Falmec Australia

I am amending my original post as FALMEC did provide a refund for this item. It did require me getting past the service department to the Marketing Manager so if you have problems, persevere as she is very supportive and helpful.Warning - read before buying a Falmec Siena 900 PlusI purchased the Falmec Siena 900+. Installation was centred over a SMEG induction cooktop at a height of 650mm and in 400mm deep cabinetry. Our benchtop is 650mm deep. I implore anyone buying this unit to consider your purchase as my experience with the product and the staff at Falmec has been distressing to say the least, and I have been brought to tears on a number of occasions. The Falmec Siena DID NOT work satisfactorily when boiling a pot of water, for say pasta or boiled eggs with the specs above over an induction cooktop. The steam ran up the face of the cabinetry within 60 seconds to the point of the cabinet doors being wet to the ceiling and the water dripping off the control panel of the rangehood.A technician was sent who said the cabinetry needed to be deeper than 480mm min deep - which is outside the norm of what kitchen companies normally do and would result in bumping your head on upper cabinetry. This was not in their installation manual.Falmec sent their specialist technician after this, George from HiTech who identified we had the wrong vent size and replaced the vent and ducting at a cost of $250. The unit was then tested, and same thing, steam up the front face of the cabinet doors and wet within 60 seconds so problem NOT resolved adequately. Later that day I spoke to Falmec’s technician George again to try and understand how this could happen. Is it my cabinets? Was I sold the wrong rangehood for an induction cooktop? He was incredibly rude to me and said I chose the wrong rangehood and to stop trying to point the finger at people, it is my problem and I need to solve it - was just so RUDE when I was trying to understand why this rangehood didnt work adequately. He claimed cabinets should have been 700mm high, which is contrary to the email received from Falmec direct which stated 600mm min. The bottom line is that the Falmec Siena in my kitchen doesn’t cope with steam and would destroy my cabinets within weeks.I spoke to the Office of Fair Trading who said there were a number of factors relevant to me – price to quality relationship and the expectations of a $1900 product is reasonable that you would expect it to suction steam and that it would not run up the face of a cabinet. Secondly there was a question of fitness for purpose. Clearly not fit for the purpose of removing steam when cooking. Then the Office of Fair Trading suggested that there may also be deceptive and misleading conduct as when you purchase a product – which while viewed in Winnings ends up being a direct purchase from Falmec. Fair trading stated that you should be provided with any specific installation instructions. My kitchen installers and myself checked the installation booklet and due to an absence of specific installation instructions, defaulted to building code.I contacted Falmec a 3rd time over this as I am facing thousands of dollars in removing the Falmec, modifications to cabinetry then reinstallation costs for another rangehood. They stood firm in their view that their unit functions properly and in the email stated that it was a design issue and that I needed to centre the unit over the cooking surface and have it a minimum of 600mm above the cooking surface. Both these points were met. They have NO clear instructions in their installation manual, so the default is Australian Building Standards - which is 600mm minimum height. We more than met this.I would recommend getting a Whispair Monte Carlo 1690 extraction if concerned about steam on cabinets as this works amazingly over my induction cooktop.

Purchased a Falmec Milano+ 90cm Deep from Berloni Appliances and is the best rangehood I have ever owned. I previously had a qasair and this is quieter and more powerful than the 2 motor qasair I previous had. Extremely well made product and great value with ducting included and a 10 year motor warranty. Also the detail of how it was explained and also shown by Berloni was fantastic. Now looking at an Alfresco Canopy as well! Highly Recommend