What are our consumer rights related to washing machines and white goods appliances that break down? Especially soon after purchase. Trying to get an appliance exchanged can be stressful and difficult. So before we jump in and angrily demand a replacement, it’s best to try to look at the subject objectively.
Both the customer and retailer’s points of view are explored in this article. Note that I am talking only about UK consumer rights.
I don’t want my washing machine repaired – I want it exchanged
Many customers want an exchange if a washing machine breaks down when they haven’t had it very long. Especially if it’s very soon after purchase. Unless a retailer had a 28 day exchange policy this used to be difficult. But the new Consumer Rights Act 2015 now makes this very simple. It says that if a new appliance goes faulty within 30 days we are entitled to a full refund if that’s what we want.
Is the washing machine really faulty?
However, before jumping in, try to make sure there is definitely a fault on the appliance. Make sure that the fault is not caused by faulty installation or a user fault. Failing to read the instruction manual causes a lot of avoidable problems. As an engineer, I know that a substantial percentage (if not the majority) of all calls to a new appliance within the first week are likely to be user faults or installation faults.
If it’s a washing machine check this list that I have compiled separately, is the washing machine actually faulty? It shows 9 examples of “faults” that are not washing machine faults at all. They are all caused by installation or user errors. Remember, you can be charged if it turns out to be one of these faults, so it makes sense to check it.
They won’t exchange any appliance without sending an engineer to check it first
It’s easy to see why it’s highly unlikely anyone will exchange an appliance simply because it’s reported faulty, once you’ve read the list mentioned above. It’s almost certain an engineer will need to inspect and confirm it is genuinely faulty.
Can I insist on an exchange if the washing machine IS faulty?
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives us the right for a full refund if an appliance is faulty within the first 30 days. If the appliance is genuinely faulty, you can request your money back.
The sooner a fault occurs, the more likely a retailer will exchange it. They tend to get very reluctant after roughly a month. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 says that faults within the first 6 months are inherent. This means the fault must have been present when sold, even if it didn’t show before. The retailer must prove otherwise. So if a substantial fault occurs within the first 6 months, you have a better chance of getting it exchanged. After 6 months, it is extremely difficult to get an appliance exchanged, even if consumer law says you are entitled to it.
Should you complain the manufacturer?
Under UK consumer law, the manufacturer is not responsible. Only the retailer has any obligation regarding faulty goods. A manufacturer has an obligation to honour their guarantee. But they have no obligation to exchange faulty appliances. Neither can they give your money back because you gave it to the retailer. Some manufacturers will get involved. They will sometimes offer to exchange an appliance. If they offer something acceptable, that’s fine. But if they don’t, remember the retailer is bound by the Sale of Goods act. It’s them you should be negotiating with. (Related: Why can’t I complain to the manufacturer? They made it so aren’t they ultimately responsible?)
Retailers can sometimes insist on repairing – not replacing an appliance
Automatically rejecting a washing machine over any fault is not necessarily a good idea. It’s common to instinctively want to reject something that breaks down the first time you use it, or within a short time of buying. As customers, we often appear to undergo a psychological rejection of goods, which is not based on any logic. It’s almost as if the washing machine is cursed, and doomed to constant failure so it must be got rid of.
Try not to lose sight of the fact that any product can develop a fault. It doesn’t mean there is something seriously wrong with it. It doesn’t mean that it will never stop breaking down. Bear in mind that a minor repair may be considerably more convenient for all concerned, including yourself. What’s the point for example of going through all the hassle of getting a washing machine exchanged if it can be fixed in 5 minutes with hardly any effort?
Also bear in mind that a retailer can insist on a repair if they can show that replacing the appliance is disproportionately more expensive than a repair.
You might be entitled to reject it if the product is faulty from the start, but it makes sense to just see what the fault is first. Some faults can be pretty minor and hardly warrant a total rejection.
There is sometimes a stalemate caused by conflicting statements in the Sale of Goods Act. It gives us the right to reject a faulty product, but also gives retailers a right to repair it if it only has a minor fault.
Faults within the first 6 months are deemed to have been present when sold
As previously mentioned, a new amendment to consumer law has shifted the burden of proof of a fault from the consumer to the seller. This is only applicable within the first 6 months. This means a fault within 6 months is automatically assumed to be an “inherent fault” unless the seller can prove otherwise. It’s as good as saying if a new part can’t last a mere 6 months, it must have been faulty (or of sub-standard quality) when it was fitted to the washing machine. So it was therefore sold with an inherent fault.
Why are retailers so reluctant to exchange a faulty appliance?
This could be why – Is the sale of goods act too hard on retailers?
Faults on appliances out of guarantee
Once the appliance is out of the manufacturer’s guarantee you will always be told that you have to pay for a repair – even if The Consumer Rights Act 2015 shows you are entitled to a free repair or compensation. You can be entitled to a free repair or partial refund long after the first year.
