Quality of white goods
Quality of white goods
The other week we noticed our fridge part of the fridge freezer seemed to be warming up. This continued, despite trying to adjust the temperature knob inside until, finally (on a Friday evening), it was clear that something was seriously wrong. The repair man we know could not come out until Monday afternoon and he confirmed that the gas had been leaking out but it wasn't obvious from where. The freezer maintained -9 as we were not opening the door at all, but the fridge being broken was a right pain in this heat. He explained that the regassing can only be done by a technician but then when I asked about fixing the hole in the pipework, he said that the pipes run through the side panels in the insulation, so there's no guarantee that a regassing would last as the leak could not be traced.
We were pretty miffed as it was a Bosch and only 8 years old. He said it's not unusual nowadays for white goods to fail when they're not very old. This was confirmed by a bit of Googling. I did write to Bosch just to express my disappointment in the quality of their fridge freezer, and they said "we take the utmost care in the design and manufacture of our electrical appliances. This leads us to believe that aspects other than the quality of the appliance and its components may have played a role. As we do not know how the appliance has been used, we cannot determine the exact cause." I wasn't expecting much, but it almost looks like they're saying we did something to break it. Needless to say we have not bought another Bosch.
Being rather desperate for a new one we thought we'd use a local company as the Google reviews say they are quick to deliver. We ended up ordering a Smeg (a normal one, not the retro style) as it was in stock and was the size etc that I wanted. They said they'd deliver the next evening around 5:30 to 6pm. I had given them a copy of a simple map to our house and they also asked me to send my location by Whatsapp (which always works .... normally). We had explained where we were and we thought all of this would be passed onto their driver. Of course, 6pm came and went, 7pm ..... "we are next for delivery". 7:30 pm .... driver is lost, we'll have to cancel and come tomorrow . In the end I met the driver at a local petrol station and he said if he'd had the map and knew where to turn off he would have easily found our house. In fact he knew the area well as a relative has land here. By the time he left it was 8:30pm and we thought we'd reverse the direction of the doors as it opens the wrong way for our kitchen. It's a job we've always done in the past. The shop did say if we touched the doors then the guarantee was null and void, but we could see no mention of this in any of the paperwork for it and all the instructions and parts were included.
As we start looking at what to do we find that a side panel has been put on badly and so was slightly out of line, so that the bolts for the hinge could not be fitted. So the doors remain on the 'wrong side'. When we contacted the shop they said they wouldn't do anything as we'd tried to change the doors. I sent a photo showing that the doors were not changed and so, 10 days later I am still awaiting a solution from the shop. I thought they would exchange it but are now saying that they will change the doors over but we have to pay 50€. They would have to drill holes for the bolts anyway, which doesnt seem a good idea. To my mind the build quality is not perfect so it should be exchanged. I am not holding my breath ..... it's been a long hot week and I've had enough now
I did email Smeg and they say if we swop over the doors then any componements in the doors will no longer be covered by the guarantee. This certainly is not clear and there is no warning on the instruction book to point this out before you start fiddling around with it. It has a control panel on the front so has electrics to it, unlike out previous machines.
As it's unlikely to last us to the end of our days, I cannot be bothered with it any more, and we just have to faff around with the fridge opening the wrong way (all the work surface is to the right of the fridge so I have to carry stuff around to put it in .... I like things to work efficiently in the kitchen and this annoys me ).
So, sorry for the long post. White goods aren't cheap nowadays and the admission that your shouldn't expect anything to last 10 years or more is a bit depressing. My FiL's freezer was bought in 1969 and still going strong!
We were pretty miffed as it was a Bosch and only 8 years old. He said it's not unusual nowadays for white goods to fail when they're not very old. This was confirmed by a bit of Googling. I did write to Bosch just to express my disappointment in the quality of their fridge freezer, and they said "we take the utmost care in the design and manufacture of our electrical appliances. This leads us to believe that aspects other than the quality of the appliance and its components may have played a role. As we do not know how the appliance has been used, we cannot determine the exact cause." I wasn't expecting much, but it almost looks like they're saying we did something to break it. Needless to say we have not bought another Bosch.
