Fridge freezer cover, part of your Smart Plan

What is fridge freezer cover?

Fridge freezer cover is the appliance part of a Smart Plan service plan: if your fridge freezer breaks down, we arrange the repair, with parts and labour up to £225 per appliance. It is for future breakdowns only. A fault your fridge freezer has now counts as a defect under our terms, and a new plan doesn't pay to repair it.

Your fridge freezer has to be listed on your cover sheet, the document you receive when your plan starts. Appliance cover only applies to the appliances named there. In our terms, a breakdown means the complete failure of the appliance.

The cover limit is £225 per appliance in each 12-month period, counted from the date your plan starts. Nothing is set up or paid for online: you get a call back, we go through the cover and the price with you, and you decide.

Smart Plan is a trading style of UK Boiler Company Limited (company number 09078640). UK Boiler Company Limited has been trading since 2014.

What fridge freezer cover includes

When your fridge freezer is listed on your cover sheet, appliance cover includes:

• A repair when your fridge freezer breaks down, meaning it has stopped working completely
• Parts and labour, up to £225 per appliance in each 12-month period
• If it can't be economically repaired, a contribution towards a replacement, up to what is left of your cover limit
• Access to a national network of thousands of vetted engineers and tradespeople we work with

Talk it through before anything is set up

Leave your name and number and we'll call you to go through what's covered for your fridge freezer, what isn't, and the price of your plan. Nothing is set up and no payment is taken online. We aim to call you back within one working day, Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00.

What is not covered

So there are no surprises, these are the exclusions most likely to matter for a fridge freezer. They come from sections 8 and 10 of our terms, and the table further down shows the section for the main ones. If you're unsure how one applies to you, ask us on the call.

• Routine maintenance, cleaning, servicing and routine re-gassing
• Perishable parts, such as door seals and filters
• Food that spoils, or any other cost from not being able to use the appliance, such as hiring a replacement
• A fault that was there before your plan started, which our terms treat as a defect
• Manufacturer defects
• Damage caused during delivery
• A fridge freezer that hasn't been installed or maintained in line with regulations or the manufacturer's instructions, including clearances and damage from heat because it sits too close to a heat source such as an oven
• Faults caused by newly installed equipment
• Problems with a utility supply to your home, such as electricity, water or broadband, rather than a fault with the appliance itself
• Adjusting settings, replacing batteries or resetting the appliance, for example turning the thermostat dial
• Misuse, negligence or someone else interfering with the appliance
• Cosmetic damage to paintwork, dents or scratches, and damage to a display, such as a cracked screen on a smart fridge
• Theft, attempted theft, neglect, deliberate damage, or damage caused by animals, plants or trees
• Faults where the cause is freezing
• Damage from fire, lightning, floods, storms, frost, explosion or similar events outside the appliance
• A fridge freezer in a garage, shed, annex or other outbuilding rather than the main building
• A fridge freezer you don't own, or one in a shared or communal kitchen
• Faults caused by scale deposits, rust or corrosion
• Reasonable damage if we need to remove housing, boxing in or fitted units to reach an integrated fridge freezer

Re-gassing, integrated and American-style models

Re-gassing

Our terms exclude routine re-gassing, along with routine maintenance, cleaning and servicing. Whether a particular refrigerant fault is covered depends on its cause, which the engineer assesses against the terms. If a fault turns out to fall under an exclusion, the £95 call-out fee applies and, where possible, we give you a quote before any work is done.

Integrated fridge freezers

An integrated fridge freezer can be covered if it's listed on your cover sheet. If we need to remove housing or fitted units to reach it, reasonable damage caused doing that isn't covered.

American-style fridge freezers

Section 8 of our terms doesn't exclude any make, size or style of fridge freezer. What matters is that it's listed on your cover sheet and meets the terms. A problem with the water supply to a plumbed-in water or ice dispenser, rather than a fault with the appliance itself, isn't covered, and water filters are perishable parts. Ask us on the call how your own dispenser would be treated.

