Is this a new twist on expiring after warranty is out?

[camallison]

We have a Baumatic combination microwave oven that we bought in April 2012 with a two year warranty. The heated element portion of the oven gave up the ghost on 10th October. I tried in vain to get hold of Baumatic in Reading to arrange a service visit under warranty. Only yesterday, did I find out that Baumatic (HQ in Prague) have gone into liquidation, taking the successful British subsidiary with it. Liquidators have been appointed, on the very day our oven went phut!

So, not giving in, I opened it up and found just what I had imagined a 3mm hole in the circular element that sits around the fan. A bit of surfing, and I found a spares stockist who professed to stock said element. Being cautious, I phoned them, to be told they are on 21 days back order from ............. Baumatic!!!!

It was news to the spares stockist that Baumatic were in liquidation too.

On digging deeper, I found that the liquidators had sold the "brand" to Hoover, but not the warranty liabilites.

So, now I am looking for an equivalent circular element that is 1750 watts, one or two turns (apparently they were supplied randomly one or two turns).

Warranties are worthless unless they are underwritten by an insurer, which this one wasn't. Lesson learnt by young Colin.

Signed ... Mr Grumpy

[Reason for edit - I can't spell!!!]

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Try, e-spares, no connection only a satisfied customer.
They have a wide range of element in both size and wattage, so there should be something close. Usually quite low cost.

Ed

[ppppenguin]

Your contract is with the retailer who sold you the oven, not with Baumatic. Regardless of any formal warranty you have your usual Sale of Good Act rights. Rights can extend up to 6 years in some cases. I think you can reasonably argue that a failure like this after 18 months on an ostensbly high quality product means that they were not of merchantable quality. You would be entitled to free repair by the retailer. Since they too would have trouble getting the spares, in practice they would probably have to replace or refund. You might have to push quite hard though. If the retailer was John Lewis you'll probably have more luck than if they were Joe Bloggs electricals.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shoppin...s-exchange
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shoppin...o-complain

[Radio Fixer]

Until you posted this thread I had never heard of Baumatic. It sounds of German origin but does not jump out at the stores I have visited recently (new kitchen coming up).

So I sympathise about your warranty problem and it is one of the reasons we buy the big names and in the past its always been Bosch or Philips. Now it seems SWMBO wants AEG and they are long established and everywhere so hopefully will be there if we need service and spares.

Bosch have been very good and only a few minor repairs, on several appliances, and the Service Engineer last time (microwave lamp under warranty) was great and gave me tips on how to avoid and fix minor problems that can occur on the other machines we have.

Hope it works out for you

Gary

[camallison]

Thank you all for your helpful comments.

Ed - the first company I tried was e-spares because, as you say, they are reasonable and have most things available. No luck on this model.

Jeffrey - BINGO! Yes, it was John Lewis I bought from and they are replacing with an equivalent model from another manufacturer. Spoke with them this morning before I saw this.

Gary - Baumatic have been in business for many years and, whilst not the first name that springs to mind, have been very successful here in the UK with excellent reputation for quality. Their spec was one that met our needs, whereas others didn't offer what we were looking for. Price didn't come into the equation.

One thing that I found out many years ago is that few of the "brands" actually manufacture their own white goods. Most are badged or built to their spec by Maytag (think Hoover) or Candy and the appropriate badge put on. On top of that, most of the elements are manufactured by a German firm called Blohm, either in their German or Far East factories. In the case of this oven, it was built by Maytag for Baumatic and the elements are definitely Blohm. An email to them from one of the spares suppliers confirmed this with a nil stock response.

The replacement from John Lewis is to be a Neff product - a German outfit that has been going for 135 years and whose products we have positive experience of from our years in Germany.

Positive end to what looked like a nightmare.

Colin

[Reason for edit - spelling again!]

[ppppenguin]

I think that Neff is using the wrong vowel. They are overhyped, overpriced and overcomplicated. I've met a few of their domestic appliances and the biggest problem is that you seem to need a degree in Neffness to be able to use them. You shouldn't need to RTFM to use an oven.

For major appliances I'll probably choose between Bosch, Miele (very good but expensive), AEG or Siemens. Zanussi washing machines are pretty good too.