Being rather desperate for a new one we thought we'd use a local company as the Google reviews say they are quick to deliver. We ended up ordering a Smeg (a normal one, not the retro style) as it was in stock and was the size etc that I wanted. They said they'd deliver the next evening around 5:30 to 6pm. I had given them a copy of a simple map to our house and they also asked me to send my location by Whatsapp (which always works .... normally). We had explained where we were and we thought all of this would be passed onto their driver. Of course, 6pm came and went, 7pm ..... "we are next for delivery". 7:30 pm .... driver is lost, we'll have to cancel and come tomorrow . In the end I met the driver at a local petrol station and he said if he'd had the map and knew where to turn off he would have easily found our house. In fact he knew the area well as a relative has land here. By the time he left it was 8:30pm and we thought we'd reverse the direction of the doors as it opens the wrong way for our kitchen. It's a job we've always done in the past. The shop did say if we touched the doors then the guarantee was null and void, but we could see no mention of this in any of the paperwork for it and all the instructions and parts were included.
As we start looking at what to do we find that a side panel has been put on badly and so was slightly out of line, so that the bolts for the hinge could not be fitted. So the doors remain on the 'wrong side'. When we contacted the shop they said they wouldn't do anything as we'd tried to change the doors. I sent a photo showing that the doors were not changed and so, 10 days later I am still awaiting a solution from the shop. I thought they would exchange it but are now saying that they will change the doors over but we have to pay 50€. They would have to drill holes for the bolts anyway, which doesnt seem a good idea. To my mind the build quality is not perfect so it should be exchanged. I am not holding my breath ..... it's been a long hot week and I've had enough now
I did email Smeg and they say if we swop over the doors then any componements in the doors will no longer be covered by the guarantee. This certainly is not clear and there is no warning on the instruction book to point this out before you start fiddling around with it. It has a control panel on the front so has electrics to it, unlike out previous machines.
As it's unlikely to last us to the end of our days, I cannot be bothered with it any more, and we just have to faff around with the fridge opening the wrong way (all the work surface is to the right of the fridge so I have to carry stuff around to put it in .... I like things to work efficiently in the kitchen and this annoys me ).
So, sorry for the long post. White goods aren't cheap nowadays and the admission that your shouldn't expect anything to last 10 years or more is a bit depressing. My FiL's freezer was bought in 1969 and still going strong!
Re: Quality of white goods
Latest missive from the shop when I asked if they were going to exchange the fridge freezer:
"The point is the fridge is used and cannot be changed. You should check the fridge when it arrives to your home. Now we can't do anything"
What a joke .... you have to let it settle for two hours before you can even turn it on, so how would you know if it was faulty on arrival. It obviously is Smeg's poor quality but no-one want to know now. I've told them I'll shop elsewhere in future!
"The point is the fridge is used and cannot be changed. You should check the fridge when it arrives to your home. Now we can't do anything"
What a joke .... you have to let it settle for two hours before you can even turn it on, so how would you know if it was faulty on arrival. It obviously is Smeg's poor quality but no-one want to know now. I've told them I'll shop elsewhere in future!
- firsttango
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Re: Quality of white goods
A friend of mine bought an American Style Fridge freezer in 1992.........It followed him to from Sunningdale then to Miami, back to Sunnindale, then onwards to Sotogrande and now back to Henley in Arden.........and still going strong.............things these days seem to be manufactured to last 2 yrs and 1 day
Re: Quality of white goods
Our previous Bosch went from here to France and back again, with numerous moves in between. It was 15 years old when we sold it after buying the bigger Bosch fridge freezer and was still going strong. I wouldn't have minded so much if we'd bought a real cheapie unknown make. I thought the EU was going to create some law to say that electrical goods should be more repairable rather than the throwaway society we have now.
Re: Quality of white goods
What a milarkey. SMEG ( despite the sound of the name ) are a premium brand. You would have thought given the electronics in the door, that they would sell left handed or right handed.
I agree , everything is designed now to last 2 years and a day. Our Karcher pressure washer developed a leak in the body at two years and one day. Seems a common problem as plenty of how to fixes on Youtube. A job for a cooler time. Really irritating as we only use it in early June and again in July each year.
How else can the companies make subsequent sales if the products last 10 years or more. Dont get me started on vacuum cleaners…….
