Busted 2 year old fridge freezer.
Discussion
Taita said:
Shop doesn't seem to be willing to consider a repair - it is 'here is some money off or nowt'
I'm happy to dig my heels in slightly, but keen to know which legislation supports my position. Although I also need to make sure my food stays cold in the interim
I ment you get it repaired there are people who repair fridges.I'm happy to dig my heels in slightly, but keen to know which legislation supports my position. Although I also need to make sure my food stays cold in the interim
Some give free quotes.
dhutch said:
I feel you pain, as I too would expect it to last 20 years minimum.
I wouldn't, unless it cost 10x what the OP paid. Things like these are seen as throwaway goods these days. I would say 10 years would be doing well and even if it does go wrong parts are often hard to find later in their life. I had an LG FF which mechanically was fine but when 2 drawers broke i couldn't find replacements for love nor money making it pretty much useless, when i did finally find some they were nearly half the price of what i paid for it originally.
deggles said:
A reasonable person would expect a household appliance to last more than two years IMO.
The issue I ran into was that the freezer works as long as you do exactly as the manufacturer says...ie fully defrost it every ~6 months. The shop wouldn't accept any legal responsibility as it works fine as long as you do that and getting any kind of legal recompense for being "un-fit for use" would be massively awkward and expensive while having the issue that it took months to stop working but if you left it un-used it works fine. It was particularly galling as had got rid of a perfectly functional but scarred ~30 year old Liebherr for the POS that was the FZFM171
We cut our losses and bought a new fridge freezer.
Never buying another one from that make though.
Nickyboy said:
dhutch said:
I feel you pain, as I too would expect it to last 20 years minimum.
I wouldn't, unless it cost 10x what the OP paid. Things like these are seen as throwaway goods these days. I would say 10 years would be doing well and even if it does go wrong parts are often hard to find later in their life. I had an LG FF which mechanically was fine but when 2 drawers broke i couldn't find replacements for love nor money making it pretty much useless, when i did finally find some they were nearly half the price of what i paid for it originally.
B) why the hell not, plenty do and there is not very much to go wrong
I would tolerate some breakage of shelf plastic moulding, and put it down to poor design on a one off, but the refrigerant system requires not unique design and should be find for two decades. Certainly ten years should be easy.
As I say, the one which came with my house must have been 5 years old when I paid £50 for it to be left, and totally non-remarkable mid range unit, and it got 7 years daily use in a shared house with three adults in it, taking it to 10 years minimum, no dramas at all.
Plenty of similar examples of this, parents still have an under counter freezer which has done 25 years with nothing more than a singular drop of oil on the bearings of the condenser fan at about 20 years in.
Daniel
Fastdruid said:
The issue I ran into was that the freezer works as long as you do exactly as the manufacturer says...ie fully defrost it every ~6 months.
I’ve never heard of that being required and I’d argue that’s not frost free.I have heard of it as a one-off in the event of a problem but FF units defrost once to four times per day, so doing something 6 monthly doesn’t make any sense.
Taita said:
Hello there,
Fridge freezer (£450 2 years ago) has started to die and only keeps things cool if it is set to 'maximum turbo freeze' rather than conventional 1-5 options in the settings.
H
Thank you for any advice
Which bit are you referring to. Is it the fridge section or the freezer section.?Fridge freezer (£450 2 years ago) has started to die and only keeps things cool if it is set to 'maximum turbo freeze' rather than conventional 1-5 options in the settings.
H
Thank you for any advice
Sheepshanks said:
I’ve never heard of that being required and I’d argue that’s not frost free.
I have heard of it as a one-off in the event of a problem but FF units defrost once to four times per day, so doing something 6 monthly doesn’t make any sense.
Ditto. I have heard of it as a one-off in the event of a problem but FF units defrost once to four times per day, so doing something 6 monthly doesn’t make any sense.
With the Hotpoint I think frost-free freezer at my last house the only time in 7 years I had to intervene is when someone left the freezer door open ajar for a day.
Our Llebherrs pair of 600 fridge and freezer are about 20months in and just work without intervention. The fridge also keeps a much more even temp in the fridge, set at 3deg not some random 1to5, so things last noticeably longer and not issue with things at the back freezing.
We've had yogurt, cream etc that's been opened a month, fortnight past is best before date, still as good as the day we went in. £600 each for 600x185 units mind, but cheap compared to a lot of 1200 units.
Daniel
Sheepshanks said:
Fastdruid said:
The issue I ran into was that the freezer works as long as you do exactly as the manufacturer says...ie fully defrost it every ~6 months.
I’ve never heard of that being required and I’d argue that’s not frost free.I have heard of it as a one-off in the event of a problem but FF units defrost once to four times per day, so doing something 6 monthly doesn’t make any sense.
t. Which is why I'd recommend never ever buying that brand. A quick search on model number FZFM171 will reveal page after page of people having exactly the same problem. Fastdruid said:
The issue I ran into was that the freezer works as long as you do exactly as the manufacturer says...ie fully defrost it every ~6 months. The shop wouldn't accept any legal responsibility as it works fine as long as you do that and getting any kind of legal recompense for being "un-fit for use" would be massively awkward and expensive while having the issue that it took months to stop working but if you left it un-used it works fine.
It was particularly galling as had got rid of a perfectly functional but scarred ~30 year old Liebherr for the POS that was the FZFM171
We cut our losses and bought a new fridge freezer.
Never buying another one from that make though.