Food and loss of use

Fridge freezer cover pays towards repairing the appliance, within your cover limit. It doesn't pay for food that spoils while your fridge freezer isn't working, or for a temporary fridge in the meantime. Our terms exclude costs or loss from not being able to use your appliance, and give hiring a replacement as an example.

If spoiled food is your biggest worry, check whether your home contents cover includes freezer contents, as that is separate from a Smart Plan.

Before you set up fridge freezer cover

The first 30 days

Any call-out you request in the first 30 days of a new plan carries a £95 call-out fee, paid before we attend, plus payment in advance for any additional work before it is done. Your cover still applies during those 30 days.

A fault you have now

A fault that existed before your plan began counts as a defect. If our engineer finds one, we give you a quote to put it right. If it isn't put right, that part of the appliance is treated as an exclusion, and repairing a defect we've identified isn't covered. The best time to set up cover is while your fridge freezer is working.

A freezer in the garage

Our terms exclude anything that isn't part of the main building of the property, and they name garages, sheds, annexes and outbuildings. A second freezer kept in a garage or shed is therefore not covered. If yours sits somewhere you're unsure about, ask us on the call.

Your 14-day cooling-off period

You have 14 days from the start of your agreement to cancel with a full refund of anything you've paid. If we carry out a service at your request during those 14 days, the cooling-off period no longer applies.

Fees, call-out hours and the agreement period

Call-outs are carried out Monday to Friday, between 08:00 and 18:00, unless it's an emergency breakdown.

A £95 call-out fee applies to any call-out in the first 30 days of a new plan. It also applies when the fault falls under an exclusion, and where possible we quote for the work first. If our engineer can't get access at the agreed time, a £95 no-access fee applies, and it has to be settled before any other services. Please make sure the engineer can reach the fridge freezer, as they won't move your belongings unless that's agreed beforehand. If they can't reach it, a call-out fee may apply.

Your plan is monthly rolling and renews each month until you tell us to cancel. Once you request a service, a 12-month agreement period begins, and leaving early during that period means paying the remaining months, or 75 per cent of the outstanding balance as a one-off payment.

If we ever plan to change the terms or the price of your agreement, we write to you two months in advance.

Fridge freezer cover at a glance

Fridge freezer cover is a service plan, not insurance

Smart Plan is a service plan, not insurance, and our terms say the same in writing. It's an agreement for us to arrange repairs to the appliances listed on your cover sheet when they break down, with services provided at our discretion under those terms.

Nothing in our terms affects your statutory rights as a customer. For a newer fridge freezer, check what your manufacturer's warranty and your consumer rights already give you, because manufacturer defects are excluded from the plan.

Cover more than one appliance on the same call

Appliance cover is per appliance. Each appliance listed on your cover sheet has its own limit of £225 per appliance in each 12-month period, so using the limit on your fridge freezer doesn't reduce the limit on your washing machine.

You only pay for the appliances you choose. On your call back, tell us every appliance you'd like looked after and we'll set them up together.

Before you request a repair

Check the fridge freezer is switched on at the socket and that the socket works with another appliance. Check the door closes fully and nothing is blocking it. Supply problems and setting changes aren't covered, so these checks can save you a call-out fee.

If the freezer has iced up, or the door won't seal because of a build-up of ice, defrosting it is routine upkeep rather than a covered repair. Whether an icing fault is covered depends on its cause, because our terms exclude works where the cause is freezing. Our guide to defrosting a freezer, linked at the bottom of this page, walks you through it.

It's also worth checking your model against the GOV.UK list of product safety alerts and recalls.

Fridge freezer cover FAQs

Get a call back to set up fridge freezer cover

Leave your name and number and we'll call to set up your plan. Nothing is set up and no payment is taken online. We aim to call you back within one working day, Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00.

Related cover, help and official sources

• Appliance cover
• Washing machine cover
• How to defrost a freezer
• Our terms and conditions
• Your consumer rights (GOV.UK)
• Product safety alerts and recalls (GOV.UK)
• Dishwasher cover