How long have you waited for an appliance to be repaired?

We have a Samsung washing machine, it has a registered 5-year warrantee, it has broken down several times since owning this machine. Purchased 3 years ago.

We reported a fault with the machine on the 1st as it was leaking water over the kitchen floor, on the 4th an engineer arrived from Group FX, to say it needed some bearing’s replaced and would call early next week, no call or visit and after chasing them up they say it could be another week as they may need two engineers to fit the parts. We have called them twice and promised a call back, guess what no call.
Today (10th) we called Samsung direct to ask for a refund as the 5-year guarantee clearly states a repair should be completed within 3 working days or 5 working days if a specialist part is required. The paragraph then states if it cannot be repaired Samsung will replace the item or give a full refund.
Samsung put us on hold and called the repair centre and then quoted the same thing Group FX told us “it will be an estimated 1 week extra”, When we asked about their guarantee promise online they put us on hold and then forwarded us to their complaints team of which apologised for the delay and confirmed they have spoken to Group FX and can confirm the part will arrive today or tomorrow and Group FX will call to arrange a date for the engineer/’s to visit of which we have already been told would be next week.
Samsung offered us a £40 voucher as an apology, to me this confirms they acknowledge our experience is not as per their guarantee terms and conditions.
So, we now have to wait quote “for a day or two” for Group FX to confirm they have the parts, and then an estaimated further 7days for them to fit the parts.

The amusing thing is a local registered engineer told us last week he could get the parts within 2 working days but it would terminate the Samsung Guarantee.

My cooker is 5 years old and I’ve always had an extended warrantee with Domestic and General. The cooker developed a fault just after Christmas so I phoned up and they were coming on 07/01. A few days before they were due our carbon monoxide detector kept alarming when we used the oven. We had people out to check everything, they even tested the oven but couldn’t find a problem although I know it was the oven. I called D&G on 06/01 to let them know about the C/O issue so they knew what issues we were having.

The engineer arrived on the 7th and as soon as I mentioned carbon monoxide the engineer stopped me and said that he was not able to repair the cooker as it needed to be someone from the carbon monoxide team. He then capped off the cooker so that we couldn’t use it and said someone would be in touch to arrange an appointment. Obviously my telephone call on the 6th was not actioned correctly.

Two days later on the 9th I received a text to say that an engineer would visit on Monday 11th.

After the visit on the 11th the engineer said he would send the results in and we would hear from D&G within 48 hours to find out if it could be repaired or not.

The following day I telephoned D&G to try and get an update but as lines were busy I requested a call back. A couple of hours later I received the call back and all I could find out was that it had gone to the claims department.

By Wednesday 13th, I was still waiting for some form of contact but I received nothing so I telephoned D&G again. I tried calling four times but each time I wasn’t given the option for a call back, the recorded message simply said try later and then hung up.

On Thursday 14th I managed to speak to someone but again I was told was that it was with the claims department and I will receive a call from them by the following day.

The following day, Friday 15th I contacted D&G via messenger and the only response was that the report was being chased with the claims team and they would be in touch once a decision was made. According to Domestic and Generals own help and advice it says that at busy times you will be in touch within four days of the engineers visit. This is the fourth day and I’m just waiting for some form of contact.

We have been without a cooker for nine days now, we had to borrow a microwave from family and survive on ready meals which are far from ideal and work out so much more expensive for a family of four over nine days . If the information had been correctly handled when I called to report the carbon monoxide problem on the 6th, then we would have had a visit from the correct engineer at the start and would not have had such a long wait. Apart from an appointment text last weekend there’s been no contact from D&G, not even a simple message just to let us know the situation or when to expect an outcome, we still don’t even know if our cooker can be repaired or not.

I finally managed to speak to someone late on the 15th however I was disgusted with what I was told. Apparently my cooker will be repaired on the 26th, that is 19 days without a cooker. Obviously that is not good enough, how can anyone be expected to wait that long especially when I pay monthly for the luxury of being able to get it repaired. I told them I’m not willing g to wait that long so I’m currently waiting for a call from the planing team as they have more flexibility with appointments.

The service I’ve received has been totally unacceptable from the start, I appreciate that everyone is struggling with the current situation but so are we, I am disabled with two children at home and my wife is a key worker trying to stay safe and to deal with all this on top has been extremely stressful and this could have been avoided by simply passing on the carbon monoxide information at the start. Some from of contact from D&G in the form of a text or email letting us know the current status would have been greatly appreciated.