Faulty Hob almost burned my house down

Itsrowly

Hi there everyone. I'm just after a bit of advice if anyone has any please.

Me and my partner had a new kitchen installed by Wickes, which included a Zanussi electric hob, oven and microwave around 12 years ago. We took the insurance out on the hob and oven with Domestic and General. Over the last few months the rings have been playing up where we had to turn the rings to a number, then back down and then up again for the ring to turn on. In august, while my partner was away on hols, it was my day off work and I was minding my own business in the living room when I heard a noise from the kitchen. I thought it was the cats messing about so left them to it. Then I heard a loud 'crack', so decided to check on what was going on. To my horror, the air fryer that was on top of the hob was on fire! The back ring where one half of the air fryer was on had turned itself on and set fire to the air fryer! I managed to get the fryer outside but was left with a rancid smell of plastic burning, melted plastic all over the hob and a gouge out of the worktop that the fire started to take hold of. I phoned D&G who came out 25 days after as it was the only date available. The engineer tried a few buttons and after i showed him the video of the event as we have a cat cam on the work surface to keep an eye on a cat that tries to break into the cat flap, i showed him the remains of the air fryer and he took a photo of the damaged worktop. He said as it's now dangerous he will send everything over to Electrolux where they will either replace or repair the unit. That was fine. I heard nothing for two weeks where i phoned D&G who emailed someone to het in touch. I asked him who do I speak to regarding the damage to my worktop? He advised me to speak to Electrolux. I spoke to a nice lady in Electrolux who was a case manager who asked for all videos and pictures i had which i emailed over. We discussed in detail about what happened and what I did every step of the way. She said I'd be in touch. Basically i've finally had contact after another week and a bit, where Electrolux are talking to thier technical people and will be back in touch. Sorry for the long ramblings, but I wanted to know if I have a case to get Electrolux to repair/replace my damaged work top that the fire has cause. I don't care about the airfryer but the worktop is awful now. It was lucky I had my day off otherwise the house would not be here i think.

I'll put a picture of the damaged worktop or you to see.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated as I don't know the best course of action.

Many thanks

Steve

Air Fryer Fire.jpg

Hob Burn 2.jpg

Hob Burn 4.jpg

dnpark38

What about your house and contents insurance?

fwor

If the insurance is provided by D&G, you won't have any case against Electrolux - their responsibility will end with the appliance itself. You would need to check the terms of the D&G insurance to see what else is covered and what is not. If not then, as already said, you would need to consider claiming on your house insurance.

Alderbank

As above, fire insurance is what you have been paying those premiums for over all those years.

You can't claim any consumer rights 12 years since the contract of sale.

The incident resulted in damage to your property so there might be the possibility of a claim in negligence. 12 years is a good life for kitchen appliances. Did you have any preventive maintenance carried out as they grew older?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82175572#Comment_82175572

It's not that over dramatic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsaLCdC3iWw

It's emotive, it's not relevant to the topic of consumer rights but OP is very, very lucky they walked away with little damage.

Why there is the need to antagonise everyone who posts here I don't know.

OP I don't think policies like D&G are regulated but if you've paid them for cover they should be doing what they offer as part of the cover for which you need to check the policy paperwork.

In terms of the appliance and damage, limitations is 6 years from the cause of action and I think the cause of action here is at the point of delivery plus there is an argument that 12 years for hob could be sufficient.

There are safety requirements but you'd need to demonstrate the hob didn't meet these, home insurance if you have it is probably the way forward.

Ergates

There are safety requirements but you'd need to demonstrate the hob didn't meet these, home insurance if you have it is probably the way forward.

Specifically - you'd need to demonstrate the hob didn't meet these at the time of deliery. Clearly the hob doens't meet them now - but I think you'd struggle to demonstrate that the hob was inherrently unsafe from day1 given it's worked OK for 12 years. Not impossible mind, just difficult.

UnsureAboutthis

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82175572#Comment_82175572

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82175719#Comment_82175719

Thank you. TBH, even I intially misread your post and gave AR a thumbs up, which I have now removed.

I apologise for that.

Wishing you all of the best.

UnsureAboutthis

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82175744#Comment_82175744

That, I completely agree with

Fire, if anyone is aware that an item in their home can cause a fire, as it's not reliable, stop using it, get it fixed or replaced, or fire kills.

@Itsrowly

I'm not have a going at you as that is not me, just a heads-up to you for the future and anyone else reading my post.

Again, wishing you all the best.

Emmia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82175719#Comment_82175719

The top of your hob, where you placed (stored?) the air fryer isn't intended as a countertop. It's possible that the weight of the appliance triggered the ring to activate.

I agree with @Ayr_Rage and @keep_pedalling though, it's a 12 year old hob (your kitchen isn't "new") with a known fault, which you'd not dealt with. Fire is devastating - and I think you were very lucky to escape with only a damaged counter. Hopefully this is a reminder to not ignore those little (irritating) faults in future.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82175740#Comment_82175740

D&G sell both non-insurance/unregulated service plans (aka warranties) and insurance. The insurance version typically adds the likes of accidental damage to the cover so if you drop something and it smashes the hob service its covered whereas the service plans wouldnt cover such eventualities only a mechanical/electrical breakdown.

Im not aware of any of their policies covering resultant damage, consequential loss or property damage outside of the device itself.

Any claim will be based on what did happen, not what may have happened. I agree with others that continuing to use a device which clearly has some form of significant issue is going to jeopardise claims against anything other than home insurance. Home insurance, particularly with AD cover, intentionally covers you doing not the most sensible things so probably will respond but may exclude the damage to the hob itself but cover the resultant damage to other stuff.

Aylesbury_Duck

I would think any insurance claim is going to be tricky given the course of events. Ignoring/patching an evident electrical fault in the hob and then storing something on top of the faulty hob is presumably going to be considered by the insurer as negligence? If you keep the dialogue with Electrolux constructive they may be inclined to make a gesture towards a repair or sectional replacement of the worktop.