What if you have an appliance that is only just out of guarantee and you’ve been told it is unrepairable? In this example someone had bought a Zanussi fridge freezer 14 months previously. It was 2 months out of guarantee and had broken down. The manufacturer’s engineer said the fault was due to an internal gas leak and was unrepairable. The customer asked me what her rights were. She had paid £630 for it..
..Note that although this specific question relates to a fridge freezer, the situation should be relevant to any white goods appliance.
Just out of guarantee and unrepairable
Under UK consumer law, the manufacturer’s only obligation is to carry out repairs under their guarantee period, which has now expired. If it was repairable and they were quoting for an expensive repair it might bring up other consumer rights issues against the retailer (out of guarantee doesn’t always mean you should pay). But as the appliance is not repairable the manufacturer is washing their hands of it.
You would think that as they made the appliance and you are one of their customers they would offer to replace it themselves. They commonly don’t. As far as they are concerned you didn’t buy it from them. They didn’t get your money (although they obviously do indirectly) so it’s nothing to do with them.
The retailer is responsible
I advised that they should contact the retailer and request a replacement under the Consumer Rights Act (previously sale of goods act).
The retailer is unlikely to be helpful
Ironically the first thing most retailers are likely to do is ask the manufacturer for credit to replace it, which is commonly denied. If the manufacturer refuses to give them credit a retailer will often try to limit their costs by denying any responsibility. They may claim there’s nothing they can do because it’s out of guarantee.
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Unfortunately most of us will have to fight for our consumer rights. Front-line staff are commonly untrained on the full extent of consumer rights and may genuinely believe you have no rights. You may have to go to their superiors or even enlist help from consumer advice bodies. Hopefully if you make sure they know you understand you have rights and won’t be easily fobbed off they will comply. The retailers know very well that most people won’t. In this case, after insisting on a replacement, the customer confirmed that the retailer did exchange the fridge freezer without any quibble.
Do you automatically get a brand new appliance if the old can’t be repaired?
It will depend on the age of the appliance. A retailer can try to reduce their costs by asking the customer to pay a contribution. The logic is that you have already enjoyed a certain percentage of an expected lifespan so shouldn’t be entitled to a complete replacement. This does make logical sense, but whether or not they would try this is dependent on the circumstances and the retailer.
Here’s how it would work
In order to ask for a contribution towards the cost they need to work out what percentage of life you’ve already enjoyed. They would need to say how long the appliance would be expected to last on average. These figures aren’t easy to know or agree upon. Say for example they claim a fridge freezer would normally last 10 years (which is 120 months), they could say you’ve enjoyed 14 of those months which equates to just over 10%.
What if the appliance was older and couldn’t be repaired?
If an appliance has been deemed unrepairable by the manufacturer but it is further out of the guarantee period then things may be quite different. If an appliance is a year out of guarantee – or maybe even 4 or 5 years out of guarantee then you may still have rights under the Consumer Rights Act. There’s usually little point in complaining to the manufacturer although it has been known for them to accommodate customers out of goodwill (and clearly this makes sense). However, it is the retailer who has the liability.
The critical point here is that the appliance is unrepairable. Therefore however old the appliance is at this point this is exactly how long it has lasted – so the question becomes – is this acceptable? (Consumer Rights Act gives us 6 years to claim for faulty appliances?)
What if it’s repairable but very expensive?
This is far more common, and much more complex. If an appliance is only days or possibly a week or so out of guarantee then you would hope that out of good will the manufacturer would offer to repair it free of charge. But they aren’t obliged to, and often won’t. If this is the case you need to remember your rights under the Consume Rights Act are against the retailer who sold it to you. You may still be entitled to a free repair depending upon the circumstances.
You would need to contact the retailer and you would need to show that your appliance has not lasted a reasonable time, has not been fit for purpose, or it had an inherent fault at the time of sale. Whether or not you have any justification in such a claim will depend on all of the circumstances – how much you paid, how long you’ve had it, whether it has been nothing but trouble or previously trouble-free, how you’ve looked after it, and how much it has been used. Some of the elements in this calculation are subjective and not clear-cut. This is why you may have to seek consumer advice from someone like Which? and why sometimes a small claims court judge may have to decide.
More related information
- You might find it interesting to read my article here, which explains why retailers are commonly reluctant to help us when we have a case Is the sale of goods (consumer rights) act too hard on retailers?
- Sale of Goods Act gives us 6 years to claim for faulty appliances
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By the way Steve, it has to be said that if an appliance is broken down after just over two years it doesn’t automatically mean there is any claim against either the sale of goods act or the consumer rights act. Neither of these consumer protection laws say that nothing should ever break down. The key issue is whether it has lasted a reasonable time before breaking down or not. And that very much depends on how much the appliance cost, how much it has been used and how well it’s been looked after as well as what has actually gone wrong.
Just for example if an appliance has broken down after 2 1/2 years and it was basic budget model, and has been used with a family of seven, and say the fault isn’t even that serious, then there might not be a legitimate claim. Conversely, if the appliance had cost £750, was marketed as a high quality product, and has only been used with a family of two and has broken down it might reasonably be seen as unacceptable, and not of good enough quality. It’s all quite complicated and subjective, which is why it is such a minefield, and why retailers can quite easily bamboozle many people putting them off quite easily. I hope you get yours sorted out okay, it sounds like you’ve been persistent enough to get results and that’s how to do it.
