Indesit ID60G2X Gas Cooker Fault

After owning the Indesit ID60G2X, which I bought from John Lewis (never again) a while ago now, I wanted to write a quick post regarding a fault that has occurred, which seems to be a common problem. It's nothing too major, as in something that's going to affect the cooking of food, or be a big danger. However, it is an annoying little problem that, in a way, has exposed just how cheap some of the components are that are used in the Indesit ID60G2X Gas Cooker.

 The circular plastic is meant to sit tight to the cooker

The "springs" that hold the knobs in place are some of the flimsiest, cheapest looking things I have ever seen on a gas appliance. They shouldn't even be used in products from the pound shop, let alone a cooker. I thought the knobs were held in position by magnets, but no. It's by extremely weak coiled strings of metal. I can't call them springs, as its an insult to a real spring.

 Look at it compared to the one on the right

Anyway the problem is the springs come out and leave the knob(s) just hanging there. The cooker, and the knob itself, are still 100% usable but this shows a sheer lack of quality components being used in a product in my opinion. I have fixed this issue 3 times so far by removing the knob and repositioning the spring (very thin, loosely coiled metal) into place.

However, due to the springs being so cheap and having almost no resistance, the problem just keeps on happening. Very disappointing. The cooker is under a long warranty and I should really contact Indesit and ask them to send me some replacement springs that have a bit of resistance in them so they don't keep coming off. But as of yet I haven't made contact with them. It's one of those non-vital "live with it" problems that I'll get round to doing.

 

July 2022. A quick update after owning this cooker for a few years.

Do not buy this cooker. More faults have cropped up. The first one, which is more of a design fault than something that has developed over time, is how hot the front of the cooker gets when using the oven in combination with a few stove top burners. The front, in particular the area around the ignition button gets extremely hot. Like, burn your fingers hot. Very dangerous if you have children.

The second and most annoying issue is the grill. It has completely stopped working. Well, technically it does [did] still work, but only if I stand there and hold the knob in permanently. As I'm sure you are aware, most cooker grills have a safety feature where the knob has to be held in for a few seconds when first being turned on.

After the usually small amount of time has passed the knob can be released and the grill will stay on. But not the Indesit ID60G2X. First, the grill knob needed to stay held in for around 30+  seconds, which was long compared to all the other cookers I've owned.

But once that time had elapsed the grill did actually stay on. Then, after a few more months the holding in time ended up being nearer to 1 minute. This got quite annoying. Having to stand there for around a minute holding in this knob, my thumb was getting tired! But hey, after the minute was up the grill would stay on, so I just persevered and lived with it.

After a few more months the time this knob needed to be held in for was 2 minutes! I timed it. 2 full minutes of standing there waiting for the grill to stay lit. Any thumb tiredness or an attempt to let go and check to see if the grill would stay on for any time less than a 2 minute hold resulted in the grill just blanking out. Now, even a two minute hold does not work. I stood there for literally 5 minutes, thumb pressed in place, and the grill just won't stay on at all anymore. I give up.

It' clear that whatever element or thermostat is installed in the cooker that deals with this safety / time delay before it gives the green light for the grill to stay on has gradually gotten worse and worse, then packed up altogether. I now don't even attempt to use the grill at all.

Can you imagine an old aged pensioner having to do this, or someone with a disability. No one should have to deal with these types of problems. Absolutely ridiculous. Do not buy this cooker. Personally, I would never buy anything Indesit ever again.

Silly Cooker Measurements & John Lewis

Tried to buy a gas cooker lately? This isn't going to be review on a specific cooker, but more of a quick post (This post ended up a bit longer than intended) about how silly the measurement side of things generally are in the world of cookers. Fair enough, most of the measurements are straight forward. Dimensions: Height, Width and Depth, all measured in centimetres. But when it comes to the dimensions of the most important part of the cooker, the place where you actually cook the food, they measure it in litres!

