Faulty dishwasher

BrenLiz

 In February this year my integrated dishwasher broke. I contacted a local plumber by telephone to ask him to look at it to see if it could be repaired. After attending he said it was broken and I needed a replacement. My machine was well over 10 years old so I accepted this. He said he would get a replacement for me to fit into my kitchen unit. I accepted the price he quoted. He returned on 29 February 2024 to fit the dishwasher. He said he had forgotten to bring the instruction manual but would bring it round later in the week with the guarantee which he said he had registered for me. I paid his bill in full by bank transfer on the same day. After only the third use it stopped working. I had been on holiday for 2 weeks in the meantime. On 16 April I contacted him and asked him to have a look at the machine. He acknowledged my call on the same day. By 24 April I had heard nothing so I contacted him again. I heard back from him on 28 April saying he would definitely call that week. I waited in all week but he never turned up. I contacted him again on 6 May. He replied on 14 May to say he would check his work and see when he was free. By 22
August I had still not heard from him and as I had spoken to Citizens Advice I advised him that I was going to the Small Claims Court for a refund if I had not heard from him within 14 days.  He replied and said he had forgotten about it and would come.  After some messages he agreed to come on 30 August.  He eventually called round and said the dishwasher needed replacing and he would be in touch when he had got a replacement.  11 September he said he would send photos of dishwashers so we could decided what we wanted.  We received no photos and no visit.  12 November said again he would send photos. To date I have heard nothing since. Unfortunately I have no address for him only a mobile number. Can you please advise me on what action I need to take. I have also contacted Hotpoint and found that he did not in fact register the dishwasher with them as he had stated. Can I go to the small claims court if I have no address, only a phone number and his bank details.

Aylesbury_Duck

No.  You need an address.  Time to do some detective work to see if you can find it.  Without it you don't have a route to a resolution.  Even with it you need to assess whether he's likely to pay if you win, given how he's strung you along for 10 months already.

sheramber

Ask for his address on local Facebook page. Somebody will know him.

Grumpy_chap

BrenLiz said:

 In February this year my integrated dishwasher broke. I contacted a local plumber by telephone to ask him to look at it to see if it could be repaired. After attending he said it was broken and I needed a replacement. My machine was well over 10 years old so I accepted this. He said he would get a replacement for me to fit into my kitchen unit. I accepted the price he quoted. He returned on 29 February 2024 to fit the dishwasher. He said he had forgotten to bring the instruction manual but would bring it round later in the week with the guarantee which he said he had registered for me. I paid his bill in full by bank transfer on the same day. After only the third use it stopped working. I had been on holiday for 2 weeks in the meantime. On 16 April I contacted him and asked him to have a look at the machine. He acknowledged my call on the same day. By 24 April I had heard nothing so I contacted him again. I heard back from him on 28 April saying he would definitely call that week. I waited in all week but he never turned up. I contacted him again on 6 May. He replied on 14 May to say he would check his work and see when he was free. By 22
August I had still not heard from him and as I had spoken to Citizens Advice I advised him that I was going to the Small Claims Court for a refund if I had not heard from him within 14 days.  He replied and said he had forgotten about it and would come.  After some messages he agreed to come on 30 August.  He eventually called round and said the dishwasher needed replacing and he would be in touch when he had got a replacement.  11 September he said he would send photos of dishwashers so we could decided what we wanted.  We received no photos and no visit.  12 November said again he would send photos. To date I have heard nothing since. Unfortunately I have no address for him only a mobile number. Can you please advise me on what action I need to take. I have also contacted Hotpoint and found that he did not in fact register the dishwasher with them as he had stated. Can I go to the small claims court if I have no address, only a phone number and his bank details.

You say you paid in full by bank transfer.  Is that the whole payment, or was there a deposit paid by credit card?  I suspect not.

How did you find the plumbers details to make the initial contact?

You can't go to small claims court without an address.  Can you track the individual down through phone directories, social media, etc.?
Do you have anything from the individual that gives evidence of the payments having been made and what they were for?  Was there any paperwork of any kind?

