Whirlpool put lives and property at risk by delaying a warning to British customers about 500,000 fire-risk washing machines.
It issued a safety alert yesterday claiming it only became aware of the issue in recent weeks. However there have been 79 fires and ten injuries dating as far back as November 2016.
And the US firm told investors on October 23 that it would be setting aside $105million (£80million) to deal with the problem. It took a further eight weeks to issue the recall in Britain that – coming days before Christmas – will cause enormous disruption. Families are being warned not to use affected machines and Whirlpool says it will not be able to offer replacements or repairs until at least January 9. The recall relates to a faulty door mechanism on 519,000 Hotpoint and Indesit appliances made between October 2014 and February 2018.
Whirlpool put lives and property at risk by delaying a warning to British customers about 500,000 fire-risk washing machines
Tens of thousands of the machines may never be traced because of weaknesses in this country’s product safety and recall system.
And the website set up to deal with the recall also crashed yesterday. At the same time, thousands of customers found it impossible to get through on a helpline.
Sue Davies of the consumer group Which? said: ‘There is a serious risk that this recall will fail to reach people who desperately need these machines out of their homes.
‘This saga is damning proof of how the product safety system is no longer fit for purpose.’
Thomas Jervis, of lawyers Leigh Day, said: ‘I have been litigating on behalf of consumers against Whirlpool for over five years. Hundreds of people have come to me.
The home of Whirlpool U.K General manager Andrzej Tuleja, in Stamford, Lincolnshire
‘This is just the latest in a long line of disasters for Whirlpool products and it is simply not good enough.’
Mr Jervis questioned claims from company executives in TV interviews that they had only been aware of the issue for a few weeks.
He said: ‘I was really surprised to hear those comments, because Whirlpool told their American investors back on October 23 that they had ring fenced $105million to sort out these reported issues with Whirlpool washing machines.
‘I am not clear why it is being announced just before Christmas, I am also not clear why consumers are having to wait until the New Year.’
Whirlpool has been beset with a series of safety scandals. A coroner blamed an electrical fault inside the door of Hotpoint tumble dryer for a fire in north Wales, in October 2014, that killed two men – Bernard Hender, 19, and Doug McTavish, 39.
The company was heavily criticised for the way it handled the recall of 5.3million tumble dryers associated with more than 750 fires, including a tower block blaze in Shepherds Bush, west London, in 2016.
And expert evidence to the public inquiry into the Grenfell tragedy suggested a link between the wiring on a Hotpoint fridge freezer and the fire. Whirlpool, which took a controlling stake in the Indesit group and its brands in 2014, challenges this claims.
The firm refused to say when the first of the 79 fires occurred, adding: ‘As soon as we had sufficient data, Whirlpool proactively notified the product safety regulator of the situation and committed to conducting a nationwide product recall at the earliest opportunity.
‘Notifying consumers is the first stage in that process.’
The company confirmed that $105million was set aside to deal with the issue in October, adding: ‘At that stage the nature of the issue had not been determined and Whirlpool was clear in advising that as it continued to review the evidence, and understand what action might be necessary, that initial estimate might need to be revised.’
Whirlpool vice president Jeff Noel told BBC Breakfast yesterday: ‘We are truly sorry for the technical issues customers have been experiencing. One of our third-party service providers suffered an issue which affected our recall website.’
Mr Noel made no offer to give customers a refund or compensation for the costs and time of having to use a launderette.
I watched in horror as the smoke poured out
Xantha Leatham for the Daily Mail
Vicci Marshall was horrified to see smoke coming out of her washing machine – despite it not being on the Whirlpool recall list.
The 32-year-old teacher, who lives in Doncaster with her husband James, says she was lucky to be on hand at home to switch the appliance off.
She said: ‘We didn’t think much of it because it was really old – and we ordered another one from another company, Bosch.’
Call-out: Vicci Marshall also had a faulty Whirlpool dryer. The 32-year-old teacher, who lives in Doncaster with her husband James, says she was lucky to be on hand at home to switch the appliance off
It was only when they heard about the recall on Tuesday that the couple contacted Whirlpool – however the phone line proved too ‘crackly’.
Mrs Marshall said: ‘It was only after sharing a video on Facebook and Twitter of the washing machine smoking that they got in touch, and an engineer is coming out on Saturday.
