A major electrical manufacturer used a gagging order to stop a woman speaking out about a fire in a supposedly safe tumble dryer
A major electrical manufacturer used a gagging order to stop a woman speaking out about a fire in a supposedly safe tumble dryer.
Whirlpool, whose brands include Hotpoint, last night faced demands to reveal how many victims it has paid to keep silent about blazes in machines it had apparently ‘fixed’.
It paid a five-figure sum to gag a mother forced to flee with two young children as a blaze engulfed her home after her drier had been modified, the Mail has learned.
Under the legal deal – signed in the middle of a Government inquiry into the potentially lethal dryers – the woman promised not to discuss how her appliance was the cause of the terrifying fire.
Campaigners and MPs said the use of ‘non-disclosure agreements’ (NDAs) marked a ‘deeply disturbing’ development for the firm. They have accused Whirlpool of ‘delaying and frustrating’ attempts to make it accept liability for the machines.
More than five million dryers under the company’s Hotpoint, Creda and Indesit brands had a design fault that has caused at least 750 household fires since 2004.
Whirlpool paid a five-figure sum to gag a mother forced to flee with two young children as a blaze engulfed her home after her drier had been modified, the Mail has learned
Whirlpool began a huge drive to modify them four years ago – but at least half a million that have not been seen are thought to be still in use. It claims there have been no reported incidents where the fix has failed, and a Government review found modified appliances had a ‘low’ fire risk.
But consumer groups said the inquiry was ‘fundamentally flawed’ as it failed to speak to at least 35 people whose ‘fixed’ machines caught fire or produced smoke or a burning smell. Hundreds of families, some with no insurance, have lost possessions or been driven out of their homes by blazes caused by Whirlpool dryers. They start when fluff from the cycle comes into contact with the heating element.
The US firm first issued a safety alert in 2015 and later launched a nationwide programme to modify millions of the at-risk machines. Despite this, half a million defective machines remain in homes.
Now it has emerged that a woman whose dryer burst into flames and engulfed her home almost two years after it was modified was paid a five-figure sum to settle her claim against Whirlpool. It included a non-disclosure agreement not to speak about the fire to anyone, including to broadcasters and on social media.
The NDA was signed with a loss adjustor, a third party acting on behalf of Whirlpool to deal with her compensation claim.
Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chairman of the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, said: ‘Attempts to silence customers with genuine complaints sound more like the cynical tactics of PR management than a commitment to protecting customers
The US firm first issued a safety alert in 2015 and later launched a nationwide programme to modify millions of the at-risk machines
Whirlpool said it did not use stand alone NDAs for resolving compensation claims but documents sometimes used ‘common confidentiality provisions’.
The NDA was signed earlier this year, during an inquiry into concerns around the modified dryers by the Office for Product Safety and Standards. The inquiry concluded this month that there is a ‘low risk of harm or injury from lint fires in modified machines’.
Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chairman of the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, said: ‘Attempts to silence customers with genuine complaints sound more like the cynical tactics of PR management than a commitment to protecting customers. We have written to Whirlpool… and we expect them to set the record straight.’
Labour MP Andy Slaughter added: ‘If [Whirlpool] are now paying customers to keep silent about faulty products that’s a very worrying sign.’ David Chaplin, Which? head of campaigns, said: ‘Any evidence that Whirlpool may have tried to silence the real stories of tumble dryer fire victims during a Government inquiry is deeply disturbing and must be urgently investigated.’ Whirlpool said as recently as February that ‘there have been no reported incidents where the modification has proven ineffective’.
But a Whirlpool engineer’s report into a fire in a modified dryer in October said its cause was ‘lint build-ups on the heater element and burn signs on the rear panel’ – the exact issue the modification was meant to stop.
Which?’s submission to the Government’s inquiry revealed 35 similar cases of modified machines catching fire or having a strong smell of smoke. But the inquiry did not take up the offer to speak directly to any of the consumers in cases highlighted by Which? Charlie Pugsley, deputy assistant commissioner at London Fire Brigade, said the modified machines may be ‘slowly ticking devices’ that could get much worse.
He added: ‘We’ve got 35 now, will that turn into 60 next year, will that turn into 100 the year after? Every one of those fires could kill.’
Nigel Day was watching TV with his family, including his disabled son, when his tumble dryer burst into flames, filling his house with choking black smoke. The father of four from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, had bought one of the first new models which supposedly had been modified in the factory to ensure it could not catch fire.
He said: ‘If this isn’t resolved, someone is going to get killed.’ A Whirlpool spokesman said: ‘Whirlpool does not use stand alone NDAs in the course of negotiating the resolution of compensation claims by consumers.
‘When negotiating compensation payments to consumers – which are often conducted by our insurers – standardised documents are sometimes used that may include common confidentiality provisions. Whirlpool has not sought to enforce such provisions against consumers in this context. We have total confidence in the dryer modification which was extensively tested before and after being implemented. Nothing matters more to us than people’s safety.’
Black smoke billowed into my utility room – but they tried to blame ME
Rebecca Robinson said Whirlpool tried to pressure her not to report a tumble dryer fire which happened a year after it was supposedly made safe
Rebecca Robinson said Whirlpool tried to pressure her not to report a tumble dryer fire which happened a year after it was supposedly made safe.
Smoke billowed out and an electrical burning smell filled her utility room during the blaze in October. Mrs Robinson, 32, a school communications manager, said the Hotpoint engineer who later came told her: ‘It shouldn’t happen like that on a modified one.’
But when he phoned his head office from her home to report it the firm kept trying to pass the blame on to Mrs Robinson, implying that she had not kept the dryer clean.
They also warned her she might lose her dryer if she didn’t agree to have a ‘fix on the fix’ rather than replacement machine – which would also mean the engineer would not have to write an official incident report on the fire. But she refused, preferring to risk having no dryer than one that might burn her house down.
The Hotpoint engineer’s report, dated October 30 2018, described the cause as ‘lint build-ups on the heater element and burn signs on the rear panel’ – the exact thing that Whirpool’s modification was designed to stop.
Smoke billowed out and an electrical burning smell filled Mrs Robinsons’ utility room during the blaze in October
Mrs Robinson, who lives with husband Ben, 33, near Newton Abbot in Devon, said: ‘It was frightening. There was a really strong smell of electrical burning.’ She added: ‘The way [Whirlpool] acted really triggered a concern.
‘I felt like tactics were coming into play and they were trying to pass the blame.’