Hi Andy yes I understand what you are saying but oven was used maximum twice a week and cost about £350 i explained this to the consumer services they confirmed it should be repaired at the very least I still only have a verbal agreement for them to repair still waiting for the email to arrange it so I’m hoping that they are not pulling a fast one have a good weekend thanks again Steve
Yes Steve. Fingers crossed for you. I was just trying to make it clear for anyone reading in the future.
Hi Andy final follow up I received the email withe the old gesture of good will but at least it’s sorted many thanks Steve
I have the same Fridge Freezer issue “Unrepairable” after 2 years 4 months. However, it came installed in a new caravan purchase.
Is it the park owners/sellers (since changed hands) or Atlas the caravan manufacturers responsibility?
I’m currently trying to get a copy of the engineers report, from the Fridge/Freezer Manufacturers.
Hi Mary. It’s whoever you actually bought it from. If you bought the caravan from the park owners and it came with the caravan then you bought the fridge from them. But if it’s changed hands since then, you may have great difficulty getting any redress.
ive had 3 fridge freezers in 4 yrs that have broken. they start freezing fridge food then the freezer goes. the first was replaced after 8months, then it was around the same time scale again so this one must be about 2 1/2 years old. surely this isn’t right?
Where are the fridge freezers kept Marie?
in the kitchen.
ive ended uo paying them to come out. the door had dropped and there fore it wasnt closed properly he said. turn it off for 48hrs.
Thanks Marie. I ask because if it was in a cold environment that could explain why they all didn’t work. Especially if kept in a garage. It sounds like yours is currently severely iced up. 48 hours seems a long time however, much of the ice that is causing the fridge freezer to not run properly is packed right inside behind the plastic wall at the back. If you just unplug it long enough so that all of the ice visible has gone and plug it back in the fault will re-occur.
It needs to thoroughly defrost which can take a long time because of the insulation. You probably could get away with a shorter period of time if you can apply some gentle warmth inside the fridge such as from a fan heater but you would need to be very careful not to have it hot, or too close. You don’t want to melt anything. If the fault was caused by the door being left open and the fridge freezer has become completely blocked with ice then a thorough defrost should fix the fault.
We’ve had our under counter fridge/freezer for 18 months it’s working perfectly but getting a bad fishy smell from the back we switched it off andcleaned the drain then switched it back on but it’s still smelling the plugs not getting hot
Hi Sandra. Every time I’ve had a bad fishy smell it’s been caused by electrical overheating. I’ve had it twice in a kitchen, which turned out to be a loose wire inside the wall socket. And I’ve had it once in the garage, which was a light socket overheating.
In my experience the plastic that they make wall sockets and light fittings smells of fish when it burns.
I would get the wall socket checked out first. However, we can’t rule out the possibility of something overheating in the appliance.
This type of smell is quite pungent so you might be able to detect where it’s coming from by carefully sniffing around.
I’ve just had engineers out for fridge/freezer 6yrs old couldn’t bee repaired as leaked gas can I claim of retailer
Hi Hayley. It depends on all the specific circumstances including how much it cost. It’s lasted 6 years. A fridge should normally be expected to easily last 10 years. So it’s lasted about 60% of the time you would expect.
I would look at it like this…It’s down to deciding if, bearing in mind what you paid for it, have you had reasonable value for money or not?
For example if it cost £250, it works out at roughly £41 a year. About 79 pence a week. You could definitely argue that’s not bad at all. But if it cost £800 it’s £133 a year – £2.56 a week.
If you think it should have lasted a lot longer you can argue that case with the retailer. There’s no point trying the manufacturer. The problem is the retailer will not accept it lightly and will try to brush you off. They always do.
If you get them to accept it though, they can knock off a percentage of the purchase price to account for the years of use that you’ve had. If they accept it should have lasted 10 years but only lasted 6 that would be 60%. So if you only paid £250 for it they are likely to offer £100.
It’s probably worth seeing what they say. But do the maths and see if it’s worth the potential hassle and stress as it’s very unlikely they will offer anything unless you prove to be resolute and not easily put off.
Hi .
We have a lg fridge frezzer cost £1300 4 years ago . It’s not been freezing but the fridge has been working. Called lg they said for a one off payment of £175 they will fix the issue no matter how long it takes . Engineer came out said it was the compressor so they changed that, still didn’t freeze after the change and now the fridge doesn’t work . Nightmare over Xmas shut we got through it . Engineer came out and said its a internal issue and we can’t fix it . So I’m righting it off in my report .
Just wondering where that leaves us ? One with a £175 repair which wasn’t sorted and now a £1300 fridge freezer which os said to beyond repair.
Hi Paul. I would say you should be entitled to a refund from the manufacturer who failed to repair it. Or at least a reduction in price to that which they would have charged if they had told you it was beyond repair when their engineer first came out.
