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Fridge/Freezer...
2 Answers
I bought a new fridge freezer just over 2 years ago which came with a standard two year warranty. It was all working fine until the beginning of this month.
I noticed one morning the light bulb wasn't on and at the time thought it odd that it could have blown so soon so I changed the socket & the plug fuse to check but to no avail.
I keep a digital thermometer in the fridge and realised after a few hours the temperature was creeping up and I couldn't hear any noise from the motor. The freezer section was working ok.
Eventually after seeing the temperature rising more (I was trying only to open the fridge door on the odd occasion) I decided to unscrew the cover over the bulb. Sure enough the bulb was completely black.
I looked online for advice and I read that when the bulb blows it can sometimes temporarily "short out" the fridge but it said it usually resets itself after several hours.
I bought a new bulb the following day and screwed it in. By this time the internal temperature was still still high, showing around 8 or 9 degrees but after several more hours had passed it slowly returned to the normal level.
I contacted the manufacturer to ask their advice as to why this had happened but my emails were generally ignored or I was told someone would contact me but nobody did. I then went through their page on Facebook to say I was very disappointed my messages were being ignored.
I finally got to speak to a person yesterday from the company who deal with their repairs. Explained the circumstances and was told the problem would be the thermostat. I queried this but the person I spoke to was adamant that they were right. As a goodwill gesture, they said they would replace the thermostat but I would have to pay £90 for one of their engineers to come & fit it. I have not agreed to this at the moment.
Has anyone got any idea what could have caused this short out and whether it could be the thermostat?
I am naturally not too impressed as I haven't had the appliance that long at all. I do believe there could be a wiring fault (and not a thermostat problem at all) as the I am occasionally seeing flickering from the new bulb.
I noticed one morning the light bulb wasn't on and at the time thought it odd that it could have blown so soon so I changed the socket & the plug fuse to check but to no avail.
I keep a digital thermometer in the fridge and realised after a few hours the temperature was creeping up and I couldn't hear any noise from the motor. The freezer section was working ok.
Eventually after seeing the temperature rising more (I was trying only to open the fridge door on the odd occasion) I decided to unscrew the cover over the bulb. Sure enough the bulb was completely black.
I looked online for advice and I read that when the bulb blows it can sometimes temporarily "short out" the fridge but it said it usually resets itself after several hours.
I bought a new bulb the following day and screwed it in. By this time the internal temperature was still still high, showing around 8 or 9 degrees but after several more hours had passed it slowly returned to the normal level.
I contacted the manufacturer to ask their advice as to why this had happened but my emails were generally ignored or I was told someone would contact me but nobody did. I then went through their page on Facebook to say I was very disappointed my messages were being ignored.
I finally got to speak to a person yesterday from the company who deal with their repairs. Explained the circumstances and was told the problem would be the thermostat. I queried this but the person I spoke to was adamant that they were right. As a goodwill gesture, they said they would replace the thermostat but I would have to pay £90 for one of their engineers to come & fit it. I have not agreed to this at the moment.
Has anyone got any idea what could have caused this short out and whether it could be the thermostat?
I am naturally not too impressed as I haven't had the appliance that long at all. I do believe there could be a wiring fault (and not a thermostat problem at all) as the I am occasionally seeing flickering from the new bulb.
Answers
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You're hassling the wrong people. Your statutory rights rest with the retailer, not with the manufacturer, so it's that retailer that you should have contacted.
After a couple of years, you're in the position where the retailer is responsible for rectifying any fault with the appliance that was present at the time that you bought it. (e.g. the inclusion of a poor quality component or the use of a poor standard of workmanship).
However you've now gone past the point in time where there would have been an automatic assumption that any problem that occurred must have been be due to such an 'inherent fault'. If you want to claim from the retailer now you'll have to show that, based upon the balance of probabilities, the most likely reason for the problem occurring is that there was poor workmanship or a dodgy component. It's sometimes possible to do that simply by challenging the retailer to suggest any other reason why the appliance might have failed but, if you want to try to go down that route, you'll need to be prepared to do a lot of hassling.
Otherwise, both the retailer and the manufacturer are both perfectly entitled to tell you to get lost. The threat of some bad publicity on review websites, and on social media, can sometimes work wonders though!
My own feeling here is that is, indeed, almost certainly a thermostat problem. It might be worth looking on Youtube for instructions on how to fix it yourself and then checking on the price of a new thermostat. If a replacement thermostat would cost you nearly ninety quid anyway, it would seem to make most sense to accept the offer of having an engineer come to replace the dud one. However if you can buy a thermostat for far less than that, go down the DIY route.
After a couple of years, you're in the position where the retailer is responsible for rectifying any fault with the appliance that was present at the time that you bought it. (e.g. the inclusion of a poor quality component or the use of a poor standard of workmanship).
However you've now gone past the point in time where there would have been an automatic assumption that any problem that occurred must have been be due to such an 'inherent fault'. If you want to claim from the retailer now you'll have to show that, based upon the balance of probabilities, the most likely reason for the problem occurring is that there was poor workmanship or a dodgy component. It's sometimes possible to do that simply by challenging the retailer to suggest any other reason why the appliance might have failed but, if you want to try to go down that route, you'll need to be prepared to do a lot of hassling.
Otherwise, both the retailer and the manufacturer are both perfectly entitled to tell you to get lost. The threat of some bad publicity on review websites, and on social media, can sometimes work wonders though!
My own feeling here is that is, indeed, almost certainly a thermostat problem. It might be worth looking on Youtube for instructions on how to fix it yourself and then checking on the price of a new thermostat. If a replacement thermostat would cost you nearly ninety quid anyway, it would seem to make most sense to accept the offer of having an engineer come to replace the dud one. However if you can buy a thermostat for far less than that, go down the DIY route.
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