Hotpoint urgent tumble dryer recall

Marktheshark

The opinion of a fire officer vs a dedicated independent hands on safety report/tests is very different in my opinion, personally I believe the latter.

Lost any credibility with that statement, the fire officer is the only one you could rely on to be be independent and honest.
Anyone else can be bought and paid for.

unholyangel

JG1971 wrote: »

I'm not questioning these statistics but what is your source?

Government Statistics - they also have the same data available for previous years

LongTallKatie

Lpghostage wrote: »

I registered my vented dryer in November and received a call from Hotpoint a couple of weeks ago offering a repair in May or the offer of a new one for £59 or a condenser model for £99. I said I would think about it rather than make a snap decision and they said they would call me back later in the day.
As they did not ring back I called them yesterday and got through in a few minutes. I decided to go for the condenser model for £99 as I think this is a fair deal as a replacement for my 3 year old machine. It is being delivered on 2nd March.
Job done. Can't understand some of the comments on this thread. I think at the end of the day this is fair and reasonable.

If you think it is fair that Hotpoint are selling you a new dryer for £99 when the original one you bought was sold with a dangerous fault - more fool you!

LongTallKatie

paulb76 wrote: »

This is an interesting one for me as a serving fire officer of many years and owner of an affected machine. This means I am both customer and qualified to give advice on fire risk. And lets be clear, this is most definitely a fire risk as agreed by the manufacturer.
Some of the comments on here have surprised me.
I have been to many a fire involving drying appliances, mostly causing moderate damage to a room but some having devastating consequences. The latter almost always due to the occupier being out or in bed whilst the fire grows. And this is my first point. For many years and before these issues came to light we have advised that these appliances in particular be used only whilst the owner is in and awake. This has nothing to do with known possible faults causing fire but rather to reduce risk of fire and its escalation. Exactly the same as turning off the cooker if you go out or turning the TV off before you go to bed.
The difference here is that its been accepted by the manufacturer that there is a known problem and 'increased' risk. And that is the crucial part. This is why the advice given to continue using is somewhat irrelevant. Would you be willing to continue using an electric blanket if you received a letter telling you it may be a little more dangerous than it should be?

The advice in the letter and in fact the entire letter is professionally put together as to negate any liability. A potential FAULT has become a 'potential safety and quality concern' Engineers are not out to FIX the problem but rather 'update it to a higher safety standard' And the absolute last thing they want to say is stop using. This ultimately accepts all liability. So the only alternative is to say it can be used whilst supervised. And as many have said, this merely implies that you can just call 999 much sooner should a fire start. Sterling advice. I am very surprised how naive some people are to read 'you may still use but do not leave unattended' as 'its all fine as long as they say it is'

You would be astounded if you watched an article about fake phone chargers in which the experts said 'these fakes are poorly designed and the risk of fire is increased' 'but carry on using it as long as its not unattended'

For the many of the opinion that compared to the amount sold, the amount causing fires is somehow tiny or insignificant. Would you feel the same if the same was said about a known fault in baby car seat? Out of the millions sold only a relative few have caused serious injuries or death.

Now on a personal level as a customer. Mine was just over a year old and registered in November and i have been told August as a repair (not update/modify/rectify potential issue) date.
Nine months to rectify a known fire hazard. This is completely unacceptable, especially when affixed to a note that i may still use it albeit with an increased risk of fire. My machine is in the garage, i only ever use it when i am in but still i can neither see it or hear it. Is this an acceptable definition of attended? If so then is being 2 floors up in the back bedroom also acceptable?
My advice 100% of the time would be not to use any appliance with a recall because of increased fire risk so i would be a hypocrite if i hadn't stopped using mine. This now leaves me with a further wait of 8 months before i can dry clothes. Do not feel the need to make ludicrous comments like 'surely you have radiators' I have 2 very young children and those making such inane comments probably live alone with a weekly wash of 3 pairs of pants and a pair of socks.
I have been offered a new inferior washer for £99. Surely this is exactly the same as me just binning my present one and buying a new one for £99. How much they claim it is worth is irrelevant. My current one was half price.
I am also on economy 7. My electric is 3 times the price in the day and i am advised to use appliances like this at night because of it. Suddenly i am told not to use it at night for 9 months. So technically for anyone who used theirs at night, their electricity bill with this power hungry device is now 3 times higher! You wouldn't want to pay for a repair so why should you want to spend more to continue using it.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and mine is that these time scales and the inconsistency of dealing with the problem is not at all acceptable. As soon as someone dies as a proven result of these faults it will get sorted immediately. No great result for the family involved.

