Brand new condo, all the appliances have now broken

[Goldy740]

hi there, just wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences. We moved into a brand new condo and first of all the dishwasher broke and now the coffee machine and microwave. All just after the one year warranty which is great timing! They are all the same brand and supplied through a local singaporean company that imports foreign equipment, guessing that FarEast (who built the condo) chose to use them as the same appliances are in all the flats.

So essentially this will cost us $450 and the landlady a lot more. Who knows when they will break again!?

Is there anything you can do in the situation? We had to wait about 6 months for the dishwasher to be fixed as they have to import the parts from Europe so expecting the same. So essentially we aren't getting what we're paying for in terms of the rental agreement.

V frustrating!

[JR8]

What brands are they? Have you run through the Troubleshooting page in the user guide? Does the manufacturer have a local service agent? Was it they that fixed the dishwasher, or a local handyman? And when you say 'broke' what do you mean, what were/are the symptoms? It seems unusual that three new and different appliances have all broken in their first year.

p.s. 'Parts from Europe' - not the dreaded Beko brand I hope...

Companies that fit out multiple properties with bulk-purchased appliances get major discounts. I used a builder once who had access into such a source and he bought all my homes fitted appliances (Bosch/Neff/Siemens) at about 40% of the retail price.

[bgd]

Yes what brand. I'm in a similar situation but still within the warranty period. Some initial issues with oven and microwave but seem ok now.

[Goldy740]

kuppersbusch is the brand. i've never heard of them until we moved in

[Goldy740]

i've been through the manuals (which are about as helpful as you would expect) and looked online, no solutions. The machines simply don't turn on, if they were showing an error code then it would be easier. The fuse box is working.

It is perhaps less unusual for three appliances to break around the same time if they are made by the same company.

[bgd]

Oh dear. Same brand.

Only upside, I don't have a dishwasher.

The issue I had was due to humidity apparently. Just running the micro and oven for a while and letting them cool fixed it. Previously the micro was tripping the breaker.

Just a thought, do they have fused plugs? Also the coffee maker has a hidden switch top left, that managed to turn itself off for me.

[x9200]

OP: You mean like they area dead dead or still have some life symptoms (lights/LEDs lit etc)? A fuse-box is an obvious thing, but there could be some problems outside the box. In other words, are there any indications that the appliances are actually being powered?

[Goldy740]

No signs of life. The appliances all have wall switches which have LEDs to show whether they are on or not. Both the LEDs for the coffee machine and microwave are on. they are on the same grid as the fridge which is working so the issue seems to be just with the two appliances

[Goldy740]

it is likely that it will take 4 - 6 months to get these fixed (as was the case with the dishwasher), the coffee machine i can live without but the microwave is a serious inconvenience as i work from home so use it everyday. Should we expect the landlord to provide us with a working microwave until it gets fixed? After all we are paying for an apartment that includes a microwave

problem is the landlord is slightly mad, she's nice but very emotional, a multi millionaire with about 10 properties around singapore, korea and HK. She uses a local guy to look after the properties here and he is useless.

[x9200]

You may ask for a replacement (or to be precise, to provide an extra microwave) or to lower the rent. If you have enough space, I would just suggest to the LL to buy one in a $200-300 range. Should not make her bankrupt.

[kaseyma]

Agree.
Tell the guy looking after the properties to do his job and get you a working microwave to use until the original one gets fixed.

[JR8]

kuppersbusch is the brand. i've never heard of them until we moved in

Part of Teka Group [sponsor of Real Madrdid apparently]. When we lived in Germany our place had a couple of Kuppersbusch products installed, and FWIW I don't recall any problems.
Based on that, and also my experience with and the reputation for quality of German appliances in general I'd be starting off looking for a fault in the power supply. If the various non-functioning appliances are on a single circuit then that's definitely where I'd start.

What I've seen in recent years is whereas appliance consumer guides used to have thorough fault diagnosis info, this section has been progressively dumbed down to where sometimes these days it's just pages of 'Don't [do xyz incredibly stupid things]'. It's like the manufacturers are dissuading consumers from any DIY, and perhaps hoping you'll have to call their service agents out instead. But if you can find the 'Service manual', often on the manufacturers website, then this usually lists a comprehensive trouble-shooting guide and fault diagnosis walk-through.

[JR8]

The machines simply don't turn on, if they were showing an error code then it would be easier. The fuse box is working.
It is perhaps less unusual for three appliances to break around the same time if they are made by the same company.

I still don't think you have established the appliances are at fault yet.
Are the appliances connected into plug sockets? If so have you tried testing the sockets with say a small appliance you know for sure works?
Have any fuses in the fuse-box tripped during the time you've had these problems, i.e have you had to reset any of the circuit breakers?
If you unplug one of the suspected faulty appliances and plug it into another known working socket does it then work? Or if not, if you had a circuit fuse trip, could it have blown the fuses in the various appliance plugs that are connected to it? [I've had this happen before, where a wiring problem to the oven tripped the circuit-breaker for the kitchen and AFAIR blew a couple of other plug-fuses too].

I still think the 'same manufacturer' theory is likely a red-herring. IMO/E it sounds like a problem in the circuit that powers these various appliances.

[x9200]

I suspect the said appliances are of the built in type (not a stand alone) so it may not be that trivial top test them at the very connection point.

Probably just one more question to verify, was the failure noticed within the same day or within the single time span both of them where used?

[JR8]

it is likely that it will take 4 - 6 months to get these fixed (as was the case with the dishwasher), the coffee machine i can live without but the microwave is a serious inconvenience as i work from home so use it everyday.

It can take a week or perhaps two to get obscure parts, but not that long! Have you been told what is actually faulty, i.e. what parts he has ordered?

IME micro's are always wired in with a plug. (Vs say an oven that might be cabled plug-free into a 30A circuit). Have you got the micro out and plugged it into another known functioning plug socket? If it doesn't work then try replacing the fuse with a known functioning fuse and repeat.
I wager a virtual pint of beer that those steps will get it working.