Check your tumble dryer (fire-risk)

LimerickCity

I was contacted by Hotpoint via Email to advise that the dryer which they had sold me was faulty and that i had the option of them sending out an engineer to fix it or that i could purchase a new model for €136.
 
Of the models available at the time none were suitable due to the dimensions.
 
I am a Hotpoint customer for the past 15 years. I have a dishwasher, fridge freezer, deep freeze, washing machine, dryer, hob and oven all in the Whirlpool/Hotpoint name.
 
I called their customer service in early March to discuss the issue with the dimensions for the available dryers. I initially spoke to an agent who did not have the authority to help me so i asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor came to the phone and advised that he would call me back before 11am. I waited for the call which did not arrive so i called them back and was advised that the supervisor would call me back before 1pm. Again i waited and the call did not arrive so i called back again. I finally managed to get the supervisor and I advised him that Hotpoint had sold me a product which had the potential to cause my family and my home some serious damage and i felt that he was not taking this serious enough. i asked to speak with his manager.
 
The manager came to the phone and i advised what my issue was. The manager was very professional and advised that new dryers were to come online and that she would call me back to advise.
 
Later that evening the manager called to let me know that a dryer with my dimensions had become available. I ordered the dryer for the sum of €136 and was presented with a number of dates to request for delivery. I chose March 28th and received an Email confirming same.
 
I took the day off of work so as to be available for the delivery. I had not received any further communication from Hotpoint so i contacted them via online chat. I was provided with the local courier telephone number and reference number for my order and advised that i should call them. (i did not order the dryer from the courier so i should not have had to call them). Anyway i contacted the courier to be advised that they had no paperwork for the dryer and that it would not be delivered on that day.
 
I then tried to contact Hotpoint but their customer contact line was down. I spent over two hours speaking with up to fifteen different agents and receptionists none of whom could help me. They simply provided me with the customer contact line that i already knew was down. None of these people had the option to transfer me to the tumble dryer team. I was put on hold, hung up on, cut off and also advised to keep trying the customer contact number.
 
Eventually the line came back up and i got through to the tumble dryer team, after being put on hold for an age i finally got through to the manager i had spoken with earlier in the month. The manager contacted the courier and apologized that i had lost a day of work for nothing. I was informed that the dryer would be delivered on March 29th and that my account would be refunded the cost of the dryer due to my bad experience. Still nowhere close to making up the cost of a days’ pay. I was advised that the manager would call me back the following day to confirm the delivery time.
 
The following day i had not heard back from Hotpoint by 4.40pm to i called them again. After another age having to explain myself to the agent before she would get the manager and after another age on hold i finally got through to the manager who advised that she would call the courier and get back to me.
 
Shortly afterwards i received a call from the courier advising that the dryer would be delivered today. It finally arrived at 9.30am this morning.
 
When i initially registered my old dryer after being contacted by Hotpoint i received an Email. Look at the second sentence in the Email below.
 
Thank you for registering your tumble dryer to be modified to improve its safety and quality.Every customer matters to us and safety is our number one priority.
 
I also wrote directly to Hotpoint to make them aware of the issues i experienced but do not expect anything positive to come from it. I asked the manager when i had her on the phone if there was something i could do or if she could point me in a direction whereby we can prevent this happening to another customer. I am currently waiting on a response.
 

I would not recommend this company to my worst enemy. I will never again purchase a product from the company and i pity any of their customers who have to go through their shambolic customer service.

4068ac1elhodqr

They get there eventually, but are dragging their heels over this safety issue, it took me 16mths to get a satisfactory resolution, from Nov 2015.

It's one thing to buy something e.g. like a car with incorrect emissions data, but something else if an electrical product poses a high safety risk from fire.

Worryingly in the UK they recently updated/modified their safety notice around Feb '17 as per some news articles

shane.

I got a letter from them end of January, I registered the machine and had an engineer out last week to fix, they seem to be speeding things up, also they call you from a uk number and don't leave a message