To expect a £500 cooker to last longer than 4 years before being condemned because of no parts available?

[Frouby]

Bought a cooker just under 4 years ago. Paid for installation and delivery, used as a family cooker, always looked after. It still looks brand new when I can be arsed to polish it.

It's developed an annoying fault of intermittently not getting hot enough. Assumed either thermostat or element so phoned a local repair man. He came, looked at it and said he wouldn't be able to get parts as it was manufactured for a certain catalogue/high street provider and I should phone them which I did.

They recommended a repair and protect policy which I took. Said if it was unrepairable policy would be cancelled and any monies refunded with no call out costs.

Engineer sent by Domestic and General turns up. Says I need a new thermostat and a selector plate, but because the cooker was no longer manufactured he didn't think he could get parts.

A few days later I get a phonecall, no parts available so they are writing it off and requesting a replacement from the insurance company.

Am pretty sure the insurance company won't pay out as its not repairable on the first visit which is fair enough.

But after 4 years the parts to maintain the cooker, parts that are likely to need replacing and probably cost a few quid should be available I think. Not only will I have to replace it, but it will also get scrapped for the sake of 2 relatively simple and inexpensive parts.

Have written to the catalogue company after a frustrating 30 mins using their live chat facility as they don't have an email address and my claim is currently with the underwriters who will decide whether I can have it replaced.

Obviously if I had known I wouldn't be able to get replacement parts after 4 years I would have taken the insurance out. But you expect to be able to repair most things in that timescale, most big things at least.

Seems so wasteful and bloody awful customer service.

What brand is it?

I had to scrap a fridge freezer once because the door tray broke and I spent six months searching high and low for a replacement one. In the end I was fed up with taking up space on the shelves with milk and fruit juice cartons. So I had to buy a new one, absolutely ridiculous.

Find a local handy man. Often spare parts are available you just have to be creative when finding them.

To state the bleeding obvious: have you tried eSpares.co.uk ? They’ve rescued several of my appliances from an untimely demise.

Cherries the first guy that came was a local repairman and he said he wouldn't be able to order them. He reckons it's just a ploy to get you back to the retailer to purchase an insurance policy as they get a % of the premiums. And the engineer from the insurance company was pretty sure he wouldn't find parts.

It's a Bush cooker. Who were owned by Argos. But they discontinued the brand a few years ago apparently.

Enginerr says the big companies like Whirlpool and Zanussi etc make parts for 10 years plus.

It's just so bloody wasteful. If it was unrepairable because of something serious or because it was 10 years old I could probably accept that. But not 4 years old!

We can afford to replace it luckily. But it's massively annoying. Especially as it's only a minor fault.

But DH is adamant we need a new one as we won't be able to have proper homemade Yorkshire Puddings. Priorities apparently.

Tried Espares, they have Bush listed but not my model 🙄

Try talking to trading standards and see what they say... see if they think that a cooker that’s so New should be irreparable...

Try ringing up the Argos hq in Milton Keynes and asking to speak to their cooker buyer or household appliance section and see what happens...

Also does googling the part help or looking on eBay or amazon?

Have checked Ebay and Amazon and nothing.

Have tried to speak to customer services, customer complaints, and head office but just get told to put it in writing which I have, quoting that the sale of goods act (which applies to this as pre 2015) states that the item should last a reasonable amount of time, and that I have 6 years to make a claim against them.

According to the guy I spoke to at the insurance company there is still a chance domestic and general will pay out as its a parts issue rather than a repair above a certain limit, and I think because the policy is via argos there are slightly different terms.

If they do I will be shocked but bloody chuffed. Though still annoyed about the waste.

yeah, and we are not at all facing dramatic changes in the climate due to using too many resources at all..

companies are being really irresponsible with the planets resources.

also pissed off as we have a newish cooker (that is doing ok so far) after having our old one second hand for about 15 years. I want to be able to repair the new cooker if necessary so it lasts a good ten years or more.

things should be made to last longer.

Did you buy it on a credit card? If so, you may be able to get the CC company involved. Under the Sale of Goods act, the ‘Merchantable Quality’ test is generally held to be 6 years from date of purchase.
For purchases over £100, the Credit Card companies hold joint liability with the vendor.

Sale of goods act protection lasts 7 years - you can make a case that a reasonable person would expect an item to last more than x number of years. Got my range fixed for free using it.

Letter arrived from Domestic and General today they aren't replacing the oven as I expected. Fml.

annie I have already quoted the act at them, both on live chat and in writing. Need to wait for a response to the letter before I take any further action.

Website says it can take up to 8 weeks . What kind of shite service standard is that? Am giving them 10 days, then writing again. Then again. Then again. Then I am going on twitter and facebook and finding email addresses out.

It really is disgusting from both a service amd environmental point of view. According to the guy I spoke to this afternoon there is a long list of parts they can no longet get.

If you have a Bush appliance then check if you can get parts online. If not take a service plan on it now.

try ransome spares. They had something for my old fridge (unbelievably expensive though) + partmaster.