Andy Hall wrote:
On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 18:30:49 +0100, "Bob"
wrote:

After being abandoned by Expert Appliance Care, who have the
contract for Whirlpool's warrenty repairs (long story [1] ), I'm
left needing to repair the water supply tube. It's a thin plastic
tube, with a 4mm internal diameter (or it is as far as I can tell).
I just need to cut out a damaged section and join the ends together
- the question is, what with? I've tried RS, but they've only got a
push on connector that looks like it would come straight off under
mains pressure, and in any case would restrict the tube to 2mm.

Could anyone suggest somewhere else to try?

Cheers

Bob

Why are you doing this?

Adding up the times, you had the thing for 6 months and then it was
broken for about another 3.

Presumably it cost circa £1k or more, and not £200?

You can basically ignore the manufacturer's warranty period of
probably a year. This is supposed to be a decent branded appliance
with proper, professional backup, not something handled by semitrained
monkies.

The first point is that in any equipment purchase use a credit card or
credit agreement and pay it off during the interest free period.
THis gives you Consumer Credit Act cover - the card company is on the
hook with the RETAILER and it is the retailer with whom you have
recourse - they can't fob you off to the manufacturer.

In the circumstances, I would have contacted the retailer first, and
initially followed their policy if the manufacturer or a service agent
is doing the work. However, I would allow an absolute maximum of 14
days for a satisfactory fix. If they can't meet that, then they
either replace the appliance or refund. For something like a fridge,
this is plenty long enough for them to fix any problem.

At the end of 14 days, the retailer gets a letter as well as the card
company, requesting them to cancel the transaction. Both go by
Special Delivery.

If you had asked the retailer when you bought the appliance whether
they though that it would be faulty for 3 months out of 9 then I am
sure thay would have said no. You would simply be reminding them of
that.,

If the appliance was 5 years old, then fair enough, a DIY fix would
perhaps be appropriate, but on something like this, I would hold the
retailer to the fire for three years, warranty or not.



I know I could do all that, but to be honest, I just want the damn thing
fixed with the least hassle. The workings of the fridge are so simple even
a monkey could fix them (although not the monkey that works for Expert
Appliance Care apparently). The fan is all sorted now, so all that is left
is the pipe. If I could get a suitable connector, it would be repaired in
minutes. Whirlpool were happy enough to send parts free of charge, but the
trouble is they have sent things that are completely wrong - even the Expert
Appliance guy received the same wrong water pipe as I did.

I did follow all the proper procedure initially, but it just became too much
aggravation to keep chasing people up. Going further down the route you
suggest will just drag things out longer. I intend to write to Whirlpool
after I've fixed everything and see what they have to say for themselves.

Mal