‘I don’t think we’ll be using it, even if it is repaired. Several months ago our tumble dryer, also by Whirlpool, was listed as one that was being recalled and it’s only today that they’ve got round to giving us a new one.
‘I feel so sorry for those who will be without a washing machine as it could be months before they get replaced.
‘Over Christmas people need their washing machine much more than their driers, especially with children.’
Pensioner left in lurch
John Batt, 77, was desperate to find out if his washing machine was faulty when he heard about the recall on Tuesday morning.
But it took over 24 hours for him to get through to a Whirlpool employee on their hotline.
‘He said I have a faulty appliance and I explained I would rather have it replaced than repaired.’
John Batt, 77, was desperate to find out if his washing machine was faulty when he heard about the recall on Tuesday morning, but it took over 24 hours for him to get through to a Whirlpool employee on their hotline
Mr Batt added: ‘He then asked for my details, including my email address and mobile phone number to be able to process my application. I’m 77 years old – I don’t have an email address or a mobile and so I’ve had to go round to my neighbour to ask him to help.
‘They’re deliberately putting obstacles in people’s paths. They really couldn’t care less. I live with my wife but we don’t have any family living locally, so we couldn’t take our washing to theirs.’
Mr Batt, a retired mechanical engineer who lives in Southampton, added: ‘The Whirlpool boss who appeared on the TV said that people could take their washing to a laundrette. Well I don’t drive any more because I have bad eyesight.
‘Obviously we aren’t going to take the bus with our washing. It’s ridiculous.
‘I know it’s Christmas and it’s pantomime season but this is another level. In my twilight years I could really do without it.’
I’ll never buy a Hotpoint again
Becky Rooney (pictured) said she will ‘never have a Hotpoint in the house again’ after two of its washing machines had to be replaced for giving off smoke
Becky Rooney said she will ‘never have a Hotpoint in the house again’ after two of its washing machines had to be replaced for giving off smoke.
Mrs Rooney, from Warwick, told BBC Breakfast yesterday: ‘I bought the first one and it lasted about a year, then it caught fire in November 2016.
‘After a long battle with Whirlpool they replaced it with a new one, which then caught fire in March this year.
‘It was awful. They were very aggressive and were very resistant to giving me any refund or repairing it.’ She counts herself lucky for being at home to spot the smoke.
‘The first fire I was sat with my baby who was a year old and my elderly mother – we were in the kitchen,’ she said. ‘Suddenly there was smoke billowing from the back so we got everyone out the house, unplugged it and threw it into the garden.
‘The second one, it had developed a fault. We pulled it out to have a look and the machine started turning with the door open. We had the top off and the door lock caught fire.’
Yet another corporate scandal poses the question: Who CAN you trust? RUTH SUNDERLAND examines the Whirlpool saga and its possible influence on consumer confidence
Ruth Sunderland for the Daily Mail
RUTH SUNDERLAND Spending Christmas without a washing machine might not sound like the world’s worst deprivation.
But, given that the festive season is almost upon us, we should not underestimate the irritating consequences of yesterday’s warning of a recall after a major safety flaw was identified in more than half a million appliances.
Play host to a set of grandparents, an auntie, an uncle and a cousin or two, and the laundry basket will soon be bursting. Cranberry sauce may be crystallising on the best table cloth. Children’s clothes and muddy jeans from the Boxing Day walk will rapidly mount up.
Far more worrying than that, however, is the thought that your kitchen or utility room might be harbouring a death trap — and there’s no help on offer until after Christmas. Just unplug your machine . . . and wait.
There is no question that the U.S. bosses of the giant corporation Whirlpool — its Hotpoint and Indesit brands are at the centre of safety concerns — have responded feebly to the possible endangerment of their British customers.
Whirlpool, whose headquarters are thousands of miles away in Benton Harbour, Michigan, has a long and troubling record in this country.
It includes a blaze three years ago in a tower block in Shepherd’s Bush in West London linked to an Indesit tumble dryer. It took 120 firefighters to bring it under control, and a compensation deal with residents was agreed only this week.
Thankfully, no-one in that conflagration was injured, though some traumatised residents lost their homes and many possessions.
