Beko issued an important safety notice regarding some of its frost free fridge freezers. Beko have said that, “in a very small number of cases it could result in overheating”.
The defrost timer is the problem, whose job it is to trigger a heating element to defrost.
However, within several weeks of posting this warning things have escalated to such a serious degree that this safety warning is on the National news. The phrase, “could result in overheating” should now be read as, “could result in a serious fire producing an enormous amount of toxic smoke.” According to one newspaper these fridges have so far caused at least 20 fires in London alone and one death.
There is a free modification to the defrost timer, which any owners of the fridges should definitely get sorted out asap.
Use this link to check with Beko Please check your Beko Fridge Freezer Now
What Beko advise
Currently, they say over 500,000 of these appliances have been sold and only a very small fraction have been affected. They are assuring their customers that if the appliance is working ok, with no symptoms of any faults then it is safe to keep using until they can get to it.
What if you don’t believe them?
This is a decision only you can make. If your model is on the list – contact Beko asap using the link above. If you decide to unplug the fridge freezer – especially if it’s been playing up recently. Food will be wasted if you have nowhere to transfer it to, but if you genuinely believe it poses a serious risk to you and your family there isn’t much choice and how could anyone morally deny that?
If you did unplug it you might be able to contact Beko before the food defrosts (don’t open the door) and plug it back in if that’s what they advise and can convince you it’s safe to do so.
You have a responsibility to try and mitigate any food loss though. You shouldn’t just deliberately let it go off if you can salvage some, use some of it before it goes off, or transfer some to another freezer if possible.
If you do have to let the food go off take a note of all items, photograph them or save the packaging too and add up the cost. You can then try to claim compensation from the manufacturer or the retailer as “consequential loss”.
However, don’t be surprised to meet resistance from Beko or the retailer to the idea of compensating anyone for food loss or even time off work.
That doesn’t mean you have no right to compensation, but unless they comply you will have to fight for it and maybe even have to take them to the small claims court. Get official consumer advice.
What did London fire brigade advise?
Having said all that, a representative of London Fire brigade on Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine programme has said there’s no need to stop using one because he believes people who’s fridge freezers have caught fire suffered some intermittent fault prior to the fire. Therefore if your Beko fridge freezer is apparently working perfectly ok he doesn’t think there’s a risk of imminent fire.
Beko says the risk to consumers is extremely low and it is advising customers with the affected fridges to continue using them unless they notice anything unusual
My personal thoughts on this are as follows – It seems that Beko are insisting that unless anything unusual is happening with an affected fridge freezer it’s impossible for one to catch fire. Presumably one can’t catch fire until it’s been doing something unusual for some unspecified time as the spokesman for the London fire brigade also advised on radio 2. I hope for everyone’s sake that is the case!
If you do unplug it and lose food the retailer may try to claim you didn’t need to and the loss was avoidable therefore denying your claim for consequential loss.
I think a small claims court judge may well accept that having heard on the news of 1 death, and 20 fires, and then finding out your fridge freezer has the same fault, that it was reasonable for people to immediately unplug the appliance rather than risk leaving it plugged in until something was resolved.
Especially if despite your best efforts you could not get through to Beko, which I know many have experienced. That’s only my opinion though. However, you have a responsibility to mitigate the risk. That is you can’t just unplug it and let the food spoil expecting to get compensation. You would need to try everything you can to save the food or use it up before it goes off.
Always register any white goods appliance you buy. Send off the registration card or go online to do it. If ever a serious safety issue arises the first thing a manufacturer needs to do is to contact all the people registered on its database.
These people are the first to get their appliance modified. If you haven’t registered you may not find out about it and could suffer a serious incident or tragedy.
Check if your fridge freezer is affected with Beko’s web site tool
Please check your Beko Fridge Freezer Now
UPDATE:
I just read this news article –
Some faulty Beko fridge-freezers began catching fire as long ago as 2007, the BBC has learned
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Thanks Washerhelp, I have just checked and mine isn’t on the list. Your article is very well informed and helped me out greatly (You might have saved someone’s life by making people aware!).
If only half the people visiting this article would read it thoroughly rather than you having to repost items already outlined you might be able to get some other work done! ;)
Thank you Martin. Yes it is a little frustrating but I presume some people are just panicking. Unfortunately the trend is not to actually read web sites but only to scan them. Important information like this needs carefully reading.
My fridge freezer , Model No; CDA 539 FW, Serial No; 101 162 1705. Bought September 2010. Will this be affected by the fault. Information please.
Joan: I’ve spent hours putting the information on this article and subsequent comments. The information you want is already here.
The model number of my fridge freezer is on the above list please contact & advice.
Mrs Marion McGinnes: Please read the article.
Just wanted to get some stuff off my chest about this!
I had an affected fridge freezer so booked for it to have the part changed. It was done on a Monday and took all of 5 minutes. We were then out of the house for the whole of that day and when we came to the fridge the following morning it was apparent it had not been working. The entire contents stank and the freezer had completely defrosted.
On ringing Comet, they said the earliest they could get someone out would be the Friday – as you can imagine I went a little mad with this as I have two small children at home and could not live without a fridge or food! They said they were so busy with all of these modifications but would get someone out on the Wednesday.
An engineer came and said it was a faulty modification that had been installed, and fixed it again within 5 minutes. Comet told me to take photos of the fridge contents and write in with full details and prices. This came to around £145, along with the receipts for food I had to go out and source for each individual meal for around £26.
After a while they sent me a cheque for £68 – based on the cubic capacity of the freezer, and that they don’t normally re-imburse fridge food. I was obviously not happy with this as I was left out of pocket for their error and it took a further 2 harshly worded letters for them to offer another £13 for the fridge contents. Not one word of an offer of anything to compensate me for all the phone calls I had to make, all my time emptying and cleaning out the smelly fridge, writing letters, and the sheer inconvenience of the whole situation.
Just wanted to let everyone know what sort of customer service is being offered from Beko and Comet and that I am still left out of pocket by this whole mess.
how long do you have to wait for to rectify the fault I seem to have been waiting a long time
I would have thought it would be asap margaret. Have they acknowledged your case?
Well booked engineer to come out first time arranged after 4pm they turned up at 1100am and said we were out and sorry we missed you card put through the door talk about daft.
2nd appointment made for Saturday just gone engineer turns up I am out wife home with 3 children engineer refused to pull out fridge freezer to conduct repair and expected my wife to do it and when she refused as she is only 5ft tall the engineer left sucking his teeth.
Text arrives that afternoon from Comet saying we were out when they called and sorry they missed us can we reschedule again so perhaps third time lucky??
Must admit I am very disappointed with the customer service we have received from Comet & Beko if this is such a major issue it would be nice to get a proactive engineer not just a bloke looking for excuses not to do the work and claim the commission.