This is not a hypothetical question but a request for advice based on a real
oven with a real fault.

Seven years ago, I had my kitchen completely refitted. Included in the
refit was the usual collection of kitchen appliances.

It became apparent very quickly that food was coming out of the fan oven
vastly undercooked. A quick check with a thermometer revealed that the oven
was taking a ridiculously long time to reach its cooking temperature
(something in excess of 45 minutes). A complaint was duly made and an
engineer attended. He told me that this was to be expected with an 'energy
efficient' oven as they only consume a small amount of power, and that you
should always warm the oven up before cooking (something you generally don't
have to do with a fan oven).

Last week the fan broke down and a different engineer called to fit a new
fan. During the casual chat, I mentioned the long warm up time, and he said
that it should warm up as quickly as any other fan oven. While he replaced
the fan he observed that the heating element around the fan (the main fan
oven element) had never had power applied to it (the element but for the
inevitable grease deposits had never got hot). He also said that he had no
idea why and left.

So, given that:

1. The oven is 7 years old.

2. The fault can be clearly shown to have existed when the oven was
installed.

3. The fault was notified within the first year.

4. The manufacturer's warranty covers faults that *occur* in the first year.

What chances do I have of persuading anybody to repair the fault under
warranty?

"Walter Wall" wrote in message
...
This is not a hypothetical question but a request for advice based on a
real oven with a real fault.

Seven years ago, I had my kitchen completely refitted. Included in the
refit was the usual collection of kitchen appliances.

It became apparent very quickly that food was coming out of the fan oven
vastly undercooked. A quick check with a thermometer revealed that the
oven was taking a ridiculously long time to reach its cooking temperature
(something in excess of 45 minutes). A complaint was duly made and an
engineer attended. He told me that this was to be expected with an
'energy efficient' oven as they only consume a small amount of power, and
that you should always warm the oven up before cooking (something you
generally don't have to do with a fan oven).

Last week the fan broke down and a different engineer called to fit a new
fan. During the casual chat, I mentioned the long warm up time, and he
said that it should warm up as quickly as any other fan oven. While he
replaced the fan he observed that the heating element around the fan (the
main fan oven element) had never had power applied to it (the element but
for the inevitable grease deposits had never got hot). He also said that
he had no idea why and left.

So, given that:

1. The oven is 7 years old.

2. The fault can be clearly shown to have existed when the oven was
installed.

3. The fault was notified within the first year.

4. The manufacturer's warranty covers faults that *occur* in the first
year.

What chances do I have of persuading anybody to repair the fault under
warranty?

As you know, your first port of call should always be the retailer. Is the
retailer still in business?

After this length of time I think it is unlikely that either the retailer or
the manufacturer will voluntarily offer you any assistance. Try a few phone
calls, a few letters, an ultimatum or two, but I think at the end of the day
you'll have to pay for the repair and sue the retailer for reimbursement.

I suppose there is a slight possibility that the cost of repair will be so
modest that you won't even feel like taking it further.

On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:30:26 +0100, "Walter Wall"
wrote:

This is not a hypothetical question but a request for advice based on a real
oven with a real fault.

Seven years ago, I had my kitchen completely refitted. Included in the
refit was the usual collection of kitchen appliances.

It became apparent very quickly that food was coming out of the fan oven
vastly undercooked. A quick check with a thermometer revealed that the oven
was taking a ridiculously long time to reach its cooking temperature
(something in excess of 45 minutes). A complaint was duly made and an
engineer attended. He told me that this was to be expected with an 'energy
efficient' oven as they only consume a small amount of power, and that you
should always warm the oven up before cooking (something you generally don't
have to do with a fan oven).


I've not heard that before . Surely any oven should be at the correct
temp before putting food in .


Last week the fan broke down and a different engineer called to fit a new
fan. During the casual chat, I mentioned the long warm up time, and he said
that it should warm up as quickly as any other fan oven. While he replaced
the fan he observed that the heating element around the fan (the main fan
oven element) had never had power applied to it (the element but for the
inevitable grease deposits had never got hot). He also said that he had no
idea why and left.


