AEG 900mm wide electric oven - model BE6914001M

[paulhollands]

Hi all,
We had a new oven fitted and its had what we regard as a fault from day 1, but AEG dispute this; working as designed is their response. The issue is as follows and I would welcome your inputs.

Issue: The heat circulating fan stops running when the oven has reached temperature and restarts when the heating element comes back on. So to be clear, when the red element light is on, the fan is running and when its off, the fan stops. So when using the oven the fan is continually stopping and starting after a few minutes and therefore the food is taking 10-20 minutes longer to cook than our old oven.

AEG say that this is working as designed, yet I fail to see how this can be. As we know the purpose of the fan is to move the heat around the oven to create an even heat throughout the oven and when its off, the oven becomes a conventional over and all the heat rises to the top. AEG claim that its 'new technology' and working as designed, but the most complex part of an oven is the digital clock...the rest is just a fancy multifunction switch, thermostat, element and fan, so I'd love to know what the 'new technology' is.

To me, it just seems that the fan is wired into the heating element circuit, rather than powered from the switch depending on the setting selected.

AEG sent an engineer to check the oven and even he was surprised how it was working; "never seen this before" was his response, but he had to go with what AEG were saying.

I'm in the process of writing a complain to AEG, since how can a £1000 oven take longer to cook than a £150 oven from B&Q?

Just wanted to hear what other people thought. Maybe a story for Watchdog?

 

[Diyisfun]

the fan should be running all the time, sometimes they are designed to switch off when the oven door is open

 

[ShBe]

Originally purchased this oven end Aug 2012. Literally the same week that my old kitchen was ripped out I was informed out of stock for 2 weeks, not a big deal but 2 weeks turned into four and a half months. Took lots of phone calls most of which were dealt with by disinterested and uninformative AEG "customer care" staff unfortunately it wasn't until I became really annoyed and insisted on speaking to Steve Paish (sales director) that I then received the oven 2 weeks before Xmas. Like wise oven took and age to heat up with the fan constantly stop starting. Food uncooked and unevenly cooked. Engineer came out temperature tested it and confirmed temperature fluctuations not acceptable. AEG replaced it, however, same problems. Many phone calls ( this is now 2 days before Xmas). A "senior" engineer came out Xmas eve he was pretty condescending saying temp was within acceptable range and just a case of getting use to the oven (i am pretty much a well seasoned cook and have used many different ovens over the years) So i was extremely annoyed when the turkey didn't cook! Furious I bought 2 cheap thermometres both gave the exact same readings showing the oven taking more than 30 mins to reach 150 even when set at 200 and thereafter would only reach 180 if lucky. Kept a log of temperatures,cooking times and the consistanlty poor cooking results achieved, this was sent to Michelle Bates at AEG, she arranged for 2 engineers and a home economics advisor to test my oven. All 3 completely agreed that the oven was running unacceptably cool, they had brought with them a replacement which they assured me had been cook tested but advised was probably running slightly hotter. I have been using this oven now for just over 2 months it does run hotter but I can cope with this by adjusting the temp down, the fan still stops starts so do not always achieve even cooking, the cooling fan very rarely comes on. Today I have had a casserole cooking since 12 noon on a low temp I increased the temperature to high at 6pm to brown off another dish in the oven, 20 mins later I heard a very loud bang and to my horror the internal glass on the oven door had completely shattered!!!! I really am at loss. When re-fitting my kitchen I had bought all matching AEG appliances and the kitchen was pretty much designed around this 90 wide built in oven ( I had previously had a SMEG 90 wide range oven which was brilliant!) So tomorrow I shall be contacting AEG again and will be taking this as far to the top as I can. Believe it or not this a very diluted account of my AEG experience with this over priced, under performing, oven.

 

[paulhollands]

Hi,
I found the root cause of the issue, but only after complaining to the kitchen company who were given the 'off the record' answer by the rep.

The problem is that AEG didn't make this oven and like most companies these days, they buy their products from other manufacturers and then put their own brand on them. Although they apparently tested the oven before buying a large pallet of ovens, they obviously didn't test them properly, since the fault is well known within AEG. Unfortunately they can't go back to the original manufacturer to get the fault fixed since the company has now gone bust, so AEG is left with a product that they know is faulty, yet they can't do anything about it. Of course they will never admit this since it would open the floodgates for every person who bought one of these ovens to claim a refund as the product is not fit for purpose. This is reflected in AEG's response when you contact them; the oven is working as designed. They just won't admit its a fault since they can't fix it.

Our kitchen company has managed to obtain a refund and funnily enough after hours of research we've decided to go with the Smeg. Currently waiting for it to be installed.

My advice is too kick up a fuss and constantly claim its not fit for purpose until you get your money back...Then buy a Smeg.

