Comet - fridge/freezer broken after 15 months - Prestige PRT 325 FFCS

[yorkiebar]

Hi all,

 

Purchased a "Prestige" fridge/freezer from Comet (online) in Nov 2007 and it's now packed up (freezer section not working and fridge section freezing everything). At time of writing it's 15 months after the purchase date so just past the manufacturers 12 month warranty period.

 

I did not purchase any extended warranty from Comet.

 

I've put together the following letter (to be sent recorded delivery) using a Consumer Direct template.

 

Would be grateful if those in the know could cast an eye over it before I send out.

 

==========================================

12/02/2009

Customer Services Manager

Comet

George House,

George Street

Hull

HU1 3AU

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

On 04/11/2007, I bought a PRESTIGE PRT295FFCS Fridge Freezer from you for £349.99 which is not of satisfactory quality.

The problems are:

 

• The freezer compartment is no longer working and the temperature is above 0 degC when it should be -18degC
  
• The fridge compartment is now freezing all contents even though the required temperature is set to be +5 degC
  
• I am unable to use the fridge/freezer as the unit is not fit for purpose
  

After taking advice from Consumer Direct I wish to reject the goods and claim a replacement or repair at no cost to myself.

Please respond to my complaint within 14 days from receipt of this letter.

Yours faithfully

 

 

Me

================================================

 

 

Have I covered the correct legal stuff ? And is it worth opening a case with Consumer Direct before sending this off or see how Comet respond and take it from there ?

 

 

 

Any help/guidance appreciated, thanks.

[gyzmo]

Hi there, i would make the following amendments. Hope this isn't too late.

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)

On 04/11/2007, I bought a PRESTIGE PRT295FFCS Fridge Freezer from you for £349.99 which is not of satisfactory quality.

The problems are:

 

• The freezer compartment is no longer working and the temperature is above 0 degC when it should be -18degC
  
• The fridge compartment is now freezing all contents even though the required temperature is set to be +5 degC
  
• I am unable to use the fridge/freezer as the unit is not fit for purpose
  

After taking advice from Consumer Direct I wish to claim a replacement or repair at no cost to myself. [you are not rejecting the goods so have removed that bit].

S. 14 of the Act (above) requires that goods be of satisfactory quality and, given the make and price, I do not believe that the fridge freezer meets that description for the above reasons.

 

The appliance has been used and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations, and there is no action or inaction on my part that could cause this problem.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not have an extended warranty, nor do I require one, as this is a claim for breach of statutory rights. Further, the manufacturer is not responsible as my contract is with yourselves. I therefore request that you respond to my complaint within 14 days from receipt of this letter. Should I not hear from you by that time, I shall refer the matter to trading standards and, if necessary, commence legal action, but trust that this will not be necessary.

Yours faithfully

 

If they do not respond, contact Consumer Direct again and ask that a TSO contact you (as you have already written to the company).

 

It is down to you to prove the fault, which my mean an engineers report, but the 2nd paragraph in red should prove to be OK. And let us know how you get on.

[yorkiebar]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

I sent my original letter text off on Saturday and today received an apologetic call from Comet who have arranged for an engineer to make an inspection visit. Will see how that pans out

[gyzmo]

That's good. Probably the mention of Consumer Direct got them into gear. Lets hope they dont start playing silly buggers.

[frdjns74]

Comet done a similar thing with my hoover, it broke after the warranty and they replaced it and because they didn't have that one in stock they gave me a better one:)

[Fred Klug]

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

[Fred Klug]

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

[gyzmo]

In a word, no. Just because it's minor does not lessen the nature of what it is - a product that does not conform to the contract.

 

What they are saying is the equivalent of "well I broke your window so I'll only charge you 50% of the price to fix it".

[whizzer]

first time on this forum as i googled "faults with Prestige fride/freezer" this site came up. Cant believe how many people digruntled with Prestige products!

