Dishwasher faulty (caught fire!). What are our rights?

ecoles1985

We arrived home Thursday night to find an awful burning smell. After running around the house trying to find the source we found it was the dishwasher - I'd put it on before leaving the house that morning and it was full of steam and water and a nasty burning smell.

We contacted AO.com, who said they could contact Beko on our behalf, but I decided it was more straightforward to go direct to them. We have had the dishwasher around 18 months and it has a 2 year warranty.

An engineer came out today, took the kitchen door off (damaging the screw holes in the process) and then the electronic panel to find the whole thing had melted; clearly it had caught fire.
He seemed completely unshocked by this and said that he would replace the circuit board and wiring unit, but it would take about a week and a half to get the parts.

Having seen the extent of the damage (to the fascia door, electric wiring and inside of the door, which has melted. Won't let me attach the photos), I am not happy with it being repaired and phoned Beko again this evening to ask whether a replacement would be possible. We don't know what other damage has been done to the machine and, given that it could have burnt the house down, don't feel that it's safe.



I don't feel I'm being unreasonable asking them to replace a machine that could have burnt our house down but I'm not 100% sure where I stand on this.
Can anyone please advise, as someone from the Beko service team is supposed to be ringing me tomorrow to arrange for someone else to come out.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!

JJ_Egan

Its the vendor not Beko who your rights are with under SOGA .Beko are within their rights to refuse a refund or exchange subject to the terms of their warranty .

hollydays

I guess any electrical item left unattended , if it becomes faulty could catch fire.

Jamiesmum

Shocking! What model is it, please?

Or a link if they are still selling the same one?

I think no doubt somewhere in the t&cs like with dryers and washers it'll say not to put it on and leave the house, though a lot of us do!

Was it definitely a problem with the dishwasher and not your electrics? Did it blow anything else out?

ecoles1985

It was definitely the dishwasher, the engineer has said it was due to faulty wiring - the fire was within the door compartment.

It is the DW603 integrated, can't find that there is any known faults with this particular model.

At the moment I am struggling to speak to anyone at AO, it goes into an automated 'press * for ...' loop and then just ends up transferring me to Beko regardless of whether I ask to speak to someone.

Poppie68

Did the engineer say it had actually caught fire though because I would of expected damage to more than a electrical board if it had been in flames....Dishwashers along with Washing machines and dryers should never be left unattended when in use...

Jamiesmum

ecoles1985 wrote: »

It was definitely the dishwasher, the engineer has said it was due to faulty wiring - the fire was within the door compartment.

It is the DW603 integrated, can't find that there is any known faults with this particular model.

At the moment I am struggling to speak to anyone at AO, it goes into an automated 'press * for ...' loop and then just ends up transferring me to Beko regardless of whether I ask to speak to someone.

Do they have a live chat? I often use that to request a callback. Don't say it's a complaint though just that you need to speak to someone urgently about an order or appliance.

esuhl

I know of two people who have had house fires caused by a dishwasher. It seems worryingly common. I think the cause is limescale build-up on the heating element.

Since I became aware of the issue, I've never left my dishwasher on unattended and descale it once a year or so.

Sorry that doesn't help now, but hope you get it sorted, OP.

ecoles1985

Thanks for everyone who replied.

Finally managed to get through to AO and working with them and a lovely lady at Beko we have managed to get them to admit that repairing it was not safe (the fire was caused by faulty wiring) and they have agreed to replace it for us.

Good to know perseverance does pay off!

photome

Poppie68 wrote: »

Did the engineer say it had actually caught fire though because I would of expected damage to more than a electrical board if it had been in flames....Dishwashers along with Washing machines and dryers should never be left unattended when in use...

esuhl wrote: »

I know of two people who have had house fires caused by a dishwasher. It seems worryingly common. I think the cause is limescale build-up on the heating element.

Since I became aware of the issue, I've never left my dishwasher on unattended and descale it once a year or so.

Sorry that doesn't help now, but hope you get it sorted, OP.

How many people sit by their washing machine, dryer and dishwasher while it is on?

neilmcl

photome wrote: »

How many people sit by their washing machine, dryer and dishwasher while it is on?

I think most get what they meant by "unattended", eg not leaving the house or going to bed with the machine on.