@AO tumble dryer faulty at 13 months AO.com - brilliant customer service - **Bravo AO**

[messimagician]

I rang AO.com about a faulty tumble dryer and was told they don't offer a repair but was passed to some 3rd party insurance company domestic general wanting £15 a month...

 

Beko was no help either so I got a local repairer in and he confirmed it was the PCB which makes it beyond economic repair. 

 

After some digging I read online that I need some independent report and my contract is with AO. 

 

I was wondering how detailed does the report need to be regards to the PCB and what other things need to be written in the report before I can take action against AO?

 

Can the report be done by email or does it need to be on paper?

 

What options can I pursue after getting the report?

 

 

Thanks

 

 

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG. I'm sorry to hear about your problems.

 

People should be along later to advise, please bear with us until they're able to get here.

 

Best, HB

[BankFodder]

Maybe you could tell us a bit more about the dryer.

Who did you buy it from? – Who is AO?

What make is the tumble dryer and model. When did you buy it? You

[honeybee13]

I think it could be these people, BF. It seems to me we've had threads about them before.

 

https://ao.com/

 

HB

[honeybee13]

This is all I can find for now, I thought we had others.

 

HB

 

 

[messimagician]

AO are big online white goods retailer. It's a Beko DTGC7000W  and was purchased 13 months ago and hardly used in that time.

[BankFodder]

Okay. If it's only 13 months old then clearly it is not of satisfactory quality. AO  are responsible because they are the retailer.

It's very normal for these retailers not want to get involved in this part of their selling responsibilities and so they try to fob you off. Of course lots of consumers will simply accept this and are even prepared to pay the cost of repairs because they believe that the item is out of warranty or something.

Luckily you have found your way here. Under the Consumer Rights Act you are entitled to have an item which is of satisfactory quality and remains that way for a reasonable period of time. I'm quite sure that it is reasonable to expect that a tumble dryer will work for at least five years and probably longer.

Therefore it is clear that your tumble dryer is not satisfactory quality and therefore AO are in breach of the contract and you will now have two force them to respect their obligations.

If you have been dealing with them on the telephone – then normally you shouldn't but if you do then read our customer services guide and implement the advice there before you have any further telephone dealings.

Write to the supplier and tell them that as your contract is with them, you require that they accept their responsibilities and that they either pay for the repair or they compensate you to the tune of a new machine.

Of course you have had 12 months use of the machine and so they would be entitled to make a reasonable deduction. On the basis that the machine should reasonably last six years, they would be entitled to reduce the compensation paid to you by 1/6.  However, you can let them bring up that issue. You should go for the full replacement value or a replacement machine.

At the same time go back to the company which said that it was beyond economic repair and asking if they will confirm that in writing. That will be all you need. AO will simply want to sell machines and they won't want to start being too fiddly about evidence et cetera. However, unless they are spectacularly decent, they will object to refunding you or replacing anything and you may well find that you are in a position where you have to send them a letter of claim threatening legal proceedings and you may then find that you have to issue a claim in the County Court.

We'll deal with that when it comes – but you can be sure that on the basis of the facts that you have given us, if you do bring a court claim then your chances of success are better than 95% and of course you will get your court fees back. Bringing a small claim in the County Court is very easy but don't expect an instant solution. If you do end up suing AO then the chances are that they will put their hands up before the court hearing – how quickly they do it will depend on how stupid they are. If they are really stupid then they will see you all the way to the court – and maybe into a hearing although the chances of this happening are extremely remote and of course they will lose the case.

So consider all of that. Go and get an estimate for repairs and get it in writing – so that it shows that the cost of repairs means that the dryer is a write-off.

Write to AO, point out to them that it is their responsibility and enclose a copy of the estimate for repairs which shows that it is a write-off. Ask them what they propose and tell them that you want a response within seven days.

I doubt whether it will make any difference and I fully imagine that we will have to go onto the next step – but don't give them more than seven days to respond. You don't want a nonworking tumble dryer hanging around your home – and of course being winter you probably need one anyway.

Come back here when you get an answer

[PIXeL_92]

I have updated my thread that was linked above if you want to see the outcome.