The outcome was tragically different in 2014 when two men in North Wales were killed in a fire ‘most likely’ caused by an electrical fault in the door switch of a Hotpoint tumble dryer. The coroner who ruled on the case three years later was scathing about Whirlpool’s response, saying he did not feel confident bosses had taken on board the risk of fire or its potential consequences.
This summer the company admitted that there could be 800,000 faulty tumble dryers in homes around the UK.
Horrifically
A Select Committee of MPs looking into the company’s safety record said its machines may have been to blame for at least 750 fires in 11 years.
But most horrifically, Whirlpool is also implicated in the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 that killed more than 70 people in London, which experts have said may have started in a faulty Hotpoint fridge-freezer. The company has contested those claims.
The most terrifying aspect is that everyday white goods at the heart of our homes may be potential death traps. And Whirlpool’s conduct has hardly brought consumers the reassurance they crave.
One particular cause of concern is its use of gagging orders. The company has forced customers — including one young mother who had to flee with her two children from a fire in her home caused by her dryer — to sign non-disclosure agreements. This means they cannot discuss what happened as a condition for receiving compensation.
Indeed, muzzling victims in this way is the height of corporate cynicism.
Not only does it deprive individual customers of their right to speak out, it also reduces public awareness of possibly lethal defects.
Yet if any company ought to be in tune with its consumers, it is Whirlpool. Its devices have been installed in homes for more than 100 years.
One can even claim that it played an important role in shaping society.
Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang has argued that the humble washing machine changed the world more than the internet because it liberated women from domestic drudgery, allowing them to work outside the home.
A Hotpoint washing machine model by Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool has issued a safety notice involving 519,000 fire-risk washing machines just months after the firm launched a recall of potentially dangerous dryers
We take them for granted now, but household appliances play a big role in all our lives and Whirlpool has made billions by selling them — though by its own admission its products have been plagued with faults from the start.
Back in 1912, a year after it was founded, it manufactured a batch of early washing machines with defective transmission gears. Back then it handled the problem with such integrity — recalling and replacing the affected appliances at no cost — that its next order doubled.
A hundred years on, however, rather than show genuine concern for consumers whose lives may be at risk from its products, Whirlpool has sought to minimise and cover up the possible dangers.
It became painfully clear just how out of touch the company is when it paraded a U.S. executive named Jeff Noel on television this week.
Gulping like a goldfish under his perfectly-pressed collar, he advised customers not to use their washing machines at temperatures higher than ten degrees ‘censius’, having failed to grasp our quaint old Centigrade scale.
Lawsuits
For his bosses in Michigan, including Whirlpool’s $11 million a year chief executive Marc Bitzer, Britain is just another overseas market.
It’s far from the first time a multinational corporation has treated its customers with utter disregard.
Pharmaceuticals firm Johnson & Johnson has been at the centre of a string of lawsuits. These include its involvement in the opioids crisis in the U.S., in which tens of thousands of people have become addicted to prescription medicines with dire consequences. This summer, a judge in Oklahoma said J&J had used ‘false, misleading, and dangerous marketing campaigns’ that contributed to rising rates of addiction and fatal overdoses.
European companies are far from blameless. German car giant VW was a major offender when it fitted cars with software to cheat emissions tests in the U.S. That hurt the motorists who purchased the cars, and the public at large by exposing them to pollution.
These are not rare occurrences, despite claims by every large business to be a good corporate ‘citizen’.
Integrity
Whirlpool even has an ‘Integrity Manual’ which lectures staff to be ‘ever mindful that there’s no right way to do a wrong thing’. A worthy sentiment. But top bosses are at risk of losing sight of what is right, and what is the wrong.
They live in a bubble surrounded by sycophants and highly paid legal teams whose first reflex is to protect the company, rather than help customers. The result is a failure of empathy and a stubborn refusal to ever admit to being at fault.
Whirlpool has urged owners of appliances bought since 2014 to contact them immediately to check if their washing machine is one of the models affected. Pictured are their Michigan headquarters
Millions of British families have placed unquestioning trust in Whirlpool brands and the firm may end up paying heavily for its abysmal treatment of its customers here.
I have a Hotpoint washing machine — not one of those at risk — but after this debacle I have no intention of ever buying another.
With their appalling corporate arrogance, it is Whirlpool bosses who should be hung out to dry — not the consumer — this Christmas.