Q: Two years ago I bought a kitchen with appliances that carried a four-year commercial guarantee. Recently the fridge stopped working. When I called to report the fault, the technician told me that the fault might be due to electricity problems and instructed me what to do to fix the problem.

The fridge started working but after a couple of days it stopped. Once again I called the technician who came to see it and repaired it for free.

Unfortunately, after this repair the fridge stopped working again and the technician was once again called to repair it. Now the technician is saying that if the fridge stops working again he will have to take it to his workshop.

Since the fridge needs to be transported, I would like to know who is responsible to pay for the lifter. My other question is whether I am entitled to ask for a new fridge instead of accepting another repair. The technician has already been contacted three times for the same problem.

A: If the fridge was purchased more than two years ago, then it is no longer covered by the legal warranty, which means that the provisions of the Consumer Affairs Act no longer apply. Your fridge is, however, still covered by the four-year commercial warranty given to you by the seller at the time of sale. To know what legal rights you have under the commercial warranty, you will need to check the warranty’s documents and see what remedies are stipulated in the guarantee. Hence, whether you can claim a new appliance or not depends on what is written in the guarantee’s terms and conditions.

With regard to transportation costs, the law stipulates that the seller should not charge consumers any fees to provide the remedies stipulated in the guarantee unless these fees are clearly written in the terms and conditions.

Hence, if there is no reference to such fees in the commercial guarantee’s documents, you should not be requested to pay for the fridge’s transport.