Westinghouse Fridge Just out of Warranty and Could Be Expensive, What Are My Options?

• 

  holdenmg on 29/12/2015 - 16:50

  +5

  Contact Fair Trading:
  Email: [email protected]
  Mail: GPO Box 158, Canberra City ACT 2601
  Phone: 6207 3000 - Access Canberra

• 

  Olokun on 29/12/2015 - 16:59

  +4

  Contact the store you purchased it from. The manufactures warranty may be 2 years but your consumer gaurentees will be longer.

  • 

    chukkii on 29/12/2015 - 17:17

    I called the good guys but they just sent me straight to westinghouse, what should I tell good guys?

    • 

      Olokun on 29/12/2015 - 17:42

      +2

      That your contract is with them and they will need to organise the repair under warranty as they are obligated to do.

      You can also go on to explain that you have already tried the Westinghouse route and have been denied a repair under Warranty due to the lapse of the manufacture warranty duration.

      If they still stall just ask for it to be escalated to a manager as they are legally not allowed to fob you off to the manufacture

      • 

        chukkii on 29/12/2015 - 17:45

        Well my fridge is just outside the warranty period so they've fobbed me off to westinghouse

      • 

        Olokun on 29/12/2015 - 18:30

        +3

        @chukkii:

        Any 'warranty period' that is advertised or stated to you is only a voluntary warranty and has zero bearing to the duration of your consumer guarantees.

      • 

        pjcook on 30/12/2015 - 07:31

        +3

        @chukkii: Your contract is with the Good guys not Westinghouse, Good guys are obligated under Australian Consumer Law to deal with the issue. It is reasonable to expect a $2000.00 fridge to last longer than 2 years so you are definitely covered.

• 

  oscargamer on 29/12/2015 - 17:18

  +1

  x2

• 

  kt on 29/12/2015 - 17:40

  +2

  If you bought it on your credit card you may have an extended warranty included. Same thing happens with my washing machine and my Platinum card provided an extra year warranty and so coughed up for a new machine.

  • 

    endotherm on 29/12/2015 - 17:47

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrxxzsaBkC4

• 

  endotherm on 29/12/2015 - 17:41

  +4

  Speak to Fair Trading. They will explain the ACL (Australian Consumer Law) to you. Nobody buys a fridge and expects it to last less than 2 years. You have statutory guarantees that goods must be durable and expected to last for a reasonable time (think 5-10 years for fridges). The manufacturer will be required to repair/replace/refund it, and the retailer/manufacturer will have to pay to collect it/remove it if repairs can't be made on premises. Good Guys really shouldn't have fobbed you off, but you can elect to go to either the manufacturer or retailer to get things done. Forget all that 2 year manufacturer guarantee nonsense - that is in addition to the statutory warranties you are guaranteed by law. WATCH THIS VIDEO FOR A QUICK LESSON IN YOUR RIGHTS You might want to watch other videos on youtube made by The Checkout (On ABC Channel 2) as they cover lots of issues covering your consumer rights. In the circumstances you have outlined, you will not have to pay a cent!

  • 

    chukkii on 29/12/2015 - 17:48

    Thanks mate!

    They said that the warranty period expired so they needed to contact westinghouse instead. They did contact westinghouse directly on my behalf but then westinghouse called me and told me it would be $100+ for the initial callout fee + whatever costs for fixing

    I'll call fair trading tomorrow and get some solid facts about our rights

    • 

      endotherm on 29/12/2015 - 18:11

      +4

      That's fine. Talk to Fair Trading, Contact Westinghouse, drop plenty of references to ACCC, Fair Trading, ACL, Statutory warranties etc. and you are not prepared to pay a cent as you are protected by the Australian Consumer Law. They will recognise you as someone who knows their rights and they will be very helpful after that. It's a shame you have to go through this bluff/threat/dance with them before they take you seriously. They should just do that for you as a matter of course as it is a requirement of Australian Law to do business here!

      It saddens me that so many consumers don't know their consumer rights and can be brought up to speed so quickly just by watching a couple of youtube videos. Watching those videos should be a requirement of getting your OzBargain membership card :)

• 

  [Deactivated] on 29/12/2015 - 18:10

  +3

  Abc news yesterday:

  http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-28/consumers-urged-to-…

• 

  chukkii on 04/01/2016 - 16:24

  Updated with new details!

  • 

    endotherm on 04/01/2016 - 21:52

    +1

    Congratulations on your progress so far, keep us updated.

    I asked her how long is it expected to last according to consumer law and she replied that there was no set amount of time but rather it should last for "a reasonable amount time depending on the item and the purchase price". I strongly assume that this means they would decide on a case-by-case basis.

    Yes, the consumer law is deliberately vague and does not specify an express time, especially as products have different levels of "durability". The test is what would a reasonable person consider a reasonable time for the item, having regard to the cost and the type of item. Unfortunately we are in a throw-away society where lots of people consider a $1000 phone is at end-of-life after 6 months, despite nothing being wrong with it! (Obsolescence does not mean failure). I am a bit older, and I don't think it's unreasonable for a TV to last 25 years (there wasn't a lot of change in technology between when we went to colour and the introduction of flat-panel widescreens…). Of course I'm probably not your average reasonable person in this case, considering even expensive items are built with cheaper components with a life rating no more than 10 years these days. Things like fridges and devices with motors and moving parts are more prone to fail and would probably not last nearly as long. That is reasonable. Having said that, the real test is: as a reasonable person, when you buy the fridge and considering the cost, how long do you expect it to last? I would not buy a fridge if I knew at the time of buying it that it was guaranteed to fail in less than 10 years. Of course it may fail and that is just bad luck, but it will be repaired under warranty. It may last longer and I am in front if it does. If I got the same fridge for $200, I would recognise that there were some serious shortcuts made to save on cost, and I would expect the lifespan to be shorter. Maybe 8 years :) Seriously, I'd probably expect it to fail by the second or third year.

