Hotpoint Fridge/Freezer

[jellywibble]

Hello
I purchased a Hotpoint "Frost Free Fridge/Freezer" in May 2007 and by August of last year it had completely stopped working.

The engineer came out 5 days later as there was none available any sooner. Which I thought was a bit of a wait, that was until he arrived and checked it over.

Something had blown on the circuit board and you could tell as there was a black mark on the board cover. He rang up to order one and to see how long it would take to get the part.

Over a week to get the part and then to book the engineer, just sort of 2 weeks and it would be working again but "whilst we are waiting what do we do about not having a fridge?"
Comet said "thats not our problem, we dont have to supply you with another whilst you wait."

Ok, I get that but it wasn't my intention of buying a fridge/freezer that would break within a short space of time.

All in all it took near 3 weeks, that's also the amount of time we were without a fridge. A complete pain in the rear end. I had to go shopping everyday to buy small amounts of food to feed my family.

The amount of food that we had to throw away was the kind of "just been shopping and filled the freezer up" sort and were told we could claim for it.
Never got anything back from them. I didnt want any dealings with them ever again as there Customer Services are unhelpful and dont care really.

Here we are 3 weeks away from end of 1 year Warranty and what do you know the "frost free fridge/freezer" is out of action again.

This time didn't go to the shop in fear of spitting my dummy right out the pram. I phoned up customer service for a repair.

Hes been and told me "the door has been left open on the freezer and to defrost it" and thats without pointing the finger at me he added.

I will wait the 48 hours for the lump of metal to defrost (I know it said frost free on the label) Which customer services should of told me to do for when the engineer came out but completely failed to do.

I am dead certain that I didn't leave the door open but time will tell on that.

If it doesn't sort it out and it needs a repair, what rights do I have on rejecting a repair and wanting another new one, I realise that it may not be of the same value as its nearly a year old. But I am concerned it will be a never ending fault if I keep it.

I failed to send the hotpoint guarantee off within the 30 days of purchase for some strange reason and feel at a loss.
Any suggestions (nice ones I know I should of sent the guarantee off and might well cry if not ) would be greatly appreciated.

[nufsaid]

Hiya my friend over the road has a Bosch fridge/freezer her fridge stopped working so called the engineer out she had to goto work.

So I went over to her house whilst the engineer sorted it.

She thought the freezer was working fine as it was cold, after an investigation the engineer removed the internal panels from the freezer and there was a load of ice built up in it (it is a frost free model)

Now he went about removing all the ice build up and explained that because the frost free function in the freezer had failed the ice had built up giving the impression that the freezer was running fine but caused the fridge part to blow as the cold airflow had been blocked going from the freezer to the fridge by the ice build up causing the fridge part to overheat effectively.

Sounds to me exactly what has happened to you.

Bosch have a 3 to 5 year warranty as standard and I have all Bosch appliances I have had faults to be dealt with and even though I haven't sent off the paper work to them they always come out you just have to have the original purchase receipt, so I would give Hotpoint a ring and I would certainly let Comet repairs know of this story omit that it was a Bosch fridge-freezer as they may use the different brand as an excuse but it really does sound like the exact same fault to me.

Good luck hope this helps.

NS x

[jellywibble]

Thanks for your response, sounds like it is the same hassle as I am having. Kind of misleading the "frost free" sales pitch.
I wasn't aware when it was purchased that the fridge monster (ice on the back panel of the fridge) would just be hidden behind a cover instead of seeing what food it had taken.

Well, the 48 hrs are nearly up and I hope my hassles are over. Cold drinks in celebration if it is. well tomorrow night.

Thanks again. I shall give hotpoint a call, no harm in trying

[Lefty]

Originally Posted by jellywibble

Here we are 3 weeks away from end of 1 year Warranty and what do you know the "frost free fridge/freezer" is out of action again.

Hi

A 12 month manufacturer's warranty is in ADDITION to your statutory rights.


Contrary to popular belief, your basic consumer rights DO NOT expire after 12 months! A new product should be of "satisfactory" quality, "fit for the purpose", "free from defects", "safe" and "DURABLE." The SALE OF GOODS ACT relies on how a "reasonable" person would define "satisfactory" - and (in the case of a freezer, cooker or high end electrical product) a "reasonable" person would expect a new product to last considerably longer than 12 months! High-end electrical products and most domestic appliances should have a useable life expectancy of anything between 4 - 18 years!!!!!

Cheers
Lefty

[ForestChav]

Originally Posted by Lefty

Hi

A 12 month manufacturer's warranty is in ADDITION to your statutory rights.


Contrary to popular belief, your basic consumer rights DO NOT expire after 12 months! A new product should be of "satisfactory" quality, "fit for the purpose", "free from defects", "safe" and "DURABLE." The SALE OF GOODS ACT relies on how a "reasonable" person would define "satisfactory" - and (in the case of a freezer, cooker or high end electrical product) a "reasonable" person would expect a new product to last considerably longer than 12 months! High-end electrical products and most domestic appliances should have a useable life expectancy of anything between 4 - 18 years!!!!!

Cheers
Lefty

Yes, but you can only claim for up to six years because of statute barring.

And outside the six months you need an engineer's report stating the fault was inherent and that the product failed before it should.

[jellywibble]

Hi,
Thanks, I would of expected it to last a good few years and not to break down in the first 6 months.

"They dont make things like they used to."

I would never buy from the shop again and actually went 5 mile out of my way to buy something which I could of easily of bought from there.

"Hell Have No Fury Like A Woman"

Thanks again x