SINGAPORE: The Electrolux glass cooker hobs that were recalled on Friday (Jan 6) had repeatedly given problems for some time, users of the affected models told Channel NewsAsia – and in at least one instance, the issues did not go away even after the company attempted to fix it.

The four models – EGT9637CKP, EGT7637EGP, EGT7637CKP and EGT7627CKP – caused small explosions and the glass on the cooker hobs to shatter.

One user, Mr Sam San, who has owned the EGT9637CKP since August 2015, said he first encountered problems with the hob shortly after installing it. “There was a very small ‘explosion’,” he told Channel NewsAsia, describing it as an indistinct sound with flames that snuffed out. He subsequently also had trouble lighting the hob.

Electrolux visited his home to fix the hob at no charge, he said.

However, the problems did not go away; instead, there were more “explosions” and on one occasion in September 2016, it left Mr San with a scalded arm. “I reported the matter to Electrolux via email as I could not reach them through the customer service hotline despite calling for three days,” he said. “And then I received a call from customer service claiming that the unit was no longer under warranty.”

(Photo courtesy of Sam San)

Mr San said he had tried to explain to Electrolux that the issue was one of safety, but that Electrolux “insisted” that he fork out another S$400 to have the spare parts replaced.

“My question to them was: ‘Would this solve the explosion issue and why did the problem deteriorate when the hob was repaired during the warranty period?'” he said.

Mr San said he was asked only to decide whether or not to proceed with repairing the hob. “I was really disappointed by the product and Electrolux’s customer service. I also thought of escalating the matter to CASE,” he said, adding that he has stopped using the stove for a couple of months now.

NOT THE FIRST CASE, ELECTRICIAN TELLS HOB OWNER

Another owner told Channel NewsAsia that her cooking hob too, has been riddled with issues since she got it in July 2015.

“I am a stay-at-home mum so I cook every day for the family,” said Ms Geraldine Guo, who owns Electrolux’s EGT7637CKP – a different model from Mr San’s hob.

“From the beginning, the hob has been hissing loudly when it is turned on. Sometimes, it is also difficult to ignite.”

Ms Guo added that the hob gave off abrupt popping noises when the gas was turned on for too long or when the heat was too high. Flames would also go off too while she was cooking, she added

She nevertheless continued using the cooking hob until it gave way in August 2016, slightly more than a year after she bought it.

“Suddenly while cooking, there was a mini explosion. Smoke was seen coming out of the stove and below the stove,” she said, adding that parts of the hob “must have burnt”. Shortly after she took her pot of soup away from the stove, Ms Guo said she saw the glass start to crack slowly.

Shattered glass on Electrolux glass gas cooker hob EGT7637CKP. (Photo courtesy of Geraldine Guo)

Even though the hob was still under warranty, Ms Guo paid about S$80 to S$100 for an Electrolux electrician to replace the shattered glass, as well as a few small parts of the stove.

“I didn’t ask Electrolux for a refund at that time because I thought I was just an unlucky customer who received a defective item,” she said. “The guy told me the glass was not under warranty, only the parts of the stove.”

Ms Guo also revealed that the electrician sent to her home by Electrolux mentioned that this was not his first case concerning shattered glass, and he has also heard of cases in which the hob had exploded.

She added that, for the safety of her three children, she is apprehensive of using the cooking hob and will eat out in the meantime. “It’s inconvenient also because Chinese New Year is coming and we’re having our reunion dinner at my place,” she added.

HOB OWNERS TO GET FULL REFUND BY CHEQUE

Both Mr San and Ms Guo told Channel NewsAsia that they have been disappointed with Electrolux’s handling of the matter.

“I reported the issue in September last year and just learnt that they have been aware of it since April,” said Mr San.

Earlier on Friday, Electrolux had revealed that it had been working closely with SPRING Singapore on the matter since April 2016.

“The experience wasn’t so good because I feel they took so long to assure those that are affected,” said Ms Guo. “I’m also surprised that the authorities already knew about this last April but took so long to take action.”

She added that, even after the recall had been issued, it took several attempts before she managed to get through to Electrolux’s customer service hotline at noon on Friday. “At that time, they said they had no solutions yet and are still in discussion with SPRING Singapore,” Ms Guo said.

In a media advisory on Friday night, Electrolux said it would arrange to remove or pick up the cooker hobs and provide affected customers “with a full product refund by way of cheque in exchange”.

It added that “a goodwill gesture of a S$100 voucher will also be given as a token of our appreciation and recognition of any inconvenience including installation, temporary loss of use, et cetera.”

But for users like Ms Guo, the damage may have been done. “I have started to lose confidence in the brand,” she said. “How would I know whether the same problems wouldn’t occur again?”

