Sweetener deal on fridge leaves a sour taste
Paula Gee is not holding her breath metaphorically, but she is physically.
Her ‘‘free gift’’ fridge, provided as a sweetener on a broadband internet contract, has been leaking gas and the strong nail varnish smell has rendered it, according to an electrician, unusable and irreparable.
However, the slow response from manufacturer Samsung, and Trustpower, who offered the deal, means Gee will only believe in any remedial action when she sees it.
Food tainted by the gas leak has had to be binned by the Gees, and they have lost a freezer load of frozen goods.
The family has now been without a fridge for two weeks, and the incident has left a bad taste in her mouth over the performance of both companies.
She and husband Kevin had been with Trustpower for years, she said, and ‘‘never had a problem’’.
So when the couple and four children moved to Taupo¯, from Auckland, they took up the company’s broadband promo offer which provided a large Samsung fridge freezer if they locked into a 24-month contract. However, once it arrived it started making a loud noise, began smelling of freon gas and the freezer defrosted.
Gee’s log of calls to and responses from the two companies, electricians and rental companies was already three pages long. She said calls had been bouncing back and forth with little action or shoving of responsibility from both companies since she first approached Samsung on February 2 and made initial contact with Trustpower on February 6.
An overseas-based customer service representative told on Friday that Samsung did not commonly have issues with gas leaks or particular problems with the 696 litre fridge model.
On Monday, Gee was a little more generous about Trustpower’s efforts as a manager had rung back on Friday and apologised that the service from Samsung was ‘‘unacceptable’’ and some of his staff had been incorrect in stating it was not Trustpower’s problem.
According to information provided to Gee from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, the Consumer Guarantees Act applies to products and services supplied by businesses as gifts.
‘‘Big points to him for ringing and apologising, but it’s still not good enough, and I haven’t heard from Samsung at all.’’
‘‘A business cannot opt out of their obligations under the CGA unless the goods or services are being supplied in a business to business contract and both parties have agreed the CGA would not apply,’’ the MBIE email stated.
‘‘To state the CGA does not apply in any other circumstances may be considered a breach of the Fair Trading Act if they are misleading a consumer about their rights.’’
The Trustpower manager told Gee he had escalated the issue internally and that the family would have a fridge ‘‘early this week’’.
‘‘Big points to him for ringing and apologising, but it’s still not good enough, and I haven’t heard from Samsung at all.’’
By Monday afternoon, efforts to provide a replacement fridge were on ice with a Samsung supervisor contacting Gee to say ‘‘they only had just as of that minute been notified of any issue’’ with the fridge.
He also stated that, due to Covid-19, there would be a delay in receiving a replacement, and that they were trying to organise a loan fridge but could not specify a time for delivery of that.
A 2019 Consumer NZ reliability survey on household appliances found Samsung fridges scored 89 per cent in reliability (the average across all fridge brands was 90 per cent), said head of communications and campaigns Gemma Rasmussen.
‘‘We would advise people to do their research before signing up for contracts with sweetener deals,’’ she said.
‘‘There can be hefty penalty exit fees, and you may not be on the most competitive deal for your needs.
‘‘Additionally, if you face any issues with your ‘free’ item, getting repairs and replacements are not as straightforward as it’s not a direct consumer-to-retailer transaction.’’
On Tuesday morning, Samsung spokesperson Simon Smith apologised for the slow action, saying the company had ‘‘dropped the ball’’ with their response and were arranging a loan fridge with a replacement to be dropped off by the end of the week.
‘‘We should have done sooner,’’ he said.
it