Fridge And Freezer Forum

[bedshammer]

Hi, i bought a APM6855 from MFI. We have had it 13 months and we have the same problem.. freezer works ok but the fridge keeps going onto H setting. I phoned MFI and they want £90 just to come out. Having read the other comments i am going to try and defrost it for 48 hours when we have used all the food in the freezer dept. If this solves the problem then great, if not, i am with you and will consider the unit unfit for purpose and write to MFI Customer Care demanding a suitabe replacement. When we have defrostede the unit i will post the result.

[mcqueg]

Hi folks, same problem as everyone else and MFI not very helpful if you're out of warranty and don't have Extracare cover.
However, all is not lost; Contact the Government body Consumer Direct, who will advise you to pursue MFI under the Sale of Goods act, as the goods are not durable and of merchantable quality. You will have to pay for an engineer to confirm that it is a manufacturing fault (mine is over 3 years old, and i can still claim). Once confirmed you have a right to have it repaired and reimbured for the engineer's inspection too. I am in the process of going through this now, but it's amazing how little we all use the law, and instead opt for paying for Extracover, instead of using out STATUTORY rights. By the way MFI didn't even understand the Sale of Goods act, and kept fobbing me off. Write to them at their shop and head office (recorded delivery) 14 days ia an accetable time for a reply, before you take action. By the way, if you paid for the item, or even just £1 of the item (deposit) by your Credit Card, you can also get compensation from them instead (07725 668708 if you want more info), regards, Gordon.

[kwatt]

Hi Gordon,

The legislation that you are trying to use is an old one, we've seen it before many, many times being attempted to be used in this way.

The fact of it is that whilst you can claim like this it is most certainly not a "sure thing" as you make it out to be as the onus is on you, the customer, to prove that it is a manufacturing defect. This is one of the consumer law myths I'm afraid and it really just depends on whether the retailer can be bothered with the hassles of dealing with it.

You say that a cheap fridge should last longer than three years so let me ask you, how long should it run without any failures in your opinion, what is "reasonable"? My opinion would be that a fault at three years that requires a simple replacement part is totally fine. If the fridge was a write-off due to a split liner or something then that is bordering on unreasonable, but you have to consider the price of the goods in the equation as well.

It just isn't as simple as, I'm not happy and I don't think this is right as it's not just your opinion that matters.

Also remember, if it is the old tired six year legislation thing that you are trying to use to lever this, it is not a warranty of durability.

It is explained in this article a little more in-depth.

But, in short, you are unlikely to get anywhere with this as it would be simply considered as a breakdown and the claim would be rejected.

HTH

K.

[mcqueg]

Hi k,

Thanks for your reply, but the plot thickens, and I've been back in touch with Consumer Direct for clarification on Consumers Rights, and also the information you supplied, regarding "Myths". I've emailed them with the details, and they're going to let me know, but have still told me that if I give the shop and HO a resonable time to reply (14 days), and they do not act positively, Consumer Direct will pass the case on to Trading Standards for action. Shops are basically trying to wash their hands of consumers and fob you off with going through the manufacturer instead. By the way, the price of this fridge/freezer was £599 (discounted to £479.20) as part of a whole kitchen (£6075) and an item of this value would certainly be reasonably expected to last well beyond 3 years. Unlike a washing machine, where there is obviously a greater incidence of "wear & tear"; it is hard to treat an integrated f/f roughly, and judging by the amount of blogs regarding this issue, it would certainly appear that there is a fault of "some sort". Other people problems, however, will not form part of my case, as I intend to pursue it, on its own merits. Will keep you posted, as and when, regards, G.

[kwatt]

Hi Gordon,

Unfortunately I see that a lot in my line of work which is mostly service work on fully fitted kitchen full of appliances.

The problem is that the total cost of the kitchen doesn't really come into it in my experience as each item is detailed normally. But again, it comes down to a guarantee of durability, which the six year rule is most definitely is not. It is a warranty, basically, that you have not been mis-sold an item or that the goods meets the terms of the contract with the retailer from my understanding of it, it doesn't afford any protection against breakdowns or premature demise. This is where extended warranties pick up, to cover that risk.

Were this as you are assuming it to be then there would be no requirement for extended warranties and manufacturers may as well offer an all-inclusive six year warranty, which plainly isn't going to happen. That would be wholly unreasonable to expect IMO.

However £479 is cheap for an integrated fridge freezer given that it is an electronic controlled fully frost free unit. A freestanding one won't cost you much less than that of similar spec, even at £599 it's not outrageous. In fact, a quick look on some of the retailers sites shows that a decent branded one of similar capacity is more expensive than the full price you quote, for freestanding. Go to integrated and you can add another 20-40% onto the price. In some ways you actually got a bargain.

