Beko Fridge From Currys Broken down

[Hippolyra]

Hello Everyone,

 

A thanks for all the great advice I have already read on here which has been helpful and eye opening.

 

I bought a Beko Fridge Freezer from Currys early feb of this year. Noticed last night that the freezer had defrosted its self and the contents are cold but not frozen. The machine is running from time to time but not for long enough to get things to refreeze. The fridge is cold. Obviously I will need to eat what I can from the freezer and then chuck the rest.

 

Called Currys this morning, their phone system put me straight through to Beko to arrange a repair. Beko said they will call back within 48 hours to arrange an appointment.

 

I know under SOG regs any repair / remedy should be carried out with the minimal inconvenience to the buyer. I think that do be without a freezer and with a fridge, whose thermostat that I do not trust, for more than a few days is highly inconvenient. In addition with the appliance partially working there is a huge food safety issue. It being Friday today I would expect someone to have come by the end of Monday at the latest. Also what is the opinion on time slots for engineers' visits? I feel that were I to be told that they will visit between 7 and 7 is inconvienent - not that I have a time yet.

 

Under the SOG, can I ask for reimbursement for the freezer contents? I suspect Currys / Beko are going to tell me that I am not covered regardless of what the law actually says.

 

When I originally got the fridge freezer there was a huge saga as they did not take the old one away as per my orderr with them. Frankly I would like them to mess up under the SOG so I can push for an complete refund so I can start again wtih a better model from someone else.

 

Wish I had never gone to Currys.

 

Thanks in advance for any help

 

H

[chesham]

Unfortunately, most manufacturer warranties will exclude any 'consequential' damage, which will be anything which results from a failure of the warrantied parts - so defrosted frozen food will not count - most home insurance companies will cover this for you up to a certain value. As for the time of engineer's visits, then again there is no legal obligation for any company to give you a certain time to call - I mean, for example they tell you between 1pm and 2pm. You wait from 12.30pm and get a call at 1.30pm - the engineer is stuck on his previous call, and will be late at about 3pm - this happens ALL the time and therefore most businesses will go bust if they are liable for these sort of eventualities. It has always been a bug bear of anyone who has had to wait around for a tradesman, only for a no show to happen!!

 

Your issue will be that the engineers can only work so many jobs per day - and on a Friday, I can almost guarantee that Monday will be at least 70% full by lunchtime - which leaves little room for anyone to 'book' a job in for that day and stick to it.

 

Another important point is that whilst the SOGA is on your side, the date is now more than 6 months from purchase - which means that it's not the manufacturer's or retails responsibility to prove the fault was there from manufacture - it's yours. Within 6 months, it is presumed that the fault is inherent.

 

Out of interest, has the freezer stopped working co-incided with a cold spell? The reason I ask is that freezer compressors work on the basis of ambient temperatures - that is the temperature surrounding the unit itself. For example, if your freezer is in a garage, and the ambient temperature reaches a certain level (say 3 degrees Celcius), the freezer will revert to "cold" mode instead of "freezing" mode, therefore it will not freeze. Many makes (but interestingly not Beko) will insist that their freezers are used only in areas which are draught-free and have an ambient temperature of a minimum amount (say 10 degree's C).