Then you should be entitled to compensation from the retailer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, because at £1300 it hasn’t lasted any where near as long as you should reasonably expect.
They would be entitled to take into account the fact that you’ve had 4 years use. So, for example, if they accepted it should have lasted 10 years, they should pay you 60% of the cost back because it only lasted 40% of that.
Hi Andy .
Thanks for your response, I’ve contacted LG and they are going to get back to me regarding my options. If they can’t do anything I will take it to Currys where we originally bought it . Totally in agreement with you as its lasted no where near what we thought it might or should . Will post back here when we have some sort of outcome .
Thanks Paul
Hi Andy.
So just a update to our situation. Lg refunded the repair cost but as you mentioned before they won’t do anything else , basically said we need to go to the retailer.
So after a 2 week wait currys have got back to us and have offered us £300, saying under the cra it’s covered for 6 years not 10 . Is that correct can we argue this ? Because for £300 we can’t replace what we have .
Thanks for all your help and advice .
Paul
Hi Paul. I’ve no idea what they are talking about saying the consumer rights act covers for 6 years not 10. They are either trying it on, or have no idea about consumer rights.
We have up to 6 years to claim compensation, but that’s nothing to do with 6 years guarantee. Your claim is that it has only lasted 4 years, when at £1300 it should have lasted at least 10 years.
They can knock off an appropriate amount for the 4 years use you’ve had. So if you are happy to say it should have lasted 10 years then at £1300 that’s £130 per year.
So they could knock off £520 for the 4 years use, and they should refund you the rest. Basically they sold you a product that should have lasted at the very least 10 years but it’s only lasted 4.
Thank you Andy .
I will go back to them as I wasn’t to sure .
Will again post once I have a outcome .
Thanks Paul
Hi Andy .
This is the response we have just had from currys .
Dear Mrs Holland
The Consumer Rights Act 20 15 is quite clear in
that the expected lifespan of a product should
be six years, hence the right to claim within this
timeframe.
Also the price paid in store that day was
£999.99 which would be reflected by the
purchase receipt you should have.
The current value of the appliance is based on
the linear depreciation of the price you paid and
the length of time you have owned it within the
stipulated six year period which is currently
£263.89 which would be our full and final offer.
Should you not wish to accept this offer we
would send you a deadlock letter which outlies
further steps you can take.
Pls note they have the wrong price as my farther in law bought the non plumbed version at the same time , I’ve told them this 3 times already .
Thanks for all your help .
Hi Paul. Ask them if you buy a Miele washing machine at £1500, that’s advertised as designed for 20 years, are they seriously trying to tell you that it’s only supposed to last 6 years?
You need to speak to a manager. Managers usually know the law but the normal staff are often deliberately kept in the dark because their ignorance successfully fends of thousands of claims.
6 years is just the time they’ve decided we have to make a claim but it is in no way saying there is a 6 year guarantee or a 6 year life expectancy.
I think you need to contact Citizens Advice.
Thank you once again .
Hi Andy, I hope you’re doing well.
We have bought a Beko integrated fridge freezer 6 weeks ago, it was £395. I came back after Christmas and it was showing a fault, both the fridge and the freezer are no longer staying cold at all and it’s also making a lot of strange sounds.
The item was purchased from Homebase (facilitated by AO). We have contacted AO and all they can offer is for someone to come and look at it next Tuesday. Is it reasonable for them to expect us to be without any fridge freezer for at least a week? They have said that they need to at least inspect or try to repair it before issuing a refund or replacement. Ideally I would just want either a refund or for them to replace it asap.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Molly. My understanding is that if there is a fault within the first 6 months it is now assumed that the fault was present when it was sold to you.
Unless the retailer can prove otherwise, this is in breach of the Consumer Rights Act and you should be entitled to a replacement or refund.
The problem is that the nature of the fault has to be known before a retailer could accept this. Many faults could be caused by misuse, or user faults, or installation faults. For example if a fridge freezer is placed in a garage the freezer can start defrosting when it is cold because they are only designed to work above 10 degrees.
Or an appliance could stop working due to a faulty wall socket.
No one is likely to replace any appliance without it being confirmed there is a fault, and it is down to a fault on the appliance.
It’s highly frustrating having to wait a week for a critically vital appliance like a fridge or freezer, but it’s very normal for manufacturers and national repair companies to take at least a week to get someone out. If it was much longer you might argue it’s unacceptable, but I’m not sure a week would be accepted as unacceptablly long although you could try.
If you lose any food after taking all reasonable steps not to, then keep the packaging and you may be able to claim compensation from the retailer – although they are commonly very reluctant. In law though, that would be called “consequential loss”, and we are entitled to compensation.
Hi Andy,
Thank you very much for your swift response. Someone did come out to look at it about a week after we reported it. Initially he took a very brief look and then wanted to refer it to another engineer to check for gas leaks, which would be another weeks wait! After a bit of questioning from me he concluded that it was unrepairable as the back of the fridge freezer wall had come away from the mechanism? (Not quite sure I understood correctly!) AO sent out a replacement the next day but we are still awaiting a few missing shelves so I’ll get in touch with them again. Thanks very much for your help :)