Hope this helps

 

[ShBe]

Have spoken with AEGs Customer Care Manager, Michelle Bates, this morning, I have to say she does seems as frustrated as myself with the catalogue of events I have experienced, but has made no mention of their supplier going bust, which of course I'm sure she wouldn't. I know that the ovens were produced in Italia. I have told her that I am now aware that I am not the only person who has experienced an unacceptable poor performance from this oven. I know that you have received a refund of your oven but Michelle would be very interested to hear from you and your experience.

My main concern now is the safety aspect and I intend to take this a far as I can.

Best of luck with your new SMEG oven I'm sure you'll have no problems with it!

 

[Fluffy67]

Hi! Can I appeal to the contributors to this topic for some more info? I have had the exact same issues with this oven and am in the process of trying to get a refund out of AEG. Armed with the additional ammunition provided by this thread I am hopeful of success (?!) First question: did you manage to sort out your issues with AEG and what was the outcome? Second question to all posters, have you installed another brand of 90cm wide oven (eg the Smeg) and how is it performing? I am having great difficulty sourcing another 90cm wide oven and most do not have any reviews. There is one by Electrolux which seems to be available but I am very wary of that since Electrolux and AEG are part of the same group of companies. The Smeg which was available is now discontinued (why?) but allegedly they are bringing out a new model 'in the Spring'. The Zanussi (also possibly discontinued) has one very negative review (similar to AEG). Having waited months for a new kitchen with brand spanking new oven I am now facing months of misery while I fight with AEG about their faulty cooker and in the meantime hunt for a replacement. Help please!!!

 

[ShBe]

Hi Fluffy 67, I'm really sorry that your experience with AEG hasn't been good. I know the following also do 90cm wide built in ovens, CDA, Caple, Britannia Smeg, Fisherpayke. I can't say how good they are, if I had a choice I would go for the Miele one but then that's big money!. Unfortunately since my last post the internal glass on the oven door "exploded" again! Apparently there were no oven doors in the UK and a replacement door was sourced from somewhere in Europe. AEG did act quickly but I now only deal directly with Michelle Bates, or as in this instance with Steve Paish, customer service director. The upshot is that they now want to replace my oven, which says something for their own lack of confidence in their own product, however, because of the problems they have had with this oven and the supplier they have ceased making the oven, that said they have now supposedly found a new supplier which they need to ensure is compliant to AEG quality assurance standards (that's a joke in itself!) they are hoping for the oven to go back into production this coming spring but as yet have no concrete confirmation. I did receive an email before christmas offering a replacement from Australia and although the oven was the same width it was much deeper and would mean cabinetry alterations at AEG's expense, I'm not prepared to loose cupboard space for an AEG oven. So I'm still waiting for a replacement which I'm happy to do but nervous that the door will shatter again. Even though the performance is far from brilliant (AEG have modified the thermostat on this particular oven so it no longer runs cool) and I do love the look of this oven plus all my other AEG kitchen appliances were chosen to go compliment this oven when my new kitchen was fitted so I am loathed to change it for something that wouldn't match. I do have huge issues with AEG/ELECTROLUX and take great exception to poor customer service, poor quality assurance and poor procedural compliance and even when I reach a satisfactory outcome with AEG and this oven I intend ensure that necessary people are fully informed of my experience. Good luck

 

[Fluffy67]

Thanks so much for getting back to me. It sounds like you have had an horrendous time with this oven. Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I also love the look of this oven and it complements my new kitchen perfectly but I have paid a premium price for this and I expect a premium product without months of angst stress and hardship while trying to resolve the issues with this appliance ( it sounds like you have been remarkably resilient!). Unfortunately most of the other ovens this size are no where near as aesthetically appealing. It's so annoying. I'm interested to hear about the new model oven AEG are proposing to you. The Electrolux model I have been looking at is apparently not available until the 17th March from various online retailers. I wonder if this is the oven they are proposing? I might try contacting the other poster who was waiting for a Smeg to be installed, although that is probably the one which has now been discontinued. Thanks again for the info and I hope your saga has a happy ending!

 

[Fluffy67]

Well, I had the engineer today and he found out that the knobs had been switched over! Hence the ovens functions were all out of kilter. However, the oven is now functioning "as designed" ie the fan switches on and off all the time. Hmmm. Not sure where to go from here. I think I'll give it a go and see what the cooking results are. From the experiences on this thread it looks like they will not be great but as I'm having so much trouble finding a replacement it is probably worth a try. I will keep an eye out for the new model AEG oven to see if that would make a worthier replacement, since for now it seems that majority opinion (including implicitly from AEG!) is that this oven is not of Satisfactory quality or fit for the purpose (to use the legal jargon) If you can, do let me know how things progress for you! Thanks!