⚠️ Shocking Experience with DeLonghi – Buyers Beware! ⚠️

I feel compelled to share my deeply disappointing and frankly alarming experience with DeLonghi, in the hope that it saves others from going through the same.

I purchased one of DeLonghi’s upper-end gas heaters — a unit that cost nearly three times more than comparable heaters on the market. I believed I was paying for quality, safety, and long-term reliability. Unfortunately, I was wrong on all counts.

About two years into using the heater, while sitting with my daughter one evening, the unit suddenly made a terrifying noise and fire began spewing out of the ceramic plates. It was a dangerous and traumatic experience. We switched it off immediately and have never used it again since.

Naturally, I contacted DeLonghi to find out how I could get this expensive heater repaired or serviced. The response? The ceramic plates for that specific heater are not available in South Africa. That’s it. No solution, no accountability, no concern.

I followed up - contacting both the Johannesburg and Cape Town branches through their official channels. The answers I received were astonishingly dismissive:

Cape Town: "so sorry unfortunately we no longer get the panel spare for the this unit would have love to help you sir. My sincere apologies." (by the way I am NOT a sir I am a woman!)

Joburg: "It is not available as a spare part and we don't have any ex-workshop units available. Thank you. Kind regards."

That’s the level of after-sales service DeLonghi offers on a product costing thousands of rand. No attempt to assist, no options presented, no responsibility taken. Just a polite shrug.

This is not just bad service, it’s outright negligence. Selling a high-end product without access to basic replacement parts or any repair support is unacceptable. To put it bluntly: DeLonghi, shame on you.

To anyone considering a DeLonghi product in South Africa, THINK TWICE. You're not just buying a premium appliance. You're also buying into a brand that appears to walk away the moment something goes wrong.