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Washing Machine Fire
Padstar
Posts: 2 Newbie
Hi all
Looking for advice on the next step I should take, on the weekend my Haier washing machine caught fire in the kitchen, we called the fire brigade and luckily I managed to get the machine out of the property before it did any serious damage. Water silt on the floor and there are some very small black marks on the kitchen cupboard and the tumble drier. That aside damage was minimal, however now I have been with without a washing machine for a week and running up laundrette bills and wasting time doing so. I contacted them and they sent out an engineering company to check, he has reported back. I chased them by phone and by email, I am concerned this could well have killed someone. See my mail below and the reply i received, does anyone know how i should answer and what my next steps should be, i don't really want to give them the machine until solved and I am sure we ever got the notice.
My mail
"Dear Sir/Madam
I contacted customer services again today and was informed by Rudolf that this case is being dealt with directly with head office. I have asked for a call back, not just an email please by a member of your management team preferably.
Just so you know I feel this problem has not only caused myself a significant amount of time but is also costing me money, my wife has had to wash clothes since the incident in a laundrette, I also have to spend time and money on phone calls. Water spilled on the floor under the work service where I had to rip the washing machine out and small scorch marks on one cupboard and the side of our tumble drier. This incident would have burnt the whole kitchen or may have done the whole house, and it worries me that this unit was designed with such a big design floor, I really believe this could have killed someone if the timing had have been different. I have worked in many factories as a buyer of electronics and this type of issue should not happen.
My wife is now not only worrying about washing clothes during the night time and or the day time when we are out, but is also worried about using washing machines at all. I am trying to say it is a one off but lets be honest it should not just be a "one off", it should never happen.
If I hadn`t have come home when I did my wife would not have been unable to enter the kitchen from the back garden, due to flames as the machine is located close to the back door. And one of my children was in the bath , the bathroom is located above the area of the kitchen. The other children were playing upstairs, so would not have seen the fire and probably would not have heard my wife in the back garden.
In my opinion this is a very serious problem and needs to be treated that way. It is apparent on the internet that you were aware of this fault on this model and I think you should have found a way to get a recall in place, through advertising on TV and papers or in some other way using the retailers log of buyers perhaps.
I need you to come back to myself with
1. A suitable compensation package bearing in mind you could have killed someone!
2. Some corrective action to solve this problem with other peoples machines with the same problem (my wife`s nan has one of these and is also not using it because of what has happened).
Thanks to call me"
then they replied with
"Dear Mr Godfrey
We are extremely sorry for the incident you have had to experience and please be assured that we take these matters very seriously. Your particular model was sold to Comet a number of years ago and we have had a recall in place for some time. For which we have been working very closely with Trading Standards on, to make sure it has been done correctly.
As Comet went out of business before we were aware there was a potential issue, we obtained a list of all their customers that were believed to have purchased these models, from their Administrators and a Safety Notice has been sent to every customer on that list asking to contact us so we could replace the effected part. There are also notices on various websites, including Which and our own advising of the recall.
We are currently waiting for confirmation as to whether you were on the list we received from Comet’s administrators and if so when the Safety Notice was sent to you.
Following the engineers inspection we would ask firstly if you still have the fire damaged unit? If you do we would like to arrange collection, so we can carry out a further full inspection by our engineers.
Secondly we would also like to ask if you have passed this onto your insurance company to handle, if so they will contact us directly. If not please could you provide a breakdown, including amounts, of your losses that you would like us to consider, so we can decide if we can process the matter internally or if we need to pass it onto our insurance company to deal with.
We apologise again for the incident you have experienced.
Kind regards"
Any guidance would be greatfully appreciated.
Looking for advice on the next step I should take, on the weekend my Haier washing machine caught fire in the kitchen, we called the fire brigade and luckily I managed to get the machine out of the property before it did any serious damage. Water silt on the floor and there are some very small black marks on the kitchen cupboard and the tumble drier. That aside damage was minimal, however now I have been with without a washing machine for a week and running up laundrette bills and wasting time doing so. I contacted them and they sent out an engineering company to check, he has reported back. I chased them by phone and by email, I am concerned this could well have killed someone. See my mail below and the reply i received, does anyone know how i should answer and what my next steps should be, i don't really want to give them the machine until solved and I am sure we ever got the notice.
My mail
"Dear Sir/Madam
I contacted customer services again today and was informed by Rudolf that this case is being dealt with directly with head office. I have asked for a call back, not just an email please by a member of your management team preferably.
Just so you know I feel this problem has not only caused myself a significant amount of time but is also costing me money, my wife has had to wash clothes since the incident in a laundrette, I also have to spend time and money on phone calls. Water spilled on the floor under the work service where I had to rip the washing machine out and small scorch marks on one cupboard and the side of our tumble drier. This incident would have burnt the whole kitchen or may have done the whole house, and it worries me that this unit was designed with such a big design floor, I really believe this could have killed someone if the timing had have been different. I have worked in many factories as a buyer of electronics and this type of issue should not happen.
My wife is now not only worrying about washing clothes during the night time and or the day time when we are out, but is also worried about using washing machines at all. I am trying to say it is a one off but lets be honest it should not just be a "one off", it should never happen.