 

Purchased my prestige freezer August 2007 model number PRT260FFSL. worked lovely for first few months but for last 4 or 5 months it has been building up ice around the fan in the freezer compartment which after a while makes it very noisy and eventually stops the fan spinning - result half frozen food ( not good!) this model is supposed to be "frost free" Ha. Havent yet been in contact with comet as this problem developed not long after 12 month guarantee ran out. intrested if anyone else has experienced this ? Also like the draft letter posted may well be writing one too.

[mallikz]

Hi

 

I purchased a prestige fridge/freezer in Oct 07 and now its started giving problems, freezer is not working always showing -7 but it should be -18.

 

as u know it is out of warrenty and i dont take any extened warrenty from comet.

 

planning to write a letter to comet as mentioned in this fourm, any suggestions?

 

please let me know how the preious case went?

 

many thanks

[Fred Klug]

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...

[chrisg006]

Can anyone tell me if this was ever refunded or do they insist it was a minor fault???

 

My Prestige PRT295FFCS is 13 months old and the freezer settings won't stabilise - goiung up to -9 unless I keep the superfreeze button on.

 

How a freezer costing £400 refusing to freeze can be classed as a minor fault is beyond me!

[Fred Klug]

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.

[Fred Klug]

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.

[sabken]

hello everyone, what a relief to find this site. I bought a Prestige PRT260FFSL in May 2008. This was for my 90 year old mother. I did not purchase extended warantee as I decided that this product should last a few years. In June 2009 the fridge started to Ice up right down the back and the foor in the fridge froze. After finding this site I too wrote a letter to Comet siting 'sale of goods act' etc. We were contacted by Comet to arrange an engineer to come out to visit to check the appliance. He advised that the thermostat needed to be replaced. This cost £1.58 - was the right piece ordered? Another engineer came out to fit it, BUT Comet called this morning saying that the call out would be £ 100 + Parts. My mother nearly had a heart attack - she lives off her state pension! The engineer who came out today condemnded the appliance and will talk to his supervisor tomorrow. Lets hope it's a new one - I would not buy Prestige again.

[sabken]

Hello me again, After 4 engineers and one thermostat change the fridge freezer was today condemned by engineer no 5! All I need to do now is to visit Comet and pick a new one out.

The engineer today suggested that Hoover were the brand to buy!

Watch this space and i'll keep you informed.

 

PS -DON'T LET THEM TELL YOU IT'S OUT OF WARANTEE, THEY NEED TO PROVIDE YOU WITH WORKING GOODS. I was convinced that I would not get anywhere but it worked.

[P.Pilcher]

About two years ago, we acquired a Prestige "frost free" fridge freezer from Comet. After 6 months, ice started develop in the fridge compartment and condensate from the cold area of the wall failed to drain away as the drain pipe had become blocked. This was because the temperature of this drain tube was at or below 0 degrees C as it passed too close to the freezing compartment through the insulation.

The Comet engineer removed all the back panels of the freezing compartment and manually defrosted it with a hairdryer, he then moved the position of a thermostat which was the manufacturers mod to cure this known problem. It recurred so Comet agreed to supplying another fridge freezer. As this unit met our requirements perfectly and as the engineers stated that this problem was most unusual, we swopped our faulty one for an identical brand new unit. This developed a similar fault in 9 months and Comet again agreed to replace it as, in trying to do a manual defrost, their engineer punctured a refrigerant pipe with his screwdriver as he attempted to chisel ice from it!

The unit has now been replaced by another unit of different manufacture which, so far, is working perfectly (touch wood).

Fortunately, in my case, I had purchased an extended warranty so Comet had no chance to argue, but this problem with certain Prestige fridge freezers is a design fault which should really involve a recall, however the manufacturers obviously don't want to do this due to cost. The repair would probably be so expensive that a redesigned replacement would probably be the only way to effect a permanent cure.

 

P.P.

[boyze]

Ive also had the same problems with my f/f prestige325 .Called comet today and they have said this is NOT a sale of goods act?

