A new fridge iced up and unfortunately somehow the plug was disturbed and came loose. So overnight the ice melted and the water flowed onto the floor where it seeped into the chipboard underneath.
Insurance is assessing the damage and presumably will be ok for repairing the floor.
My questions relates to the excess.
Can one puruse the retailer for the excess? The retailer has agreed the fridge is to be sent away for assessment as it is under warranty and shouldn't be icing up.
Thanks. I didn't think you could go for the retailer but thought I should ask in case someone had experience in such an area.
I have young children. The youngest is just starting to walk. And the plug is right down low and next to where we feed our cats. I suspect the kids are responsible. But the cats sometimes get pretty boisterous when fed. But pretty unlikely i suspect that they would be able to knock it loose.
CGA does include some mentions for consequential loss.
Yes, like CheapAzChips says CGA does cover consequential loss. So if the fridge had stopped working on it's own they would be liable for the floor replacement. But I think because plugs generally don't fall out by themselves, which is where the problem occurred, it's going to be a struggle.
Here is a list of successful CGA consequential loss claims which might be worth a scroll through to see what type of things are covered.
https://www.disputestribunal.govt.nz/disputes-decision-finde…
The insurance company will probably go the fridge company if they judge the fridge company is at fault. If that is the case thet will also pick up the excess so you will not have to pay the excess. However in this case it sounds like the damage might have happened because the plug was displace so the excess will be your cost.
Great - thanks for your thoughts.
You can try, but it's unlikely that you'll get anything unless you take it through the disputes tribunal. You likely chose an excess amount weighing up a higher excess vs. higher premiums. In any case the retailer had nothing to do with that decision, so it doesn't make sense that they should pay your arbitrary premium due to a faulty product. If, however, you didn't have insurance (or decide not to proceed with your claim) then it may be worth making a claim under the Consumer Guarantees Act and if successful you MAY be able to claim damages to cover the entire repair.
Or not - The big hole in your argument either way is that "somehow the plug was disturbed": unless you can show that was ALSO due to a design/manufacturing fault, it's possible that any claim against the retailer/manufacturer would be limited to replacement of the faulty fridge.
But I'm no lawyer, so this could all be wrong.