I suspect that the dishwasher (minus the manual / warranty) was obtained through unofficial "grey" channels and that pursuing this individual would be good money after bad.

Alderbank

Grumpy_chap said:

BrenLiz said:

 In February this year my integrated dishwasher broke. I contacted a local plumber by telephone to ask him to look at it to see if it could be repaired. After attending he said it was broken and I needed a replacement. My machine was well over 10 years old so I accepted this. He said he would get a replacement for me to fit into my kitchen unit. I accepted the price he quoted. He returned on 29 February 2024 to fit the dishwasher. He said he had forgotten to bring the instruction manual but would bring it round later in the week with the guarantee which he said he had registered for me. I paid his bill in full by bank transfer on the same day. After only the third use it stopped working. I had been on holiday for 2 weeks in the meantime. On 16 April I contacted him and asked him to have a look at the machine. He acknowledged my call on the same day. By 24 April I had heard nothing so I contacted him again. I heard back from him on 28 April saying he would definitely call that week. I waited in all week but he never turned up. I contacted him again on 6 May. He replied on 14 May to say he would check his work and see when he was free. By 22
August I had still not heard from him and as I had spoken to Citizens Advice I advised him that I was going to the Small Claims Court for a refund if I had not heard from him within 14 days.  He replied and said he had forgotten about it and would come.  After some messages he agreed to come on 30 August.  He eventually called round and said the dishwasher needed replacing and he would be in touch when he had got a replacement.  11 September he said he would send photos of dishwashers so we could decided what we wanted.  We received no photos and no visit.  12 November said again he would send photos. To date I have heard nothing since. Unfortunately I have no address for him only a mobile number. Can you please advise me on what action I need to take. I have also contacted Hotpoint and found that he did not in fact register the dishwasher with them as he had stated. Can I go to the small claims court if I have no address, only a phone number and his bank details.

Do you have anything from the individual that gives evidence of the payments having been made and what they were for?  Was there any paperwork of any kind?

This^^^ will be absolutely essential for you to formulate a claim that would have any chance of success in court.

I am wondering about the new machine. Other than the remote chance of a power surge frying the PCB (and even that should cost less than £100) there is nothing to make a brand new machine a write-off after running a couple of cycles. Dishwashers are much simpler beasts than washing machines.

My guess is that he has not levelled it properly before securing it in the housing cabinet. Levelling is critical, if not done correctly some water will splash into the drip tray and trip the float switch after a few cycles, resulting in the machine shutting down. It's not a fault, it's meant to happen for safety reasons. If so it is very simple to fix.

Can you describe the fault? Is the machine still in situ and still not working?

BrenLiz

I only have the bank details on my bank account website. I have been unable to find an address for him. He was recommended to me on a local website. The machine is in place. He said that he had trapped the waste pipe when he put it in and that is what had broken the machine. It looks as though I am going to have to put it down to a bad experience and write the money off. Thank you all for your replies but this has just worn me down.

Alderbank

So he's a clumsy idiot.

Don't let it get you down. It's a trivial issue which is easily sorted.

At the end of a cycle the machine switches the drain pump on to empty the waste water. After a few minutes it switches the pump off and checks for any water remaining. That happens quite often, either because the filter is clogged or the waste pipe has become trapped. If so the d/w displays an error code then goes off to sleep. The error code for your Hotpoint is F03 which means 'Water drain failure/ timeout'.

First things first, just check that the filter is not blocked. If not then undo the screws fixing the d/w in the housing (the longest part of the job), pull it out and adjust the rubber drain hose. At worse, if the hose is hopelessly mangled, you will need to buy a new one (£4.95 from Screwfix).

No need to write off the machine.

BrenLiz

Thank you for your advice.  I am 76 and cannot even move the dishwasher out. I have used this person before and he was ok but I have decided to ask someone from a local company to have a look at it. It is a reputable company and do not charge for calling out. They have previously supplied and fitted my washing machine. I will let you know the outcome, this will not be for another month though, my money needs to go on heating at the moment. Thank you once again for your help.