I agree , everything is designed now to last 2 years and a day. Our Karcher pressure washer developed a leak in the body at two years and one day. Seems a common problem as plenty of how to fixes on Youtube. A job for a cooler time. Really irritating as we only use it in early June and again in July each year.
How else can the companies make subsequent sales if the products last 10 years or more. Dont get me started on vacuum cleaners…….
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Re: Quality of white goods
Under recent consumer legislation, the standard warrant on all products (except some digital products) is now 3 years and any fault occurring in the first 2 years the assumption is that the fault existed at the time of purchase and the product must be replaced or refunded at the consumers choice.
Also all manufacturers must now guantee that spares will be available for 10 years.
It's a very big improvement.
Sid
Also all manufacturers must now guantee that spares will be available for 10 years.
It's a very big improvement.
Sid
Re: Quality of white goods
That's the law I was thinking of Sid.
We only got the Smeg as it is a well known make and it was in stock for delivery the next day. I wanted the tallest one possible which limited choice too. In itself, it's OK as most seem to be very similar now, but it's the lack of after sales service from the shop I am also annoyed about.
After we'd bought it I did look at their website online to look in more details at the spec of this model. It was just over 20€ cheaper on the site so I asked the shop if their price was correct. Instead of perhaps just saying it was cheaper to buy online, (Worten and other shops used to have online special prices) he made up some story about having to pay the driver more to deliver into the campo. We'd paid an additional 20€ for delivery and the higher price we paid was on his monitor in the shop, so that was all nonsense. His statement above about not being able to do anything as the fault wasn't spotted on delivery was also rubbish. It was all taped up and we couldn't even look inside until we'd taken all the tape off holding the doors shut etc after the driver had left. It had to settle for 2 hours so we didn't know if it wouldn't even start up until much later.
In the future I will think twice about paying out for big brand names. I get the impression that many models are all the same underneath, and all have a similar life. White goods are expensive now unless you go for the really cheapie unknown makes you sometimes see. My old Bosch model seems to range from 700€ to well over 1000€ for what appears to be the same style and size of fridge freezer.
We only got the Smeg as it is a well known make and it was in stock for delivery the next day. I wanted the tallest one possible which limited choice too. In itself, it's OK as most seem to be very similar now, but it's the lack of after sales service from the shop I am also annoyed about.
After we'd bought it I did look at their website online to look in more details at the spec of this model. It was just over 20€ cheaper on the site so I asked the shop if their price was correct. Instead of perhaps just saying it was cheaper to buy online, (Worten and other shops used to have online special prices) he made up some story about having to pay the driver more to deliver into the campo. We'd paid an additional 20€ for delivery and the higher price we paid was on his monitor in the shop, so that was all nonsense. His statement above about not being able to do anything as the fault wasn't spotted on delivery was also rubbish. It was all taped up and we couldn't even look inside until we'd taken all the tape off holding the doors shut etc after the driver had left. It had to settle for 2 hours so we didn't know if it wouldn't even start up until much later.
In the future I will think twice about paying out for big brand names. I get the impression that many models are all the same underneath, and all have a similar life. White goods are expensive now unless you go for the really cheapie unknown makes you sometimes see. My old Bosch model seems to range from 700€ to well over 1000€ for what appears to be the same style and size of fridge freezer.
- spanish_lad
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Re: Quality of white goods
We bought a "refurbished/shop dinted" samsung fridge freezer for our new place, because it was A+ rated (we are on solar) and we had a similar issue.
We put the fridge in place, signed the delivery paperwork, and plugged it in an hour or so later. All good, luckily - but i thought to change the door round, like you. its in the left corner, and the door opens the wrong way.
all the bolts underneath are rusty and i cant do it. Its a pain in the bum, and Im gonna change the kitchen around to accomodate the doors
We put the fridge in place, signed the delivery paperwork, and plugged it in an hour or so later. All good, luckily - but i thought to change the door round, like you. its in the left corner, and the door opens the wrong way.
all the bolts underneath are rusty and i cant do it. Its a pain in the bum, and Im gonna change the kitchen around to accomodate the doors
Alhaurin el Grande since 99, working at the airport since 2011.
Re: Quality of white goods
Same for us SL except we do have a dresser on its left side with a tiny edge where we can balance stuff on. Putting the shopping away is a pain especially as the shelves are a slightly different configuration and I cannot put stuff where I used to.
