Useless Samsung Fridge/Freezer Warrenty - What Next?

siskyline

Hello,

I am making this post on the off chance that someone could help guide me on what to do next in regard to my fridge/freezer. If nothing else hopefully it will serve as a warning to anyone else who has comfort in a product warranty. 

The Tl;Dr of the whole thing is that Samsung has a 10 year warrenty on my fridge/freezers compressor and it has failed for the second time. First in their general warranty period and now within their 10-year one. Their authorized repair centre cant fix compressors so have struck the unit off. Going through their Alternative Resolutions process they have now offered me 25% off a new Samsung unit. 

Not only can I not really afford a new unit (with the discount, it's still £500 on their cheapest model),  I feel like I'm being short-changed. 

My thinking is if there is any hope in going the citizen's advice or the small claims route to recover the cost? or is it just a lost cause and not worth pursuing? 

Realistically if I was to get a new fridge/freezer then it would either be second-hand or the cheapest one that the likes of AO/Currys do. I would struggle to even find the £500 to take Samsung up on their offer. 

Any help or guidance would be really helpful. 

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Back story;

I got in touch with Samsung who put me in touch with their authorized repair center who said it would be 3 weeks for an engineer to come out.

I then got an independent company out the same day to diagnose the issue. They looked at the control board and the LED was flashing a fault code that Indicated the compressor has locked (four flashes, if that makes sense to anybody). They then said it was best to get back to Samsung to do a warranty repair as the unit is still covered. 

I then told Samsung that the wait was 3 weeks and an independent engineer has looked at it and it's the compressor so would like to do a warranty repair. They then put me in touch with another repair centre who said they have a 1-week wait. So I didn't have much of an option other than to wait. 

The person making the booking said if it definitely is the compressor then we don't have the skills in-house to re-gas the fridge/freezers so would be struck off as beyond repair. 

Ok - got back in touch with Samsung saying all of this and seemed things didn't seem to be adding up or that it's just going to be not fixed at all. I was told that I had to wait to see what their qualified engineers say.

I've now been without a fridge for 2 weeks as we roll through this process and Samsung finally gets the report back from the engineers that says it's beyond repair and as a way to make things right is willing to give a 25% off code for a new fridge/freezer. 

To get the same style of fridge/freezer, it would be £900 with the discount applied. Spending 500/900 pounds on a new machine because the part which they guarantee won't fail in 10 years seems wrong to me. 

Quotes for repair I got were 395 from the independent repair shop and a ballpark of 500 from the engineer from the authorized repair centre.

Alderbank

Samsung don’t guarantee it won’t fail in 10 years. Nobody could guarantee that. The guarantee is that if it does fail in 10 years they will take whatever action the guarantee states. No more and no less.

Who did you buy it from, when, and what did you pay?
Separately from the Samsung guarantee you have consumer rights in law. These are with the retailer. Essentially if it can’t be repaired at reasonable cost you are entitled to a refund, but this can be reduced for the period of use you have had. A rule of thumb for white goods is a reduction of about ⅙ of the initial cost for each year.

If you are considering the guarantee approach, be wary of having third party engineers investigating. Many guarantees are voided if the appliance is worked on by anyone other than their authorised engineers.

You are perhaps a bit unlucky. My 17 year old Samsung fridge freezer has never given me any trouble and is still going strong.

grumbler

Alderbank said:

The guarantee is that if it does fail in 10 years they will take whatever action the guarantee states.

https://images.samsung.com/is/content/samsung/assets/uk/support/warranty/euro-bloc-warranty-1.1.1.pdf

Samsung warrants that the product is free of defects in materials and workmanship from the date of the original purchase of the product by the original Consumer
...
Subject to the terms of this Warranty, during the warranty period Samsung will, at its option, repair any defects in the Samsung product or issue a replacement free of charge (save for costs relating to transport, removal or installation of the product) within a reasonable period of time. Repair parts or replacement of the Samsung product will be provided on an exchange basis and may be either new or refurbished

Nothing about discounts and other nonsense. Make it working or replace - as simple as that.

