Faulty fridge freezer purchased direct from hotpoint

hamski

My son has a faulty fridge freezer purchased direct from hotpoint just over 2 years ago.
I’ve read a few posts related to this and all of them say the retailer should be approached.
He has been in touch with hotpoint who just want him to pay £160 to come out to look at it. Any advice on how to approach this as the threads I’ve read don’t refer to this situation.
Thanks

Aylesbury_Duck

hamski said:

My son has a faulty fridge freezer purchased direct from hotpoint just over 2 years ago.
I’ve read a few posts related to this and all of them say the retailer should be approached.
He has been in touch with hotpoint who just want him to pay £160 to come out to look at it. Any advice on how to approach this as the threads I’ve read don’t refer to this situation.
Thanks

They're entitled to establish the fault.  If it's an inherent one (rather than something he's caused by misuse, insufficient clearance at installation, etc) then he'll be able to exercise his consumer rights with hotpoint, which means hotpoint will choose to repair it, replace it or partially refund him.  He'd be entitled to the £160 back as well.

If he doesn't pay hotpoint to inspect it, he'd have to pay someone else to do so, anyway.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Your son needs to advise Hotpoint, in writing, email is fine, that the fridge does not conform to the contract in terms of satisfactory quality, particularly durability, and as such he is seeking a remedy of repair or replacement which, as per the Consumer Rights Act, must be carried out at no cost to the consumer. 

Hotpoint will either come back and ask your son to show it's a fault rather than misuse, etc which will require an independent inspection by an appliance repair person with something in writing to show, on a 50/50 basis, that the fridge is faulty. 

Either that or staff will stick to script and keep telling him there's nothing they can apart from charge £160 for a visit, in which case he still needs to do the above.

Very slim chance they'll offer to inspect for free but for the cost of an email might as well. 

Once he has the above he can request a repair or replacement again and if they fail then he may send a letter before action (templates on Google) requesting such or otherwise he will seek £x* via small claims

*The value can be reduced to account for ownership, typically lifespan vs time owned.  

Aylesbury_Duck said:

They're entitled to establish the fault.  If it's an inherent one (rather than something he's caused by misuse, insufficient clearance at installation, etc) then he'll be able to exercise his consumer rights with hotpoint, which means hotpoint will choose to repair it, replace it or partially refund him.  He'd be entitled to the £160 back as well.

If he doesn't pay hotpoint to inspect it, he'd have to pay someone else to do so, anyway.

I'm not too sure, I doubt Hotpoint will give that willingly and if it went to court and they argued the customer didn't make it clear they were exercising their consumer rights but instead it appeared they were looking for out of warranty assistance I'm not sure which way that would swing. I'd hope Hotpoint would get a boot up the backside for not informing the customer of their rights but it does raise a bit of doubt  

hamski

Thanks for your replies,very helpful.

sheramber

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

Your son needs to advise Hotpoint, in writing, email is fine, that the fridge does not conform to the contract in terms of satisfactory quality, particularly durability, and as such he is seeking a remedy of repair or replacement which, as per the Consumer Rights Act, must be carried out at no cost to the consumer. 

Hotpoint will either come back and ask your son to show it's a fault rather than misuse, etc which will require an independent inspection by an appliance repair person with something in writing to show, on a 50/50 basis, that the fridge is faulty. 

Either that or staff will stick to script and keep telling him there's nothing they can apart from charge £160 for a visit, in which case he still needs to do the above.

Very slim chance they'll offer to inspect for free but for the cost of an email might as well. 

Once he has the above he can request a repair or replacement again and if they fail then he may send a letter before action (templates on Google) requesting such or otherwise he will seek £x* via small claims

*The value can be reduced to account for ownership, typically lifespan vs time owned.  

Aylesbury_Duck said:

They're entitled to establish the fault.  If it's an inherent one (rather than something he's caused by misuse, insufficient clearance at installation, etc) then he'll be able to exercise his consumer rights with hotpoint, which means hotpoint will choose to repair it, replace it or partially refund him.  He'd be entitled to the £160 back as well.

If he doesn't pay hotpoint to inspect it, he'd have to pay someone else to do so, anyway.

I'm not too sure, I doubt Hotpoint will give that willingly and if it went to court and they argued the customer didn't make it clear they were exercising their consumer rights but instead it appeared they were looking for out of warranty assistance I'm not sure which way that would swing. I'd hope Hotpoint would get a boot up the backside for not informing the customer of their rights but it does raise a bit of doubt  

Hotpoint prodicts normally have 10 year warranty on parts.