If I hadn`t have come home when I did my wife would not have been unable to enter the kitchen from the back garden, due to flames as the machine is located close to the back door. And one of my children was in the bath , the bathroom is located above the area of the kitchen. The other children were playing upstairs, so would not have seen the fire and probably would not have heard my wife in the back garden.
In my opinion this is a very serious problem and needs to be treated that way. It is apparent on the internet that you were aware of this fault on this model and I think you should have found a way to get a recall in place, through advertising on TV and papers or in some other way using the retailers log of buyers perhaps.
I need you to come back to myself with
1. A suitable compensation package bearing in mind you could have killed someone!
2. Some corrective action to solve this problem with other peoples machines with the same problem (my wife`s nan has one of these and is also not using it because of what has happened).
Thanks to call me"
then they replied with
"Dear Mr Godfrey
We are extremely sorry for the incident you have had to experience and please be assured that we take these matters very seriously. Your particular model was sold to Comet a number of years ago and we have had a recall in place for some time. For which we have been working very closely with Trading Standards on, to make sure it has been done correctly.
As Comet went out of business before we were aware there was a potential issue, we obtained a list of all their customers that were believed to have purchased these models, from their Administrators and a Safety Notice has been sent to every customer on that list asking to contact us so we could replace the effected part. There are also notices on various websites, including Which and our own advising of the recall.
We are currently waiting for confirmation as to whether you were on the list we received from Comet’s administrators and if so when the Safety Notice was sent to you.
Following the engineers inspection we would ask firstly if you still have the fire damaged unit? If you do we would like to arrange collection, so we can carry out a further full inspection by our engineers.
Secondly we would also like to ask if you have passed this onto your insurance company to handle, if so they will contact us directly. If not please could you provide a breakdown, including amounts, of your losses that you would like us to consider, so we can decide if we can process the matter internally or if we need to pass it onto our insurance company to deal with.
We apologise again for the incident you have experienced.
Kind regards"
Any guidance would be greatfully appreciated.
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Comments
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Nobody died. Nobody even nearly died. The children are all fine, and your wife will get over her fear of washing machines.
Now what compo are you looking for?0 -
My wife is now not only worrying about washing clothes during the night time and or the day time when we are out,
That why the fire brigade say don't do it over night when asleep or go out. Because of the potential risk.
Yours
CalleyHope for everything and expect nothing!!!
Good enough is almost always good enough -Prof Barry Schwartz
If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try -Seth Godin0 -
This is why you buy house insurance, make your claim and let them deal with it.
Your thread indicates you are looking for a cash grab, not justice.0 -
I know for a fact that is I hadn't walked in when I did , the work surface and the probably the kitchen would have gone up. the machine was by the back door and my wife was out the back at the time, if she couldn't have entered then the kids who were upstairs would not have known, they don't respond when I generally shout up the stairs so wouldn't pay the blindest attention to my wife shouting upstairs. Regardless of that, yes I am after compensation and not just a bloody replacement as I keep getting told in telephone conversations. Believe me I would have preferred nothing to have happened and not had this fuss and a lack of clean clothes plus one stressed out wife.0
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Why are you leaving the washing of clothes to your wife? Can't you help? I also agree in telling your insurance, let them deal with the house repairs.0
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I know for a fact that is I hadn't walked in when I did , the work surface and the probably the kitchen would have gone up. the machine was by the back door and my wife was out the back at the time, if she couldn't have entered then the kids who were upstairs would not have known, they don't respond when I generally shout up the stairs so wouldn't pay the blindest attention to my wife shouting upstairs. Regardless of that, yes I am after compensation and not just a bloody replacement as I keep getting told in telephone conversations. Believe me I would have preferred nothing to have happened and not had this fuss and a lack of clean clothes plus one stressed out wife.
You have not answered the question - how much are you looking for? What are your actual losses?0 -
I know for a fact that is I hadn't walked in when I did , the work surface and the probably the kitchen would have gone up. the machine was by the back door and my wife was out the back at the time, if she couldn't have entered then the kids who were upstairs would not have known, they don't respond when I generally shout up the stairs so wouldn't pay the blindest attention to my wife shouting upstairs. Regardless of that, yes I am after compensation and not just a bloody replacement as I keep getting told in telephone conversations. Believe me I would have preferred nothing to have happened and not had this fuss and a lack of clean clothes plus one stressed out wife.
You want one of those injury claim type of lawyers that you see in adverts.
A forum can hardly help you claim £10,000 in compensation .0 -
Surely your compensation would need to be claimed from Comet??Should've = Should HAVE (not 'of')
Would've = Would HAVE (not 'of')
No, I am not perfect, but yes I do judge people on their use of basic English language. If you didn't know the above, then learn it! (If English is your second language, then you are forgiven!)0 -
A forum can hardly help you claim £10,000 in compensation .
Only £10,000?
Did you miss the bit where the OP told us that people could've died?
And as he said, it could've "burnt the whole kitchen or may have done the whole house".
The OP has 'design floors' - they sound expensive to replace too.
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