Speaking to someone yesterday about our poor customer service experience from the shop in El Morche, it turns out the same happened to them when they bought a washing machine. Delivery was not when promised and when they found a problem shortly afterwards they were told to contact Hoover, they wanted nothing to do with it.
I must say I won't buy another fridge freezer with the display on the front door. Due to that there are electrics that have to be changed over if you change the door direction. Also it is clear that every time you open the door the wires move slightly so that's a weak point for the future. I wouldn't have bought it if I had known, although it is a very common feature now.
Speaking to someone yesterday about our poor customer service experience from the shop in El Morche, it turns out the same happened to them when they bought a washing machine. Delivery was not when promised and when they found a problem shortly afterwards they were told to contact Hoover, they wanted nothing to do with it.
I must say I won't buy another fridge freezer with the display on the front door. Due to that there are electrics that have to be changed over if you change the door direction. Also it is clear that every time you open the door the wires move slightly so that's a weak point for the future. I wouldn't have bought it if I had known, although it is a very common feature now.
- spanish_lad
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Re: Quality of white goods
The MIL had a kitchen fitted, I'm sure she said it was from the place in morche too - they took months to finish it, ignored her calls for weeks, turned up unannounced, left her without tiles etc for over a month..
It was the best part of 10k all in, and they even forgot sockets and had to come back and make changes afterwards.
She thought going local would make it better.
It was the best part of 10k all in, and they even forgot sockets and had to come back and make changes afterwards.
She thought going local would make it better.
Alhaurin el Grande since 99, working at the airport since 2011.
Re: Quality of white goods
We went local thinking we'd get a more personal service but it just hasn't been the case. Dreadful overall. We were desperate for a new one asap as we'd already been without a fully functioning fridge for quite a few days which was difficult in this heat.spanish_lad wrote: ↑Sat Jul 15, 2023 4:00 pm The MIL had a kitchen fitted, I'm sure she said it was from the place in morche too - they took months to finish it, ignored her calls for weeks, turned up unannounced, left her without tiles etc for over a month..
It was the best part of 10k all in, and they even forgot sockets and had to come back and make changes afterwards.
She thought going local would make it better.
Re: Quality of white goods
Next time we wanted something I was going to look there, looks a nice shop.
My Spanish girlfriend raves about the service, maybe don't like ExPats.
My Spanish girlfriend raves about the service, maybe don't like ExPats.
Re: Quality of white goods
It has some good reviews on Google, from expats of different nationalities. But I guess it's a bit like insurance. It's only when you make a claim you realise they are a rubbish company. He lied to us so many times and really I suppose I should ask for the complaints book as they are not fullfilling their obligations, but I'm too hot and bothered to anything more. When we move house I'll design the kitchen around a fridge freezer that opens to the left
- spanish_lad
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Re: Quality of white goods
That'll be wicksey then, the MIL is portugese and has been here for 30 years. Her fella is Spanish.
You'd not know that they were not natives.
Alhaurin el Grande since 99, working at the airport since 2011.
Re: Quality of white goods
No, Spanish G/F is Argentinian (don't mention the Malvinas) we have been talking, is all, for about 9 years in order to improve her English.
Re: Quality of white goods
I think this matter of the door opening is really important to the design and function of a kitchen. I've made a mental note that if I order a new fridge freezer I will stipulate how I want the doors to open. Then, it will be their responsibility to supply it as required.
I know it is no good to Wicksey, but this post must have caused others to think that suppliers need to do more to provide for a customer's needs.
I know it is no good to Wicksey, but this post must have caused others to think that suppliers need to do more to provide for a customer's needs.
Re: Quality of white goods
It does say on the spec which side the hinges are and they tend to always be on the right, so opening to the left. I think we've always changed the doors without too much problem. The shop said they would do that for us before delivery but wanted 50€ to do it. I'm not sure it's a service that shops will do for free, and as everything is so expensive now, we didn't want to add another 50€ to the bill.
Problem is, as I mentioned, is that many models have the electrics and controls in the door which makes it more complicated to DIY. I've given up now and just have to keep carry stuff around to the wrong side
Problem is, as I mentioned, is that many models have the electrics and controls in the door which makes it more complicated to DIY. I've given up now and just have to keep carry stuff around to the wrong side
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