue action via the warranty or your statutory rights.
3. Same as 2. Hisense for warranty, AO for consumer rights.
4. Depends on what the warranty says.  That may make consumer rights a faster option to pursue.

I'd start by telling AO you want to reject the machine in accordance with consumer rights.  Don't get fobbed off with a warranty.  Let us know what they say and people can advise accordingly.

I agree with this. Ordinarily, as you've had the machine for longer than 6 months, you would have to accept the repair but the law states that the seller has only a single attempt at such a repair therefore you're now entitled to a final right to reject the machine under the terms of the Consumer Rights Act.

shiraz99

mChavez said:

Thanks. Does it matter that it's past the 6-month time period since purchase for consumer rights route?

In regard to electrical damage, AO said that if I get a sparky to inspect the socket & report that it was the appliance that caused the damage, they will reimburse the sparky fees, but that sounds unrealistic to me - it seems unlikely that anyone can make a statement of cause & effect here since the washer is fried and the socket is destroyed.
Any thoughts on what to do here?

Hisense claimed the second engineer reported that the machine broke down because of faulty home electrics - I've already challenged that, as that was not what the engineer told me, he never inspected the socket or the plug in any detail and told me that he was not a qualified home electrician (his job is fixing appliances). I got a copy of his report and there's not a word in it about anything being caused by faulty electrics, so Hisense customer services are clearly making things up to cover their behinds.

This somewhat puts a different perspective on it. It might well be that your electrics, if they were dodgy, could've caused the issue with the machine in the first place, which is why the first engineer didn't spot a fault with the machine. As it is past 6 months the onus is now on you to prove that the fault is inherent to the washing machine rather than anything else, such as your electrics. I'd start by getting a qualified electrician to look at the socket and mains board as AO suggests.

The_Fat_Controller

Certainly sounds like it could be a faulty wall socket causing an intermittent connection to the machine.

If the machine itself had shorted internally then the fuse should have failed first, not the socket.

mChavez

I just don't get the faulty outlet angle - house electrics have been working fine for years; the machine started throwing up errors first; the machine & socket were inspected by the engineer and there was nothing wrong with the socket. Then the engineer reconnected the machine, gave it an all clear and then the machine blew up a couple days later.
Hypothetically, yes, it is possible that the outlet became bad in the 4 days between the inspection and the machine blowing up. Not impossible, but surely, implausible.

What opinion can a sparky issue now, that the socket has burned? "It's buggered"? That won't be of help to anyone.

The one attempt at fixing is interesting - is that written in the Act?

The_Fat_Controller

Did the engineer put a proper tester into the socket or just do a visual inspection ?

Don't dismiss it until an expert, not a washing machine engineer, has inspected it.

mChavez

I was there when we visually inspected it, I have no idea what else the guy did as I had work to do and wasn't standing behind his back all that time. He plugged the machine and tested it while running as well and there were no faults to report, so the electrics were fine while he was here.
Hypothetically, anything could happen, but we are dealing with an appliance that was malfunctioning and home electrics that have never caused a problem before - why the assumption that the outlet was faulty?

Back to my genuine question - what opinion can a sparky issue looking at a burnt & melted socket?

unforeseen

why the assumption that the outlet was faulty?

Because sockets don't burn unless there is a problem within it. As previously stated if the washing machine was faulty to the extent that excess current causes the socket to overheat the the fuse would have blown but I assume it didn't. 
In which case we are back to a poor connection in the socket. 

Is this a socket that doesn't normally get disturbed, E.G. behind the washer?