Recommendation 6

It is disgraceful that Whirlpool made customers who had been victims of fires involving its products sign NDAs in order to receive compensation to which they were entitled. Its treatment of Jemma Spurr was lamentable, though we welcome their subsequent apology. While Whirlpool maintain that such NDAs were not intended to prevent customers sharing information with regulators and safety organisations, this is clearly contradicted by the wording in the NDA Jemma Spurr was made to sign. It also ignores the chilling affect such legal devices have, because customers often sign such NDAs without legal advice. Whirlpool told us that they are currently reviewing their use of NDAs. We recommend that Whirlpool should stop using them with customers altogether.