Me again. OK. So after defrosting the freezer and turning it back on, the fridge stopped working too. So hotter in the fridge than in the flat! Anyway, I paid for an engineer callout (£29+), which they would not budge on. He said the compressor has gone so it cannot make cold air, and because it is a single compressor shared between fridge and freezer and switched over by a relay, the relay ought to be replaced too. That is dead fiddly, because the capillaries are so small. So he said he was minded to recommend a replacement. Which I pushed him to do because it broke in March and now June. Anyway, the service centre agreed and I now have a ref for an exchange. I pop into a Comet, choose the replacement unit (similar value) and they will pick up the old one and drop off the new one. On costs, when the engineer called me to say he would be with me in a couple of hours, he said he had it down to charge me for work done at £45/hour. I said no no, but come anyway and we would work it out. In the meantime, I called Comet again, referred to my letter quoting Sale of Goods Act I sent in March, and said I should not have to pay for servicing of a faulty product. I cited the name of the woman who called me back after my letter. The guy called me back five minutes later, and agreed that any servicing fees would be waived. Now the engineer has said it should be replaced, I am getting that done, including the pickup and delivery, for free. Result! Eventually.

Not resolved yet. We did a manual defrost and the engineer said to get back in touch if it failed again "quickly", which he would not define for me. Eleven weeks later, it failed again, I got back in touch. They said to do a manual defrost, I pointed out that this was a recurrence, and they said just do a manual defrost and see. I expect in less than 11 weeks time it will fail again, and I will insist that something is wrong, refer to my by then six-month old letter, and remind them I am not paying for any replacement parts, major or minor.

To update on my October 07-purchased faulty Prestige fridge freezer: - I sent them a letter citing the Sale of Goods Act and they called me back - they still hold that I have to pay for minor faults, so I have told them I disagree; we have left it there for now - I paid for an engineer callout to come and look at it. He really only defrosted it and said he couldn't do any more (annoying). He said see how that goes and get back in touch if it fails soon - of course 11 weeks later it has failed again. I have got back in touch, and this time been advised to defrost it ourselves (better I suppose) but they again want us to wait and see if it goes wrong again before sending an engineer. - so, now I expect it to fail again in the next 3 months and to go through the same rigmarole again. Anyway, we will see...

Hi. I just called the Comet service line (fridge freezer not freezing, less than 18 months old) and a supervisor says that: - the £30 callout charge is always paid by the customer - the £45 plus parts charge will have to be paid by the customer if it is a minor failure - it will have to be paid but can be refunded in part or whole if it is a major fault that needs to be fixed. They say this is their policy and way of discharging their duties under the Sale of Goods Act. Is this good enough? Views anyone? Thanks

Hi there My Prestige PRT 295 FFCS bought from Comet 18 monts ago is also on the blink. It does not lower teh temperature in the freezer compartment any more. It is out of warranty and they want £30 to come take a look, and will charge £45 plus parts to fix. How did the above case go? Did Comet waive the call-out charge because you cited Consumer Action Group? Thanks