The saga continues - this is part 4. No. 3 appliance has been delivered and is working satisfactorily. Hopefully this one will stay that way.

After a long silence from Bosch (see my previous review) we wrote to the CEO in the UK and eventually received a letter from the Director of Customer Services apologising for events to date. The matter is now settled to our satisfaction but readers may find the address of Bosch 'white' appliances useful should they also encounter problems:

BSH Home Appliances Limited
BSH Appliance Care, Service Division
Grand Union House
Old Wolverton Road
Wolverton, MILTON KEYNES MK12 5ZR

This is my third review of the Bosch KGN39V00GB fridge/freezer and is necessary as the second of these appliances has now been written off by Bosch after a life of just nine months, and the third has been delivered. The reason for the second replacement was yet another manufacturing fault - a piece of insulation became lodged in the drain pipe from the interior cooling unit preventing condensation flowing out to evaporate in the tray on top of the compressor. The result was a small glacier of ice inside the freezer. Further, with the pipe blocked, the water which was unable to escape and was trapped inside the pipe, froze and expanded breaking the stub on to which the exterior part of the pipe is fitted. This stub is fitted from inside the cabinet at manufacture and cannot be replaced.

Bosch replaced the appliance with a third unit having promised they would give us a new 2 year guarantee; we accepted the replacement, rather than a refund, strictly on this basis. However, a day or so before delivery of no. 3 we received a letter saying the old guarantee would continue in effect, leaving us approx. one year of guarantee still to run. Not a happy prospect given our experience of the KGN39V00GB so far. We have written to Bosch saying this is unacceptable - no response. Note also that Bosch service is via an 0870 number - they provide defective goods and you pay to get them put right!

If our experience of this appliance and Bosch service is typical, it would be prudent to steer well clear of both Bosch and their KGN39V00GB fridge/freezer.

This is the second of two reviews of this product, the first appliance having been replaced by Bosch as defective. See my earlier review at http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews111268.html for details.

The KGN 39V00GB is from Bosch's Classixx range, and it stands 2 metres high and 600mm wide. The fridge capacity is 221 lt, and the freezer is 88 lt. It is frost free in both compartments, and has an 'A' energy rating - annual electricity consumption is given as 376 kWh, but I have no idea how this is calculated. Door seals are removable for cleaning, and the interior is said to be 'anti-bacterial' - not sure what that means. The doors are reversible, and the absence of door handles makes them slightly harder to open.

The fridge has three glass shelves (easier to stand narrow items on than wire) which can be adjusted for height, and there are the usual two salad drawers at the bottom. An egg rack and a bottle holder are supplied, but we have used neither - they are removable. Temperature is controlled by a simple dial, and we found a mid setting just fine.

The freezer has three drawers, one of which is quite large; handy for say a turkey. There is a pocket in the freezer door which is intended for pizzas - tried ice creams in this pocket, but it was not as cold as inside the drawers. Freezer temperature is controlled by a push button and a row of LED's which select the desired temperature - we have it set on -18C. There is a 'superfast' freezing facility which is claimed to be capable of freezing 14Kg in 24 hours, but we haven't tried it.

Cold air is produced in the freezer and blown into the fridge compartment. This means there is fan noise in addition to, and independent of, the main compressor. The appliance has a habit of making strange noises (gurgling etc.) and these can be either off-putting or amusing depending on your take on life.

Overall, noise is probably average, but if you are looking for a particularly quiet appliance, this one is not for you. Otherwise, this is a fairly large fridge/freezer with few whistles and bells, which does what it says on the box, and it has a build quality at least as good as the rest. The balance of fridge/freezer capacities is good for us, but it will not suit everyone.

This is the first of two reviews of this fridge/freezer as the current model is being replaced by Bosch as it is faulty. I will review the replacement in due course and my scores relate to the appliance in its existing condition, but 'value for money' on the presumption the replacement will work!

This is a fairly large fridge/freezer with a balance of space in favour of the fridge compartment. The styling is as good as it gets, I suppose, for large white goods but the absence of door handles makes the fridge door in particular harder to open than it could be. The freezer temperature is controlled in 2 degree C steps by a simple push button and a row of LEDs; the fridge temperature is controlled by a rotatable dial. The appliance is frost-free, and the interior provides 'practical' storage space.

On delivery the appliance was left for a few hours to settle (as recommended) and allowed to run over-night before the contents of its predecessor were transferred. The internal fan in this appliance is noisy to the extent that it is necessary to shut the kitchen door to avoid being kept awake at night. A few hours after the food was transferred, the vegetables in the salad crisper were frozen solid. We turned down the temperature of the fridge and left it for 12 hours to no effect. A check of the temperature in the salad drawers showed minus 3C and over the next few days we experimented with the temperature controls to try and correct this - unsuccessfully. Temperatures in the fridge in generally fluctuated wildly and a call to the Bosch Helpline brought forward the suggestion that we should defrost the appliance - a pain, but we did it. Again to no effect.

At this point we requested an engineer who arrived within a couple of days and advised us this was a recognised fault which could easily be corrected with new seals - the cold air is produced in the freezer and ducted to the fridge compartment via channels in the appliance which vent in various places in the fridge. Cold air it seems, was leaking from the channels. The problem was that new seals were out of stock and not due in Germany for 6 weeks. We opted for a new appliance - also out of stock, but now due any day (about 3 weeks).

Not the outcome we had expected from a Bosch appliance. Hopefully the new one will fare better. £329 delivered from www.homeproductshop.com who have been very helpful throughout.