These Merloni made units can be troublesome and they do have parts that fail but I'd be hard pressed to say that it was epidemic by a long way.

But I'd suggest that you've made a classic mistake there with the comment that, "judging by the amount of blogs regarding this issue", I would suggest that you read the bit at the bottom of that article I pointed you to carefully. You cannot prove epidemic failure without data or an overwhelming level of complaints but, remember, if the manufacturer comes back to TS and proves that they've sold 10,000 and had 500 over a few years failures, that's far from epedimic failure. The accepted normal failure is up to ~10% of production in year one and that can rise significantly as time goes on with wear and tear.

However do let us know how you get on as it will be interesting.

K.

[Playah]

Hi fellas,Getting back to the original problem, ive found out the answer!"£$%^
after a few phonecalls etc etc i found out it's the 2 defrost censors in the Freezer that play up, these cost about £80 and im told are easy to fit.
The repair man told me he does this every day to the apm6855.
I hope this helps guys.

[blacknblue]

Hi guys,

I've been having similar problems with my APM6855 for over a year, the first time it happened it was only 15 months old! I defrost the freezer and the problem goes away only to return again later. however the period between having to defrost seems to be getting shorter and shorter. I will soon be having to get the towels onto the kitchen floor on a monthly rota!
I've seen some discussions on this website into proper and adequate ventilation, could this be affecting my machine?
What is adequate ventilation? What is required?
Supposing that the installation is OK, the the next idea would be these 2 defrost sensors. How do I test the defrost system on this unit. I'm a Maintenance Electrician working with complex circuits on a daily basis, so I'm not completely handless. I even have my own meter, although I confess to being ignorant about refrigeration systems.

Cheers for any information given,

Tony

[kop]

ARGH!

I'm fed up with this fridge/freezer! Purchased the machine in April 06 from Howdens (MFI group) via my builder. Got the H on the dashboard around the end of August 07 (17 months). Phoned around to get someone to come out and only found two places willing to help me. First is the service people who's number is listed on the applicance handbook. They could only come and look at the fridge in 2 weeks. I found a local guy to come out the next day, and he cost me £65+ vat. He said I had two problems, the PCB board and the thermistor (there are two I'm told). Subsequently, because he can't access the second thermistor to replace it (??) he needed to take the PCB board out to program it to bypass this thermisor. He's subsequently called me up and said that the PCB prgrammers can't do this (when he thought they could) and this waste of time has cost me £80+ and 6 weeks!
He's willing to buy back my PCB board for £80 if it doesn't work when he tries to put it back into the fridge.

I just feel that this fridge is 19 months old now and will probably have to be replaced. Not only a waste of my time getting it fixed, buying food on a daily basis, money on this repair, but the enviromental damage of disposing of a fridge freezer after this amount of time!? Is there a scrap place that would want it and use the rest of the perfectly good stuff in it? Or even better, is there something I can do to fix this problem and get the H to never flash on my fridge/freezer again?

[Shitehawk]

Gutted!

[Shitehawk]

GUTTED! I also have one of these fridge freezers and have the same fault, it's 24 months old. Bought from local builers Howdens and no help from these. I will make sure that I never use the builders again and never purchase a Merloni product.

[jerry49]

Well surprise surprise my apm6855 fridge has an H again. I defrosted it and still it doesn,t want to work. An electician is checking that the fan is working which if it is means another problem. I would sooner not have this unit, my question is what can replace it in its fitted position size wise that is also a reliable dependable unit?

[Kintara]

I have written a guide to sort out your fridge not working problem
the URL is

http://www.kintara.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk ... PM6855.htm

Hope this works for you .

Kintara

[cockney steve]

erm, actually, you've written a guide on how to defrost it!


all that bother can be saved

1...unplug appliance
2... remove contents
3.... lay some old towels in the bottom of the freeezer
4....leave doors open on appliance for 24 hours

5...reverse above, having mopped up any water the towels didn't absorb.


but you STILL haven't checked the defrost heater, low temp thermistor, defrost temp thermistor or thermal fuse (s)...all clearly identifiable, if you know what you're looking for, or have the inclination,nous and a bit of experience to work it out.....otherwise, it's call an engineer time.
hiding the symptoms doesn't cure the illness.

[tooner]

Has anyone had any luck? Our fridge freezer has had exactly the same problem. I'd love to be able to fix it myself if possible. I'll report back if I have any luck.

Cheers
tooner