What compensation/refund is reasonable? 1 January at 7:15PM in Consumer rights 7 replies 418 views

kimwp

Hi! I paid £169 for the AEG fixed price repair for my washing machine in September. The first visit was on 20th Sep by Pacifica, approx one week after I called and paid AEG. It's only just been repaired on the 30th Dec (details below). The fix was a simple replacement of parts that they had in their parts store. Given that I've had to take time off work for the six technician visits, eke out my clothes until I can get them to a friend or family member and rely on their goodwill to fit in additional washes when they all have families means that the delay in fixing the machine has caused me quite a lot of inconvenience and I think it's reasonable to have at least part of the fee refunded. Is there a way of calculating what is reasonable?

20th Sep - first engineer visit - problem diagnosed as PCB issue and part ordered and next visit booked.

27th Sep - second engineer visit - incorrect part ordered. Correct parts ordered and next visit booked for 6th Oct.

5th Oct - Text message to say that the parts had not arrived and the visit had been rebooked to 12th Oct. That week was not possible for me so I rebooked for the 18th oct.

18th Oct - third engineer visit - fitted one replacement PCB, however the other that had been sent was not the right one (someone had switched the box contents). The engineer started an empty cycle and advised that if the washing machine completed the cycle and then successfully did a loaded cycle then I should cancel the next visit as that would show that the broken board had been replacd. I was able to do two washes over several days so cancelled the booked visit. 

26th Oct - during the third washing cycle since the fix, the washing machine shorted the electrics in the house (I tried various combinations of starting things to test that it was the washing machine) Having messaged Pacifica using their online chat, I called 0191 607 5115 to arrange a visit and was told it was booked for the 8th Nov, but that if there was a cancellation they would visit sooner.

8th Nov  - I realised that I had not received a confirmation of the visit so messaged Pacifica and was told that the visit had been cancelled because the parts were no longer available. I emailed the Pacifica email address I had been given detailing the above history and received the following on the 8th:

"I am so sorry no one came back to you sooner to advise on the part being obsolete. We have taken this up with the technical team at Electrolux to find out if they can supply an alternative part number. Once we have a response someone would contact you."

11th Nov - I followed up, asking if it was known how long the engineers would take and was told they would be contacted.

11th Nov - I followed up, asking if there had been any luck with the engineers and received no response.

 

date? - I messaged aeg on their website with the above history and requesting help, but never heard back

19th Dec - I called AEG - they contacted the service centre who said that the parts had been available on the 14th Dec but that I had cancelled the 15th Dec appointment online so they sent the parts back (nb there had been no communication with me about a visit on the 15th Dec). AEG can only see the 20th Sep on their system. They booked a visit by Pacifica for Friday 23rd Dec.

23rd Dec - engineer arrived, however the parts had been sent to Leicester, the engineer rebooked an appointment for the 30th Dec

30th Dec - (same as 23rd) engineer visited with PCB board and heating assembly. The machine seems to be fixed - I've done three washes since.

visidigi

What are your quantifiable losses?

Whats the age of the machine? 

kimwp

The machine is 8 years old, what is the relevance of this?

I'm not sure really how to quantify the losses, I haven't paid out any money. I could tally up the time I've had to spend on the engineer visits (not sure if it would be the actual time or the whole work day) and organising to do my washing elsewhere and apply my work rate?

visidigi

kimwp said:

The machine is 8 years old, what is the relevance of this?

I'm not sure really how to quantify the losses, I haven't paid out any money. I could tally up the time I've had to spend on the engineer visits (not sure if it would be the actual time or the whole work day) and organising to do my washing elsewhere and apply my work rate?

The age of the machine is relevant to the rights to reject - being 8 years old there is a higher chance of it going wrong, which also means that its to be expected that there will be repairs and then will be time allocated for facilitating this.

There is an expectation you would need to be available - part of the delay was down to you (changing appointments) and part was down to the engineer getting the wrong parts (cancelling an appointment you didn't know about isn't a loss).

You're talking two digits compensation, at best here, and lower than higher I would expect (its not your day/work rate). You can only claim what you lost, if you are a home worker, then you would be claiming for the costs of alternative washing, as you would have been in anyway for example...

HillStreetBlues

kimwp said:

I'm not sure really how to quantify the losses, I haven't paid out any money. I could tally up the time I've had to spend on the engineer visits (not sure if it would be the actual time or the whole work day) and organising to do my washing elsewhere and apply my work rate?

Time itself you can't claim legally so any refund you might get would just be goodwill.
BUT if you had a financial loss,  eg lost a days pay, or having to use a launderette ), then that could be claimed

HillStreetBlues

Also is there anything about delays in their T&Cs?

ellenvan

Given that you can buy a new washing machine around £250 , we never pay for repairs. Just ditch and buy another cheap model.
Not worth the wait for us. 
Maybe ask for a goodwill gesture of £50 and put it into savings for when the machine needs replacement.

kimwp

Thanks all, any refund I get will be a goodwill gesture. I'll be requesting this on the basis of it should have taken two visits, but I had to make sure I was in the house for six visits, and two weeks (allowing for parts being delayed), when it actually took three months, plus I had to contact them quite a few times to get it sorted after they didn't turn up on the 8th Nov. So basically on them not providing a reasonable level of service.