The De Dietrich Oven Experience

The new De Dietrich oven certainly looked good, and the young lady who came to tell us all about it was charming. I was impressed by this added service.

My late husband used to do the vast majority of the cooking and, like many men of his generation, was more interested in the new hobs. He did use the oven occasionally – frequently just to cook frozen ‘ready meals’- and continually complained that the oven wasn’t getting hot enough. I’m afraid that I put his constant complaints down to his stubborn refusal to sit down and calmly read the wealth of information and instructions supplied by De Dietrich…..rather than just flicking up some of the pages.

After he died I was faced with the daunting task of getting my own meals, and that was when the trouble really started.

First, let’s look at the statements made by De Dietrich in the written material which they had provided to us:

1. “When using a De Dietrich fan oven a lower temperature should always be used i.e reduce by approximately 15 – 20°C for recipes cooked at up to 200°C. Reduce by 20 – 30°C for temperatures above 200°C.”
2. “There is no need to pre-heat the oven except for very short cooking times”.
3. “During cooking the temperature selected will continue to flash until the oven arrives at the temperature you have chosen The selected temperature then remains steady.”
4. “When the oven reaches the selected temperature it will bleep for 3 seconds.”

During cooking the temperature selected will continue to flash until the oven arrives at the temperature you have chosen. The selected temperature then remains steady – When the oven reaches the selected temperature, it will bleep for 3 seconds.

So did the oven comply with these promises?

Faced now with using the oven myself it immediately became clear that my husband had been right all along – the oven definitely wasn’t reaching the selected temperature, despite the fact that it was bleeping to say that it had.

Although the De Dietrich guarantee had expired, I had taken out Breakdown insurance with Domestic & General so, just over four months after losing my husband, I reported the fault to them.

The engineers arrived, tested the oven, and confirmed that it wasn’t reaching the selected temperature. They advised that the temperature sensor and the main PCB needed replacing; so they put these parts on order. A fortnight later and the replacement parts were fitted.

Unfortunately the problem continued, so I purchased an oven thermometer just to be sure. It indicated that the temperature inside the oven was only 150 ° C when the oven was set at 190 °, but it had bleeped to say that it had reached the temperature I had set it at.

It was a very busy time for me dealing with my late husband’s estate, so I simply reverted to using our microwave. I just ignored the troublesome oven.

Eventually life settled down somewhat for me, so I again took up the cudgels in an attempt to get the oven fixed. I did another test, and then telephoned the insurance company and informed them that the temperature was 133 ° when the oven bleeped to say that it had reached 180 °.

The engineers arrived promptly again, tested the oven, and confirmed that:

1. The oven was not heating properly, that it was 155 ° when it should be 180 ° (on both fan and conventional use), and that a new temperature sensor and PCB were required – AGAIN!
2. The door was creaking, so new hinges and receivers were needed.

They returned and fitted the replacement parts, assuring me that they had tested the temperature and it was reaching 177 ° when set at 180 ° degrees.

They also informed me that the oven thermometer that I was using was not terribly accurate, and that theirs was a “professional” one.

Another cold pizza later and I invested in an expensive “professional” thermometer, only for it to tell me that the selected temperature was still not being reached. This time I wrote direct to the engineers (with a copy to Domestic & General). They fitted yet another new probe and, during the visit, they telephoned De Dietrich’s technical department who, the engineer informed me, told him that a “20% variance in temperature was normal with their fan ovens” – hence when the oven bleeped to say that it had reached 200 ° it might only be 160 °…..this despite De Dietrich’s own guidance that their ovens were so powerful that a lower temperature should be used, and that we should reduce the required temperature by some 20° !!!

Excerpt from their brochure:

When using a De Dietrich fan oven a lower temperature should always be used i.e. reduce by approximately 15°C — 20°C for recipes cooked up to 200°C. Reduce by 20°C — 30°C for temperatures above 240°C. Please note that cooking temperatures for recipes in this book recommending use of the fan have already been adjusted so there is no need to further reduce, you will only need to reduce temperatures for recipes from other recipe books.

The engineers, who I believe really did want to help me, suggested that:

1. I pre-heat the oven for longer (De Dietrich say that there is no need to pre-heat their ovens except for very short cooking times – such as biscuits): and
2. Put the oven at a higher temperature for a while, then lower it, and keep checking the food.

Can you imagine trying to time vegetables cooking on the hob to be ready at the same time as a joint is cooked…..it’s hopeless.

The drama continued, with letters flying back and forth over the following months.

Then the engineers informed me that the insurers (Domestic & General) had refused to pay their outstanding invoices, and that they were not therefore (understandably in my opinion) inclined to help me further, and as an additional result would not now be able to guarantee the various parts which they had fitted.

Not yet ready to be beaten I wrote to De Dietrich themselves who stated (as just one example) that they “had no record of written or published statements by their company that fan oven temperatures should be reduced by some 20%”. They asked me to send them copies of such statements by them as evidence. Which I did !!

Their reply admitted that their manual “leaves room for interpretation”; but then they had the brass neck to add that they “would certainly promote an intuitive approach to the art of cooking”. It appears from this that if you’re not an “intuitive” cook then, rather than follow the instructions in their manuals, you should just hazard a guess at what temperatures you think the oven might be cooking at..

De Dietrich asked me present evidence supporting an inherent fault – which they advised they remained obliged to take responsibility for six years from the date of purchase. So I sent them all the engineers’ reports. As I might have expected, They replied that these did not “constitute evidence that the faults were validated”.

A few more letters were exchanged, but I was wilting by this time. I accepted that I would get nowhere with the manufacturers either.

My final attempt was with the Trading Standards Division of the local County Council who informed me, much to my amazement, that a 20 % variance was acceptable for ovens. At this point I gave up.

So: for a very long time now I have relied upon my trusted microwave. If or when I decide to replace the De Dietrich disaster I will thoroughly investigate performances first. Once purchased I will – during the guarantee period – put the oven through all the tests to ensure its performance against the relevant manufacturers manual and marketing material. And I will certainly not bother paying for insurance.