Faulty Elica Cookerhood via Appliance Direct

[Mona287]

Dear friends,

 

We purchased an Elica Cookerhood via Appliance Direct (£660) that was discovered to be faulty by our fitter in the month of February. 

After a lot of struggle with the retailer as well as the manufacturer we were asked to wait for an engineer who would be replacing 

the faulty motor. This engineer keeps cancelling his visit in the last minute owing to various reasons, for example - 'Parts to hand are

not suitable' or 'Parts were not delivered' or 'Parts were delivered but not received by him', or 'Parts were lost in transit'. Today, I am very

sad as the engineer did not even bother to cancel, I waited all day at home for him to turn up.

 

We have been very polite and patient about the matter as usually in such cases irate customers can make things worse.

 

Elica's Tech department seems to be run by a third party and they rarely answer the phones. Elica too rarely respond to phone calls and 

if successful we get asked to wait and rebook the appointment. This has been going on for long enough. My daughter has asthma and 

we really needed this exhaust to be in working condition as our new kitchen has now started to look tired because of lack of air circulation.

 

Please could someone kindly advise us about our rights and how to go about handling this situation.

 

Mona

[BankFodder]

Well you are just within the six month period so you should write to the supplier immediately and tell them that you are asserting your rights under the consumer rights and and that they have a single opportunity to carry out a repair after which you want a full refund for the cooker hood plus any associated expenses that you have incurred. For instance, if you have suffered any loss of earnings or holiday having to wait in for engineers then I would say that you can claim this as well.

Seeing that you have been mucked around so badly, I would put that letter in the form of a letter of claim and tell them that if it isn't sorted out within 14 days that you will issue a claim for the refund plus your associated losses. Only do this if you are prepared to carry out your threat. Bringing a small claim in the County Court is extremely easy and we will help you. On the basis of what you have told us your chances of success are much better than 95%.

I suggest that you send the letter straightaway – send it recorded delivery – send it to the supplier which I take to be Appliance Direct.

 

Be prepared for them to ignore you and to be obliged to issue the claim on day 15. Assuming that you have sent the letter of claim, spend the 14 days reading up on this forum about bringing a small claim in the County Court. You will soon realise how easy it is. At the same time you should register on the money claim website and start preparing your claim there.

Post your draft particulars of claim here and we will check that they are okay. I'm afraid this is likely to be the only way forward.

[Mona287]

9 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

Well you are just within the six month period so you should write to the supplier immediately and tell them that you are asserting your rights under the consumer rights and and that they have a single opportunity to carry out a repair after which you want a full refund for the cooker hood plus any associated expenses that you have incurred. For instance, if you have suffered any loss of earnings or holiday having to wait in for engineers then I would say that you can claim this as well.

Seeing that you have been mucked around so badly, I would put that letter in the form of a letter of claim and tell them that if it isn't sorted out within 14 days that you will issue a claim for the refund plus your associated losses. Only do this if you are prepared to carry out your threat. Bringing a small claim in the County Court is extremely easy and we will help you. On the basis of what you have told us your chances of success are much better than 95%.

I suggest that you send the letter straightaway – send it recorded delivery – send it to the supplier which I take to be Appliance Direct.

 

Thanks a bunch for your kind reply. I will prepare this letter now and will take this up immediately. I have never done this before or made any claims in the past, so perhaps will need to show here the letter I draft.

 

Also, I am not sure how to prove anything as there are only these text messages from the engineer cancelling the visit. 

Thanks

Mona

[BankFodder]

By all means post your letter of claim here.

Under the consumer rights act, the burden of proof is on the supplier to show that the defect was not present.

Additionally, get a statement from your fitter who you say has discovered the fault and he should write you a letter telling you how he discovered the fault and what the fault is.

In your letter of claim tell the retailer that they are welcome to arrange an inspection of the units but they will have to do it within your 14 days because given the prevarication so far and the excessive passage of time – five months – you are not prepared to tolerate any further delay.

Tell them that if they want to carry out an inspection and they can do so by appointment or if they want they can arrange to have the item taken away although you will require a signature for its receipt. However, confirm to them again that you will not brook any further delay and that you will be issuing proceedings after 14 days. Suggest them that the most efficient way then to deal with this is simply to collect the old one and to supply you with a new one – and in which case you will suspend your threat to bring a legal action until the replacement has been confirmed as being satisfactory by your fitter.

