NEFF Microwave / customer rights

LymeRockers

Hello, I wonder if anyone can assist with the ongoing battle I am having with Neff. We purchased an expensive microwave in 2018 which developed a fault during in May 2021 during lockdown. After an initial repair we had further numerous call outs/cancellations, long delays of parts for the same problem that Neff decided to replace the microwave with a like/like new one in May 2022.

The original fault happened just after the warranty had expired but the fault was so unusual that we were able to get them and fix it as a microwave of their quality should not sudden breakdown so soon.

Now the replacement one has suffered a different fault and when I called to arrange for an engineer, I was told that we would have to pay the call out charge and parts (if any) as they replaced our old one as a ‘goodwill gesture’ and any warranty left is linked to the original purchase.

I argued that a brand-new microwave should have a 12-month warranty from May 22 otherwise they could have simply replaced our old one with another faulty one they had in stock as why would it have a fault after only 10months. They then came back to say that as another ‘goodwill gesture’ they would send out an engineer/costs but any works done will have no warranty and that I should take out my own extended warranty cover going forward.

Where do I stand with them as we have nothing in writing from them that states the replacement one was provided as a goodwill gesture and therefore it has no warranty cover. They gave us a brand-new microwave which developed a fault after 10 months. 

Extending the warranty with D&G gives me the following prices and I feel annoyed that I have to pay a more expensive cover a microwave that’s only 10months old. Their customer service has been shocking, confrontational and for a product that prides itself on quality its no such thing.

Is the product in warranty - NO

when was it purchased - (no option to say May 22) so I input March 2018 according to your advice that it followed the old microwave. 

Price £10.80 per month

 

or is the product in warranty - Yes

when was it purchased - May 22

Price £5.79 per month

 Any help will be appreciated.

Wonka_2

The issue here is you didn't 'buy' the replacement and in law the warranty doesn't restart from the time of replacement (otherwise some manufacturers might end up in a perpetual circle of replacement)

Aylesbury_Duck

Warranties rarely, if ever, refresh when the item is replaced.   Added to the fact that the replacement was provided as a goodwill gesture outside of the original warranty period, you don't have any rights to anything else when it comes to the warranty.

Alderbank

Who did you buy the original microwave from?

According to a recent thread here, John Lewis manage replacements differently under their own guarantee - they give a full refund and use the refund to purchase a new appliance which as a new purchase comes with full guarantee (and full consumer rights presumably).

Otherwise as above.

DullGreyGuy

LymeRockers said:

Hello, I wonder if anyone can assist with the ongoing battle I am having with Neff. We purchased an expensive microwave in 2018 which developed a fault during in May 2021 during lockdown. After an initial repair we had further numerous call outs/cancellations, long delays of parts for the same problem that Neff decided to replace the microwave with a like/like new one in May 2022.

The original fault happened just after the warranty had expired but the fault was so unusual that we were able to get them and fix it as a microwave of their quality should not sudden breakdown so soon.

Now the replacement one has suffered a different fault and when I called to arrange for an engineer, I was told that we would have to pay the call out charge and parts (if any) as they replaced our old one as a ‘goodwill gesture’ and any warranty left is linked to the original purchase.

I argued that a brand-new microwave should have a 12-month warranty from May 22 otherwise they could have simply replaced our old one with another faulty one they had in stock as why would it have a fault after only 10months. They then came back to say that as another ‘goodwill gesture’ they would send out an engineer/costs but any works done will have no warranty and that I should take out my own extended warranty cover going forward.

Where do I stand with them as we have nothing in writing from them that states the replacement one was provided as a goodwill gesture and therefore it has no warranty cover. They gave us a brand-new microwave which developed a fault after 10 months. 

Extending the warranty with D&G gives me the following prices and I feel annoyed that I have to pay a more expensive cover a microwave that’s only 10months old. Their customer service has been shocking, confrontational and for a product that prides itself on quality its no such thing.

Is the product in warranty - NO

when was it purchased - (no option to say May 22) so I input March 2018 according to your advice that it followed the old microwave. 

Price £10.80 per month

 

or is the product in warranty - Yes

when was it purchased - May 22

Price £5.79 per month

 Any help will be appreciated.

You can only buy an extended warranty whilst the product is in working order and to buy it now whilst its defective and then try to claim for this fault would be fraud.

Your statutory rights are with the retailer so did you buy it from Neff or someone else? The issue with statutory rights is that they will have been gained from your purchase in 2018 and so any refund can reflect the use to date and so a 5 year old contract will get a minimal refund.

Warranties are above and beyond your statutory right and so the provider of the warranty can apply whatever terms it wants. As you dont "purchase" a replacement in a scenario like this the "12 months from date of purchase" will continue to be the original purchase date not the date of swap out. 

LymeRockers

thank you for the comments. At least they have agreed to come to fix it and when they do I will get the extra warranty. 

MobileSaver

LymeRockers said:

Their customer service has been shocking, confrontational and for a product that prides itself on quality its no such thing.

I've nothing to add on your particular issue but do agree with your summary above.

I kitted out my kitchen with over £6k of Neff appliances a few years ago and practically every single one failed in one way or another in the first couple of years. Their quality is shockingly poor and I would never buy or recommend a Neff product again.

Jumblebumble

MobileSaver said:

LymeRockers said:

Their customer service has been shocking, confrontational and for a product that prides itself on quality its no such thing.

I've nothing to add on your particular issue but do agree with your summary above.

I kitted out my kitchen with over £6k of Neff appliances a few years ago and practically every single one failed in one way or another in the first couple of years. Their quality is shockingly poor and I would never buy or recommend a Neff product again.

Interesting
We have a Neff Oven that works perfectly
It was already in our house when we moved in in 2009

cajef

We also had Neff products which were in our previous house when we bought it, based on a trouble free experience there we ordered Neff products when we refitted the kitchen eleven years ago where we now live and have never had a moments problem with any of them.   

MobileSaver

Jumblebumble said:

MobileSaver said:

LymeRockers said:

Their customer service has been shocking, confrontational and for a product that prides itself on quality its no such thing.

I kitted out my kitchen with over £6k of Neff appliances a few years ago and practically every single one failed in one way or another in the first couple of years. Their quality is shockingly poor and I would never buy or recommend a Neff product again.

It was already in our house when we moved in in 2009

cajef said:

we ordered Neff products when we refitted the kitchen eleven years ago where we now live and have never had a moments problem with any of them.   

Sadly I think that's the issue, back in the day Neff were good but my experience is that quality control is dire in recent times; I'm talking about appliances fitted just four years or so ago, so 2018.

• Hob extractor fan - light just comes on randomly
• Dishwasher - on-floor display stopped working
• Fan oven - self-clean melted the LCD display
• Compact oven - green line appeared on LCD display
• Steam oven - door jammed
• Microwave - would stop and reboot after 30 seconds cooking

Appliance_engineer

As an Ex- BSH (Siemens) engineer, I can tell you that the projector onto the floor on the dishwasher is simply turned off in the settings.  Look in your instruction manual and you'll find it's turned off in the programming.

I saw a few cases of this when I worked there.  All it needed was going into the settings and turning it back on.

As for the oven display, I'm guessing it was a TFT display. I would advise to never get an oven with a TFT screen. That's just asking for trouble!