Already under pressure from one of the biggest appliance recalls in the Company’s history Samsung has now been forced to defend the use of plastic bags and sticky tape to fix an electrical problem that resulted in six top-loader model washing machines being subject to potentially bursting into flames.
The Minister responsible for Fair Trading, Victor Dominello has said that he is happy with the fix currently being rolled out to the devices that Samsung has been able to identify.
Samsung sold 144,000 of the six potentially dangerous models between 2010 and 2013, with 55,000 of those in NSW. Only 51 per cent of the 53,400 affected machines in NSW have been identified.
Some owners claim that even with the fix the machines are still a risk. Liz Herbert of Avoca Beach said her machine had been fixed under the recall but subsequently caught fire. Fairfax Media understands there have been 17 more post-fix incidents across the country.
“Someone is going to die. Someone is going to get killed in a fire, unless they take this much more seriously,” Ms Herbert, a health worker, said. “It’s not good enough.”
There have been 38 fire incidents related to the faulty machines in NSW since the original recall, with a third occurring in the past three months, according to Fire and Rescue NSW.
Fair Trading Assistant Commissioner John Tansey has backed the Samsung solution, he said the approved fix was adequate because the problem was related to moisture build up inside the machine. He said the replacement of a component would make no difference.
A Fair Trading employee told SmartHouse that there are some people out there who simply want a new washing machine and are using the recall as an attempt to get the latest model top loader washing machine from Samsung.
A Samsung spokesman said if there was an issue after the re-work, the technician’s work was audited and the technician was either retrained or removed.
“The rework procedure is a complete solution that … eliminates the risk of impacted top loader washing machines over-heating, smoking or catching fire,” he said.
“If customers with reworked washing machines still have a concern, Samsung is happy to send a technician to review the rework free of charge.”
The Minister responsible for Fair Trading, Victor Dominello, said if only 18 of tens of thousands of repaired machines had problems, he would give Samsung a “benefit of the doubt”.
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