On building our new house recently in SA we chose Neff appliances – dishwasher, oven, cooktop, rangehood, two warming drawers, coffee maker – because they're regarded as a quality brand and we liked the look of the product range. Most of the appliances work fine (we don't use the warming drawers much and knew we wouldn't – they are more for symmetry than anything else!) but the coffee maker has been – and continues to be – a nightmare.
We bought them all from Rawsons Elite at Plympton in Adelaide, and Neff is distributed in Australia by Sampford IXL.
In early July, after being used just a few times, the coffee maker stopped working, displaying the message 'Error. Please call the hotline'. We called Sampford and subsequently somebody from Prestige Repairs, Torrensville (who Sampford use for repairs) came out to inspect it. He couldn't do anything with it on-site and it was taken away that day and not returned to us until 11 weeks later on the 27th September.
It was immediately apparent that it still wasn't working correctly. The button to release it in order for it to slide forward on its mounting to be filled with water etc was broken, and although we used the manual handle to release it, when we filled the water tank and made a coffee the waste water drip tray immediately filled up. Also, while previously the coffee machine sat in its mounting firmly, when brought back from repair it was loose and wobbly.
We informed Sampford that the machine still wasn't working (indeed, that it had come back with faults that it hadn't had when it went in for repair), and somebody from Prestige came out on the 4th October. Again it could not be repaired on-site and was taken away. After kicking up a fuss by email last week, we got it back yesterday – 6th December.
That means that in the first seven months of moving into our new house we have been without our coffee maker for almost five of them.
It was apparent yesterday when the guy who brought it back was fitting it that the coffee outlet wasn't locking in the upwards position. (This is the bit that moves up and down depending on the height of the cup.) He rang base looking for ideas and ended up removing the top section of the machine in case a tube was trapped and preventing it from locking. He was rushing because he had one more call to make and said he was late for it, so it ended up with the fault not being found. I also wanted him to hang around long enough to see if the drip tray filled up again when making coffee, but he had to leave.
Of course, on trying it, the drip tray still fills up! So now we still don't have it fixed, it still wobbles in its mounting and it's now got a new problem with the coffee outlet. We'd been led to believe that it had undergone a few days of testing before it was returned to us to make sure that all was in order – I can only assume that Mr Bean is the chief tester.
I'm about to email again the four companies concerned (as mentioned, we bought the appliances from Rawsons Elite and the distributor for Australia is Sampford IXL. Prestige Repairs have been carrying out the repairs, and of course the appliances are from Neff).
I had quick email responses from two people from Rawsons when I emailed them about the coffee maker the first time, and Prestige and Sampford rang me. I've yet to hear anything from anyone from Neff apart from receiving a system-generated response but they're about to hear once more from me ...
It goes without saying that a new machine – and an expensive one at that – shouldn't have these faults, it shouldn't take this long to fix and it shouldn't keep coming back with faults it didn't have when it went in for repair!
We have no intention of being without the coffee maker during the Christmas period (having a hole where there should be a coffee maker takes a bit of a shine off things at the best of times, but especially when entertaining in a new house) but early in the new year it will be disappearing again for who knows how long. On its eventual return, it will be on the condition that whoever brings it hangs around long enough to ensure it's working properly. If it isn't working, the coffee maker will be leaving with the repairer for the last time and I'll be on my way to Rawsons for a refund.
Between now and when it gets picked up after Christmas for yet more repairs, I'll seek advice on my what consumer protection I have and what legal grounds exist for resolving this to my satisfaction.
If I were to judge a company by the speed of its response, then all but Neff get a plus mark for getting back to us when we alerted them to this prolonged problem. If I were to judge a company on its determination to resolve a problem, at this stage I wouldn't recommend any of the four I've mentioned.
I'll keep this thread updated on developments.