TCL still not repaired FridgeFreezer after 3 months, useless company

joe.grant

Hello,

TLDR: I want a refund for this Fridge as I have had to buy another one due to TCL failing to actually repair it for over 3 months. TCL refusing refund, sending me back to original reseller.

Purchase:
Bought TCL FridgeFreezer via ebay in Feb 2023 with 2yr manufacturer warranty from a big online retailer (dont want to list them on here as they have been understating and helpful to date), my main beef is with TCL

Fault:
FridgeFreezer was freezing stuff in the Fridge and not freezing stuff in the Freezer section, therefore unusable, and I had to chuck out most of my food.

Timeline:

4th Feb 2024 - Called TCL to report fault 

12th Feb 2024 - Contacted by Martin Dawes repair company, told me they would send an engineer.

13th Feb 2024- Martin Dawes engineer visited, confirmed FridgeFreezer had issue with either Thermostat or internal AirFlow Flap, could not fix without parts, needed to go away and order parts.

18th Feb 2024 - I rang Martin Dawes to chase parts, they said that TCL were very slow at getting the parts and were still waiting, they would contact me when parts had arrived.

20th March 2024 - Martin Dawes contacted me saying they finally had parts and could send an engineer.

9th April 2024 - Engineer turned up, said sorry but the parts were broken, and couldn't do anything for me, and would have to go away and re-order parts.

3rd May 2024 - I rang Martin Dawes to chase up parts/repair, they said TCL had told them on the 24th April to cancel the repair, and they(TCL) would contact the customer(me) to arrange an alternative solution. I never had any call or email from TCL.

3rd May 2024 - I contacted TCL to say how unhappy I was, and they said, yes sorry the repair has been marked as 'closed'. I said this is not acceptable and that I have had to buy another fridge and that I wanted a refund, they said that was not possible as I didn't purchase from them, and advised to contact original retailer.

3rd May 2024 - I contacted (retailer) to ask for help on what could be done, and if they could do anything, maybe force a refund from TCL etc

So where do I stand?
-Is it acceptable to be left without a working FridgeFreezer for 3 months+?
-I ideally want a refund, but what rights do I have to get one? I know I'm meant to give the manufacturer a reasonable amount of time to repair something, but now I have bought another fridge, and am stuck with this useless one, and who should refund me? Manufacturer? Retailer? Credit Card Company? Ebay?

Now obviously no one 'wants' to refund me, and I guess the best option (for them) is to start the whole repair process up again, but I have no faith that it will be fixed and even if it is, im then stuck with a second hand Fridge I probably wont get hardly anything for.

Lesson learned, never by TCL again, and probably just buy direct from John Lewis instead?

Aylesbury_Duck

Your consumer rights lie with whoever you bought it from and if a refund is your preferred outcome, you should deal with them l, although any refund will be tempered slightly because of the year's use to date.

If you're relying on the warranty, then does that even offer a refund in cases like yours?  We can't see the warranty terms, so you need to read them and find out what your warranty rights are.