 

 

[BankFodder]

Well, that was a good result. Maybe AO are better than the average white goods supplier

[messimagician]

I sent AO a report from an independent engineer saying that the PCB is at fault. I have now had a phone call from AO now saying that it doesn't include the cost to repair on the report even though at the time they didn't ask for that. I was only told verbally at the time he was testing the dryer that it wasn't worth fixing due to cost

 

They're also saying it needs to be inherent fault but how will an engineer know this as this wasn't stated in the report?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

Don't worry about it being an inherent fault. That's irrelevant. However I would have thought that it was pretty basic that you would need an estimate for repairs even if it was not economic.

It's absolutely reasonable for them to ask that information. I suggest that you go back and get a figure. Then we can move forward

[messimagician]

Ok well I can get them to sort a report out again with the cost but I wasn't told to include that originally.

 

What's confusing me is the inherent fault as AO  won't proceed unless it's stated in the report 

[BankFodder]

Well I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but I don't see a lot of point in getting report that doesn't include a valuation in its conclusion.

[messimagician]

Ok well I got the amended report showing costs involved which is pretty much what we paid for the machine. 

 

I got them to include that the fault wasn't caused by the user 

 

 

[messimagician]

What should I say if AO still challenge the report by it not saying the fault is inherent ?

 

I forgot to ask do AO have to reimburse me for the cost of the report?

 

 

 

 

[BankFodder]

How much was the report? In principle they should reimburse you and if they force you to go to court then you should certainly claim this. You can claim anyway but it might be a little negotiating hand and something that you are prepared to give up in order to get the main refund that you are after and of course it then hands them some Face. It's always useful to have something in reserve to give away so that your opponent doesn't feel so bad.

[BankFodder]

Don't worry about the "inherent" thing. The important thing is that there is a fault and you've only used it for about a year so it is not satisfactory quality. That's all you need.

[messimagician]

Ok thanks. The cost of the report was £30.

 

I will relay to AO what you said about the inherent part. I have funny feeling that they're going to be difficult going by my dealings with them so far. I should be getting a call back soon

 

Thanks again for your help

[BankFodder]

You are waiting for a call back. Bad move. That means that you place yourself in their hands so that they have control. Have you decided how long you're going to wait for them if they don't phone before you start phoning.
You should keep the initiative and that means that when you have a conversation with a company and they undertake to do something, you will then arrange that you will phone them on such and such morning or some such afternoon. I'm almost sure that it gives this advice in our customer services guide. No doubt you have your recorder installed so you will be able to record the conversation when it happens

[messimagician]

Just an update on this. I received my call back from Jennifer who wanted to personally sort this issue hence why I didn't ring them and having to speak to someone new

 

After sending the amended engineers report with costs direct to her, I was put on hold thinking I'm going to have to battle it out, I was pleasantly surprised when she said I got a deduction refund based on the 13 months of ownership. 

 

How does the depreciation calculation work ? I paid £220 but I'll be refunded for £175 once they've collected it on Sunday. 

 

 

Thanks again for all your help and I hope this will help anyone else in a similar situation. 

 

 

I forgot to say after she initially refunded the dryer I asked about them covering the cost of the engineer report. I had to prompt them otherwise they would have let me go. We met half way so got £15 back 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by messimagician

[BankFodder]

First of all thanks for updating us. Congratulations on resolving this without too much difficulty.

Secondly, a big Bravo to AO. This must be one of the most customer-centred companies we have ever come across and it's up there with the same standards as John Lewis.

I suggest that you put up a review on Google and give them five stars and also on trust pilot.

The 45 quid deduction for use is slightly on the high side but given the fact that you are being put to any further trouble in terms of escalating complaint or threatening legal actions. This is very good.

Well done

[BankFodder]

I'm looking at my posts on this and I can see that I have been deeply suspicious of this company. It seems that my suspicions are completely unjustified and I'm afraid that they are affected by the kind of poisonous treatment that most retailers handout to their customers.
It seems that ao.com are an exception and I hope that all their customers stories have the same good experience.

[MadScouser]

I also have to say well done to AO in our dealings with them.  On 2 occasions our tumble drier has failed(over 5 year period).  On the 1st occasion it was repaired, on the 2nd they agreed to replace to unit, albeit we had to pay for an upgraded model as our model was no longer being produced, but only the difference between the original cost and the full cost of the newer model(approx. £80).