Whirlpool.co.uk

Whirlpool UK manufactures various brands including INDESIT, WHIRLPOOL, CREDA, ARISTON and HOTPOINT. Whirlpool UK also deal with the warranty for those brands so expect to receive the same atrociously bad customer services with all those brands. Customer Services are non existent with Whirlpool UK/Indesit. THEY DISPLAY A TOTAL DISREGARD TOWARDS SAFETY AND TOTAL CONTEMPT WHEN IT COMES TO DECENCY AND FAIRNESS TO THE CONSUMER. There is also an absence of openness and transparency with this manufacturer. Their products (washing machines) are unsafe, as are their customer services/warranty policies and procedures, and they resort to dishonestly misrepresenting facts to bully and intimidate customers who dare to complain. In my case I purchased a brand new Indesit washing machine. The very first time the appliance was used it shorted out then exploded - it literally made a 'bang' then 'hiss' sound. Lifted itself off off the floor to allow a large flash flame to escape, tripped electrics and emitted a stench of burning. Basically the appliance was a dangerous fire hazard yet that company had allowed it to leave their factory! When I called the seller they instigated a 3 way call with the manufacturer. Despite the fact that this obvious fire hazard was still plugged in (and they were informed that I was struggling to pull the machine out of its housing to make safe due to being disabled). I was refused any assistance from the manufacturer under the warranty and told I would have to wait anything up to TWO WEEKS for them to send an engineer. I was informed if I called out a local engineer to make safe or made it safe myself (unplugging it from a socket!) I would negate the warranty and forfeit any recourse (This is unlawful advice as it is contrary to my statutory UK consumer rights and serves to further demonstrate how utterly repugnant this manufacturing company are.). Effectively they insist on leaving a dangerous fire hazard appliance plugged in putting their customer in danger. I was also unable to extract my clothing from the appliance. Not very well mentioned in the spec is that Whirlpool UK manufactured products now have a newfangled door locking mechanism which requires the appliance to be plugged in and correctly working to open the door. When the machine breaks down the only way to extract ones property from inside the machine is to force the door as there is no manual override. Whoever dreamt that up clearly never washed their own clothes! Effectively, not content with placing me at risk because of their shoddily manufactured and fire hazardous appliances, they expected me to forfeit over £700 worth of clothes as well! After much remonstration and distress the seller overrode the manufacturer and agreed to deal with the issue by agreeing to allow me to make safe, force the appliance door to get my clothes. They agreed to cover the cost of replacement, which they did. However they advised that I would have to ask Indesit to refund the amount I was out of pocket for several items of clothing that had been ruined by scorching and contamination, as well as take up safety concerns with them. So I made a complaint to Indesit/Whirlpool UK asking them to look into the safety of the appliance and the safety issues arising out of their customer services/warranty practices, and asking them ONLY to repatriate me for the damaged clothes. A female customer services operative From Whirlpool UK ("Heather") then rang me and was "oh so empathetic" admitting they got things wrong and insisting they would look into the safety and design issues raised. However she was obsessed with stroking her own ego and insisting that the fact I had aggravated an existing injury by trying to pull the appliance out to unplug I was "obviously" making a personal injury claim, despite me repeatedly stating this is not the case! Since that call this dishonest complaints handler has warped, twisted and totally misrepresented the complaint made and falsely claimed that I am chasing them for injury compensation - which I am not. I have since started being bombarded with hostile communications from the Whirlpool UK Claims department demanding all manner of personal data and threatening litigation etc. It is quite clearly an attempt to bully and intimidate me. They are now also attempting to falsely accuse me of preventing them access to examine the appliance in situ - they had FIVE DAYS between the incident being reported to them and the appliance being collected by the seller to communicate with me and arrange such an inspection - they chose not to do so. Indeed the same complaints handling liar deliberately booked and engineer for the day after she knew the appliance was being collected, and sent me an e mail advising me of that booking AFTER she knew the appliance was collected! That same complaints handling liar stated during the phone call that they would examine the appliance once it was collected by the seller. The warning here is that even if the representative you deal with appears to be helpful and decent, do not trust them as they are deceitful and two faced liars. I have written to the CEOs Marco Milani, Andrjez Tukega and James Goldsmith to ask them to stop the bullying but they merely hand it over to the same complaints handling liar to continue bullying with their blessing!. This shows that the rot starts at the top of the company. I can only think of two reasons why a company/complaints handler would conduct themselves with such vile dishonestly and nastiness: Either unconscious bias prejudice against disabled people is at play and they immediately label disabled people as having ulterior motive, or they deliberately deploy these bullyboy tactics to make the process so unpleasant that the complainant goes away and the company avoid the expense of safety investigations and potential product recall. Manufacturers have a duty of care to ensure their goods are both safe and fit for purpose and when their goods are shown to be neither of those things, they have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to rectify and hazards. This company merely bully people to avoid taking responsibility - and for that reason people should AVOID BUYING ANY PRODUCTS FROM INDESIT OR ANY OTHER BRAND MANUFACTURED UNDER THE WHIRLPOOL UK UMBRELLA INCLUDING INDESIT AND HOTPOINT. On the www.whirlpool.co.uk website the company vice chairman states "nothing is more important to us that our customers' safety" - never has a more false claim been written! He, his senior management and this company are a disgrace! The matter has now been reported to Trading Standards and an investigator appointed. Tip for consumers: AVOID AVOID AVOID PURCHASING ANY PRODUCT UNDER THE WHIRLPOOL MANUFACTURING BANNER INCLUDING INDESIT AND HOTPOINT