It will depend on all of the circumstances, but you can still be covered by UK consumer law as this article describes Out of guarantee even by a long time doesn’t always mean you should pay
The Consumer Rights Act 2015
Some people think that because the Consumer Rights Act (formally Sale of Goods Act) gives us up to 6 years (5 in Scotland) to claim compensation it means we have a claim any time it breaks down within the 6 years. This is definitely not the case. Read this article here – Consumer Rights Act (formally Sale of Goods Act) gives us 6 years to claim for faulty appliances
Which? Consumer Advice special offer
I’m not a consumer expert. My consumer advice is my personal understanding based on a long study and research on the subject coupled with my 40 years experience in the trade, and years of writing and advising on my web sites.
Which? are a great source of independent consumer advice and product reviews and you can benefit from their highly respected opinions and experience online – you can usually get a special offer trial offer – (Why subscribe to Which? )
Distance selling regulations
You have additional rights if you buy your appliance over the internet or through a mail-order catalogue. Read this article for more information on Distance selling regulations on returning appliances
Spares
Spares4Appliances is a spares company run by repair engineers who understand all about spare parts for appliances.
Hi ANDY wonder if you can give us any advice – we have a haeir machine which has set on fire this weekend – thankfully it was in the daytime and we were at home when it happened and able to stop it spreading – it appears on a quick google that the machine has actually been on a product recall last year but we were never aware of this – does anybody have any liability to provide us with a new machine ? Thankfully it is only a machine we are missing and not a whole house or anybody’s lives !
Many thanks
Hello Laura. That’s another reminder never to leave washing machine’s dishwashers or tumble dryers running at night or when no one is in the house. It’s also a reminder of why we should always register new products when we buy them. The first thing a manufacturer would do when they discover a serious safety issue is contact all of the people who have bought one and registered it with them. If we haven’t registered the appliance then we cannot find out about it unless we stumble across it in the media.
In cases where an appliance has been subject to a safety notice the manufacturer usually takes over. However, under the sale of goods act the retailer is ultimately responsible. Therefore if the manufacturer doesn’t deal with it as you would like then you can try to hold the retailer who sold it to you responsible under the sale of goods act. You would have to claim that they breached the sale of goods act by selling you an appliance that had an inherent fault.
Just purchased a whirlpool washer, after 6 days the drum paddle has broken off. After contacting the retailer they can’t send an engineer out for over a week. Am I entitled to a replacement ? Rather than it been fixed.
Hello, as my article describes, it’s very rare for a retailer to agree to swap an appliance without an engineer confirming it is faulty, that the fault hasn’t been caused by misuse or during installation – and that the fault is quite serious. It’s unusual for a drum paddle to break off so soon so they may well suspect something heavy like trainers could have been washed and caused it to break (although how they could prove that I don’t know).
If the drum paddle is one of the types that can be easily replaced by clipping in then I would expect you’d have quite a battle on your hand to get them to replace it when it can be fixed within minutes. If on the other hand they said it needed stripping down to replace it or even needed a new drum it should be much easier to argue that you want to reject the machine and get a refund or replacement with it happening so soon.
Bought fridge, freezer and dishwasher (Indesit) from AOL only 6 months ago. The fridge has stopped working. Contacted Indesit who will send an engineer out in 2 weeks to inspect, How they expect me to cope for 2 weeks, in this day and age is shocking – had to resort to long life milk and supermarket shopping every night for fresh produce. Once engineer visits and a fault is found, he will write a report, that will be sent to head office for them to decide whether I should be given a refund or replacement. This process can take 4 weeks. Am I being unrealistic not being able to cope without a fridge for over a month? In the meantime, I have ordered another fridge due to be delivered on Saturday – so I have bought 2 new fridges in 6 months (better off buying from second hand shop) – am I entitled to demand a full refund for the fridge that that I no longer want or need because it is faulty.
Hello Sonia. It’s sad that it should take so long. Unfortunately though they do have to send an engineer out to ensure that the fault is definitely caused by a fault on the appliance, and not its environment or the way it’s being used. For example if kept in a cold environment like a garage they can stop working (How are fridges and freezers affected by the room temperature?)
If the fridge proves to be faulty, then it depends on what’s gone wrong as to what is the best thing to do. If it was me, and the fault seemed minor I would get it fixed asap. If it seems serious, and or it is going to take weeks to get repaired I would ring their customer services dept quoting the sale of goods act and say you want it replaced asap. It must be repaired in a reasonable time and I wouldn’t think any reasonable person (including a small claims court judge) would say that being without a fridge bought only 6 months ago for a month is reasonable or acceptable.
From what I can see, AOL are pretty strong on customer service. It’s one of the reasons they’ve become so successful, but chances are their success means they are extremely busy and could be why it takes so long for an engineer to come out.
