Comet - PRT295FFCS fridge/freezer broken after 2years

[djruk]

Hi all.

 

We have one of the PRT295FFCS's and it was running OK for 2 years and then just after last Xmas, our so called 'frost-free' fridge freezer started to ice up in the bottom of the freezer compartment and also at the back of the fridge. I defrosted it a couple of times and that helped for a few months, but now the problem soon came back with a vengence. It froze up again a month ago, so I defrosted it (naturally not with hairdryer!) and re-started it. The fridge got to temperature quickly but the freezer refused to get to temperature after spending 10 hours on. So I hit the superfreeze and although it worked, it has frozen the back of the fridge up again - including the drain pipe. So now I need to start all over again. This shouldn't happen repeatedly, so as far as I'm concerned it is a defective product. Reading the other posts on this site confirms that.

 

Basically - it looks great, but it just doesn't do what it says on the tin! Fit for purpose? Maybe for 2 years, but that's not a fair life expectancy for a fridge freezer costing well over £300. As other people have said, their old FFs lasted years before they bought this brand. I had my fairly basic Candy for 6-7 years and only really got rid of it because of upgrading the kitchen! Wish I'd kept it now!

 

Anyway, I'm going to call Comet tomorrow and see what they say. I've wasted 3 to 4 loads of food on this thing and I just want something sorted. I'm reading through the forum now and kinda hoping Mr Comet Representative will see this and respond. Any advice in the meantime would be great.

 

Thanks

[djruk]

Hi all

 

My appliance appeared to be working again after another defrost session - however, just now (and after loading it with food again) the freezer alarm has kicked in and the temp is rising.

I've spoken to the service centre and they offered me 3 options:

 

1. £125 - 'fixed' call out fee - they pay £150 of repair

2. £16.90 x 10 monthly installments on a service plan

3. £69 - call out to check for a manufacturer defect. if covered then i receive a refund

 

I suspect at minimum the divertor valve has gone on mine - judging by other peoples posts. So the question is, do Comet recognise this as a manufaturing defect? The fact that so many have gone wrong?

 

What should I do next - it's getting a bit close to Xmas and I don't have a spare fridge/freezer!

 

I look forward to your responses.

Many thanks in advance.

[rebel11]

hi dj

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.

[Surfer01]

Is this a Prestige fridge? Either way I would say it falls under Sale of Goods Act as not fit for purpose for price paid. You may have no option but to have it repaired and then claim. IMHO yu woudl stand a reasonablely good chnace of getting most of your money back especially if you request the manufacturer to attend as an expert witness. They cannot be a defendent. Consult Trading Standards for an opinion.

[munchkette]

How do you request the manufacturer to appear as an expert witness? I tried to contact the manufacturer of my fridge for details on reliability but they point blank refused to supply any info, would be good if there is some way of getting them to give their opinion in court. Please advise.

 

Thanks

[Surfer01]

Try and find out the name fo the managing director and put his name as an expert witness. I think you can only due this when you do the summons bit. I remeber completing a form on which I put the name of the MD of tghe manufacturing company as a witness, but it never went further than that as within dasy they replaced the faulty item.

In variably it is not the retailer that is causing the problem, it is the manufacturer refusing to replace or repair the item at their costs. The retailer is caught in between as the retailer does not want to cover the cost of the repair which is fair enough.

[dx100uk]

its failed under soga

 

comet should repair it foc

 

if you have to pay for a report, then so be it, but you'll get that refunded when they fix it.

 

don't take any crap about having to pay for the repair and this rubbish about comet 'have' to find out if its a manu fault

 

NOT YOUR PROBLEM - IT'S THEIR PROBLEM.

 

you are intitled to a repsir FOC under soga ....end off!

 

dx

[djruk]

Update:

 

Agreed to get Comet engineer out to assess the FF - hoping after I reeled off a list of problems that I've had with it over the last year that they might say it was beyond economical repair. The engineer came out today and after I detailed the problems:

 

1. fridge freezing over

2. freezer freezing over at the bottom

3. fridge drain pipe blocked

4. freezer temp dropping to a scary -41 when superfreezing (when it should bottom out at -26)

5. freezer temp not stabilising and defrosting (latest problem)

 

...he checked it over and said it was possibly a PCB fault - but that it not a guaranteed fix. It could still be divertor valve problem.

 

He spoke to the service controller who has advised him to charge 25 (instead of 35) for the part and I will still need to pay the labour. So currently I'm set to pay £125 + 25 for the part.

 

If it doesn't fix the problem, then he will need to replace the divertor. That will (probably) be FOC fix and I will get PCB charge refunded - but I'll still have been charged the £125.

 

So no guaranteed fix... and worse than that, they can't get back to install the PCB until 17th December! Another 10 days without a FF on the run up to Xmas! So when I load the freezer back up just before Xmas if it fails again I'll be looking at yet another wasted freezer load and at the worst time of year. Not good. I'm not happy so I'm going to speak to consumer direct and take it from there.

 

dx> comments noted thanks. i'm looking forward to hearing what CD have to say. agree about SOGA.

surfer> yes it is a prestige. agreed about SOGA.

[djruk]

Update: I'm a lot happier after speaking to Consumer Direct. They agree that the issue is covered under SOGA1979 and that I am entitled to request a free repair on this unit. I'll be writing a letter to Comet explaining the issue and requesting the repair, but I'd like to know if I can expedite the process somehow? I've been advised to use recorded/registered post to send the letter, but can I not simply email my request to a person or department within the Comet Group? If not, who or where should I direct my letter?