[Mona287]

8 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

By all means post your letter of claim here.

Under the consumer rights act, the burden of proof is on the supplier to show that the defect was not present.

Additionally, get a statement from your fitter who you say has discovered the fault and he should write you a letter telling you how he discovered the fault and what the fault is.

In your letter of claim tell the retailer that they are welcome to arrange an inspection of the units but they will have to do it within your 14 days because given the prevarication so far and the excessive passage of time – five months – you are not prepared to tolerate any further delay.

Tell them that if they want to carry out an inspection and they can do so by appointment or if they want they can arrange to have the item taken away although you will require a signature for its receipt. However, confirm to them again that you will not brook any further delay and that you will be issuing proceedings after 14 days. Suggest them that the most efficient way then to deal with this is simply to collect the old one and to supply you with a new one – and in which case you will suspend your threat to bring a legal action until the replacement has been confirmed as being satisfactory by your fitter.

Bad news and it cannot get any worse, the invoice is dated 18th of Jan 2019. The period expires today, what irony. I just looked through the mail and discovered this. Is this a lost cause now?

[BankFodder]

No it's not a lost cause by any means.

The consumer rights act entitles you to have goods of satisfactory quality and they should remain that way for a reasonable period of time. Your cooker hood has never been satisfactory – so actually there's not a lot of difference. Tell them to repair it or replace it within 14 days. Give them an opportunity to inspect if they want but tell them that on day 15 you're going to send them the good news

[BankFodder]

By the way, the time limits under the consumer rights act begin from the date of delivery – not the invoice date. It seems to me that you may still be just in time for the assertion of rights under the six month rule – although as I have said it doesn't make any particular difference in this case.

[Mona287]

Thanks for this information. I see exactly what you mean. I will call Appliance Direct tomorrow and explain everything as I last spoke to them when the appliance was found to be faulty by the fitter back in February. 

I will first try to have them look into it but it they give me a cold shoulder, I will then start the process as per your advice by tomorrow afternoon.

 

Bless ya

Mona

[BankFodder]

I'm sorry to say but I think that you are making a mistake merely talking to them. I think you must now take control of the situation and you do that by sending your demands in writing on the basis that I've suggested above full stop

If you call them, they will continue to lead you around by the nose. Try if you don't believe me

 

[Mona287]

Oh thanks for the heads up. I will write that letter immediately. Send it by recorded delivery first thing tomorrow.

 

 

[BankFodder]

Read our customer services guide and implement the advice there. This is an absolute necessity if you have any telephone dealings with them or any other company

[Mona287]

Thanks again

 

I have sketched a letter. Please could you browse through it if you have a moment to spare.

 

 

Quote

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

[Reference: contract number]

Please refer to your  Invoice #71882367 wherein we had ordered ELICA HIDDEN-90 HIDDEN 898MM INTERGRATED COOKER HOOD for the price of £474.98 plus VAT which was received on dateXXXX faulty as per our fitter and the manufacturer Elica. 

Yourselves as suppliers and also the manufacturers of fully aware of the problems having been informed in previous correspondence, copies of which are attached.

We have allowed ample opportunity for the fault to be repaired and Elica has since been trying to repair the said item to no avail. 

If you feel that you wish to inspect the unit then you are welcome to do so by appointment but it must be within the next 14 days.

The Consumer Rights Act makes it an implied term of the contract that goods be as described, fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality. 

As you are in breach of contract, I am rejecting the appliance and request that you refund the sum paid to you of £474.98 plus VAT.

 

I also require you to confirm whether you will arrange for the appliance to be collected or will reimburse me for the cost of returning it.

If I do not receive your satisfactory proposals for settlement of my claim within 14 days of the date of this letter, I intend to issue a claim against you in the county court without further reference to you.

 

Yours faithfully,

My name

 

 

[BankFodder]

Please see highlighted edits above

[Mona287]

Great.  I will post it now. 

 

Many thanks for your patient replies.

 

Cuddles

Mona

 

[BankFodder]

Make sure you attach the previous corespondence