Washing Machine Worked For 5 Weeks waiting for parts..

[Rosierosebud]

Hi,

I purchased a washing machine from currys online on the 5th Nov. It broke down within 2 weeks and an engineer was sent out on the 22 December. The parts were ordered and hotpoint expected them on the 9th jan. One of the parts is out of stock with Hotpoint in Italy and they can't give me a date of when they will get it in again.

In the 1st week of January I went down to my local currys to speak to their know-how team and they have washed their hands off it now because a hotpoint engineer came out. Could you please tell me where I stand. I'm sure you can imagine a family of 5 and no washing machine from12/13th December.

Many thanks

Rosemary

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

If a fault develops on a new product within 6 months it is deemed by the Sale of Goods Act to have been faulty when sold (it had an inherent fault) unless the retailer can prove otherwise. If they can repair it quickly and it isn't too serious most people would accept a repair but the repair should be done in a reasonable time. The fact that an engineer came out doesn't affect your rights under the sale of goods act. You could try telling them they sold you a faulty machine, which broke down within the first 6 months so consumer law says it was faulty when sold which is a breach of contract. You now feel the amount of time you've been without it is completely unreasonable especially as there is no idea how much longer it might be. If they won't exchange the machine you need to take advice from citizens advice.

The main problem is that it's now been so long that everyone is likely to think the part should arrive any day now so there's nothing to do, and of course it might.