Sorry but you got shafted. Which brand was this?My company manufactures and distributes white goods, and we would expect a full fault claim within 5 years, and would be from next year looking at a repair claim within 10 years. (Our returns rates show low failt rates in first 4 years with alight increase year 5, then a growth curve onwards) Any fridge freezer that requires a 6 month defrost could be classed as not fit for purpose even if it says so in the manual. A frost free shouldnt need defrosting at all really. A layman consumer would expect a fridge freezer to operate with minimal to no defrosting if used normally over a 1-2 year period. Theres a ton of case law out there about it, and cost should be minimal through small claims and MCO.It was particularly galling as had got rid of a perfectly functional but scarred ~30 year old Liebherr for the POS that was the FZFM171
We cut our losses and bought a new fridge freezer.
Never buying another one from that make though.
ToastMan76 said:
Fastdruid said:
The issue I ran into was that the freezer works as long as you do exactly as the manufacturer says...ie fully defrost it every ~6 months. The shop wouldn't accept any legal responsibility as it works fine as long as you do that and getting any kind of legal recompense for being "un-fit for use" would be massively awkward and expensive while having the issue that it took months to stop working but if you left it un-used it works fine.
It was particularly galling as had got rid of a perfectly functional but scarred ~30 year old Liebherr for the POS that was the FZFM171
We cut our losses and bought a new fridge freezer.
Never buying another one from that make though.
Sorry but you got shafted. Which brand was this?My company manufactures and distributes white goods, and we would expect a full fault claim within 5 years, and would be from next year looking at a repair claim within 10 years. (Our returns rates show low failt rates in first 4 years with alight increase year 5, then a growth curve onwards) Any fridge freezer that requires a 6 month defrost could be classed as not fit for purpose even if it says so in the manual. A frost free shouldnt need defrosting at all really. A layman consumer would expect a fridge freezer to operate with minimal to no defrosting if used normally over a 1-2 year period. Theres a ton of case law out there about it, and cost should be minimal through small claims and MCO.It was particularly galling as had got rid of a perfectly functional but scarred ~30 year old Liebherr for the POS that was the FZFM171
We cut our losses and bought a new fridge freezer.
Never buying another one from that make though.
Edit: I'm sure we were shafted. The issue was that the retailer insisted on the service company to come out who then "fixed" it by defrosting it with a promise that they would pay for them if a problem was found. Except the service guy just defrosted it, they didn't pay because it wasn't a "fault" and he fixed it anyway. Cycle 12 months and it does it again etc etc.
Just got sick of banging heads against the wall with the retailer because it wasn't going anywhere. Which was probably what they wanted but even so, just got fed up and didn't want to send good money after bad when they were refusing to do anything without an engineer saying it's f
ked, the engineer unwilling to put in writing that it's a just a st design and they all do that and of course it then taking 12ish months to develop a problem again. Edited by Fastdruid on Saturday 4th July 01:15
dhutch said:
......A) you can't pay ten times what the op paid for an equipment item...
John Lewis doesn't seem to agree with that statement: https://www.johnlewis.com/lg-signature-lsr100-amer...
As much as it bugs you, the best option maybe their offer.
You could spend a lot of time and effort chasing this, for not much better an outcome.
As far as the CRA goes, they can offer to give you a partial refund based on your use of the item.
They could argue that their offer meets that, albeit as a contribution towards a new FF.
Unless you are prepared to go to the small claims court, I don’t see how this will get resolved if that’s their final offer.
How about finding a similar item in their catalogue and negotiating on the offer, may see if they will push to £200?
You could spend a lot of time and effort chasing this, for not much better an outcome.
As far as the CRA goes, they can offer to give you a partial refund based on your use of the item.
They could argue that their offer meets that, albeit as a contribution towards a new FF.
Unless you are prepared to go to the small claims court, I don’t see how this will get resolved if that’s their final offer.
How about finding a similar item in their catalogue and negotiating on the offer, may see if they will push to £200?
4rephill said:
dhutch said:
......A) you can't pay ten times what the op paid for an equipment item...
John Lewis doesn't seem to agree with that statement: https://www.johnlewis.com/lg-signature-lsr100-amer...
That's a 900 wide plumbed in SS unit, which is therefore not an equivalent item to the OPs 600 wide white unit.
I can't offer any help regards it only lasting two years but as has been said already it maybe worth turning it off for a good 48hrs with the door open. After the 48 hrs period you need to check that the evaporator (the part described as a cold element) drain isn't blocked. If it is it'll just freeze the evaporator again within a short period of time. This stops air flowing through it. Subsequently it no longer freezes as it should. This is because periodically the freezer goes into a defrost to clear the evaporator of any ice it may have accumulated . This water, or evaporate, has to go somewhere. It is *supposed* to trickle down on top of the compressor, via the drain, and then evaporate off with the heat from said compressor.
Take a look around the back of the fridge/freezer and you should see the compressor (usually black) with a plastic pot on top of it. You'll also see a tube, usually black rubber, leading to it. Make sure this is clear.
I hope this helps and good luck.
Take a look around the back of the fridge/freezer and you should see the compressor (usually black) with a plastic pot on top of it. You'll also see a tube, usually black rubber, leading to it. Make sure this is clear.
I hope this helps and good luck.
dhutch said:
4rephill said:
dhutch said:
......A) you can't pay ten times what the op paid for an equipment item...
John Lewis doesn't seem to agree with that statement: https://www.johnlewis.com/lg-signature-lsr100-amer...
That's a 900 wide plumbed in SS unit, which is therefore not an equivalent item to the OPs 600 wide white unit.
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