A note of caution to all prospective buyers of below bench hot water systems. They don’t tell you but they can be dangerous !
I had a Billi unit and I do not recommend you buy their product.
A couple of weeks a go I heard a bang and found boiling hot water being sprayed from the unit and all over my bench top…If I had been standing next to it I would have been badly burnt…very dangerous.
There is not emergency switch and I had to risk getting under the bench to turn the water tap off.
Billi claim the cant repair it…So for a four thousand dollar appliance it is a total loss…not buy !
Also I discovered if you don’t replace the water filter once every year regardless of whether it really needs replacing the unit automatically shut down and you have to get a Billi technician to come to your home and re-set the unit. So you have just to get boiling water you have a two hundred plus on going cost every year…they don’t tell you that in your advertising !
And talk to the tech he concedes that Melbourne water is so good if it wasn’t for the automatic shut down device the filter would last years…a nice way for Billi to make money eh ?
Bottom line don’t buy a Billi under bench instant hot water unit.
Welcome to the community, @pubtest and for sharing the warning.
Are you able to share how old the unit was, whether the supplier installed the unit and what the original warranty stated?
For a product costing that many $$$ one might expect the product would last a long time without catastrophic failure. Do you know the model description and what part of the Billi product failed?
With a little more detail it may help others to offer some further advice on whether you have recourse under Australian Consumer Law.
Noted Billi currently state there is no reason their products will not last 8 years or more. The base warranty is 2 years.
Own a Billi Eco unit which if you do not replace filter in time the unit will shut down requiring a technician to reset or potentially require part replacement. Purchased the unit in 2014 ($2500) and over that time has required the tap to be replaced @ 4 years ($766), the PCB Board to be replaced @ 6 years ($717). The PCB board was replaced because the unit would not recognise the new filter! The unit has just failed again after the filter is due to be replaced I will be contacting Billi, again…
What a disheartening tale, for what is marketed as a quality - luxury Australian manufactured product. I’ve only encountered the Billi and I’m assuming it’s competitor Zip HydroTap products in workplace tea rooms.
Looking at the pricing of the Billi brand filters I’m left short of breath.
Just an update for everyone on these dodgy Billi units and even more dodgy manufacturer. After putting my complaint in writing on Thursday 23 rd September I received a reply the following day from their “Inside Sales Coordinator” (what ever that is) that my complaint was being “escalated” to Billi’s “National Customer Support Manager” and that he would telephone me on Monday the 27 th September to discuss.
Going on thee weeks later I have heard nothing…not an email…not a phone call…absolutely nothing !
Without adjudicating on the issue, if ‘in writing’ was in the form of a formal and properly written Letter of Complaint per the Australian Consumer Law, including a reasonable date for their response it would be time to engage Fair Trading with a CC to the Managing Director or Owner, excepting Billi appears to be a private company that does not make it easy to identify their most senior management; you could address Mr. Dean Cook identified as head of sales, Australia per LinkedIn as well as to the ‘Customer Support Manager’ who is not explicitly identifiable.
My much earlier post in another topic may assist if you read it through to confirm whether your letter covered what is required to get attention.
