Well designed appliance and good servicing when rarely needed
Our ageing Bosch KAN62V41GB/02 is in its teens, and hadn’t needed any service attention since new from John Lewis’, but we’d kept up the warranty cover from JL’s D&G insurance. Following poor temperature regulation in the freezer compartment and poir humidity regulation in the fridge compartment during and after the recent very hot weather I called BSH service who advised it would benefit from a service visit, so I registered the issue through D&G and a Bosch engineer duly came as arranged.
As expected from the reviews he was very punctual, polite, clean and tidy, attentive to detail and listened to my detailed account of the developing issue. He removed the appliance’s bottom rear access ventilation panel to reveal, as I’d anticipated to have been the problem, an accumulation of fluff from more than a decade of continuous use in our kitchen. I fetched a cylinder vacuum cleaner he requested and he carefully removed all fluff that could be accessed through this opening (approx 18x80cm), assisted by an old toothbrush he’d brought in his tool kit, but I couldn’t provide a blower he subsequently requested, but he managed without. He refitted the cover panel to complete the task.
Considering the amount of fluff in there, there was very little dust in the kitchen after he’d finished, although I had been present throughout so tried to limit any escaping the vicinity of the work area.
The engineer performed his task throughout with good manner and all despite himself having encountered an engine emissions control warning on his vehicle en route to me as he advised in the call made to give me an eta of 1700, when I’d offered to collect him should he need to abandon his vehicle, an offer extended if needed for his journey home to collect his replacement vehicle as mine was his last job of the day.
One point I mentioned to BSH when they requested my feedback following the job completion was this: The issue with my Fridge/Freezer caused by an expected accumulation of fluff must be a common issue with such a neat design which has the condenser heat radiation fins unusually totally enclosed within the appliance behind a ventilation grid. In such cases when fluff accumulation is suspected and also as usual the fins are visibly exposed across the rear external face of the machine, careful removal of fluff is required, surely the visiting Bosch engineer should be equipped with appropriate cleaning equipment, particularly as the manufacturer is also a leading maker of vacuum cleaners. They may even make power tools which employ an integrated vacuum debris collection system, and maybe even a combined blow/suck device for professional use particularly suited to appliance cleaning, which would of course benefit from employing bespoke fitting containment shrouds for each appliance model for use in a customer’s premises’ kitchen where their appliances needing such a service are supposed to be placed.
All in all I would recommend Bosch for appliances, particularly American style Fridge/freezers, and BSH their service wing.
