Hotpoint Dryer cause a fire after repair- hotpoint fobbing me off.

Busybee5186

Hello,

I am at a lost. I bought one of the faulty Hotpoint dryers in July 2015 via AO. When we got the AO email about the possible fault, we registered for the engineer vistit which was due in May 2016.

The site clearly said the dryer was safe to use with a link to how to clean the filter, which my husband and I did after every drying cycle anyway.

However Monday 15th Feb, the dryer tripped the power, called hotpoint could not get through on the dryer line, several times.

Called AO who put me through hotpoint and got an appointment for Wednesday 24th, yesterday. An all day slot. So my husband had to take a day off work and wait in. We never got the text with a 3hr time slot as promised.

Dryer repair man turned up around 1pm ish, and did his thing. He did not test the dryer. When my husband asked he said the glue he used needs to cure, we need to wait 3-4hrs before turning it on.

Around 9pm we turned it on to test, within 10min approx it shorted the power again AND THE PLUG BURST INTO FLAMES!!

Luckily the fire died off but the burning stench is still very strong today! As you can imagine, I was shocked, shaking specially as I have young children in the house.

Tried to call hotpoint dryer line again today, get put on hold with a horrible beeping noise then it cuts off AGAIN.

Called AO who washed their hands off and passed me to Hotpoint. Was told I can only book another engineer visit which will be next Wednesday at the earliest, again another full day slot. I do not want this fire hazard fixed, I want it out of my home. But an engineer need to confirm the fault first before they take the next step.


Now as you can imagine, I cannot afford for my husband or I to take yet another day off work. They refused to give a shorter slot or do anything else.

So I am stuck without a dryer, with a fire hazard that has caused a fire. And short of 1 day's pay and no way to get another dryer.

Don't get me wrong, I understand they need to check it, etc. But how can they justify not giving a shorter slot so we can plan it and not end out more out of pocket as we already paid £234.98 for the dryer, lost £70 pay and have no working dryer.

Please, any suggestion of what next step I need to take will be gratefully received.

Isn't AO the people who need to refund me as I purchased from them? The dryer is 7 months old.

We cannot afford to replace it. I live in a small flat with little drying space and have young children which made having a dryer a necessity.

TIA

Busybee5186

i am trying to delete this thread as I have now posted in the hotpoint one, but I cannot find out how too.

Apologies for posting this on a new thread.

Poppie68

Is it an electrical fault within the dryer rather than the recall issue? If it is then AO will need to be dealing with it but as it's older than 6 months old you would need an independent report to clarify the cause...

wealdroam

Busybee5186 wrote: »

...within 10min approx it shorted the power again AND THE PLUG BURST INTO FLAMES!!

Doesn't sound like the tumble dryer problem we are currently hearing a lot about, does it?

Can I suggest that perhaps the first thing to do is check the plug and socket for loose connections?
Perhaps an electrician could help with that.

Has the original fitted plug been cut off at some time? Maybe to feed the cable through a worktop (say).

Just a warning... if the fault is due to something like that, then expect the repairer to charge for their attendance.

Busybee5186

No, nothing has been done to the cable there was no previous damage.

Hotpoint cannot be reached. AO is following it up with them about the issue.

The original issue was causing the machine to overheat and cut off. AO thinks it is possible it is the same problem which caused a surcharge to the plug and fried it .