MSE News: Hotpoint tumble dryer help: 3 extra tricks to get you a refund

Penfrogirl

lstar337 wrote: »

Just use the contact form on the Hotpoint site and they will phone you back. No need for email.
Where it says "Why are you contacting us today?" Select "Tumble Dryer Modification Campaign" and fill out your details.

Tried this and they said I would get a reply within 10 days - that was on April 12th - no reply as yet!

H2Ointolerant

I called regarding my hotpoint dryer as soon as I received the letter early last year and was relieved to be told that my machine was not one that was a fire risk. I have been using it ever since - at night on the reduced electricity rate and when out.
An engineer visited today to repair my washing machine and happened to spot the dryer in another room as the door was open and told us that the machine needed modifying.
Called hotpoint ( long wait and had to call twice) and it IS a fire risk.
I'm furious. It's only sheer luck that it hasn't caught fire and that the engineer happened to see it today.
Please double check if you have been told your machine is ok by entering details on the website or, if calling, get them to read back numbers and get name of person and call centre they are at just in case.....

wealdroam

H2Ointolerant wrote: »

It's only sheer luck that it hasn't caught fire...

That's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it?

H2Ointolerant

How can it be an exaggeration when considering that some of these dryers have actually caught fire and burnt down people's homes? This being the reason that there has been a recall........

minimike2

Thought I would let you know my experience.

I raised a section 75 claim with Barclaycard for an unrelated inherent fault with the auto-stop on my Aqualtis dryer which Hotpoint failed at repairing twice and just kept on saying they wanted to "try again to repair".

I added in the bit about the saftey recall.

In the end they have agreed to a full refund under s.75 on the auto stop fault, however before that they asked if I had heard about the £99 replacement offer and asked if I would take Hotpoint up on that and then they would refund me £99.

I stated I didn't want to buy another Hotpoint machine and so my requirement was for the full £299.99, which they duly obliged, but if there is anyone out there looking for the £99 replacement machine then you may have luck with your Section 75 claim in at least getting the cost of that. Barclaycard seemed very concerned about the safety issues and said they were paying out the £99 to a lot of people at the moment.

The annoying thing is that, as far as I believe, it is the credit card issuers that sump up the costs for this, when really they should be able to reclaim from the retailer who should reclaim from the manufacturer. The compensation comes from the wrong place!

wealdroam

minimike2 wrote: »

The annoying thing is that, as far as I believe, it is the credit card issuers that sump up the costs for this, when really they should be able to reclaim from the retailer who should reclaim from the manufacturer. The compensation comes from the wrong place!

That's up to the credit card issuer and any agreements they may have made with suppliers.

There is provision in Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act for the credit provider to recover their costs from the supplier.

Eug

I've posted before about Argos not honouring their agreement to not take back my Hotpoint after me paying the differential for a new Hoover Tumble Dryer. I was really agree but couldn't get past the customer service argument that it wasn't faulty - it only needed to be modified (they said they'd had Hotpoint's solicitors in presenting to them.


Anyway a couple of days later I got a call for Hoover to arrange my delivery!! Had Argos had a change of heart? As when I talked to Argos they said a contract only existed when the goods had been delivered so I waited until the Hoover was sitting in my kitchen to call Argos. I asked for an update on my order and was told the order was not going through. I asked had they refunded the additional money I had paid and they said yes but it appears they tried to refund it to the original debit card I had which was cancelled after being lost and not to the actual card I paid the differential on. Anyway I said it didn't matter as the item had been delivered. The customer service person then said " So what's the problem then?" in quite an irritated tone.


At this point I did considered just ending the call but decided to let her know that I still had the Hotpoint machine.


Conclusion:


I'm happy with my new Hoover. Hotpoint will be picked up on Monday and end this awful fire risk in my home.


Argos' customer service is not only poor but fortunately for me incompetent. Not sure if MSE can chalk this one up as a success as I seem to have got what I wanted by default but thanks for the encouragement to have a go.:beer:

shaun_from_Africa

minimike2 wrote: »

The annoying thing is that, as far as I believe, it is the credit card issuers that sump up the costs for this, when really they should be able to reclaim from the retailer who should reclaim from the manufacturer. The compensation comes from the wrong place!

When you consider that most credit cards charge around 18% to 19% interest at a time when the UK base rate is 0.5%, I'm sure that they can easily afford to pay out for a few S75 claims if they can't get the money back from the retailers.

J_B

J_B wrote: »

No phone back so I used 'live chat' to speak to them today - like banging my head against a brick wall :mad:

We are left with an unusable machine (it worked fine before he came) and no offer of a comparable replacement - the final suggestion was to call the 0800 number ... maybe I will try that tomorrow.

Can anyone advise me of a vented / sensor drier with alarm that Hotpoint do, it's not easy to find on their website!

Anyway ....
Tried the 'contact us' thing on their website again.
Got a call back on Friday saying
"sorry, out of stock with replacements. There will be a new stock list on Tuesday morning (after bank holiday), as soon as I'm in the office on Tuesday morning, I'll call you back"

Tuesday came and went with no call, so I plugged the drier back in and re-fitted the vent pipe to the back and switched it on.
It made a few strange noises, but we let it run as 'nothing ventured ...'
It's Friday now and it's done about 4 loads of washing and the strange noises seem to have disappeared.

Stick or twist???

GNL

As I was fed up with waiting for a repair, I decided to take the 'safer' option and pay £59 for a replacement.
I arrived today and when I switched it on, within seconds there was a burning smell and smoke pouring from it.
Replacement sent straight back and my original 'unsafe' one re-installed.

I am horrified that a so-called 'safe' replacement (model TVFS83CGP) to my reportedly faulty tumble dryer (model TVM560P) was obviously not tested and was released to me in a dangerous unfit state.

Since then, I have tried phoning them again and told not the right department and given another phone number. Again the same story and given another number that is only open weekday office hours!

Another shining example of customer servicer!