It’s already been five months since the firm revealed that two types of driers – condensed and vented dryers made by Indesit between April 2004 and September 2015 – had allowed dangerous levels of lint to build up against the heating element in tests.
5.3 million of the dryers, which carry the Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda brands, have been sold around the UK.
Whirpool risked further anger – and ridicule – by advising consumers that they could continue to use the machines so long as they cleaned the lint filter after every cycle and didn’t leave their dryers unattended during operation.
Although Whirlpool has offered replacement machines instead of repairs customers will have to pay for them, albeit at less than a third of their recommended retail prices (£59 for a vented dryer or £99 for a condenser dryer). Whirlpool said the fee was “a contribution towards the delivery and connection of a new dryer, plus the removal and disposal of the old one.”
Customers who register today may have to wait up to 10 weeks to get an estimated date for an engineer visit.
“We are confident that this timeline will be reduced as we continue to register consumers, recruit more engineers and increase the resourcing of our call centre,” said the company in a statement.
Some customers took to Twitter to express their anger, with one suggesting their home insurance would be invalidated if she continued to use the tumble dryer.
Whirlpool said: “The safety of our customers is our No 1 priority. We are working diligently to ensure the outreach and service campaign is carried out in a safe and timely manner.
“This includes rapidly and actively engaging directly with our customers as part of large-scale outreach and service campaign, with bespoke websites, an online model checker and dedicated phone helpline all set up.”
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Bad news to the clients.The insurance will surely go up or amend?