The moral of this story is to buy from John Lewis when reasonable to do so. While you get the occasional horror story their reputation for customer service is excellent.

PS: Seems that Hoover have taken over the remains of Baumatic http://www.which.co.uk/news/2013/11/hoov...nd-341021/

[pwdrive]

We got a fridge from John Lewis, they delivered it from afar, our place can be difficult to find but they liased by phone in an excellent manner, a few hours after the delivery we got a call from John Lewis to ask if we had managed to install it ok and if everything was ok, a courtesy call I guess you calls it.
Was impressed.
We have a Gorenje gas hob, very well built and so far reliable and easy to clean.

Lawrence.

[Yorkie]

Well done on getting it sorted Colin!

You're right that it's hard to tell who owns which brand these days. Many appliances are simply ‘badge engineered’ and come out of the same factories. For example, Neff/Bosch/Siemens/Gaggenau are all the same outfit – BSH Bosch/Siemens:

http://www.bsh-group.co.uk/

We shouldn't assume that because a firm is German for example, that the products are made there – just as likely to be in Poland, Turkey, France, UK, wherever. I chucked of our Neff (Naff?) oven, microwave and hob which were installed as part of the fitted kitchen when we bought the house new. Forever conking out. I got fed up with mending them – five elements in the fan assisted oven for example, which never cooked evenly. I replaced them with Siemens knowing it was basically the same outfit but they looked attractive and I assumed they’d be no more or less reliable than any other make. The Siemens Microwave was made in the UK, the oven in Germany. It says so on them. (Some mistakenly assume that a 'GMBH' label means ‘made in Germany’. It doesn't. Some also mistakenly assume that German products are inherently more reliable than any others. Tell that to the 480,000 Bosch, Neff and Siemens customers for whom BSH re-issued a dishwasher safety notice on March 23 2013:

Quote:

Dishwashers recalled are a potential fire hazard.

The manufacturer that makes Bosch, Neff and Siemens dishwashers (BSH) is making a renewed attempt to track down potentially dangerous models originally recalled in 2011. After recovering only around 24% of affected models, Recall UK estimates that there are almost 480,000 potentially dangerous dishwashers still in people’s homes. The products were first recalled in July 2011 when it was discovered that some dishwashers could overheat and, in rare cases, become a fire hazard. 2011.

End quote.

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2013/03/bosc...ce-314647/

Makes me glad that we’ve never switched on our built-in Neff Dishwasher in the 23 years it’s languished behind a cupboard door in our fitted kitchen wasting space!

We’ve got a Siemens Washing machine which we bought because it had an offer of a ten-yr warranty about four years ago. We’ve already have value for money out of it. Just the two of us here, so it’s lightly used. Had it repaired twice for nowt so that can’t be bad! The engineers are excellent and seems to know which bits conk out because whatever it is they need, they’ve got the bits in their little vans.

As to which firms own which brands, this is a bit out of date but it’s instructive and revealing:

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/buyin...indle.html

Myths have developed about assumed reliability of consumer goods made in certain countries. Japanese cars for example. Tell that to the millions who've had safety recalls. 'Chinese only make shoddy goods'. Really? Well most of our consumer electronics goods come from China and have done for years. Germans produce solidly engineered well-built cars etc. Where is the evidence to support that assertion, especially when they're often not made in Germany anyway?

And so on it goes.

Our perceptions are largely emotional rather than logical even though we like to think we're discerning. Truth is, we're pawns in the game and they play to our perceptions. Why else did Toyota invent the Lexus brand, and now Vauxhall have invented 'Infiniti'? Because they know that however much they tried, they'll never convince those who aspire to 'prestige' cars would want to own a Toyota or Vauxhall that cost then forty grand. Except of course, that in reality, they do!

Rambled and dribbled Yorkie, from the UK city of Culture 2017. Huh? That means Siemens must be coming after all, to build wind farms for the North Sea! (Don't know how the Germans will cope with the local accent - English is a second language here!).

[Joe]

I got a new washing machine a few months ago which is badged ProAction but I'm sure it's really a Beko. I was tempted to fork out an extra twenty quid to get one with a Bush badge on but sanity prevailed.

- Joe

[pwdrive]

I wonder what the recall/reliability rate would be if BL were still making cars and using all British components....

Lawrence.