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Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus
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james_s:

--- Quote from: Nusa on July 09, 2020, 05:12:58 pm ---The supply chain of major home appliances seems to be affected by the current situation. My neighbor had her old refrigerator fail a couple weeks ago, and when she went down to buy a new one at Home Depot nothing of interest was in stock and the floor models weren't for sale. She ordered one and it took 10 days to arrive, which happened yesterday.

She didn't lose much food...I had room for her frozen stuff in my chest freezer, and most of her refrigerator stuff was drinks and condiments that didn't actually require refrigeration.

--- End quote ---

Did she look into having the old one fixed? I've fixed several refrigerators for people, most recently my mom. The most common problem by far that I've seen cause it to stop cooling is a failed PTC starter on the compressor. It's a ~$20-$40 part that takes 5 minutes to install and you're back in business. I've never understood why so many people are so quick to just write off a major appliance over a simple fault.
paulca:

--- Quote from: james_s on July 09, 2020, 07:07:05 pm ---I've never understood why so many people are so quick to just write off a major appliance over a simple fault.

--- End quote ---

Cost.  You pay £50 for the guy to call out, take it apart and go, "Hmm, dodgy mate, gonna cost ya gov!"

They will then tell you the part you need is £50 and it will another £50 to fit ... and he can't get the part for at least a week.

... or you could buy a whole new fridge for £200.
james_s:

--- Quote from: paulca on July 09, 2020, 07:18:14 pm ---Cost.  You pay £50 for the guy to call out, take it apart and go, "Hmm, dodgy mate, gonna cost ya gov!"

They will then tell you the part you need is £50 and it will another £50 to fit ... and he can't get the part for at least a week.

... or you could buy a whole new fridge for £200.

--- End quote ---

Any consumer who knows how to use a screwdriver can pop a new PTC in there and see if that gets it going, it just plugs onto the compressor and it's a cheap enough part that it's worth trying. I'm not saying people should try replacing parts of the hermetic system or doing major surgery but I've seen an awful lot of things thrown out over trivial problems that anyone capable of tying their own shoes ought to be able to fix with a little advice. Simple home repairs just seems like a basic life skill that everyone should have at least a little bit of.
bd139:
If it's over 6 years old just replace it. If it's not, at least here, there's a 6 year fit for purpose law under CRA 2015 which is worth exercising. I got a full unconditional refund from Zanussi when their dryer wore through a bearing after 3 years when I quoted that after they sent me a callout invoice. And then there's the old chargeback on the credit card if you bought it on that. Retailers and manufacturers are starting to take that seriously now.

Repair guy is a dead job and it should be. When you pay for something you should be paying for something that isn't a lemon regardless of the price point and that means service, support and repairs for a reasonable lifetime of the device.
james_s:
I'd like to see repair guy as a job come back. IMO appliances should cost at least 3-4 times what they do, they should be built to last and built to be repaired. My fridge is 18 years old and going strong, the fridge at our cabin was made in 1972 and it's still doing great too. My washer, dryer and dishwasher are all at least 15 years old, the washer and dryer were broken when I got them and I fixed them. The disposable society is crazy and the cost of products like this does not reflect their total cost to the environment.

People used to keep all this stuff much longer, when I was growing up it was not uncommon to see 15-20 year old white goods and TV sets and such in active use.
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