 

Please can anyone advise.Many thanks

[holr3119]

I can't believe all the complaints with this product. I've been 'superfreezing' my freezer in order to get the freezer section below 0'C and my drawer section of the fridge freezes everything (even though the temp is +5'C)

 

Could I be cheeky and use the letter listed above? Will I get a satisfactory response? Does anyone have any suggestions? I really don't want to have to buy another ff.

 

====

Customer Services Manager

Comet

George House,

George Street

Hull

HU1 3AU

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Sale of Goods Act 1979

 

On 05/03/2008, I bought a PRESTIGE PRT325FFCSFridge Freezer from you for £379.99 which is not of satisfactory quality.

 

 

 

The problems are:

• The freezer compartment is no longer working and the temperature does not go below -5’C when it should be -18degC
  
• The fridge compartment is now freezing all contents in the bottom drawers even though the required temperature is set to be +5 degC
  
• I am unable to use the fridge/freezer as the unit is not fit for purpose
  

After taking advice from Consumer Direct I wish to claim a replacement or repair at no cost to myself.

 

S. 14 of the Act (above) requires that goods be of satisfactory quality and, given the make and price, I do not believe that the fridge freezer meets that description for the above reasons.

 

The appliance has been used and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations, and there is no action or inaction on my part that could cause this problem.

 

For the avoidance of doubt, I do not have an extended warranty, nor do I require one, as this is a claim for breach of statutory rights. Further, the manufacturer is not responsible as my contract is with yourselves. I therefore request that you respond to my complaint within 14 days from receipt of this letter. Should I not hear from you by that time, I shall refer the matter to trading standards and, if necessary, commence legal action, but trust that this will not be necessary.

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

====

[MarcJT]

The same has just happened to us on Xmas Eve - the PRESTIGE PRT325FFCS fridge will not work and will not go below 12C. I have medication to keep between 3 and 8C, and we cannot do anything until boxing day!!! Luckily it is 4C outside so our fridge is now a sealed box in the garden, however, should it freeze... If I buy a replacement on boxing day, would I be entitled to ask Comet for a refund given I will need to get a working replacement pronto and cannot wait for a repair person?

 

Thanks!

 

PS - it was purchased Sep 2008. 16 months for a £450 machine is very poor value indeed!!!

[MarcJT]

Update - managed to resurrect after defrosting, but now the fridge works and the freezer does not. No joy with Comet whatsoever (insisting on paying to have the unit checked) so have emailed Consumer Direct. Meanwhile have had to order a replacement and have gone with one that Which recommend as being very good. Will not be buying prestige again!

Edited December 30, 2009 by MarcJT

[starman101]

Dear All, So far I'm very pleased with my Prestige 295f/f I bought it from Comet in July 2009 and its working perfectly!

 

Just as a point of interest, when you all had your 295's delivered, the instructions made clear that the 295 must be allowed to rest for 4 hours before plugging in to the mains, to allow the gas/liquids to settle. It seems that if you don't do this, failure of the 295's will happen sooner or later! So I left mine 8 hours just to make sure.

So far, so good!!

[gerrrusg]

I have the Prestige PRT325FFCS. It’s now 2 years old and developed the same fault as described earlier. The fridge is running continuously and freezes, whilst the freezer does not cool at all. It appears that the mechanism / circuit that switches the cooling system between fridge and freezer is stuck in the fridge position. However the fault is only intermittent, as sometimes when it is switched on it works fine for a few hours before eventually freezing the fridge again.

There is obviously little wrong with the cooling system, and I suspect that it is most likely a simple relay that is sticking, but without a schematic it is impossible to tell which one. I’ve searched online for a new control board, which is found on top of the fridge, but can’t find anybody who supplies them. Last option is to actually try a Comet engineer, but I hate to call out somebody to fix a problem that is likely a case of unscrewing 6 screws and 3 connectors.

Has anybody managed to get their faulty fridge / freezer repaired properly after developing this fault or been told what the problem is caused by?

Thanks

[VCG]

apologies have reposted as new thread

Edited February 6, 2010 by VCG

[VCG]

apologies - have reposted as new thread

Edited February 6, 2010 by VCG
reposted as new thread