The thing to bear in mind is that the repair engineer (probably Indesit) is different to the seller (AOL). The engineer and the company that send him is only interested in repairing it and their only obligation is to repair it. If they decide to offer to replace it that’s entirely up to them, and they don’t do it lightly because it costs them more money. On the other hand, the people you bought it from are bound by the sale of goods act, and even if the manufacturer refuses to replace it the seller has separate obligations and cannot say they can’t replace it simply because the manufacturer won’t. This is explained fully in my other article here – Is manufacturer or retailer responsible for faulty appliances?
Whether you have a solid case for getting it exchanged under the sale of goods act (by the seller – not the manufacturer) varies from case to case and only the faults that are very expensive and faults that occur within the first month tend to get exchanged with little or no fuss.
Hi I have a dryer that’s been recalled due to a fault and I am to contact the engineer to place a fix. Though the dryer has also developed a fault with the timer, I’m not sure how long it’s been going on for but it has got progressively worse, on a 2 hour cycle it only runs for 10minutes. I bought the dryer 1yr and 5months ago, is there any chance of getting it replaced as the recall proves it had an inherent fault to begin with or having both parts replaced? Or would I need to rely on a gesture of good will?
Hello John. If you’ve had an appliance for a year and 5 months then it will normally be extremely difficult to get it replaced. The engineer (and manufacturer) will only be interested in carrying out their obligation to repair it under the guarantee. If there’s been a safety notice issued about the appliance then the manufacturer is only interested in repairing the appliance unless by any chance it is so big an issue that they cannot cope. The recent Hotpoint, Creda, and Indesit safety notice for example has affected potentially millions of tumble dryers and they just cannot cope. The manufacturer has therefore been offering to replace some dryers though they are only offering heavily discounted ones. If yours is one of these dryers it may be possible to get a new dryer from the manufacturer quite cheaply – but not free. You have to also remember that you’ve had 15 months use from it.
The only chance of getting it replaced (unless by any chance the manufacturer thinks it is in their interests to replace it) is via the retailer who sold it to you under the sale of goods act. If the fault on the appliance is the fault that has been found and warned about in the safety notice then you may stand a chance of claiming compensation under the sale of goods act. It’s hard to imagine any better proof that an appliance was sold with an inherent fault. However, if the fault is unrelated to it then it’s a different matter. You could try to combine the fact that it’s broken down with a second fault with the inherent fault. Normally it’s very hard to get an appliance exchanged after well over a year without either having extreme problems, a litany of problems, or being prepared for a massive fight.
As you could imagine they may be hundreds of thousands of a particular appliance sold, so for a retailer to replace even a small percentage of them when a safety notice has been issued it would be something they would fight against unless by any chance the manufacturer is willing to compensate them. What normally happens is that the retailer will contact the manufacturer and say this customer is wanting a replacement appliance. The manufacturer will then normally turn round and say we are not going to replace it, or it is out of guarantee so there is nothing we can do. Then the retailer goes back to the customer and says there’s nothing that they can do. However, as this article explains that is not always the case – Out of guarantee doesn’t always mean you should pay for repairs
I purchased a dishwasher from Currys for my daughter and after a few months it went wrong. The engineer fixed the machine but after a few weeks the same fault happened. We have just had the fourth visit to repair the same fault which has meant taking time off work and the dishwasher hasn’t worked for about a third of its life. The argument is that the machine is working when the engineer leaves so therefore they won’t exchange it. So can I ask (under this new consumer act) how many times is an engineer required to repair the same fault until it is agreed that the dishwasher be exchanged. This is causing a lot of unnecessary stress on my daughter who needs a dishwasher in her home and has to keep taking time off work.
Hello Janice. The main thing to remember is that the engineer, and the manufacturer are not interested in replacing anything. They can’t give you your money back because you didn’t give the money to them. If you want to try and get it replaced under the sale of goods act you have to go to the retailer. Manufacturers do sometimes offer to swap machines over as goodwill under certain circumstances but if they are not interested in replacing it you cannot pressure them to do so.
There are no rules as to how many times something can be repaired. It would be a lot simpler if there was. The sale of goods act relies on terms such as “reasonable” and “satisfactory”, which are of course completely subjective. It relies on people agreeing with you when you say what has happened is unreasonable. The manufacturer or the retailer may well genuinely believe that it isn’t unreasonable, and that it’s just been a bit of bad luck and misfortune but it is now sorted.
You would probably have to get help from a consumer body and may have to threaten to take them to the Small Claims Court if you want to insist that the dishwasher is not fit for purpose because they cannot fix a fault properly. You would then have to rely on the Small Claims Court judge agreeing. They mostly presumably use common sense and previous cases to decide. If the dishwasher is currently working okay however, I would think it is impossible to get it replaced. They will just come back and say what is the problem it is working okay and they would have a point. There’s no certainty that it is going to fail again even though your experience has sadly led you to believe it probably will. So if it does break down again with the same fault, that is the time to press for an exchange.