That said, I have no idea whether their warranty is enforceable, but if you sue the supplier, the court, IMHO, is likely to take view that the device has to last at least not less than the warranty states.

twopenny

As Grumbler stated. If they can't repair this there should be replacement. 
But who fixed the compressor the first time? Providing it was Zanussi that's fine.
I wonder if this is the same as the holiday companies do and some retailers. They first offer a discount voucher because a lot of people will accept that which saves them money. The efforts to persue most won't make.
Also with an essential item many can't wait.
Don't phone, either email - I'm not a fan, too easy to dismiss - or write old style to customer complaints, stating what has happened when and quote the appropriate lines of their warranty.
Keep it brief and to the point. 
If they dismiss this then repeat the letter with the first phrase of their dismissal and you don't agree as per the wording of their warranty. 

If you are experiencing the same cold temps as we are I have found that an old fashioned metel/ceramic bread bin in a cold part of the garden is keeping stuff really fresh 

Alderbank

We don't know how old your unit is, only that it's less than 10 years old.
The warranty, as you have posted, is that if they can't fix it they will issue a replacement which at their option may be either new or refurbished. For instance if yours is 8 years old they may need a little time to track down a now discontinued model from 8 years ago which they can refurbish.
Not everyone wants a refurbished model, particularly since now there will only be 2 years left on the warranty. The alternative resolutions process has therefore come up with the alternative option for you of a discount off a new freezer.
Would that be better value? Could be. If you share with us the age and model number you have we might be able to advise.

If Samsung's engineers are saying it is now beyond repair after the previous repair I would be wary of third parties promising they can fix it. If you go that route make sure they guarantee the repair for a reasonable time.

siskyline

Hi All,

Thanks for the information and support. 

Just a general question - Would it be worth giving AO a call? I'm not too sure if they would do anything or just refer it back to Samsung. I'm guessing the compressor warranty isn't anything to do with them.

@Alderbank - I bought it from AO, Sept 2014 , £1200. I paid with a normal debit card (I know sometimes the payment method can be important)
Thank you for your note about having others look at it. I did have a small chat with the authorized engineer who came out and he reassured me that having someone observe the machine was fine. I didn't know it was going to be a warranty claim at the time. 

@grumbler - thanks for the link. I'll read that in more depth offline, but your highlighted comments are very to the point.

@twopenny - It's going to sound stupid of me but I don't actually know. It was from AO, they handled everything and didn't receive any paperwork. I'm only now finding out that these repairs get divvied out so can only assume it was a Samsung authorized repairer working with AO.

I'm glad that we have now switched over to email because every Samsung rep I've had just doesn't seem to be listening or understanding the situation. I've picked up on a couple of their blunders, while it's frustrating I'm just focusing on the facts. 

Yep we are in S.Yorks, we have been leaving the milk and butter outside but I noticed the other day that the milk bottle has fallen over with the wind onto the patio (Doh!). I guess it serves us right in getting the classic glass bottles with the foil lids.

Thanks again,
Simon

EssexExile

We had a similar problem with our Miele washing machine 9 years and 9 months into a 10 year guarantee. I was quoted £500 for a new machine, so I read out the guarantee wording over the phone and they caved in and gave me a new one free. So persevere, it can be done.

grumbler

twopenny said:

But who fixed the compressor the first time? Providing it was Zanussi that's fine.

Not really as the fridge is Samsung.

Alderbank

Thanks for replying so quickly, Simon.

Independently from the warranty you could pursue your statutory consumer rights with the retailer, AO.
I'm afraid though that they are unlikely to offer much more than 10% (£120) for a 8/9 year old appliance based on what the small claims court typically awards, which is not very much. They might however offer you a better discount than Samsung and off their whole range of fridge freezers. Perhaps you don't want a Samsung again?

twopenny

Grumbler I meant to correct that but with heating/car/digi recorder/body breakdown it escaped me.
I'm somewhat distracted 

siskyline

Thank you all,

I think sometimes it's just nice to hear that it's all not hopeless dispear.

@twopenny - it's totally understandable and understood the sentiment

@Alderbank - thank you for framing the expection. I think you hit the nail on the head with picking someone other then samsung. I do feel like I've just got unlucky. However their website isn't very competitive compared to other retailers selling samsung stuff.

I'll keep you all updated once I hear something from them