Hot point delivery and install issues damage to flooring and not installing American fridge freezer

[Ianbrown90]

I had repair or replace insurance on an American style fridge freezer with d&g and had to have it replaced they replaced it with one from hot point and gave me one with water and ice which was a bonus however I had to pay £79.00 for delivery and install and I asked if that was a complete install and was told yes!

 

I phoned hotpoint to book a time and was told it was a special team that had to book it as it was an American style unit I spoke with them and confirmed again it was a full install again I was told yes.

 

Imagine then to my dismay that when it was delivered the delivery guy said they couldn't install it as there was supposed to already be a tap plumbed in to attach it to no one hade ever mentioned this I was furious but hotpoint stated I should have known this ( I'm not an engineer how was I supposed to know )I had to pay a plumber £80.00 pound to install it .

 

However the fridge then died the next day and ruined all my food I had to fight to get a replacement as they couldn't get me an engineer to assess it for 5 weeks what a joke. They came to replace after much arguing and lo and behold when the moved the fridge out there was a large tear in my flooring underneath which wasn't there before they delivered the first fridge they then proceeded to drag the fridge across my flooring putting to long and deep dents across my kitchen diner floor.

 

I called them about it and had to get an engineer as the second replacement fridge handle came off in my hand I was assured that the engineer would also inspect the floor damage when he attended and we could resolve that issue.

 

The engineer arrived and when I asked him to inspect the floor as per customer services instructions and he laughed and said it wasn't his his job to do that and customer services at hotpoint were always saying stuff like that to get people off the phone I called customer services furious and was told to email my complaint in writing and the escalation department would deal with it that was six weeks ago and still no phone call

 

I emailed again 3 weeks ago and received a reply from an alleged customer service director apologising and stating that someone would contact me shortly I am at my wits end as still have had no call my flooring covers a large kitchen/ dining area and will be expensive to replace

 

can anyone advise me or point me in the right direction of what my options are to force them to resolve this as I am at a loss any help would be gratefully appreciated

 

I Would certainly not recommend a hotpoint product to anyone and I would never buy from them again as their customer service department are a comple and utter joke

Edited November 19, 2016 by honeybee13
Paras.

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

People should be along with advice for you, but as it's the weekend and quieter please bear with them until they're able to get here.

 

I've edited some paragraphs into your post by the way, to make it easier to read for the advisers.

 

My best, HB

[martin2006]

You have to exhaust the complaints process, which means they have 8 weeks to resolve your complaint. Until you have received a Final Response or the 8 weeks is up, theres little more you can do at present other than obtain quotes for repairing the floor.

If either of those things happen, cone back so we can advise further.

Edited November 19, 2016 by martin2006

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG,

As well as following Martins advice, I would check to see if your household insurance has legal cover. If so, they can gee up Hotpoint.

Do not accept any suggestion from Hotpoint that the delivery crew are responsible. Hotpoint arranged the delivery so they are ultimately responsible for the actions of the delivery crew.

 

If you need to phone Hotpoint, record the call. You have no need to tell them of this. Take lots of pictures from lots of angles to show the damage done.

 

I'm not sure about the £80 plumbing fee. I don't think you could make any claim on that.

[BankFodder]

I'm sorry to say that I'm not sure that the advice given above is the best way to handle things.

 

First of all, the advice in respect of waiting eight weeks and exhausting the complaints process and then getting a final response would only apply if you are making a complaint against the insurer about their insurance business, and I'm not at all certain that that is the case here.

 

In respect of the advice given about finding out whether you have legal cover under your household insurance, this seems to assume that there is a problem here which you can't deal with yourself and that you need help from lawyers. It also assumes that a legal firm would be prepared to get onto Hotpoint and a hurry them up. I don't think that this is at all likely. But in any event, for the moment I don't see why this isn't something that you can't handle yourself.

 

First of all, in respect of the extra plumbing that was needed, I have to say that – yes it was rather sloppy that they didn't explain this to you, but on the other hand I have to say that this is something that you would be liable for. They've given you a fridge with added functionality, but it would be up to you to pay for any extra installation cost for this. If your original purchase had been that fridge with that ice making functionality, then you would have had to pay the extra money to have it plugged in. That is all that you are being asked to do now. If you really don't want to pay that money then your solution here would be to hand the fridge back and tell them that you want a model identical to the one which failed.

 

On the other hand, it was unfair of them to make a delivery charge. You should not have had to pay that to replace a failed fridge.

 

In respect of the damage caused by the various deliveries, I think that this would be the responsibility of whichever company ordered the fridge and ordered the installation. I take it that this may be your insurance company. This is not really an insurance matter. Although if you had a huge amount of difficulty you could eventually go through the normal insurance complaints process and then onto the ombudsman, this will take an awful long time – maybe up to 12 months. I would say that the thing to do here is to treat this like an ordinary contract for the supply of goods and services under the Consumer Rights Act. I think that you need to write out a detailed account of everything that has happened, make sure you take photographs of everything, and then write to the insurer and invite them to send their own inspector to ascertain the damage and the cost of repairs. You should also make your own enquiries and get two quotes for the cost of repairs.

 

You should tell the insurer that because this is your kitchen, you want the damage repaired quickly. The insurer will probably be un-used to this kind of complaint and they will consider that it has to go down the usual route – and maybe onto the ombudsman. You need to disabuse them of this and point out that you are prepared to take a legal action in the County Court for compensation amounting to the cheaper of the two quotes unless they take immediate action to remedy the situation. Of course, you should only make this kind of threat if you understand the County Court steps and you are prepared to go through with it. There is no point in bluffing. It will get you nowhere and you will only lose credibility.

 

On the other hand, if you are content to wait throughout the process and basically be led by the nose by the insurance company and their delaying and uncooperative approach and then onto the ombudsman several months later, then that is a matter for you.

 

If you do have household legal insurance, then you could try to get them involved to run the case for you – but I expect that you will find them slow, reluctant and uncommunicative so you will go through long periods of time not knowing what is happening and having to chase them to chase the insurers for replies. I'm not sure that we have many examples of household legal insurance companies providing a very satisfactory service. I'm afraid that for the most part legal insurance which is tacked on to household insurance is simply a bit of value added for the company which sells you the product.

 

 

By the way, who sold you the original fridge which failed and how long have you had it?