TLDR
The Haier fridge has completely failed and the freezer will sometimes start working for a while after rebooting the fridge. Should we fight for a refund?
Full story
The fridge is only 2 years 4 months old and the sticker warranty is 2 years. From my understanding we can push for a refund from the retailer (Appliances Online) under Australian Consumer Law as it is a major failure.
Here is the industry guide from ACCC that outlines this
I have ordered a new Mitsubishi Electric fridge from the same retailer (Appliances Online) that is due to arrive in a month (shipping delays) and rented a fridge in the meantime. After this crappy experience we wanted to get a fridge from a "reliable" brand and they have a 5 year sticker warranty.
We just had our first baby a few months ago and we need to store expressed breast milk. Expressed breast milk is like gold and we are lucky we noticed the issues before any of it spoiled. We don't trust the fridge being repaired and want a refund. Ready to go to NSW NCAT if needed.
Even though Australian Consumer Law means that we should be able to get a refund for a major failure, I doubt the retailer will go along with it unless we go to NCAT. They have already tried referring it to Haier and a service company just tried to get in contact for a "goodwill" repair.
Anyone been in a similar situation with Appliances Online or any other retailer? How did you handle it to get a refund?
Thank you!
For more details on the issues
Haier 450L Bottom Mount Fridge HBM450SA1
From day one, the led control panel on the front of the fridge would cut out and reboot every time you opened the fridge door. As of January 2021, it would occasionally fail to turn back on after closing the door. This has progressively gotten worse and as of September 2021 it would not turn on at all.
As of December 2021 we noticed that the fridge would occasionally stop working for a few hours at a time. We realised this was occurring as there was a large amount of condensation that would build in the fridge over a couple of hours that would then disappear. As of yesterday the fridge completely stopped working.
As of 4th Feb, the freezer stopped working for at least a few hours. We noticed as the ice had melted. Restarting the fridge (power off and on) started the freezer again. However we are concerned it will randomly stop working again and there is no certainly that restarting the fridge will resolve the freezer issue again.
Refund? No, but push them for a repair
Seems like the right thing to do after you've had it 2+ years