    • 

      chukkii on 05/01/2016 - 10:14

      Congratulations on your progress so far, keep us updated.

      Thanks mate, I will for sure, I will hear from them tomorrow (or I will call them tomorrow) and post back

      Yeah I mean it seems completely unfair that a manufacturer can just wipe their hands clean after 2 years and tell you "I'm done, anything past this point is on you". It's a $2000 fridge!

      I mean if they all built their products to only last 2 - 5 years then I may as well rent a fridge and have them deal with the issues.

      That being said I think I'm going to shop at costco for their lifetime warranty from now on

      • 

        endotherm on 05/01/2016 - 13:17

        Manufacturers base their manufacturer's warranty on the bathtub curve of failure. See this video for an explanation. Essentially, products will statistically fail immediately and to a lesser extent very soon after sale, then be reliable with very few failures throughout their life, then fail with increasing regularity or predictability some time later. The resulting line on a graph looks like a bathtub shape. Extended warranty companies take advantage of this and sell you a warranty for the period when failures are at their lowest; after the manufacturer's warranty when the manufacturer expects a high rate of failure, but ending before the end-of-life failures at the other end. That way they make a lot of money for very little risk, and if there is a claim, they usually make it hard for you and try to weasel out of it.

        So manufacturers really can't wipe their hands clean as you suggest any more (especially not since the ACL came in in 2011 or so). As for Costco offering a "lifetime warranty", consider what the meaning of lifetime is. It will be that bathtub curve referred to earlier, not your lifetime etc. They are essentially offering you the exact protections you are entitled to under the ACL. It seems they are just up-front about it and declaring they are prepared to accept responsibility for pursuing your consumer rights for you during the life of the product. Every other retailer is also bound to do that, but they are not necessarily happy about it or as helpful without some prompting and prodding.

  • 

    pjcook on 05/01/2016 - 08:27

    +1

    The Managers attempt to get Westinghouse to honour the Statutory warranty it seems to me to be a further attempt to fob of his responsibility. My understanding is the ACL T&C's are between you and the Retailer, therefore the retailer has to honour the ACL not the manufacturer. My point is that regardless of the response from westinghouse the Good guys are required to cover the repairs so there should not be any delay in waiting on a response from Westinghouse.

    • 

      chukkii on 05/01/2016 - 10:17

      My point is that regardless of the response from westinghouse the Good guys are required to cover the repairs so there should not be any delay in waiting on a response from Westinghouse.

      Hmm good point, but then again at least GGs is willing to handle the issue so I have to pick my battles I suppose.

      I would love to see what GG's response will be tomorrow!

    • 

      endotherm on 05/01/2016 - 12:54

      +1

      The Good Guys' response seems totally appropriate to me. As a seller, their responsibility is to repair or replace the item at their discretion, or if it is a major defect (it bursts into flames, the doors rust out, the compressor falls apart or it is otherwise a major lemon and unrepairable), then you can insist on a refund. The seller will in all cases refer the claim back to the manufacturer to be compensated themselves. The GG's are also technically customers of the wholesaler and can expect the goods that are supplied to them are durable etc in line with the ACL. They just pass on that protection with a profit mark up to the customer as a retailer, as the manufacturer typically isn't interested in selling one-off items to the public, with the added cost of shop fronts, sales staff etc. They are in the business of manufacturing and shipping boxes in bulk. Even though you think the GG's are giving you your money back or providing the repairs, indirectly the manufacturer will be doing it, with the GG's as the middleman. This is why sometimes it is worth dealing direct with the manufacturer in these matters; you don't have to wait for the middleman to get around to passing on the information third-hand to the manufacturer. However if it is more convenient for you to do so, it is the purchaser's prerogative who they deal with. Usually the bigger retailers will refund or replace an item out of their own stock if the failure is pretty soon after you bought it, as a sign of good will and for customer relations; they are under no obligation to do that though and may insist on returning it to the manufacturer on your behalf if they choose to do so. It is probably in their interest to do that and wear the drop in stock level until the manufacturer reimburses them, and have one less item in their inventory that they have their own money tied up in and can't sell. I know I'd be pretty pissed off if I bought a new expensive fridge today and had it fail immediately, only to be told that it will take 30-60 days for the manufacturer to sort it out. I'd never shop with them again and go with someone who would look after me and replace the item immediately out of their own stock. You can't really expect them to be that accommodating if the failure is say 6 or 12 months later, and you will then likely have to wait for the manufacturer to get around to it. Having said that, the ACL gives you more protection — you are entitled to compensation for the failure. I'd say it would be quite reasonable if you had to wait another month to get your fridge fixed or replaced, if you went out and hired another one for the interim period. All reasonable costs for hiring/delivery/removal of the temporary fridge would become the manufacturer's responsibility to compensate you. If it only took them a couple of days to rectify your problem, well that's probably reasonable and the best humanly possible outcome to be expected, so I'd suggest you'd be hard pressed to get compensation (but it's not impossible).

• 

  chukkii on 12/01/2016 - 12:02

  And updated!

  • 

    pjcook on 13/01/2016 - 07:16

    Good stuff