Why does it always seem to be us!!!!!

**Mrs Dobby** · 30-07-2008, 07:37 PM

Sorry to hear the problems Catrina, hope you get them sorted out soon!

It's not only you tho, we had a similar experience with a bed that doesnt fit and the car breaking down on the same day last week, then I put my back out at the weekend!

These things are sent to try us, and they bleedin well do!!

**Catrina** · 30-07-2008, 08:02 PM

Thanks Suzanne SOme days just seem to be a bad. Having got my fibromyalgia under control I am still having painful problems with my toes so I do get very down days as it is very painful to walk. Today is one of them. Your pictures are brilliant, my OH has just bought a new camera off Ebay which is really good but bought a memory card which after two days stopped working!!! So needed to be replaced. Your garden is really looking full. Hope you managed to get your car sorted and your back settles down.

**lottie dolly** · 30-07-2008, 09:27 PM

if it's any consolation,we got a new fridge freezer just over 12 month ago,about 7 weeks later the fan was catching,a few days later,it was repaired,another few months the freezer was over freezing and no fridge,again,a few more days,the man came,said it's a fault with that model,and a modification was fitted,said no more bother,and gave us a new 2 year guarantee,about a month ago it went yet again,this time it was the thermostat,again another 2 year guarantee,i asked him shurley with the motor working extra hard so many times,would not have done it any good,he said no problems,hm,wonder why i not beleive him,i asked about either our money back,or a replacement,i was tolled i had to go back to the place of purchase,i did in the begining,just to be tolled that i HAD to contact the repair company so,am now on high allert,how long will it last this time,they will not keep giving out 2 years guarrantee indeffinately,it's also expensive to phone by the time they asked all the info,but the last time i got on the web site,say no to 0870,and found a free no,bingo,then it's anything form 2 to 8 days before they come,and this is supposed to be a reputable name,never again.

**Two_Sheds** · 31-07-2008, 08:47 AM

Things just aren't made to last these days, and nobody cares. We got some housewarming solar garden lights - new, in box. Broken. (made in China).
Ditto a new patio set, in box. One arm is broken (made in China?)
We don't dare unpack the new BBQ yet.

We just moved house, I spent weeks planning it all like a miltary campaign. BT was due to be switched on an hour after we moved in, and I duly got a text from BT saying we were "live".

We were not. Many hours later, and many, many phone calls to bewildered Indians later, we finally got our phone and internet back on 3 days late.
Try organising furniture deliveries, workmen etc when you have no phone or internet - nightmare.
I don't want to rant about foreign call centres, but the lovely Indians just did not understand what we were telling them... that we had no phone line. (They also promised 3 times to call us back "within the hour" and 3 times they did not... presumably they are taught to say "we will call you back" as a courtesy, without understanding what it means)

Sorry BT, we changing our supplier as soon as poss. There's no point being cheap if we can't get a service in the first place.

**lottie dolly** · 31-07-2008, 09:47 AM

if you got connections in your new area,virgin,we got a package deal 6 month ago,a lot more for your money,so far ssssshhhhhh,not saying another word,BT,thumbs down.

**Mikey** · 31-07-2008, 10:56 AM

Originally posted by Catrina View Post

We needed a new freezer so my OH has shopped around and found a good deal on the internet. We ordered it and paid for it and the thing duly arrived on Friday. We were given a time between 7.30am and 1.00 pm. It arrived at 10.30am. The instructions when we bought it was that they would unpack it. Well he did just that and then left everything on the floor next to the freezer. I asked him to take it away and he said that they had to leave it as if there was a problem the we would need the packing again. I said that there should not be a problem as this was a brand new freezer. :roll:

He instructed me to leave it for two hours then switch on for one hour then fill it. Well we went camping this weekend so we did not get the opportunity to switch it on till Monday morning. We did everything we were told. Monday afternoon I put all the contents of our two under work top freezers and then defrosted them, cleaned them and switched them off.

Tuesday morning it was still working, Tuesday evening I put a bottle of wine in to chill as my OH had been very late leaving work and I thought he would like a glass of wine. He came home and the freezer had stopped working. No lights, nothing.

So we quickly switched the other freezers on and put everything back in them when they got up to temperature.

We rang the Hot***** today to get some one out and guess what, no one is available until next Monday between 9 and 1. We complained that it had only been running one day but there is nothing they can do, they have no emergency engineers. So we will be stuffed if the freezer that this one was replacing breaks down because we wont have anywhere to put the food into.
really fed up.(

I'm fairly certain that the new WEEE directives state that the company has to offer the collection of rubbish, and removal of previous model if requested, yeah see here.

I don't know who you bought the appliance with but you do have a right to go back to the supplier and demand a refund, under the sales of goods act, see here as the product was faulty and not fit for purpose you have a right to a refund, rather than a repair, though if you are unhappy with the repair you can still request a refund.

Originally posted by lottie dolly View Post

if it's any consolation,we got a new fridge freezer just over 12 month ago,about 7 weeks later the fan was catching,a few days later,it was repaired,another few months the freezer was over freezing and no fridge,again,a few more days,the man came,said it's a fault with that model,and a modification was fitted,said no more bother,and gave us a new 2 year guarantee,about a month ago it went yet again,this time it was the thermostat,again another 2 year guarantee,i asked him shurley with the motor working extra hard so many times,would not have done it any good,he said no problems,hm,wonder why i not beleive him,i asked about either our money back,or a replacement,i was tolled i had to go back to the place of purchase,i did in the begining,just to be tolled that i HAD to contact the repair company so,am now on high allert,how long will it last this time,they will not keep giving out 2 years guarrantee indeffinately,it's also expensive to phone by the time they asked all the info,but the last time i got on the web site,say no to 0870,and found a free no,bingo,then it's anything form 2 to 8 days before they come,and this is supposed to be a reputable name,never again.

