Whenever possible I always want to repair things rather than automatically replace them. Planned obsolescence is evil!! But if you have an appliance (not very expensive electric oven) that is not working and is more than 10 years old, is it worth repairing it? Do consumers have rights if service companies don’t keep parts for appliances that are more than 10 years old? It’s a Westinghouse oven. Grateful for feedback on this issue.
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Welcome to the community.
The short answer to your question is that manufacturers have to keep spare parts for a “reasonable time”. What a “reasonable time” is is not defined. Unfortunately, this “reasonable time” period is becoming shorter and shorter with some manufacturers, who are only keeping spare parts for a couple of years.
What I would do is search the Internet for your particular stove, and it may be possible to find something that lists all the parts. If you know the exact part name or part number you can then search for that, and you may find an identical part being sold for a different brand.
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Yes, this is definitely worth a try if you were happy with the oven when it was working. One of our family members recently was able to have their older Omega oven repaired by finding the specific part online for a different brand after Omega said it was no longer available.
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A few anecdotal experiences for how large appliance issues can go.
We bought a fairly high end Highland that was the oven from hell. Over a few years it had a number of repairs in warranty and then we had to call in the ACL. The importer, under duress, replaced almost everything but the chassis. Another 3 years (only 7 in total) and it started to go bad again. We cut our losses and moved on. When the replacement SMEG needed an out of warranty repair for a part that should have gone much longer SMEG provided the part gratis and the cost for their service agent to install it was minimal.
We bought an Asko washer ‘designed for 20 years’ that needed a control board at 12 years. The control boards were out of production and out of stock. There were none from Asko or any parts houses anywhere in the world. Asko suggested trying used appliance shops for the part! Rather than spend more time (fortunately we were able) we bought an LG for half the price of the Asko; the LG was excellent until the bearings went at 7 years. LG was no help - out of warranty. The repair was quoted almost as much as a new similar LG washer on sale. It [just] met ‘typical life’ based on ‘cost and market position’. We needed a washer more than we needed a back and forth with the ACL. Although the LG was an excellent performer we lost confidence in the brand and moved on.
A family member bought a Hoover washer and dryer in 2016. The washer is still trouble free but the [condenser] dryer failed late in the 5-year warranty. Hoover service responded crisply and sent someone to assess it. It was deemed not repairable and there was no similar product to replace it; they provided a total refund.
It seems increasingly common that manufacturers only make enough spare parts to cover their statistical warranty expectations. Some that make smaller products often do not make or keep spares; they just replace or refund products under warranty.
I hope my rambling experiences are useful feedback regarding how it can go.
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Thank you.
It is really helpful to document this kind of experience so that one day, perhaps in utopia, governments and consumers will compel manufacturers to repair goods than constantly bringing out new models of things!
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That is a great idea!
There are a few companies around that carry spare parts for Ovens , Washing machines etc if you know what you need ring them
Bunnies at Kirrawee is one that springs to mind , there is also a company located in Canterbury
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