Rayburn cookers

[deangate]

I am new to this forum,
However my Rayburn 480k has sprung a Leak from the Heat Exchanger, It is 9 years old, I contacted Rayburn for the price and availability of a new one......they were very evasive and would not answer my question, I was then passed on to their customer relations dept, they again would not answer the question,
I had the cooker checked by a authorised Rayburn Plumber who informed me that the Heat Exchangers were not available. Rayburn sent the Plumber some paperwork to fill in.
I have just received an apology from Rayburn together with the offer of a replacement for £ 3300.
However why should I pay this sum when all I wanted was a Boiler replacement.
I will be contacting the Trading Standards office tomorrow together with the Citizens advice Buero??, to see what action I may be able to take,
I see this it not the first time this has happened reading this forum
, has anyone any firm advice for me. I will keep you Informed

I would not expect to buy a Rolls Royce to be told 9 years later that I could not obtain a new gearbox, however for a large sume of money they would exchange the car!!!
Thanks

Phil........pfearon@toucansurf.com

 

[jeffbirks]

You could give these guys a try, they say they will make any specific boiler required if they do not stock yours.

http://www.goddardengineering.com/boilers/index.asp[url] Good luck Jeff

 

[SGray]

I wonder if the heat exchangers are not available because the design has changed?
And I wonder if the design has changed because there were lots of problems with it?
And I wonder if this is why Rayburn seemed a bit evasive?
And I wonder if they would be a little more generous if you persued the matter a little more?
Just a thought.

 

[deangate]

I contacted Rayburn today, well my wife did because her phone manner in these matters is more subtle than mine,
Their Customer Relations admitted they don,t supply boilers for the 480 and they refuse to admit that the 480k was not fit for purpose.
However our complaint is going up to the MD, I am waiting for an answer,
I did contact Goddard Engineering who make boilers for the solid fuel rayburns......they offer a 15 year guarantee!!
They did say Rayburn want rid of this model I have because it has been giving them so much trouble.
I will keep you informed
Phil

 

[skier-hughes]

To get anywhere on this you may well have to spend some money in order to try to win some back.

You want an engineers report saying why the boiler has failed.
Youwant in writing from Goddards that Rayburn have had countless trouble with this model - though I doubt they will.
You need to find out how many of this model were sold and how many have failed.

If the report says it has failed through somthing that could not be mitigated by yourself and you can find more than a handful of people who have suffered the same problem from not to significant a number of units sold then you stand a chance of backing them up against a wall.

I did something similar with Tesco on an electrical item I had bought and it failed after 15 months. Out of 12 month guarantee, they said it couldn't be rapired and offered me some money as a token gesture. After a long fight I eventually got them to reimburse me with what I felt was a sum that the item was worth if it had a second hand value being perfect and taking into account I had used it for 15 months.

I then contacted the manufacturers service agents to see if it could be repaired, as I'd never bothered with this whilst fighting.

They said yes, but it was expensive and said I should contact the manufacturers direct. On hearing my story they said they'd pay for the parts if I paid for the labour which left me with a tidy sum of Tesco's money left which went to cancer research.

Considering Tesco's took about 11 weeks, I had a quote on Thursday for the work, took it in on Friday and picked it up repaired and tested on Monday. Good for Panasonic.

Graham

 

[Flyfisher]

Funny you should mention Panasonic, Graham. I had a similar situation many years ago with a Panasonic Microwave oven, part of which failed well out of warranty, about 2.5 years I think. Expecting to have to pay for the repair I took it back to the shop (John Lewis). They immediately said this was most unsatisfacory and it shouldn't have failed so soon. they took it up with Panasonic and the oven was repaired at no cost to me. I'm not sure if this was John Lewis' pressure or Panasonic's commitment but the end result was one happy customer, whcih is what true customer service is all about.

OK, a bit of a ramble and nothing to do directly with the Rayburn problem, but I think what we're both saying it that this is a 'fitness for purpose' issue, under which you have various consumer rights whether or not the product is under guarantee. Graham's list of points are definitely worth pursuing and I would also ask Rayburn's MD to tell you what they consider the service life of the heat exchanger should be. It might also be worth mentioning your intention to scour the internet asking for other examples of premature failure and the fact that Goddard can offer replacements with a 15 year warranty so why won't rayburn stand behind their product?

How much would the Goddard replacement parts and fitting cost? Perhaps Rayburn would like to pay for this, with a reasonably deduction for your 9 years of wear and tear.

 

[Nemesis]

There is a new spin on this - I see existing posts are now being SPAMMED with porn links.

The titles are obvious - don't click at work folks!

 

[skier-hughes]

Probably shouldn't click it at home either :lol:

 

[worth]

I have had 3 rayburns in 11 years the boiler leaks on them all just had a boiler fitted to my 499k which Rayburn have charged me £480 as a gesture of good will!!!! Aga-Rayburn know they have a problem but are difficult to deal with any one who has had similar problems please contact me as this will continue to happen

 

[Moo]

It might be worth e-mailing your story to Watchdog.

 

[skier-hughes]

Our Rayburn was fitted in the late 1970's and apart from servicing just once a year - not even twice as recommended - has had no problems at all.

 

[Anys]

Ditto on all counts to last post our old Esse with boiler and c.h., only problem is the hot water is sometimes not very hot.

 

[worth]

This is a particular model of rayburn that has problems usually oil fired
480 k and now 499k rayburn have had to replace loads of them
I also know some one in the same village as me who has had two of these also

 

[worth]

Finally got my Rayburn repaired and still in negotiations about the cost
If any one else is having problems with their Rayburn and it is the old model Beware of accepting Rayburns offer of a replacement 499k mx
at the cost of £3300 as I now know mine is not the only one to go wrong
have a look at http://www.agacentral.com lots of info on it

 

[charlie-ia]

my bloke fancies an aga type thingummybob (lets not get too technical on brands& types)

Im worried about it being on all summer and too hot. whats everyones thoughts on this?

i dont want to have auxillary systems like an electric cooker and gas water heating, so if we get one its going to have to stay on. allways.(right?:? )

 

[skier-hughes]

I'm not to up on the latest designs and models but I do believe that they are much more controllable now.
It also depends on whether you get an oil/gas/electric one, but they should be able to be turned on and off now.

Ours is some 30 years old and is on day and night all year, though we do turn off the heating part of it in the warmewr weather. I wouldn't turn it off in the summer as I love the way it cooks my food.

We enarly always have doors and windows open anyway, so it never gets to hot in the summer, then again, our kitchen is quite large and our rayburn rather underpowered.

Graham