With the adverse publicity some appliance manufacturers have had lately, thanks to what appears to be the phenomenon of something akin to spontaneous combustion, I can’t help but think that the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances’ announcement that the Prize Season@Register My Appliance is shortly to get underway, is something of a comfort.

After all, if you know your appliances may pose a safety risk to those in whose homes they’re used, it’s so much easier recall to them if you know exactly where those homes actually are. Any initiative that encourages we consumers to register our appliances and thus enable their manufacturers to keep in touch with us, has to be a good one.

I was guilty of keeping my purchases secret until I learned of the scheme and had the logic of it explained to me. I don’t know whether I’d not previously bothered because the excitement of having a new appliance pushed registration out of my radar, whether I was simply too lazy to do it or planned to do it later, or whether it was something to do with the silly threat of the guarantee not being honoured unless the product was registered… Well – when you’ve forked out a small fortune on new white goods and the like, the last thing you want to contemplate is them breaking down!

I now know better and always encourage friends and family to register any appliances they’re taking into their home – and particularly so if they’ve bought them second hand.

In case you’re not familiar with the scheme, the majority of the manufacturers take part and from 1st November, customers who register their new appliances (or even ones they already own – as long as they’re under 12 years old) at www.registermyappliance.org.uk are entered into prize draws that run through January to include Register My Appliance Day on 19th January 2017.

I know the manufacturers’ literature that’s tucked inside the packaging encourages purchasers to register what they’ve bought, but if you’re involved in the sale of such equipment, it won’t do any harm to help spread the word by pointing out why we need to register our appliances, when taking our payment, will it?

After all, for just a little bit of effort, you might just stop someone’s house from burning down…

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Yours,

Jan Hobbs