Elektro Retail Reviews 

EDITED following the reply of Elektro Retail (hereafter ER), see point 2.

1. I bought a built-in fridge from ER through MediaMarkt (double mistake). I was specifically looking for a no-frost fridge, so I applied all the relevant filters and it was crystal clear on the website description that the Siemens fridge I chose was a "total no frost" one. After I had it installed and plugged in, I took out the manual to get some more information. I discovered to my surprise that the fridge is actually not a no-frost, but a low-frost one, needing regular defrosting, exactly what I was trying to avoid.
And then my torture started....I contacted MediaMarkt immediately, who directly referred me to their partner ER to sort it out. When I contacted ER and described the problem, their first reaction was to offer me a compensation of 50EUR to get rid of me. I explained that I did not want that fridge which I bought based on a misleading description of an essential characteristic. As this was entirely their fault, it was subsequently their responsibility to remedy the situation, assisting me in getting a product with the characteristics I was looking for in the first place and covering all the costs that I had incurred because of the false description of the product (ie, cost for uninstalling the fridge, returning it and installing the new device). For a built-in device all this is a significant cost to bear, especially if you have found yourself in this situation without your fault. During our exchanges that are still ongoing, they have persistently denied doing that and all I hear back is "we are sorry for the inconvenience, we can offer you an exchange at a reduced rate -so they will make even more money out of the situation!- but all other expenses are on you". And when I asked to at least return the product and get a full refund they referred me to their general "change of mind" conditions, which means that I will have to take care of the packaging, pay for the return transport and possibly face a "value depreciation" fee. If they were a decent and professional business with a properly functioning customer service, they wouldn't have submitted me to all this, adding insult to injury and having me trapped in an impossible situation, where replacing this fridge will end up costing me extra almost as much as the fridge itself!

2. Elektro Retail presents the situation inaccurately in their reply to my review, so let's set some facts straight:

- I asked for 250EUR as mentioned is not as satisfaction for my inconvenience, this is the cost to uninstall the unwanted built-in fridge and place the new one. As ER is at fault for the situation, it should be them bearing this extra cost, not me. I suggested that they either bring a technician to do it or give me the amount in form of compensation, to pay my contractor to do it. They rejected both options. So any "solution" proposed by ER that excludes this cost automatically means a significant financial loss of for me.

- I was not offered a no-frost fridge at "purchase price" as misleadingly mentioned, but at "reduced price". Even the reduced price offer would be reasonable, if they paid the above installation cost. Now it just shows that not only do they try to avoid any cost, they also aspire to make some profit out of the situation!

- ER claims that the return is free (which may be indeed, because I bought the fridge through Mediamarkt, and MediaMarkt -not ER- applies a free return policy even for their partners). However, they refuse to confirm that I will get a full refund for the return and not suffer a "depreciation reduction", applicable to "change of mind" returns. I did remove the packaging, had it built into my kitchen and put it to use in good faith, to only later discover that the product is not what I thought I was buying, due to a false web-description. This is a return of a defective product and full refund should be ensured. When I asked for confirmation of that before we proceed, I got back the flat and rude reply: "We kunnen niet afwijken van retourvoorwaarden".

- Lastly, no, it is not "reasonable" to expect the client who was put in this messy situation to find "suitable packaging" of an almost 2-meter fridge. It is not a laptop or an oven, it is a very bulky appliance, the safe transport of which requires professional and costly packaging.

So, in money terms, the "fair"and "reasonable" approach that Elektro Retail claims to apply means the following costs for me:

250 euros + possible price difference in case of exchange or possible partial/depreciation refund in case of return + cost of "appropriate"packaging of the defective fridge.

I stand by my initial advice: Avoid them! They may be cheaper to buy as some say, but they are also cheap and unprofessional if, God forbid, you need their after sales services!

Very quick shipping and great communication from the company. There isn't a lot more I can say, me and my partner found an uncommon stand mixer we were searching for and got it in just a day on our doorstep.

I bought the coffe machine the Nivona 520.
I paid for it evening and next day i got this near my door. It was incredeble.

Thank you very much.