Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned by piles of damp washing during winter. No, that’s not quite right. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned by piles of washing when she shelled out for an expensive heat pump tumble dryer to avoid exactly this situation – but now can’t use it.
I’m currently stuck in my cold period house with ill-fitting (if beautiful) sash windows, surrounded by pants, socks and shirts hanging on every hook, door and radiator. If I squint, maybe I can convince myself that I’m living in a domestic art installation rather than my office which looks more like a Victorian wash-house. What I want to know is why tech overlords are pursuing life on Mars when we still haven’t solved the problem of clothes horses getting in the way all winter.
I’m sick of the constant clutter, as well as the damp smell, and having to crank up the heating to get anything dry, which is both wasteful and expensive. Some people swear by those plug-in heated airers. I’ve never tried one, but given they can cost over £200 and you still have to hang and rehang everything over and over again, I think I’ll give it a miss.
So – in order to solve this once and for all – when I redid my kitchen in 2022, I decided my time had come. I would ascend to a life free from pants on the radiator and buy myself a tumble dryer. My life in laundry would be transformed.
Now the British have a funny relationship with tumble dryers and many I know see them as an excessive luxury and environmental sin, even though these same people often drive huge cars. But I was willing to risk their judgement in order to stop facing this washing nightmare every winter. Unfortunately, my adventures in tumble drying were a disappointment from the start.
I invested £509 in a heat pump tumble dryer from Hoover, because I believed it to be an energy-efficient choice. We used it very little at first, afraid of wasting money as energy price hikes began to hit. What’s more, it didn’t even dry that well. I still had to get each item into the boiler cupboard to finish it off. It was, however, a far superior solution than draping dripping fabric around the house so I persevered. It did also prove energy efficient and with light use, perhaps once or twice a week, we didn’t see any remarkable change in our bills.
Sophie didn’t use her new tumble dryer very often, so was surprised when it stopped working after just a couple of yearsWith this light usage, it was therefore surprising when the machine stopped working, just a couple of years later, in October 2025. I called my usual repair guy, who told me he never touched heat pump dryers, they were too much trouble (a warning sign). I then called the manufacturer’s recommended repair service, managed by Domestic & General, and after talking through the various repair costs, I settled on an annual policy that would cover this problem as well as any future issues within a year, for the cost of £239.88.
The engineer came and explained the capacitor was gone, a common problem and typical after about three years, apparently, which I thought seemed terrible value for such light use. I could have bought the part for a tenner but I don’t know how to fit it. (Getting into the machine to fix it also involved taking our kitchen apart…). Nevertheless, after three weeks without a dryer, I was delighted to have it fixed.
The very next day, I received a letter saying that my dryer had a defect that “presents a risk of fire that could result in death or injury”, but I assumed it was a scam or a mistake. After all, it was dated 31 October, the week before I contacted Hoover for a repair. If they’d known my machine was so dangerous, why would they sell me an annual cover policy and send an engineer out?
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But it wasn’t a scam – the manufacturer Haier has since warned that 85,000 dryers across the Baumatic, Candy, Caple, Haier, Hoover, Lamona, Iberna and Montpellier brands are at risk of fire and require an urgent fix. Owners are asked to unplug and stop using them immediately.
The Government’s Office for Product Safety and Standards said in December: “The manufacturer started a corrective action programme earlier this year for 103,000 affected machines. However, the Office for Product Safety and Standards told Haier to halt its initial repair programme because of concerns that the modification was still unsafe. Following an updated modification, Haier has begun contacting consumers again.”
I have since lodged a complaint twice and contacted Hoover (which operates under the Haier Smart Home UK & Ireland group) three times to follow up. Each time, I have had to explain every detail from the beginning. Each time, I was promised a callback that never materialised. I have still not received any response to my original complaint – apart from some dealings with the press office through writing this piece, which is not an avenue open to other consumers.
At one point on the phone to Haier, they offered £150 compensation but refused to acknowledge that this would not cover the cost of the policy taken out, never mind compensate me for the time without use of my dryer, or hours on the phone. They called it a gesture of goodwill, even though it left me out of pocket. More like a poke in the eye.
My repeated complaint was not about the safety risk, but to ask why they continue to sell repair cover for these machines. They said that this was Domestic & General’s responsibility. After three phone calls to Domestic & General, when, infuriatingly, I had to explain every part yet again, including to two people who went and investigated an entirely different situation and closed my case on that basis (!), Domestic & General offered me a refund for the policy.
I felt that they were delaying for as long as possible, hoping the customer would go away. They really haven’t reckoned on middle-aged women who desire dry clothes.
There is a punchline to the experience. This week, the same engineer returned to fix the machine that I have been warned repeatedly, via letter and text message, to unplug and not use. I confess: I have actually used this machine a few times, sick of the sopping wet clothes, watching it turn over and sniffing the air for any sign of fire.
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It turns out I could have been using it all along, as he fixed the manufacturing issue on his last visit, but was now here to take the machine apart and photograph the evidence. Three months of soaking clothes, hours on the phone, all for nothing. Haier has generously responded to this part of my complaint, saying: “We apologise that the safety modification was not communicated to you at the time of completion.”
Hoover has said in a comment: “We continue to proactively reach out to consumers via a high-profile media awareness campaign. Consumer safety is our priority and we’re monitoring progress closely. Haier is offering a gesture of goodwill on a case-by-case basis and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
It wanted to clarify that safety modifications are free of charge and that it was in contact with Domestic & General to review your case.
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