Samsung Dishwasher Seal Failure After 3 Years

j172

Subject: Samsung Dishwasher Seal Failure After 3 Years – £190 Repair for Design Flaw? Advice Needed

Hi all,

Looking for some advice before escalating a complaint further.

I bought a Samsung DW60M6070IB/EU dishwasher directly from Samsung on 10 June 2022. On 1 June 2025, just shy of 3 years later, the bottom inner door seal started popping out and would no longer stay in place.

I raised a support request with Samsung and was told it’s out of warranty and I’d need to pay for any repair. I paid £99 to their authorised repair partner (Martin Dawes) for an engineer visit on 10 June 2025. The engineer confirmed that the seal cannot be replaced on its own, the entire inner door needs replacing.

Today, I called the repair company and was quoted £190.44 for the replacement part alone, not including labour. This brings the total repair cost to nearly £300, which is close to half the original cost of the dishwasher.

I’ve submitted a formal complaint to Samsung via their CEO contact route, citing my statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I’ve made it clear that I expect a dishwasher to last more than 3 years and that having to replace a major part due to a minor seal issue is not consistent with satisfactory quality or reasonable durability.

Samsung has responded by pointing to the expired 2-year warranty and saying they won’t cover the cost unless I can prove the fault existed within the first 6 months, which is obviously unrealistic at this point.

I’ve now replied, asking them to meet me halfway by covering the cost of the actual repair since I’ve already paid £99. I also expressed disappointment at their unwillingness to compromise.

Questions:

1. Am I being reasonable in expecting Samsung to cover the cost of the repair under consumer rights?

2. Is this worth pursuing via small claims court, and has anyone successfully gone that route with Samsung?

3. Any recommendations for how to escalate this effectively?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

j172

Just to clarify - the seal itself is not worn or perished. The issue is with how it fits into the door.

The seal is meant to be held in place by the two inner skins of the door clamping down on it. Over time, it seems those have loosened or deformed slightly, and now won’t hold the seal in place properly, causing it to constantly pop out.

So this isn’t a case of normal wear and tear, it appears to be a design or material issue affecting how the door holds the seal.

Aylesbury_Duck

j172 said:

Samsung has responded by pointing to the expired 2-year warranty and saying they won’t cover the cost unless I can prove the fault existed within the first 6 months, which is obviously unrealistic at this point.

Questions:

1. Am I being reasonable in expecting Samsung to cover the cost of the repair under consumer rights?

2. Is this worth pursuing via small claims court, and has anyone successfully gone that route with Samsung?

3. Any recommendations for how to escalate this effectively?

"Prove" is a strong word.  All that's really needed is an independent expert's view that it's an inevitable failure as a result of a poor design.  A local white goods repairer could do that for a fee which you'd have to stump up but could recover if the retailer accepts the verdict or is forced to do so by a small claims court.  That's where I'd start.

So, to answer your questions:

1. Yes, assuming the fault is a result of an inherent flaw rather than overuse or misuse, for example.
2. Possibly.
3. It's a shame you've offered to compromise on costs, but ultimately that offer might help you if it did get to court, because it demonstrates a reasonable solution offered by you.  I'd start by getting that independent view and report.

Don't let them fob you off with talk of warranty.  As you've rightly said, it's your consumer rights that apply here, and they don't expire after two years.

Did you pay by credit card, by any chance?  It would give you another route to resolution.

Aylesbury_Duck

j172 said:

Just to clarify - the seal itself is not worn or perished. The issue is with how it fits into the door.

The seal is meant to be held in place by the two inner skins of the door clamping down on it. Over time, it seems those have loosened or deformed slightly, and now won’t hold the seal in place properly, causing it to constantly pop out.

So this isn’t a case of normal wear and tear, it appears to be a design or material issue affecting how the door holds the seal.

It wouldn't hurt to suggest that to the white goods person...it sounds entirely plausible.  But of course he must form his own view.

I wonder if there's a "bi-metallic strip" effect here, where the inner skin gets exposed to more heat than the outer, causing different expansion rates which allows the seal to pop out.

born_again

You need to make it clear that you are looking at your consumer rights & not their warranty.
But that leaves it open to them choosing to refund you which rule of thumb in this case will be 50% of the price paid, if they do not want to repair the washer.

To take it to court you are going to need a 3rd party report on the problem. You could get a local repairer to do this & they may give you a lower price to do the work.

Why is it a design flaw, & not just general wear & tear after 3 years?

DullGreyGuy

If it's meant to be held in place by mechanical force between two pieces of metal is there any reason why they cannot be reclamped together? Or use heat resistant adhesive to reattach it? 

j172

Yes I paid on credit card. That was another route I was looking at taking. I’m not sure how easy that is as I’ve closed the card in question.

Also frustrating is that the engineer, as soon as I opened the dishwasher door to explain, said instantly that its a door replacement. He wasn’t even 5 minutes! Now that suggests to me it’s a common occurrence/known issue.

In my last response to Samsung I’ve stated I’m not disputing their warranty and it’s my consumer rights in question so will see if that budge at all.

j172

Update – Resolution Reached

Just a quick update for anyone following this:

After continued back and forth with Samsung (via their Email CEO), they eventually agreed to cover the cost of the replacement parts as a gesture of goodwill (hate this phrase!).

The repair has now been completed and the dishwasher is working properly again.

While not a perfect outcome, I’m reasonably satisfied with the resolution. Samsung didn’t accept fault under the Consumer Rights Act but were willing to meet me halfway, which saved me a good chunk of the full repair cost.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice, it helped me feel confident in pushing back and knowing my rights.

Joel

lincroft1710

j172 said:

Update – Resolution Reached

Just a quick update for anyone following this:

After continued back and forth with Samsung (via their Email CEO), they eventually agreed to cover the cost of the replacement parts as a gesture of goodwill (hate this phrase!).

The repair has now been completed and the dishwasher is working properly again.

While not a perfect outcome, I’m reasonably satisfied with the resolution. Samsung didn’t accept fault under the Consumer Rights Act but were willing to meet me halfway, which saved me a good chunk of the full repair cost.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice, it helped me feel confident in pushing back and knowing my rights.

Joel

But Samsung didn't agree that you had "rights". They say have covered the cost of the replacement parts as a gesture of goodwill, thus denying you had a claim under the CRA2015.


By using the phrase "gesture of goodwill", they are implying that they are going above and beyond and making themselves look good, when in fact they are failing to acknowledge they were in the wrong.


However the important thing is you now have a working dishwasher