The world’s largest appliance manufacturer is being accused of reneging on its promise to compensate B.C. consumers for flood damage.
Last year, CTV News reported on 23 separate floods in the Metro Vancouver area, all linked to the same top-loading Whirlpool washing machine. In many cases, the washing machines turned on by themselves in a condo or townhouse and overflowed for hours. The floods resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
Many owners were forced to pay strata deductibles of up to $25,000 for damage incurred in adjacent suites when their machines overflowed.
Initially, Whirlpool denied there was a problem, but after CTV uncovered a service memo that proved Whirlpool knew there was a flooding problem as far back as May 2012, company executives issued a rare public apology.
“We apologize for any inconvenience that some of our customers have experienced. We're also working diligently to verify and resolve claims already brought to our attention - including reimbursing consumers for any deductibles that they've paid,” said Kathy Nelson, Vice-president of Consumer and Appliance Care for Whirlpool.
Describing model Y WET 3300XQO, the technical service pointer warns that the washer “may overfill” and that "the pressure switches will send incorrect water level readings to the timer."
The memo also warned about seven other models: MET3800SW0, MGT3800XW1, WGT3300XQ0, YMET3800XW0, MGT3800XW0, WET3300XQ0, WGT3300XQ1 and YWET3300XQ0. It offered a simple repair kit to fix the problem.
But months later, many of those flooding victims are still waiting for compensation.
Jamie Clerkson and his girlfriend suffered a major flood last fall, when their brand new Whirlpool washing machine turned itself on in the middle of the night. That was seven months ago, but they still haven't seen a dime in compensation from Whirlpool. The appliance giant claims it hasn't heard from Clerkson's insurance company, but Clerkson's adjustor insists all the documentation has been sent in.
Courtney McFayden's Whirlpool washer caused not one, but two damaging floods in her Vancouver condo last fall. Months later, Whirlpool says it's still "processing the information" from McFayden's insurance company.
Andrea D’Mello's Whirlpool washer also caused two major floods last fall. Whirlpool claims to have settled with D’Mello's insurance company for slightly less than the full deductible and promises to cut a cheque for the remaining amount. She still hasn't seen the money and is frustrated with Whirlpool.
"Especially after they've admitted they are in the wrong, and they're going to be paying for their damages, they've done nothing about it,” said Andrea D’Mello.
With regards to the delays, Whirlpool emailed CTV to say "Whirlpool apologizes for the inconvenience that some of our consumers have experienced. We are committed to working quickly to provide full reimbursement for damages related to this washer issue, including covering deductibles. The process includes working with individual insurance companies through their standard procedures. Once Whirlpool receives information from the insurance company outlining the items and costs in the claim, we issue a check to the insurance company for the full claim. We aim to process these claims within 15 business days. From those funds, the insurance company, in turn issues reimbursement for any deductible that the homeowner may have paid. In some limited number of cases reimbursement for deductibles may come directly from Whirlpool (or a portion from the insurance company, and the balance from Whirlpool), but in the majority of cases the reimbursement will come from the person's insurance company, as a payout from the funds Whirlpool provided."
Whirlpool says customers who have experienced flooding can call 1-866-333-4408.
