Cutting off Moulded Plug Top from appliance

[Midwest]

Some of you might have read a thread where the OP was asking about cutting off moulded plug tops from Velux windows;
http://www.electriciansforums.co.uk...rical-forum/109817-electric-velux-window.html

I personally had been advised by Velux, in doing so would invalidate the warranty, another member had been told the exact opposite. There have been other threads about the subject, in recent times, where the predominant view was cutting off moulded plugs would not invalidate a manufactures warranty. I've therefore emailed some of the major manufacturers, and asked;

'I see that some of your appliances come with an attached lead and moulded plug. If the plug is not suitable, can I cut off the moulded plug, without invalidating the warranty. I would employ the services of a qualified electrician'.

Here are some of the replies, if others respond, I'll post them.

Velux

Thank you for your email.

I am sorry for the conflicting advice that you have been given.

You can remove the plug from our window and connect this into a fused spur, this will not effect your guarantee as long as it is wired correctly.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further assistance.
Kindest Regards,

Bosch

GOOG Morning.

Thank you for contacting Bosch Customer Service and the warranty will not be invalidated as long as the plug is changed by a qualified electrician.

Miele

Good Morning,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your enquiry about changing a moulded plug.
Yes you can take the plug off without invalidating the warrenty, as long as it is connected by a qualified electrician.

Samsung

Thank you for your email. Your customer reference number is ******.

This is to acknowledge that we have received your email. In reference to your query, kindly be advised that the designs of our products are made based on market preferences and have undergone series of tests before it is being decided by our Samsung design team and engineers. Thus, changing/altering parts of the unit will automatically void its warranty.

 

[ruston]

That was very kind spirited of you to do that.
In Samsung's case I think the person that received your enquiry is not in the engineering department, and is just giving a stock answer.

 

[Midwest]

That was very kind spirited of you to do that.
In Samsung's case I think the person that received your enquiry is not in the engineering department, and is just giving a stock answer.

In fairness, all the replies thus-fare are from the customer services teams. There's a couple more, I'll post them, if they reply.

 

[davesparks]

Thankyou for taking the time to do this and get some clarity on the matter.

(Am allowed a small 'told you so'?)

 

[DPG]

Common sense wins again. Can we draw a line under this now? And maybe let Velux know that the word they want is 'affect' and not 'effect'. Nee naw nee naw, grammar police en route. Daz

 

[ruston]

I always cut them off anyway if it was the common sense thing to do.
I was always more comfortable with a high consumption permanently connected piece of equipment wired into a DP FCU.

 

[Andy78]

As above, thanks for taking your time out to write to these places.

Am I right in saying that those companies which state that it would invalidate their warranty may be correct in that it would go against the wording of their written policy, yet the product would still be protected under consumer law which is a different thing ?

 

[ruston]

I would say you are . That is what I based my actions on .
Fortunately I never had a problem that needed any action of that kind.

 

[Darkwood]

Yeah - samsung don't seem to be aware of their own customers rights when it comes to plug tops, they are mis-interpreting the extent the wording to which their own warranty can apply, the plug top is a generic item fitted to their equipment in order to suit the country they sell into and is a servicable item by the user or installer and as long as the replacement plug or method is done soundly and correctly with correct fusing to suit then it will not invalidate the warranty.

In their defense, if it is shown that the removal of the plug and the replacement plug or method was deemed to be substandard and contributed to a fault or failure of the product then your warranty is indeed invalid.

It is for you to show it was not a contributing cause hence having paperwork to show it was fitted and checked by a competent person is someway to achieving this.

 

[Midwest]

Hang on, it's not over until the fat lady sings........3 to 1 against, few more replies awaiting.......although I think I might have to concede, damn it.

A point to consider, is your warranty is actually where you purchased the product, not with the manufacturer, although some manufacturers like Velux offer extended warranties.

However, during my extensive research , retailers like Currys do seem to follow the T&C's of the specific manufacturers.

 

[Midwest]

It is for you to show it was not a contributing cause hence having paperwork to show it was fitted and checked by a competent person is someway to achieving this.

Guess there's gonna be a whole load of work out there now for us electricians replacing/changing plug tops tee hee!

 

[Marvo]

A point to consider, is your warranty is actually where you purchased the product, not with the manufacturer......

This was what sprung to my mind when I saw your opening post but if you have it in writing from the actual manufacturers that they consider it acceptable practice then I think a wholesaler or retailer would find it difficult to take an opposing stance.

Interesting though and thanks for actually doing the legwork to clear it up.

 

[UNG]

I believe some of the issue with the cutting the plug top off and connecting to a spur unit invalidating the warranty is down to the manufacturers service engineers and their training / H&S policy on safe isolation, a few I've come across safe isolation means remove plug from socket and no other option is available therefore not able to remove plug from socket means no warranty work

With regard to Samsung I would take anything they say with a large pinch of salt, my mates mum had an intermittent fault on her Samsung fridge freezer I called them gave them the model and serial No's and they denied they ever made it although they did send a service engineer who couldn't or didn't want to fix it and offered to take it out of her way and scrap it which was refused. She replaced it with another Samsung and after being taken apart to get it out of the house the old one was relegated to my mates garage for a bit of investigation work the fault was a corroded connection on the thermal sensor in the freezer and is still working nearly 10 years on.
The replacement fridge freezer developed a problem a few years ago I was asked to have a look at it as she didn't want a repeat experience having checked the control board on top of the unit I was surprised to find the power board was wired reverse polarity with all the fuses on the neutral side I located the fault and decided to contact Samsung and query the wiring issue they insisted on sending an engineer out to repair the fault which was under a recall and would be an FOC repair and he would also look at the wiring issue when the engineer came out his answer to the wiring issue was it must be right if it left the factory wired that way

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Yeah - samsung don't seem to be aware of their own customers rights when it comes to plug tops, they are mis-interpreting the extent the wording to which their own warranty can apply, the plug top is a generic item fitted to their equipment in order to suit the country they sell into and is a servicable item by the user or installer and as long as the replacement plug or method is done soundly and correctly with correct fusing to suit then it will not invalidate the warranty.

In their defense, if it is shown that the removal of the plug and the replacement plug or method was deemed to be substandard and contributed to a fault or failure of the product then your warranty is indeed invalid.

It is for you to show it was not a contributing cause hence having paperwork to show it was fitted and checked by a competent person is someway to achieving this.

Bring on the 5 page PIC then.....(Plug Installation Certificate) !

 

[Midwest]

In their defense, if it is shown that the removal of the plug and the replacement plug or method was deemed to be substandard and contributed to a fault or failure of the product then your warranty is indeed invalid.

It is for you to show it was not a contributing cause hence having paperwork to show it was fitted and checked by a competent person is someway to achieving this.

Darkwood, have you been reading my emails somehow! Couple more replies, and the replies suspiciously like above.

SMEG

Good afternoon,
Thank you for your email.

You can change the plug yourself and this will not affect your warranty unless a fault develops because of the work being carried out.

If you have any other questions please get in touch.

Beko

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for your email.

We can confirm that, providing the plug is replaced with another 13 amp plug and has the correct fuse rating, this will not invalidate the warranty, although please be aware that any potential fault due to the replacement plug would not be covered under your warranty.

Neff

Good afternoon.

Thank you for contacting Neff Customer service and if the plug has been changed correctly by a qualified electrician the warranty would not be invalidted.

Hotpoint

'Telephoned response', effectively, you can cut off moulded plug, they would not be responsible for new plug, but appliance would still be covered.

:rockon:

And there's one for wirepuller in the next post......