What use is that. Why not do a centimetre or inches measurement so people can know the exact size. I mean, litres! What do they expect people to do, turn the cooker on its side and fill it with liquid. Seems very silly, when all they really need to do is list the inner dimensions. Anyway, I was swaying toward buying the Hotpoint HAG60K, but by the time I made up my mind it was sold out in the place I was considering purchasing it from. And the other outlets selling the same model were much more expensive, and their warranties were a joke.

Buying Cookers & Warranty's

Had a look at the cookers on Amazon UK. The Hotpoint CH60GCIW looked like a decent product. But really the cooker was being sold by Hughes Direct, and if I wanted to buy from Hughes Direct I would just buy directly from their website. Amazon also had the Hotpoint HAE60KS in stock, but that I believe is the electric version of the HAG60K. I'm looking for a gas cooker.

Some outlets, such as Curry's, don't offer a one-off payment for a few years cover, they actually want the buyer to pay a small fee on a monthly basis. Taken via Direct Debit. So, if you bought a cooker from Curry's and paid for monthly cover, which was around £4 each month for the item I was interested in buying, for two years, that would be £96. Very off-putting. (see below for the price of a 5 year one-off payment cover plan from John Lewis). I ended up buying an Indesit ID60G2X (Indesit is also part of the Hotpoint company) from John Lewis. But it hasn't been delivered yet.

Argos was considered, but their guarantee / warranty of two years wasn't as good as the one offered by John Lewis. John Lewis offer a free 2 year guarantee for all their products, and an extra 3 year optional guarantee. The price of the guarantee is dependent on the item bought. Mine cost £70. So five years cover in total for a reasonable price. A lot of the cookers within the £350 - £450 price range have there fair share of good and bad reviews, so its a good idea to get the extra cover just in case it breaks down.

I should add that I am close with someone who is a partner with John Lewis (works for them), and because the cooker is basically half theirs, they, or we, would be eligible for a discount. When the discount was applied, which is 12.5%, we ended up saving around £45.

John Lewis Website - Not As Pictured

Fast forward a few days and I have now received the cooker. Upon removing the packaging I quickly discover that they have sent us the wrong colour cooker to the one that was pictured on their website. The one I ordered was all black, the one I received is black and silver. This was quite disappointing because the one with the silver trim looks a bit cheap in comparison to the all black version. And let's not forget, John Lewis have made the mistake here. They have sold an item, or items (at least one to us) on their website that are not as described / illustrated.

John Lewis Partners Get a Bad Deal

So the John Lewis partner who I bought the cooker with decided to phone them up and see what could be done. We were shocked to discover that if you are a partner with John Lewis and you buy something from them and apply the "partner" discount, you basically don't have the same return / replace rights, or level of good will that John Lewis would usually offer normal customers for making such a mistake.

The only option we were offered was to return the cooker, receive the refund, and just start again from the beginning. I thought they would have said - Sorry for the mistake, it's totally our fault. Someone will be coming to collect the cooker that wasn't as shown on the website and will also be in possession of the actual cooker model you originally ordered (we were sent the older model). But no. They didn't even offer any good will, because apparently, when you're a "partner", and you received a discount on the product, you don't have the same rights or value that a normal customer has.

Excellent Customer Service Myth

I thought John Lewis were meant to be excellent in all aspects of customer service, especially if they make a mistake or sell a faulty item. In this case it was John Lewis that made the mistake, but they didn't really seem all that sorry or apologetic, all because the person who ordered the item was a partner. I would have thought that a partner would at least have been entitled to the same level of customer service and buyer protection that a normal customer would have been rightfully entitled to. What happened to equality. Very disappointing.

Customer For Life?

This was my first experience purchasing something from John Lewis. And needless to say, if I was to do what they proposed, which was return the cooker and just start again, once our money was refunded, I definitely would not have been re-purchasing the correct colour cooker from John Lewis. In the end I decided keep the cooker that was sent in error, as it was too much hassle returning the cooker (and all that entails - waiting in for them to collect etc) and starting again. One things for sure, I certainly won't be using John Lewis in the future, not even as a regular customer. This has been an eye opener for sure. First time, last time.