Our barbecue from John Lewis burst into flames at a family party

Times

a day ago

Four years ago my husband and I bought an Everdure gas barbecue from John Lewis for £649, which came with a five-year warranty. We also bought a cover for it from another company for £79.
During a family gathering my husband was cooking dinner on the barbecue when the whole thing suddenly went up in flames and the plastic surrounding the grill started melting. It was so shocking.
Our family had been milling around having a drink and a few of us quickly formed a line with buckets of water and we managed to put out the fire. My husband also managed to disconnect the gas cylinder from the barbecue. In retrospect we ought to have called the fire brigade because it was so dangerous. We are so grateful that no one was injured, but our three-year old granddaughter was particularly upset.
This was the first time we had a problem with the barbecue. My husband is the one who uses it and he is very experienced.
He emailed John Lewis to explain what had happened and after many weeks we were eventually offered a refund. We pointed out that we had also bought a special cover for the barbecue so we wanted to be reimbursed for that too, but we didn't get a response.
After weeks of chasing, the company changed its mind and said it wouldn't give us any money back; it said the fire was our fault because we left grease in the barbecue. This isn't true; we are careful people who take care of our things. We have always cleaned it after use and removed any fat. No one came to inspect the barbecue and we were shocked that the company was now claiming that we had caused the fire.
John Lewis has never acknowledged the seriousness of the situation which could have had fatal consequences, so we feel very let down.
My husband and I have bought all our appliances from John Lewis, but we are left feeling like we can't rely on the company to help when things go wrong.Jo, address supplied
I was pleased to hear that no one was hurt in this incident, but it could have easily been a very different story.
It was worrying that the flames had melted the plastic of the barbecue, and made me question whether there could be a design fault with this model. I spoke to the product manufacturer, an Australian company called Shriro, which said it had not identified any inherent defects in the Everdure Force 2 model that could lead to a fire.
It said: 'Shriro takes customer complaints seriously and is committed to the quality and safety of our products. All Everdure brands are safety tested and comply with applicable safety standards.'
The company said that because the barbecue had not been inspected by an expert, it wasn't in a position to determine the cause of the fire.
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Under UK consumer law, you are entitled to a refund, repair or replacement if an item you have bought is faulty. But because you had owned the barbecue for more than six months, the onus was on you to prove that it was defective when you bought it.
But your barbecue was also under warranty, which supplements your consumer rights, so you wanted to claim under that. A warranty would typically cover repairs or replacements, but given your justified concerns about the safety of the barbecue you just wanted a refund.
Companies would normally inspect items to decide whether the issue was covered under warranty, but this had not happened in your case.
Warranty claims are managed by Shriro's distributors, one of which had supplied the barbecue to John Lewis. It was unfair that you had initially been promised a refund only for the company to change its mind without ever inspecting the barbecue.
Eventually, John Lewis agreed to give you the refund. It said: 'We serve millions of happy customers every year and recognise that we don't always get it right the first time. We're really sorry that this hasn't been the case for this customer. We recognise the severity of the fire safety concerns and we have ensured that the case is being thoroughly investigated by our supplier.'
It also gave you a £350 John Lewis gift card. You said: 'We would like to say a big thank you for your involvement, without which I'm certain we would still be being stonewalled.'
In preparation for attending the Royal Garden Party in Edinburgh, I ordered three dresses from the retailer Karen Millen. I paid £328, plus £9 for delivery.
The dresses arrived swiftly but sadly none were suitable. On Karen Millen's website it gives the option to be refunded back to your original payment method or to get a voucher, so I selected the former. This was my first time buying anything from Karen Millen and I found the returns process quite tricky to navigate.
Once the dresses had been sent back, I had an email saying that my refund was on its way and also giving me an extra £32 as a 'gift card uplift'. I didn't know what this meant. That same day I received a gift voucher from Karen Millen for £358. I was confused because I had asked for a refund and not a voucher. This figure also didn't correspond to what I had paid.
I immediately contacted the company and after lots of back and forth with various agents, I was eventually told that I had selected the voucher option so it wasn't possible to refund me in cash. I am convinced that I had not opted for a voucher. Each item had to be returned separately, so even if I had mistakenly opted for a voucher on one occasion, I'm certain that I didn't on the other two items.
I have been in constant communication with Karen Millen since then but it won't resolve my complaint. I have become very frustrated by this situation and just want my money back.Belinda, Stirling
When returning items to Karen Millen the default option is to get the money refunded as a voucher, which also gives you an extra 10 per cent on top — in your case that would have been an extra £32.80, or £32 if they didn't round up. It didn't make sense that your voucher only added £30 on top and it seemed strange to me that a voucher was the default option. I wondered if shoppers could be caught out by this. The company said it makes the two options clear. It also said that the choice you make with your first return will apply to the other items from the same order.
You were adamant that you had selected the refund option. Karen Millen has now agreed to cancel the voucher and send £328 back to your credit card and has also given you a £30 gift voucher as an apology for the inconvenience.
I spoke to Karen Millen's parent company, Debenhams Group, which said: 'We offer customers the choice between a gift card or a refund to their original payment method to provide greater flexibility and benefits for our regular shoppers. We encourage customers to check their refund selection carefully to ensure it meets their needs.'
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