The Sydney Morning Herald today reported that LG has found themselves in some hot water over dodgy practices for certification of green credentials for their refrigerators. In fact, I’d say that the water is well over hot, and edging towards scalding. Quoting the article (since eventually the link will probably disappear):
AN ELECTRONICS manufacturer with a history of making false environmental claims has been caught doctoring fridges to make them appear more energy efficient.
LG Electronics has agreed to compensate potentially thousands of consumers after two of its fridges – models L197NFS and P197WFS – were found to contain an illegal device that activates an energy-saving mode when it detects room conditions similar to those in a test laboratory.
The so-called circumvention device was discovered last month by consumer advocacy group Choice.
The device detects test conditions and activates the mode, creating the impression of lower running costs and energy usage. The devices have been banned in Australia since 2007.
(Sydney Morning Herald, 17 March 2010, Melissa Singer.)
After describing this incident in detail, Melissa Singer went on to add:
LG Electronics has agreed to pay affected customers $331 to cover the unexpected increase in their power bills, but has not agreed to refund the purchase price of the fridge.
It is the third time LG Electronics has been caught making false claims about its products’ environmental credentials.
In 2008, it had to repay $3 million after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ruled it had inflated the energy efficiency rating of five models of air-conditioner.
As someone who works in IT, this reinforces what I constantly say: third party/independent auditing is a must to verify that claims and guarantees offered by vendors and service providers actually stack up. And those who are shown to be blatantly lying must be punished.
As a consumer, I find LG’s tactics disgusting. Rebranded from Gold Star to LG in 1995, LG has remained a brand synonymous with “cheap and cheerful”. It has a lot of popularity in a lot of circles, but personally whenever I see LG I remember the vile and dodgy little TV I had in the late 80′s/early 90′s with the cheery “GoldStar” badge on it.
Not so cheap on the environment. Not so cheap for consumers. Definitely not that cheerful.
LG deserve all the bad press they get from this.
No related posts.
I heard an interview on the Radio last night with LG Australia’s Marketing Director, in which he stated that LG is offering 3 options to customers who have purchased the affected models.
1-Full Refund. 2-Replacement with another LG fridge. 3-A payment for the estimated additional electricity cost to be incurred over 10years (i believe this is calculated at todays electricity costs, which are going up).
As a former LG employee, I understand to a degree the ins and outs of the company culture. Due to this very quick damage control and generous (although possibly they are doing what is legally required) offer to customers, I am suspicious.
How can consumers be sure this is the first time this has occurred?
Anyone own an older LG fridge, with a similar energy rating, that they are suspicious about?
Can anyone tell us where/what to look for to see if their LG fridge does have the illegal “energy saving device” that is designed to fool the energy start tests?