Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
LG to offer 10-year guarantee for dryers on growing complaints
LG Electronics' TROMM Dual Inverter Heat Pump dryer / Courtesy of LG Electronics
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
LG Electronics has decided to offer a 10-year guarantee for its dryers after an increasing number of consumers complained about their malfunctioning condensers, the company said Tuesday.
Customers have been complaining about LG's TROMM Dual Inverter Heat Pump dryers saying the machine's special feature that automatically cleans the condenser is not working properly. A condenser is a key component of a dryer as the device removes moisture from laundry.
Due to the malfunction, they said dust, lint and fibers accumulated in the condenser are preventing appropriate air circulation and causing a stench inside the machine.
To ease the complaints, LG said it will offer a 10-year free warranty for its condenser components.
“LG has ensured that consumers are able to dry their clothes safely and hygienically, but we decided to offer the 10-year guarantee for condensers of the dryers in response to some consumers' concerns,” the company said in a statement.
LG has promoted the automatic cleaning function as a killer feature of its dryers. While consumers using conventional dryers are required to wash the condenser in running water and dry them regularly, LG advertised that consumers of its dryers won't need to do that.
However, some consumers have raised concerns that the automatic cleaning system didn't work. Several consumers even filed an online petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website requesting the presidential office to do something to address the malfunction of the dryers.
The Voice for Consumers, a civic organization promoting the interests and rights of consumers, said it actually received an increasing number of damage reports about LG dryer's condenser component.
“Though there were only two reports about the LG dryer's automatic cleaning system in 2018, the figure grew to 29 by June and we received additional 147 damage reports from July 1 to 8,” the civic organization said.
Though the company announced the offer of a 10-year warranty on the condenser components, LG said its products didn't have any defects.
“Even if a certain amount of dust is accumulated on the condenser, this does not affect the drying performance of the machine,” the company said. “We will also deploy our service engineers to consumers who have felt any kind of inconvenience while using our dryers and offer a free maintenance service.”