 

Thanks

[dx100uk]

manager of the store where you got it

and try pm'ing this member

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/member.php?279608-Comet-Response

 

dx

[djruk]

will do thanks. have emailed letter to comet just now.

[djruk]

just sending PM to Comet Response as suggested...

[djruk]

Update on this:

 

Comet agreed to come out and effect a repair pending response from custservices/HO regarding payment for the repair. The engineer turned up 2 weeks ago and replaced the PCBoard. Unfortunately, the PCBoard can't have been the problem as the freezer alarm started going off at 4am this morning. I've called Comet and they can't get an engineer out until the 29th - and that will no doubt be another 'investigation' which will no doubt lead to the divertor valve!

 

I checked comethelp site just now and did actually receive a response to my emailed letter:

 

"The Sales of Goods Act states that wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale).

 

Goods cannot always be expected to work fault-free. They can break down through normal use. Buyers cannot, therefore, expect to hold the seller responsible for fair wear and tear. There needs to be a fault that was present on the day of sale even though it only became apparent later on, or a misdescription of the goods.

 

In your case there is no evidence to suggest that the fault has been caused by any manufacturing defect, we would consider the product to have been of satisfactory quality when sold.

 

I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused."

 

How do I respond to this folks?

 

Incidently, I've heard nothing from the forum Comet Representative despite a polite PM a couple of weeks ago!

 

Thanks.

[dpick]

Hi what I am going to describe could be a load of bull given to me by someone repairing my fridge freezer.

 

Mine kept freezing, starting behind the back pane,l with ice coming through any of the cut-outs into the main part of the freezer.

 

Then things in the fridge that is on-top of the freezer started to go off milk etc..

 

I cleared out the ice twice from both inside the freezer and from the back of the freezer off something that looks like a car radiator,

worked OK for 6 weeks then same again.

 

Talked to mate who is in the repair game.

 

He came removed the back plate in the freezer then used a hair drier to remove all the build-up of ice.

 

At this point he tried to clear the drain hole without any success.

 

He then went to his bag got out something that looked like a large drinking straw with a rubber bulb on the end.

 

requested boiled water to spray down drain hole.

 

After about 5 minutes spraying boiling water at the drain hole everything started to drain free and clear.

 

So it could just be the drain pipe being blocked

 

if I had not seen the time and amount of water he had to use I would not have believed

remember that tube contains solid ice and any other grunge that has got into it.

 

all the best dpick

[dx100uk]

Update on this:

 

Comet agreed to come out and effect a repair pending response from custservices/HO regarding payment for the repair. The engineer turned up 2 weeks ago and replaced the PCBoard. Unfortunately, the PCBoard can't have been the problem as the freezer alarm started going off at 4am this morning. I've called Comet and they can't get an engineer out until the 29th - and that will no doubt be another 'investigation' which will no doubt lead to the divertor valve!

 

I checked comethelp site just now and did actually receive a response to my emailed letter:

 

"The Sales of Goods Act states that wherever goods are bought they must "conform to contract". This means they must be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality (i.e. not inherently faulty at the time of sale).

 

Goods cannot always be expected to work fault-free. They can break down through normal use. Buyers cannot, therefore, expect to hold the seller responsible for fair wear and tear. There needs to be a fault that was present on the day of sale even though it only became apparent later on, or a misdescription of the goods.

 

In your case there is no evidence to suggest that the fault has been caused by any manufacturing defect, we would consider the product to have been of satisfactory quality when sold.

 

I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused."

 

How do I respond to this folks?

 

Incidently, I've heard nothing from the forum Comet Representative despite a polite PM a couple of weeks ago!

 

Thanks.

 

SOGA also clearly states the goods should last a resonable time!!!

 

2yrs is NOT acceptable for a fridge/freezer!

and thats nowt to do with 'fair wear & tear' - cheeky buggers

 

extract from soga what they want, ignore the rest!

 

we would consider the product to have been of satisfactory quality when sold.

what about 2yrs after - SOGA - products should last a resonable time!

 

unbelievable, but sadly typical.

 

i'd post them a link to soga with the bit highlighted!

 

dx

[Surfer01]

Seems that comet twist the SOGA to suit their own ends. Obviously forgot about the rest of the Act.

[djruk]

Update!! Comet sent engineer after engineer. Think I had 6 in the end. They replaced the PCB... no good. Then they replaced the compressor and this stopped the dramatic temperature fluctuations. Then a few went by and the back of the fridge froze up completely. I called another engineer and this time he said he thought that the insulation had broken down around the drain pipe at the back of the fridge. This had caused the pipe to freeze completely and the defrost cycle was then causing the massive ice build up. He made some calls and said that Comet were unable to repair the fridge, but instead would give me my £69 back that I had paid for the initial call out! I just need to give them the nod to get the £69 back. So basically they're not interested in throwing more money at it so instead are attempting to wash their hands of it.

 

Should I take the refund offered and then pursue a replacement? They've had more than a reasonable chance to repair it...

[dx100uk]

iwould think so

and the eng's report is all you need to invoke soga

 

dx

[Surfer01]

Time to claim for a new fridge under SOGA.

[dpick]

See post 14 known problem, I have since talked to a few electricians dealing in white goods and they all know of this problem with more than one manufacturer.

 

I now check my fridge freezer every year.

 

dpick