New data has been released by Whirlpool as the appliance manufacturer continues its tumble dryer recall programme following an intervention by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) in June.
Under the recall, consumers with an unmodified, affected tumble dryer are entitled to a new replacement machine. This will be delivered and installed, with the old one removed, at no cost to the consumer.
Following OPSS’s intervention, Whirlpool agreed to undertake a number of actions including:
- delivering a significant new consumer outreach campaign with wide ranging publicity of the product recall aimed at reaching affected consumers and driving up awareness;
- guaranteeing no charges for delivery, installation or removal of machines;
- improving identification of, and outreach to, vulnerable consumers;
- providing OPSS with timely reporting of progress made in the product recall/
The manufacturer’s monitoring metrics show that 63,218 new customers have come forward since Kelly Tolhurst MP announced the intention to serve a recall notice in the House of Commons on June 11.
Some 339,496 visits have been made to Whirlpool’s new designated website. The average time taken by the company to exchange a product has been 8.7 days, while 7.6 days has been the average time it has taken to offer a refund, and 6.8 days to provide a modification to an affected machine.
Whirlpool’s data shows that 32,526 cases have been fully resolved. Of these:
- 23,255 machines have been replaced (free of charge)
- 5,809 machines have been part exchanged (upgraded)
- 1,057 machines have been collected and refunded
- 2,405 machines have been modified
The average time taken from a customer registration to resolution is 23 days.