I'm surprised you ever managed to get anything cooked in that case .


rest snipped

wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:30:26 +0100, "Walter Wall"
wrote:

This is not a hypothetical question but a request for advice based on a
real
oven with a real fault.

Seven years ago, I had my kitchen completely refitted. Included in the
refit was the usual collection of kitchen appliances.

It became apparent very quickly that food was coming out of the fan oven
vastly undercooked. A quick check with a thermometer revealed that the
oven
was taking a ridiculously long time to reach its cooking temperature
(something in excess of 45 minutes). A complaint was duly made and an
engineer attended. He told me that this was to be expected with an
'energy
efficient' oven as they only consume a small amount of power, and that you
should always warm the oven up before cooking (something you generally
don't
have to do with a fan oven).


I've not heard that before . Surely any oven should be at the correct
temp before putting food in .


True for conventional ovens, but fan ovens are better at warming the food as
the oven warms up.


Last week the fan broke down and a different engineer called to fit a new
fan. During the casual chat, I mentioned the long warm up time, and he
said
that it should warm up as quickly as any other fan oven. While he
replaced
the fan he observed that the heating element around the fan (the main fan
oven element) had never had power applied to it (the element but for the
inevitable grease deposits had never got hot). He also said that he had
no
idea why and left.


I'm surprised you ever managed to get anything cooked in that case .


Ah, I see your point. There seems to be a second element somewhere that
does produce heat, though not as much as should be produced.

"Walter Wall" wrote in message
...
This is not a hypothetical question but a request for advice based on a
real oven with a real fault.

Seven years ago, I had my kitchen completely refitted. Included in the
refit was the usual collection of kitchen appliances.

It became apparent very quickly that food was coming out of the fan oven
vastly undercooked. A quick check with a thermometer revealed that the
oven was taking a ridiculously long time to reach its cooking temperature
(something in excess of 45 minutes). A complaint was duly made and an
engineer attended. He told me that this was to be expected with an
'energy efficient' oven as they only consume a small amount of power, and
that you should always warm the oven up before cooking (something you
generally don't have to do with a fan oven).

Last week the fan broke down and a different engineer called to fit a new
fan. During the casual chat, I mentioned the long warm up time, and he
said that it should warm up as quickly as any other fan oven. While he
replaced the fan he observed that the heating element around the fan (the
main fan oven element) had never had power applied to it (the element but
for the inevitable grease deposits had never got hot). He also said that
he had no idea why and left.

So, given that:

1. The oven is 7 years old.

2. The fault can be clearly shown to have existed when the oven was
installed.

3. The fault was notified within the first year.

4. The manufacturer's warranty covers faults that *occur* in the first
year.

What chances do I have of persuading anybody to repair the fault under
warranty?


Your biggest problem is that the 6 year limitation period has passed. Your
saving grace is that you did bring this to the manufacturer or retailers's
attention within the waranty period (you don't say which). Your best
recourse may be to go back to them and remind them of this (I asume that you
have a chit from the engineer that attended) and try to persuade them that
the warranty covers the defect. Don't get too disappointed if they don't
rush round to fix it.

"M.I.5¾" wrote in message
...

"Walter Wall" wrote in message
...
This is not a hypothetical question but a request for advice based on a
real oven with a real fault.

Seven years ago, I had my kitchen completely refitted. Included in the
refit was the usual collection of kitchen appliances.

It became apparent very quickly that food was coming out of the fan oven
vastly undercooked. A quick check with a thermometer revealed that the
oven was taking a ridiculously long time to reach its cooking temperature
(something in excess of 45 minutes). A complaint was duly made and an
engineer attended. He told me that this was to be expected with an
'energy efficient' oven as they only consume a small amount of power, and
that you should always warm the oven up before cooking (something you
generally don't have to do with a fan oven).

