WTA to launch online appliance registration scheme

The Whitegoods Trade Association (WTA) has revealed plans to launch a website where consumers can register their home appliances.

The WTA stated on its website that it came to the decision to create a new registration system “in light of the lack of a portal that allows owners to register any appliance”.

The service, which will feature on the WTA’s consumer-facing website UKwhitegoods.co.uk, will allow consumers to register an account and manage their products, adding, deleting or amending them as required over time.

The WTA, which represents more than 200 domestic appliance repair companies, will make the portal available to all members of the public, who will be alerted in the event of a safety notice or product recall.

The same portal will also store details of owner’s products that are gathered through home visits or sales of new products by anyone, not just WTA members.

The launch comes in the wake of a number of high-profile safety notices and electrical appliance fires.

This scheme will be in addition to Amdea’s Register My Appliance, which was launched in 2015, and The Retail Ombudsman’s UK Recall, which launched last summer.

However, the WTA claims to have gone one step further by also offering a health check programme, which will be exclusively available to its members.

This health check service will allow WTA members to register a customer’s appliance when completing a service check-up. They will also be able highlight any issues and suggest corrective action where appropriate.

A statement on the WTA website said: “Members that take part in the scheme must adhere to the WTA code of practice and must also abide by the guidelines for the health check scheme also. This ensures that customers are delivered an exemplary service worthy of the WTA and its members.

“Much like an MOT on cars, this system is in place to ensure safety both now and in the future.”

The portal is expected to go live from mid-March.

WTA chairman Lawrence Carey commented: “The WTA Healthcheck and registration scheme is all about consumer safety, people need to be assured that the products that they have are not only safe to use but that they are not subject to recall or safety notification and, if they are, we want to be able do something about that for our customers.

“We feel that the independent repairers are best placed to offer this service with a high level of customer care, a vast knowledge spanning many brands and a drive to be the best in the field.”

Kenneth Watt, managing director of UK Whitegoods, added: “We are delighted to offer this service to visitors to our website and we will promote it to the 7,000 or so visitors we receive every day. We think that having appliances regularly inspected for any issues is a huge leap forward for safety and could save property damage and make owners aware of any issues with their appliances.

“It is the best idea in regard to appliance safety that we have seen and we fully support the WTA in this initiative.”

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