Alderbank

sheramber said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

Your son needs to advise Hotpoint, in writing, email is fine, that the fridge does not conform to the contract in terms of satisfactory quality, particularly durability, and as such he is seeking a remedy of repair or replacement which, as per the Consumer Rights Act, must be carried out at no cost to the consumer. 

Hotpoint will either come back and ask your son to show it's a fault rather than misuse, etc which will require an independent inspection by an appliance repair person with something in writing to show, on a 50/50 basis, that the fridge is faulty. 

Either that or staff will stick to script and keep telling him there's nothing they can apart from charge £160 for a visit, in which case he still needs to do the above.

Very slim chance they'll offer to inspect for free but for the cost of an email might as well. 

Once he has the above he can request a repair or replacement again and if they fail then he may send a letter before action (templates on Google) requesting such or otherwise he will seek £x* via small claims

*The value can be reduced to account for ownership, typically lifespan vs time owned.  

Aylesbury_Duck said:

They're entitled to establish the fault.  If it's an inherent one (rather than something he's caused by misuse, insufficient clearance at installation, etc) then he'll be able to exercise his consumer rights with hotpoint, which means hotpoint will choose to repair it, replace it or partially refund him.  He'd be entitled to the £160 back as well.

If he doesn't pay hotpoint to inspect it, he'd have to pay someone else to do so, anyway.

I'm not too sure, I doubt Hotpoint will give that willingly and if it went to court and they argued the customer didn't make it clear they were exercising their consumer rights but instead it appeared they were looking for out of warranty assistance I'm not sure which way that would swing. I'd hope Hotpoint would get a boot up the backside for not informing the customer of their rights but it does raise a bit of doubt  

Hotpoint prodicts normally have 10 year warranty on parts.

They do, but as with all warranties the devil is in the detail:

10 Year Parts Guarantee

In addition to the 12 month warranty detailed above. Hotpoint appliances carry FREE replacement parts for the first 10 years, provided that they are fitted by our own Service Engineers, at the applicable labour charge, and that your appliance is registered.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Alderbank said:

sheramber said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

Your son needs to advise Hotpoint, in writing, email is fine, that the fridge does not conform to the contract in terms of satisfactory quality, particularly durability, and as such he is seeking a remedy of repair or replacement which, as per the Consumer Rights Act, must be carried out at no cost to the consumer. 

Hotpoint will either come back and ask your son to show it's a fault rather than misuse, etc which will require an independent inspection by an appliance repair person with something in writing to show, on a 50/50 basis, that the fridge is faulty. 

Either that or staff will stick to script and keep telling him there's nothing they can apart from charge £160 for a visit, in which case he still needs to do the above.

Very slim chance they'll offer to inspect for free but for the cost of an email might as well. 

Once he has the above he can request a repair or replacement again and if they fail then he may send a letter before action (templates on Google) requesting such or otherwise he will seek £x* via small claims

*The value can be reduced to account for ownership, typically lifespan vs time owned.  

Aylesbury_Duck said:

They're entitled to establish the fault.  If it's an inherent one (rather than something he's caused by misuse, insufficient clearance at installation, etc) then he'll be able to exercise his consumer rights with hotpoint, which means hotpoint will choose to repair it, replace it or partially refund him.  He'd be entitled to the £160 back as well.

If he doesn't pay hotpoint to inspect it, he'd have to pay someone else to do so, anyway.

I'm not too sure, I doubt Hotpoint will give that willingly and if it went to court and they argued the customer didn't make it clear they were exercising their consumer rights but instead it appeared they were looking for out of warranty assistance I'm not sure which way that would swing. I'd hope Hotpoint would get a boot up the backside for not informing the customer of their rights but it does raise a bit of doubt  

Hotpoint prodicts normally have 10 year warranty on parts.

They do, but as with all warranties the devil is in the detail:

10 Year Parts Guarantee

In addition to the 12 month warranty detailed above. Hotpoint appliances carry FREE replacement parts for the first 10 years, provided that they are fitted by our own Service Engineers, at the applicable labour charge, and that your appliance is registered.

Yes it's good business for Hotpoint, give away a few cheap parts and charge through the nose for labour!