Last week the fan broke down and a different engineer called to fit a new
fan. During the casual chat, I mentioned the long warm up time, and he
said that it should warm up as quickly as any other fan oven. While he
replaced the fan he observed that the heating element around the fan (the
main fan oven element) had never had power applied to it (the element but
for the inevitable grease deposits had never got hot). He also said that
he had no idea why and left.

So, given that:

1. The oven is 7 years old.

2. The fault can be clearly shown to have existed when the oven was
installed.

3. The fault was notified within the first year.

4. The manufacturer's warranty covers faults that *occur* in the first
year.

What chances do I have of persuading anybody to repair the fault under
warranty?


Your biggest problem is that the 6 year limitation period has passed.
Your saving grace is that you did bring this to the manufacturer or
retailers's attention within the waranty period (you don't say which).
Your best recourse may be to go back to them and remind them of this (I
asume that you have a chit from the engineer that attended) and try to
persuade them that the warranty covers the defect. Don't get too
disappointed if they don't rush round to fix it.

Good point. I suppose there is really no way around the limitation point as
against the retailer. It can't be considered a latent defect - it was a
defect that was present throughout, but ignored because it was assumed to be
part of the design. One could sue the "engineer" who gave the misleading
advice, for negligence. Was he employed by the manufacturer or by a third
party company responsible for servicing the manufacturer's products?

"Walter Wall" wrote in message
...
This is not a hypothetical question but a request for advice based on a
real oven with a real fault.

Seven years ago, I had my kitchen completely refitted. Included in the
refit was the usual collection of kitchen appliances.

It became apparent very quickly that food was coming out of the fan oven
vastly undercooked. A quick check with a thermometer revealed that the
oven was taking a ridiculously long time to reach its cooking temperature
(something in excess of 45 minutes). A complaint was duly made and an
engineer attended. He told me that this was to be expected with an
'energy efficient' oven as they only consume a small amount of power, and
that you should always warm the oven up before cooking (something you
generally don't have to do with a fan oven).

Last week the fan broke down and a different engineer called to fit a new
fan. During the casual chat, I mentioned the long warm up time, and he
said that it should warm up as quickly as any other fan oven. While he
replaced the fan he observed that the heating element around the fan (the
main fan oven element) had never had power applied to it (the element but
for the inevitable grease deposits had never got hot). He also said that
he had no idea why and left.

So, given that:

1. The oven is 7 years old.

More than six years since you first "claimed", so anything you do now will
be out of time.


2. The fault can be clearly shown to have existed when the oven was
installed.

3. The fault was notified within the first year.

4. The manufacturer's warranty covers faults that *occur* in the first
year.

What chances do I have of persuading anybody to repair the fault under
warranty?

Doesn't sound too hard to fix - either the control is faulty, wire is
dosconnected or the element needs replacing - all a lot less than a new
oven.

"R. Mark Clayton" wrote in message
...

Doesn't sound too hard to fix - either the control is faulty, wire is
dosconnected or the element needs replacing - all a lot less than a new
oven.

It could probably be done DIY if the OP has any experience. I know I could
trace and fix this fault.

"mert1639" wrote in message
...

"R. Mark Clayton" wrote in message
...

Doesn't sound too hard to fix - either the control is faulty, wire is
disconnected or the element needs replacing - all a lot less than a new
oven.

It could probably be done DIY if the OP has any experience. I know I
could trace and fix this fault.


So could I, but seven years and he hasn't even noticed...

"mert1639" wrote in message
...

"R. Mark Clayton" wrote in message
...

Doesn't sound too hard to fix - either the control is faulty, wire is
dosconnected or the element needs replacing - all a lot less than a new
oven.

It could probably be done DIY if the OP has any experience. I know I
could trace and fix this fault.

Well so could I, but (from other threads) Walter's expertise seems to be in
chemistry.

I thought he had gone on holiday?