Hoover HZF 6163 A > Reviews > NOT a Frost Free Freezer

Author's product rating:   

Performance	Good
Ease of use	Hard
Durability	Long
Cleaning & Maintenance	Very easy
Value for money	Poor

Advantages:	Frost Free
Disadvantages:	Space, Drawers, Reliability

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

One of the selling points of this freezer is that it is frost free, and this was a very desirable feature because the one we had previously, needed defrosting constantly, 2 or 3 times a year. Which takes a lot of effort and a long time. So it was a welcomed feature in our house.

After having the freezer for around 3 months, having no problems with it previously, it started to freeze up. There was ice running down the front of all the drawers, and every time one was opened, you had to snap through the ice on the front. Now that doesn't really seem frost free to me? This was a regular occurance, happening every day. Fortunately with most appliances/products like that there is usually a warranty or guarantee that protects you against things like that happening - faulty products and breakages. Our freezer was obviously a faulty product.

But it doesn't look good if the "Frost Free" claim is what the products fault was. Im not sure if it was a one off, if there is a batch of faulty products or the range is just generally unreliable, but it is only fair to presume it was a one off occurance.

Once this problem was brought to the attention of Hoover, they were quick to replace our freezer with a new one, with no charge. The problem was reported and the new freezer delivered in 2 working days. The new one being installed and the old one being disposed of by hoover. This was a very good service from the company as there was no argument at all and things were dealt with quickly and efficiently. However, if it was a different problem, like the freezer wasn't keeping things cold, 2 working days would be a long time for a delivery, as most of the food would have been defrosted and ruined.

On the outside the freezer looks the same as any other plain 'white good' It is quite tall and slim and space saving as it is vertical. (We are used to having a horizontal freezer). It would fit easily into most average size kitchens.

The interior of the freezer has a big draw at the bottom which is white and is the biggest storage compartment. However,it isn't that big at all. It is quite deep, but does not go very far back. This is because the freezer itself seems quite shallow. Then, like most conventional freezers, there are 4 shelves above it each with a draw that can pull out. Each drawer has a translucent greyish/blue plastic on the front of it, with a handle, cut into the top of the draw for easy access. Above all of this is a small section that looks as if it is designed for smaller items, such as ice-cubes.

The drawers, however, are not very easy to pull out at all. The second draw down, on both freezers that we have had always gets stuck and is very stiff. To rectify the problem, the only solution we have found so far is to remove the third drawer and pull the above one from the inside. This is not a very pleasant and easy experience, especially on a cold winter's morning. It could be quite refreshing in summer though. None of the drawers come out with ease and force has to be used to push them back in again. This obviously is another poor feature of the freezer.

There also seems as if there is hardly any space for the size of the freezer. It always seems like everything is always squashed together when there is hardly even anything in there. Again, not a good feature, as you have to hunt around for 5 minutes just to get to what you was looking for. There is also a strange square cut into the inside of the door, with what looks like some sort of metal seatbelt. We use this for frozen pizzas, but im not quite sure what its for. It hardly seems worth having it there to be honest.

Overall, i would say that there are better freezers on the market to buy. This cannot be the only one that offers a frost free service. Also, im sure all the others would open and close properly and with ease. I would not reccommend this freezer.