'Deadly' tumble dryer owners forced to wait for replacements
Customers in the West with potentially dangerous tumble dryers are still being made to wait for replacements it's been revealed.
Whirlpool admitted to a widespread safety defect last October. The fault can lead to fluff inside the machine catching fire.
But, despite promising that it would repair or replace the faulty dryers a survey has found that 22% of customers first polled in April were still waiting.
Which? found a quarter of affected customers had been told by Whirlpool they would have to wait longer than six months for their tumble dryer to be repaired, and one in five were told that the wait would be between three and six months.
The manufacturer of Hotpoint, Indesit and Creda branded dryers admitted in March that thousands of tumble dryers in homes across the South West are a fire hazard - and shouldn't be left on at night.
Fire chiefs urged people to stop using the faulty dryers after a spate of fires across the country, including one which severely damaged a property in Yeovil.
A reported 5.3 million dryers made by Whirlpool between April 2004 and September 2015 are subject to a safety notice about the fire risk.
Which? also found Whirlpool to be giving potentially dangerous advice to mystery shoppers last month, telling one that their machine was not affected despite the model number being listed in the safety notice, and incorrectly advising three others to contact the shop they bought the machine from for a replacement.
READ MORE: Feb 2016 Whirlpool: 'The waiting times for repairs are longer than we would want at this stage'
And despite Whirlpool committing to reduce the waiting time for a customer ID number, required to progress the repair or replacement process, to 10 days, Which? found some call handlers quoting six to 12 weeks to mystery shoppers.