SINGAPORE: It’s a late Thursday morning on the Downtown Line and Liz Atkin settles into one of the carriages. She promptly pulls out a copy of the day’s newspaper and leafs through it. Spotting an ad that catches her eye, she takes out a charcoal stick and begins shading and sketching on it.

After a couple of minutes, she looks up and sees a curious fellow passenger. She hands it to him – and proceeds to do another one.

For the next few days, you might spot the 40-year-old UK artist on the train, furiously drawing on newspapers and giving these away to lucky random commuters. It is part of Atkin’s performance for the ongoing M1 Singapore Fringe Festival called #CompulsiveCharcoal, where she’ll be sketching on the train until Jan 15.

But it’s not just about giving her art away for nothing. It’s also a way of coping with a physical and mental condition she’s had since the age of four.

DEALING WITH A DISORDER

Atkin has Compulsive Skin Picking (CSP), an obsessive-compulsive disorder characterised by the need to constantly pick at one’s skin. It affects as many as one in 20 people. To deal with it, Atkin keeps herself (and her hands) preoccupied with drawing.

A selection of drawings done during commutes on the London Tube. (Photo: Liz Atkin’s website)

“I would pick my hands, my face, my back, my feet, any part of the body where I would feel there was something odd going on – my hands would go into it and pick at it. I would even do it in my sleep. I hid it from people in my life for a long time. And now, drawing has become a really powerful thing to stop this illness from happening,” she told Channel NewsAsia.

#CompulsiveCharcoal began 18 months ago by accident. A friend had given her a box of charcoal sticks as a present and, to stave off panic attacks and keep her focused during her long commutes on the London Underground, Atkin started drawing in sketchbooks.

During one of those trips, she ran out of pages, so she decided to draw on free newspapers that were littered all over London’s trains. After she posted an image of her work on Instagram, it garnered a lot of positive reaction.

“It’s a kind of recycling; grabbing newspapers and upcycling them. The next time I got on the Tube, I did the same thing and now, it’s a thing I do wherever I am,” said Atkin, who also sketches on planes and buses.

ART IN A JIFFY

Each of her “graffiti” drawings take about a minute to do and she can whip out around 60 a day. “I’ve done about 10,000, to give you an idea of the kind of compulsive nature of these drawings,” she said.

Because of its grainy texture, charcoal is a physical distraction, too. And because her hands can get dirty, she also avoids touching her skin.

But aside from its personal benefits, it’s also a way of connecting with people.

Taking a photo of her latest work in Singapore, before posting on Twitter and Instagram. (Photo: Mayo Martin)

“People wonder why I’m doing this, drawing in the middle of the carriage. So sometimes it’s about catching the eye of people around me to sort of acknowledge that is happening in a public place. And once the drawing is finished, I give it to whoever’s near me. And I offer it to them as a free gift. I don’t need the drawings, I just need to do them. So I give them away to whoever’s near me.”

For her Singapore trip, she’s also giving out postcards that explains CSP and encourages people to tweet or post on Instagram using the hashtag #compulsivecharcoal.

RE-THINKING HER SKIN

Apart from drawing, many of Atkin’s works also revolve around dealing with her condition.

“Most of my artworks are large photographs of my own body transformed with paint or pastel dust or acrylics – stuff that transforms the surface of the body. So it’s very much about re-thinking my skin. You know, my skin has been this problem all my life so for me, finding creative ways to turn it into something else, it’s all about transformation,” she said.

Atkin has also been active in giving talks about her experience with CSP, as well as teaching art at schools, hospitals, hospices and prisons. In fact, when she’s not train-hopping in Singapore, she’ll be giving a few talks and workshops, too.

“I didn’t wear T-shirts for 10 years because my arms were badly marked and scarred,” she recalled. “So getting to grips with (CSP) and finding a way to own it and change it to something positive, has been extremely powerful. Art is my tool for recovery. Art is what got me better.”

FORMULA ONE fans in Singapore are keen for the race to remain there, despite negotiations between organisers and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone seemingly stalled, according to a survey conducted by British research firm YouGov.

The contract for the Singapore race expires this year and Ecclestone and organisers are still in negotiations about extending beyond 2017, though he suggested in an interview with a German autosport magazine last November that talks were not progressing well.

The Singapore race costs some S$150 million (US$104.69 million) to put on every year, 60 percent of which is funded by the government. It was first staged in 2008 and the city-state renewed its contract for another five years in 2012.

SEE ALSO: Singapore ‘just an airport’ before F1, sport’s boss says of city’s plan to dump race

The future of the race, however, was a concern for the 1,002 Singaporean respondents to the survey, with 57 percent keen for it to continue beyond this year.