An excellent post!

LongTallKatie

Zandoni wrote: »

Not at all, owning two cars would make no difference, because you can only be on the road with one.

But if you had two tumble driers you could easily use both at once and this would certainly double your risk of a tumble drier fire.

The bottom line is that Hotpoint made an inferior product for 11 years.

Exactly, and it is only because Whirlpool have took over that they approached Trading Standards about the fire risk / fault. 11 years is just crazy to be selling a product that is a fire risk.

LongTallKatie

AJXX wrote: »

What laid back comments? If you're referring to advice to continue supervised use of the machine then that would seem the logical thing to do in this situation. Why?

• Because that's the advice of the manufacturer (whom conducted testing and certified reports) and has seemingly had this approved by Trading Standards vs fire bodies who are saying "don't use it!!!" based off what data exactly?
• The opinion of a fire officer vs a dedicated independent hands on safety report/tests is very different in my opinion, personally I believe the latter.
• Because objective data tells us that less than 1% of units sold has actually suffered any kind of malfunction/caused a fire. This is a very low figure and suggests that the vast majority of machines are certainly not going to spontaneously combust like some people on here seem to believe.

Nobody here has any "loyalty" to Hotpoint. I myself am waiting for a repair and have posted several times at my disappointment with how the situation has been handled.

What I haven't done, however, is throw my hands up in the air and lost my sh*t like some people on here seem to do: OMG my dryer is a fire hazard my house is going to burn down I have 7 kids what am I going to do with my life now! I refuse to use this dryer AT ALL, I used to go out and leave it on for hours on end I'm suprised my house hasn't already burned down hehe but OMG there is no way I can use it now THAT I KNOW IT'S A FIRE HAZARD! what are my 7 kids going to do. I can't be LOGICAL about this, I can't periodically check my dryer whilst I'm using it HOW UNREASONABLE! Clean the filter? I don't have time for that I have 7 KIDS! OMG *ring ring* yes, hotpoint I want my dryer repaired NOW! right now! what do you mean I'm being unreasonable I have 7 kids! NO I CANT WAIT OMG 7 KIDS! I want a NEW MACHINE What do you mean I have to pay £99 for a brand new dryer, mine is only 5 years old and I refuse to use it, dont you know it's a FIRE HAZARD, a FIRE HAZARD I SAY! I want a free dryer NOW NOW NOW! Gimme gimme gimme, I'm important I have 7 kids!

Just because someone makes a very logical point or calls someone out for overacting/doing the wrong thing does not mean they're "loyal to Hotpoint".

All this 'Supervise it whilst it's on' how do you do that if it's in a garage which is freezing cold. Are you expected to sit there and watch your washing go round and round, sit there with a fire extinguisher just in case it's catches fire.


The point is, HOTPOINT knowingly sold tumble dryers, many designed with timers for 11 years and did nothing until last year. This is not acceptable!

LongTallKatie

unholyangel wrote: »

Out of those 750 fires, only 3 resulted in injury - no deaths. That is 0.25 injuries per year and 249 out of 250 fires result in no injury to persons.

ETA: 20 people die or are injured every day as a result of fires in a home. And you think 0.25 per year is the big bad?

