Looking at it from my perspective, it cost $5,000 and went 7 years but should have gone 10 and it is on the manufacturer (OK, retailer per the ACL) to ‘give me’ the remaining 3. If it costs them or I get a benefit is secondary.
I can agree with that although once again, the consumer may not have the cash or may not want another ‘quality AEG appliance’ so if that amount was refunded it would work for me.
I’d call it a fail compared to an Analon lifetime warranty 
Maybe that raises a good point - AEG ‘was’ a premium brand, but how does one even determine what ‘premium’ means these days? price? support? quality? and how does one assess these except for experience? I’m not sure that AEG (Electrolux) is premium anymore, whether it be the part Electrolux still runs themselves (whitegoods) or the dozen or so companies that licence the AEG brand for their own products (some also owning/licensing many ‘competing’ brands themselves … ‘nameplate engineering’ is what we have left …).
I guess "this oven comes with a premium nameplate’ … 
Hi Historyman
Thanks for posting your experience. Sorry to know that you are stuck with so many ‘premium’ AEG products in your kitchen.
I too thought I was buying a quality product based on the high price, claims made in their brochures and marketing via free cooking demonstration.
Since finding the rust hole in my AEG combi steam oven, I have been trying to assess whether my expectation of the life of this oven was unrealistic at 15 to 20 years. This expectation was based on past experience of those around me with their old ovens. I also recalled reading about the expected life of such appliance in a Choice Article.
Titled ‘Great Expectations’ dated 26 sep 2018. A survey was conducted with the following results for ovens:
Oven Life expectancy: BUDGET/ ENTRY LEVEL - 10 years,
MID-RANGE - 15 years, HIGH-END - 20 years.
Now, relating back to your experience (Historyman), 1st Combi oven broke down after 3 years, 2nd oven lasted 6 years, 3rd oven costing $3500 to replace in 2016 lasted 4 years.
Based on your information, the AEG ovens you have owned are classed as Budget/Entry level products.
I bought mine in June 2012 and started using it in Jan 2013 when the renovation finished. I too received an oven classed as Budget/Entry level, but paid high end price.
There is something very wrong about this entire issue!
I can see that BBG, PHB, draughtrider and others trying to make sense of this with pricing and replacement cost etc.
At the end of the day, why should us, the consumers be dealing with this problem? I just want to go buy an oven, go home and cook a great meal with the product. I now have to spend precious time proving I have bought a sub standard inferior product because the manufacturer would not own up to their responsibility and do the right thing by consumers.
Agree …but the oven having some age poses problems. If it was younger, potential course of action would be clearer.
The real dilemma is how to achieve the above aim?
Options are
At the end of the day, which option is taken has risks, costs and impacts. Good luck with the option you chose.
Going back to the original post it seems that AEG at first tried to deny any responsibility for the damage in the oven. They tried to put the entire onus on the user. From other posts in this topic it seems that this is a well known fault of this oven type. While not life threatening like in the Takata Airbag issue it still points to a manufacturing defect across these units such that if a buyer had know that this was possible they would likely not have purchased the product in the first place, this would seem a very good case for a complete refund based on that. Would @Heal have spent the $5,000 for the top of the line model (and so expecting a premium outcome of they thought 15 or so years) if they had known? It seems from their posts they would not have done so. It then really doesn’t matter that they got 8 years out of it, their expectation was far greater than that and that’s the issue as I seem to understand it to be.
Hi Heal
Thank you so much for your message. I wish I had of known that other people were having the same problems as us were when I was dealing with AEG / Electrolux. I would have just demanded a refund and bought another brand of Oven. No one should have to go through this!! You are correct we bought what we thought was an expensive top quality set of 3 Ovens which we thought was going to last us 20 years. Here we are with our 3rd Steamer oven and it still doesn’t work properly. I will never buy another AEG product.
My AEG Steam Oven is only 2 years old and also has this rust problem. In fact it has rusted right through with a 1cm hole.
I am completely shocked, You would think when you spend $5K on an oven this would not happen.
I havent reported this does anyone know if they will cover it under warranty
Hi @MelH, welcome to the community and it is unfortunate you have an oven which may have a manufacturing quality issue or a design fault.
If the oven has been used in accordance with the user manual, it would be classed as a fault under the Australian Consumer Law and this covered as a minimum by the Australian Consumer Guarantee. If the oven is under manufacturer warranty, it will also be covered by this as well.
They most likely will try and say that it is due to misuse (using the wrong chemicals for cleaning, owner damaging the coating etc) but hold your ground and indicate, if it is true, that the oven at all times has been used and maintained in accordance with the user instruction guides.
Also take and send photos of the hole as part of you claim with AEG/who sold you/installed the oven.
As it appears to be a common defect, make sure that you document everything (any discussion with AEG and keep email correspondence). Also indicate that you have let Choice Community know that another oven is defective and they are interested in the outcome.
Don’t take it up with the manufacturer initially. Under Australian Consumer Law the responsible party is the retailer to address your issues. This rusting seems to be a reasonably common complaint with these units possibly making it a design/manufacturing fault. I would if it was my oven be seeking a full refund from whomever I had purchased it from and choosing a different oven from a different manufacturer.
There is lots of advice about how to get formal in this process of obtaining your legislated rights. Phone calls as @PhilT remarks are just “idle chit chat” but may be the easiest starting point, but if they are not forthcoming in response don’t waste any more time in that manner. Put your claim in writing to the retailer (email is acceptable), there are lots of links that can be searched for here both made available by CHOICE and the ACCC as templates to produce effective correspondence. Set a reasonable time for a response eg 7 or 14 days for the retailer to respond in your favour. If they don’t you will need to consider going to your State Civil and Administrative Tribunal to secure your rights. Seeking some free legal advice is also very strongly recommended and there are some places linked on this site that do offer free support (see Free Legal Advice Centres).
I have Only just had my seals fixed on my aeg micro combo $2500. Putchased same time as steam oven. Condensation was inside the glass. I called and they were pretty good with repairs with that.
They have 5 years warranty on them.
I purchased from Domain so ill start with them first. Very disappointing
A footnote, if they disclaim responsibility and refer you to AEG to fend for yourself they should know about the fines Harvey Norman franchisees (search the internet and the Community) have received for misrepresenting consumer rights and their responsibilities for same.
As a practical matter Domain may only become a middle man negotiating or arranging service, but if they try to get out of the way you would do well to remind them of their role in the ACL. If I were the owner of one of these ovens I may be inclined to go for a full refund/exchange not a repair. Repairing a faulty product with a similarly faulty part or replacing the whole faulty thing with a like one does no more than put off the next instance of the same problem.
Establishing the product is unfit or not of merchantable quality will require research and documentation, but it seems there is significant anecdotal evidence available, and possibly hard evidence from friendly repairers/owners?
As an aside, could Australia do this better?
Should the ACCC have teams of investigators in the field who will actively respond in real time to a formal complaint? IE such as this one being raised concerning AEG or a particular retailer.
My impression only, coloured by the few consumer issues I’ve chosen to take on. The system at state and in particular national level is not intended to proactively support consumers. By exception consumers have relied on belated responses from the ACCC or independently initiated class actions. The lack of adequate outcomes without, ‘is by design’! Pun intended.