About 70 percent also felt the race had been a net positive for the country.

YouGov conducted the survey of 9,332 people within eight countries in the Asia-Pacific area because the future of the sport within the wider region is clouded.

SEE ALSO: Malaysian cops bust 9 Aussies for wearing flag-themed undies at F1 race

The area hosts five Grands Prix on the 20-race calendar this year – in Australia, China,Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.

Malaysian organisers have already said they had no interest in hosting a race after 2018 because of declining ticket sales and television viewing figures.

The survey, however, found that overall more than 60 percent of respondents wanted more races within the region with Hong Kong (33 percent), Bangkok (27 percent) and Sydney (20 percent) suggested as potential hosts.

While 71 percent would be interested in attending races, high ticket costs and having to travel to another country to do so were major deterrents. – Reuters

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SINGAPORE: One fish farm lost almost its entire Chinese New Year harvest, after a vessel collision off Johor on Tuesday (Jan 3) resulted in about 300 tonnes of oil spilling into the sea.

Now, Gills N’ Claws, which runs a fish farm north of Pulau Ubin, said it is already in talks with its lawyers and will consider taking legal action against the shipping companies in question.

“Our lawyers told us we can sue the ship owners for compensation,” said Gills N’ Claws’ CEO Steven Suresh. “But first we will ask them amicably how they plan to compensate us, and then see what they say.

“If they don’t want to compensate us, then we will have to take legal action.”

Oil slicked green mussels seen on a rope at Gills N’ Claws fish farm. (Photo: Winnie Goh)

The company estimates its losses could run to as high as S$700,000. It saw the deaths of about 70 per cent of the fish meant to be sold in time for Chinese New Year, but the larger proportion of its losses come from having to change all the infrastructure that was ruined by the oil.

“Just redoing the infrastructure alone is going to cost us a bomb,” said Mr Suresh. “It’s easier for me to tear the whole thing down and build a new system than to clean up the oil.”

SHIP OWNERS LIABLE FOR COMPENSATION: LAWYERS

But how likely is it that they will be successful in recouping their losses? Lawyers Channel NewsAsia spoke to said that under Singapore law, these fish farms are eligible for compensation from the ship owners responsible for the spill.

“If the collision was caused by the fault or negligence of any of the ships involved, the fish farms would likely have a claim against the party at fault,” said K Murali Pany, managing partner of Joseph Tan Jude Benny LLP. “If the party does not offer payment, the fish farms will have to bring a claim in court, and a ship arrest to obtain security for their claims may also be possible.”

The Government can also take steps to penalise shipping companies for causing oil spills that affect Singapore, according to S Suressh, partner at Harry Elias Partnership and head of the Aviation and Shipping Practice Group. He said the master, agent and owner of the ship can be fined up to a maximum of S$1 million under the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea Act.

In a 1993 case involving accidental pollution, the fine imposed was about S$10,000. But penalties are much more severe in cases of deliberate pollution. “In 1996, a tanker dumped oil into the sea. The master was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and fined S$400,000. The ship’s owner and its agent were also fined S$400,000 each.”

He added that the fish farms looking to make a claim will have to take the matter up with the representatives of the owner of the vessel. There is also no fixed time frame for it to be resolved, as each case is different. “If matters cannot be resolved, then claimants can sue the owners, but this is rarely necessary as most claims of this nature are settled,” he said. “The ship probably has insurance coverage for this.”

FISH FARMS TAKING A WAIT-AND-SEE APPROACH

In the meantime, affected fish farms are still assessing their damage and taking a wait-and-see approach. President of the Fish Farmers’ Association Timothy Ng said they are still exploring their options and are currently having preliminary discussions. “But it is likely that we will need to make some claims,” he said.

It is also not easy to gauge the actual impact of the oil spill on his association’s members, he added. “There are a few farmers directly impacted, but for others … I heard from a farmer closer to the Changi side that they could see (the) oil coming.”

“So we will only know in a few weeks, when everything is settled, what the impact is on their farms.”

As of Friday (Jan 6), the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has issued orders for 12 farms to suspend fish sales until food safety evaluations are complete.

Fish available in the market is safe for consumption, AVA added.

AVA officers take samples from a fish farm in Singapore for food safety tests. (Photo: AVA)

AVA has also been visiting coastal fish farms to ascertain and mitigate the situation, as well as assist in the clean-up. Oil-absorbent pads and canvas have been issued to 25 farmers near the site of the oil spill to help protect their fish stock.

An AVA officer helps a fish farm to soak up oil using oil absorbent pads. (Photo: AVA)

It added that while some farms said that about 250kg of fish have died, most of the farms in the same area did not report any, and that there is “minimal impact to supply”.

Additional reporting by Vanessa Lim.