There was a death with a tumble dryer fire at the beginning of the month. It's not been confirmed as a Hotpoint etc. model, but I'll put my money on the fact it was.

sweetsocks

Hi everyone, I can't make a decision about repair or upgrade for my Hotpoint condenser dryer TCM580P. I bought it Dec 2014 for £199, saw the Watchdog reports Nov 2015 and after filling in the online model checker the same evening I received the standard letter saying they'd be in touch in five weeks. Finally received an e-mail response 04/02/2016 with a link offering a repair sometime in March or upgrade for £99. Googled the upgrade model tdwsf83bep on offer to find that the only place it's for sale is on Amazon for £299 and the only 'upgrade' is the fact that it has sensor drying. I have done lots of reading on here and on MoneySavingExpert.com. Repair - lots of people complaining that after repair their machine that was originally working fine either stopped working altogether or started smelling of burning. So now I don't really feel confident with having the machine repaired in case I end up with a machine I can't use at all. Supposed Upgrade - people complaining that the same model on offer to me stopped working within a couple of days. Also, as the machine is only available on amazon, I do wonder if it's basically something that's been thrown together as a replacement option for these 'unsafe' machines. Paying another £99 for a machine I could end up having more hassle with if it's poorly made doesn't feel like a great option, especially as my current machine is only just over a year old. At the end of the day the total cost will have been £298. If my machine was 2/3 years old, I would probably go for it and take the risk. So I'm now feeling very confused and undecided as to what to do, as it feels that whichever choice I make I could end up being worse off and having to spend time off work waiting for deliveries or repairmen and money calling hot point to put things right if whichever 'fix' I go for could make things worse!
Any constructive comments would be gratefully received.

AJXX

The point is, HOTPOINT knowingly sold tumble dryers, many designed with timers for 11 years and did nothing until last year. This is not acceptable!

But the question is what are you going to do about it? (other than keep moaning on here...)

I'm not meaning to have a go at you, but you keep replying to perfectly logical and sensible postings from other members with off hand and unsubstantiated information just because you don't agree with them.

I get it you're clearly not a Hotpoint fan, but you aren't adding anything useful to the discussion other than scaremongering and dramatising perfectly reasonable suggestions like supervising the machine more frequently (which simply means being more vigilant as opposed to your suggestion of sitting there staring at it with a fire extinguisher at the ready).

LongTallKatie

sweetsocks wrote: »

Hi everyone, I can't make a decision about repair or upgrade for my Hotpoint condenser dryer TCM580P. I bought it Dec 2014 for £199, saw the Watchdog reports Nov 2015 and after filling in the online model checker the same evening I received the standard letter saying they'd be in touch in five weeks. Finally received an e-mail response 04/02/2016 with a link offering a repair sometime in March or upgrade for £99. Googled the upgrade model tdwsf83bep on offer to find that the only place it's for sale is on Amazon for £299 and the only 'upgrade' is the fact that it has sensor drying. I have done lots of reading on here and on MoneySavingExpert.com. Repair - lots of people complaining that after repair their machine that was originally working fine either stopped working altogether or started smelling of burning. So now I don't really feel confident with having the machine repaired in case I end up with a machine I can't use at all. Supposed Upgrade - people complaining that the same model on offer to me stopped working within a couple of days. Also, as the machine is only available on amazon, I do wonder if it's basically something that's been thrown together as a replacement option for these 'unsafe' machines. Paying another £99 for a machine I could end up having more hassle with if it's poorly made doesn't feel like a great option, especially as my current machine is only just over a year old. At the end of the day the total cost will have been £298. If my machine was 2/3 years old, I would probably go for it and take the risk. So I'm now feeling very confused and undecided as to what to do, as it feels that whichever choice I make I could end up being worse off and having to spend time off work waiting for deliveries or repairmen and money calling hot point to put things right if whichever 'fix' I go for could make things worse!
Any constructive comments would be gratefully received.

I would have a read through the thread from start to finish, lots of helpful advice, comments and others sharing the experiences they have had. I shared my story yesterday it's a few pages back. I had a modification which unfortunately made the dryer produce a burning spell afterwards. Hotpoint then decided to replace it for me, and my newer model is just as good as the one removed. It took a while from modification to getting my replacement since I was forgotten about for a couple of weeks.