Faulty Fridge Freezer.

[198x]

Ok, so I don't exactly know where to post but here goes.

2 months ago I bought a Samsung fridge freezer, and on Monday it packed up. I've had an Samsung engineer come to my house to tell me that it's most likely the board that has gone.

The only thing is, he says they do not directly stock 'boards' and so I could wait up to a week for it to arrive at the engineers to which it'll be a couple of days for him to arrange a fitting.

I've been told by a friend that I should ask the supplier for an exchange of goods as the current one is faulty and I'll be out of a fridge freezer for up to 2 weeks. I've also been told to charge Samsung for the contents of my fridge freezer as it is only 2 months old so you wouldn't expect it to be broken so soon.

What exactly should I do? And where I go about doing these things?

[Kerplunk]

For the contents of your frezzer check you home contents insurance. They often cover a certain value of frozen goods against this sort of thing.

[PLIVELY34]

Well I acutally work for a company that services Electrolux and numerous other appliances. Where exactly do you live? The reason I ak is we do the service in Northern Ireland and it can take up to five working days to receive parts, the reason being that they are coming from England thus the delay. However i am aware that similar companies in England have their parts the next day as that is where the supplier in situtated. Usually the retailer who sold the appliance only has to honour an exchange pledge for 28 days, it then becomes the responsibility of the manufacturer - Samsung. My advice to you is to ring Samsung customer services explain you are not happy with the appliance. In the case of Electrolux they are usuay quite sympathetic. With regards to your food, yes you can claim off your home insurance however I would make a note of the cost of all the food and contact c/services telling them you are claiming for the cost of food loss of them. Electrolux will pay for any loss of food when our customers do this. Also i think they have a seven day pledge to have the appliance repaired afterwhich they are obliged to exchange the fridge.

[Hammer]

You have "reasonable time" to reject the fridge as unsatisfactory and demand a refund. 2months may be pushing that though, so...

Within six months, you can demand a repair or replacement, your choice, from the retailer (note: retailer not manufacturer). The fridge must had had an inherent fault and it's for the retailer to prove otherwise.

Deal only with the retailer, not the manufacturer. Your contract is with them only. Mention the Sale of Goods Act and stand your ground that you want a replacement.

I doubt that you'll get any joy over the wasted food though, apart from through your insurance.

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy /know-your-rights/electrical/

[PLIVELY34]

Hammer i wouldn't agree with that answer. Dealing with these cases every day, she has a right to claim for the food as it was the fridge itself that caused the loss not an outside factor such as a power cut. As for the liability of the retailer, unless Samsung deal differently in these cases than other manufacturers, it is up to the manufacturer to replace the appliance. I can assure you that if she does go back to the shop in which she purchased it, she will be directed straight to Samsung c/services unless the shop is willing to replace the fridge as a good will gesture. In my experience they will only do this for their valuable customers.( if only they treated us infrequent spenders as well as the big guns, but as everyone know this isn't the case-money talks). The agreement is between customer and manufacturer. Granted Hammer I didn't think this myself but I have been informed on numerous occassions that this is the case(by around twelve manufacturers). Contradictory to consumer law in my opinion, but I am just telling 198x my experiences in this game.

[PLIVELY34]

I have just read hammer's link there-very interesting. I should have mentioned that is up to the retailer to arrange a repair with a local service agent. It is then up to the customer whether or not to accept the repair. In many cases the retailer will contact customer care for the customer.

[Hammer]

The customer's contract is with the retailer, end of story. That is the law. Manufacturers may well offer a guarantee and may well offer to repair the appliance, and shops will often use this as an excuse to get out of their obligations, but that does not change the law. That is why they all say somewhere in their policies that "this does not affect your statutory rights".

If you just want a repair, fine, go through the manufacturer (although in this case I would argue that 2 weeks is too long to wait). If you want to exercise your legal right to a refund or replacement, then you should go through the retailer. I�ve done this myself and they do try to fob you off, but if you stand your ground, quote the sale of goods act and as a last resort threaten the small claims court, they usually start to listen. Slightly off the subject, but to prove that this works, I�ve just had a replacement of a 2 year old, out of warranty, DVD recorder by doing just this.