Beko sincerely regrets any incident linked to any of our products. We would like to express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of affected customers.
The information contained in the latest media coverage about product issues has been in the public domain for some time.
Beko have supplied a full explanation of the extensive corrective action programs that have and continue to be implemented.
The company strongly rejects any accusations that we have not acted as timely or comprehensively as possible to initiate the three corrective action programs. Beko has always acted in accordance with regulatory guidance, co-operated with all relevant authorities and abided by all accepted standards of industry practice.
Beko has mobilised every resource at its disposal to rectify and raise awareness of the three product issues. Activities include customer letters, outbound calling, national, regional and specialist media safety notice advertising, the ‘Be a Hero’ public information campaign, leafleting and door knocking campaigns as well as posting extensive safety information on our website.
For further information please visit our website www.beko.co.uk or call our customer care centre on free phone 0800 917 2018.
The customer care centre is open Monday – Friday 08.00 – 20.00 and 10.00 – 16.00 Saturday and Sunday.
COOKER CORRECTIVE ACTION STATEMENT
Beko was made aware of an incident in mid November 2008 and, after thorough investigations, a safety issue was identified in late December 2008 pertaining to certain models of the Beko, Leisure and Flavel gas cookers, where high levels of carbon monoxide are emitted if the grill function is not operated in accordance with the product instructions.
If the grill door is closed when the grill burner is in use, an unsafe build-up of carbon monoxide can occur which can be fatal. This risk can be eliminated by a simple modification, carried out by Beko service engineers free of charge.
Beko would also like to reassure consumers that these cookers are safe to use if the grill is operated with the grill door open, in accordance with user instructions. This has been verified by independent testing.
The appliances in question were manufactured prior to the end of 2008. All cookers produced after December 2008 have been manufactured with a modified seal.
Since we became aware of the issue in November 2008, we immediately launched a corrective action program consisting of the following:
Solution developed for corrective action
Solution approved by independent accredited test house
Trading Standards informed
Necessary personnel appointed
Sales data extracted
Safety notices created
Call centre setup
Engineering resource setup
Consumer contact data collected from retailers (by end February 2009)
Consumer communications activities included:
4 national and regional press advertising campaigns in the UK & Ireland (5th March 2009, September 2009, November 2010, and September 2011)
Letters to all customers on the database
Outbound telephone calling
Door knocking campaigns
Trade press advertising
Specialist advertising in Landlord and Housing Association Magazines
In Ireland, we also sent leaflets to every household - some 1.9 million homes
Additionally, Beko have successfully lobbied to change the testing standards at the EU level to make the testing regime more rigorous.
As a result of this extensive activity, a majority of affected models have been located and modified. The total number of affected Beko, Flavel and Leisure products in the UK & Ireland was 30,320. 6998 affected units remain untraced in the UK although we suspect a number of these products are no longer in use.
FROST FREE FRIDGE FREEZER CORRECTIVE ACTION STATEMENT
In June 2010 the LFB raised a number of very serious points with us which required thorough examination. A series of tests and analyses had been undertaken by us but we were unable to replicate what the LFB suggested was the cause of the fire incidents. Further, we raised issues with the LFB regarding the evidence they had supplied seeking clarification whilst continuing our own tests. We did receive a response from the LFB but not until after the tragic death of Mr Muthiah.
Following Mr Muthiah’s death a decision was taken to prepare an immediate action plan and to begin an extensive modification programme to replace the defrost timer of a limited number of models of frost-free fridge freezers manufactured between January 2000 and October 2006 at the earliest possible time.
Beko has mobilised every resource at our disposal to raise awareness of the product modification programme. Amongst other steps, we have undertaken:
Two rounds of mailing and sent a total of 847,000 letters to customers for whom we have records
National press and landlord magazine safety notice advertising
Outbound calling to customers for whom we have telephone numbers
Door knocking programme to reach those customers that we haven't managed to contact by letter, phone or through publicity
Gone live with 10 different languages for the safety section on our website
Advertising campaign in 6 different languages in ethnic media
As a result of these activities we have visited more than 556,000 homes and modified over 186,000 units. We estimate a further 186,800 are no longer in use due to the age of the affected models (based on an independent GFK study we commissioned).
The scope and outcomes of this corrective action campaign exceed industry best practice and we remain strongly committed to continuing this modification programme in order to find potentially affected appliances.
To this end we have distributed a further 555,000 fridge-freezer safety leaflets through fire and rescue services (the campaign has been taken up by more than 50% of English fire and rescue services) and housing associations as part of our 'Be a Hero' campaign, launched in partnership with the Department for Communities and Local Government during Electrical Fire Safety Week at the end of September 2012.
6KG & 7 KG CONDENSER TUMBLE DRYERS CORRECTIVE ACTION STATEMENT
Following a thorough investigation in November 2012, we identified a potential batch issue with a third party supplied capacitor from a well-known and reputable manufacturer (installed in models of 6kg & 7kg Condenser Tumble Dryers manufactured from May 2012 to October 2012), which can fail and overheat, leading to a potential risk of fire.
Although the risk of failure is low, the safety of all our products is Beko’s highest priority and, as a responsible manufacturer, we decided to initiate a voluntary corrective action program as a precautionary measure.
We are working closely with our retail partners to get contact details of affected owners in order for us to arrange an in-home product modification as soon as possible.
We launched our safety notice advertising campaign on 29th November 2012 in national and regional press to generate further awareness. We are planning to undertake a further round of national press advertising in March 2013.
We are launching a door knocking programme in early March 2013 to reach those customers that we haven't managed to contact by letter, phone or through publicity
As a result of these ongoing activities we have currently modified over 60% of the potentially affected products and will continue this modification programme.
Please visit the safety pages on this website for more information or call 0800 917 2018.
The customer care centre is open Monday – Friday 08.00 – 20.00 and 10.00 – 16.00 Saturday and Sunday.