The manufacturer has to cover repair and replacement work within the original guarantee, the repair work has to also be guaranteed beyond the original date, but a new fault would not be covered. If the product is still within 12 months of purchase I would go back to the retailer and request a refund, as the product has not lived upto its purpose. Also see consumer rights above.

**bluemoon** · 31-07-2008, 11:44 AM

Everything we buy seems not to work or has a part missing or whatever. It's annoying, presumably no-one buys things they don't need and the hassle of having to return things to the shop, wait in for engineers or whatever actually puts an extra cost on top of what has already been paid. We've only ever bought one car which didn't need to go straight back for some work doing, and that was one we bought from our daughter so SIL had made sure everything was well with it first. The thing is, if he is able to ensure that a car is OK I'm sure the average showroom could do it, but no-one seems to have any care about what they sell.

**Mikey** · 31-07-2008, 12:11 PM

Originally posted by bluemoon View Post

Everything we buy seems not to work or has a part missing or whatever. It's annoying, presumably no-one buys things they don't need and the hassle of having to return things to the shop, wait in for engineers or whatever actually puts an extra cost on top of what has already been paid. We've only ever bought one car which didn't need to go straight back for some work doing, and that was one we bought from our daughter so SIL had made sure everything was well with it first. The thing is, if he is able to ensure that a car is OK I'm sure the average showroom could do it, but no-one seems to have any care about what they sell.

Thats not true bluemoon, we live in a society where lowest price is king, but quality suffers, most products sourced from china, are cheaper lookalikes to better quality brands. You get what you pay for, there's a John Ruskin saying which is very apt.

'It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money � that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot � it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.'

I'm not saying anyone here falls foul of this, but the internet is not as accessible as a local shop.

**SueA** · 31-07-2008, 12:11 PM

I'm pretty sure they make things which break down deliberately to persuade us all that we really do need to buy those ridiculously expensive 'Extended Warranties' in the first place!

**Catrina** · 31-07-2008, 12:16 PM

Our paper work offered a three year guarantee for an amount and I think it said that this included the first year. In which case you are only getting two years. Dont think much of that suggestion. We have just had a message from Hot***** to say that they might have a cancellation tomorrow and someone will call an hour before they arrive to let us know. The company who supplied the machine have not got in touch yet. Even though we emailed them yesterday.

**Mikey** · 31-07-2008, 12:21 PM

Originally posted by SueA View Post

I'm pretty sure they make things which break down deliberately to persuade us all that we really do need to buy those ridiculously expensive 'Extended Warranties' in the first place!

Are there is method in the madness, one manufacturer sells a product that last 20 years, another 5, the latter is cheaper but they sell more, eventually the latter realises that they spend more and more advertising getting new business, and decides that it would be better to market their service as opposed to their brand.

So imagine it from the point of the manufacturer, you sell a product which lasts 5 years but is guaranteed to 2, after 3 years the customer has a problem, you go out and fix it swiftly, they are happy, you gained another �80, a couple of years later it does it again again you get a further �80-100 quid. The third time, it is going to cost over half the value of a new one the customer decide to replace it, you have given good service, even though the product broke down a few times, so they buy another, and recommend your service to others making them more inclined to buy one. This time you take out the expensive extended warranty

The company who sells a product that lasts 20 years, sells another 20 years later, but makes less profit, and no one buys their warranty.

**Catrina** · 31-07-2008, 03:15 PM

We never buy the warranty offered.

**Tori** · 31-07-2008, 03:36 PM

It's not just you - it's me and everyone else too! - No one provides a decent service anymore!! We got a brand new leather sofa -first evening we sat on it and discovered one of the pieces or wood in the back of it was broken. So I phoned and after an irate phonecall was told I couldn't have a replacement until I had allowed them to try and fix it. So OH duly took a day off work and engineer arrived (much to my surprise) um'ed and ah'ed and said -'oh yes I need a piece of wood to fix that' - then b*ggered off! My OH did tell him that B&Q was 5 mins away but he wasn't interested. Can you beleive it?!

So I phone and rant - they send another engineer out WITH a piece of wood (yet another day off work) and he does manage to fix it
BUT, no apology no compensation for time off work/inconvenience etc

Makes me very

There is nothing you can do - although I did read about one guy who wrote several letters of complaint to a large company about a fridgefreezer and when he got no reply he put several cat poo's in the envelope with his next letter! Not sure that is such a good idea thou!

My advice is send lots of letters to manufactuers and shop - take copies of them all and contact citizens advice bureau - Good Luck!

**Rhona** · 31-07-2008, 06:18 PM

At this point I'd like to applaud John Lewis for their brilliant service! We get almost everything from there now, safe in the knowledge that they're lovely when you ring them, deliver when they say, and are helpful at every step. They were starting to look old-fashioned, but they actually are ahead of the game! They might not be the cheapest, but they carry the least risk and are reliable and nice!

Our local one is brilliant - everything from the ball gown I ran in there with, almost in tears as I had a thing that evening and the zip was broken. The woman on the sewing machine counter just calmly offered to fix it for me, and spent an hour mending it for the price of a zip! ...To our new bed that arrived with a very minor hairline crack in the post - they offered to take �300 off the price! I tend to not shop around anymore...

And of course, they are Never Knowingly Undersold...

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