KATIE MORLEY INVESTIGATES

Dyson Airwrap left a love bite-shaped burn on my neck

Q My Dyson Airwrap malfunctioned when I used it in early January. While I was styling my hair it suddenly blasted air that was much hotter than normal and burnt my neck, leaving a red mark. It was very painful for a week and meant I had to go to a wedding with a red patch on my neck. It was so embarrassing, as it looked like a love bite.

I went back and forth with customer services, sitting on hold for 30 minutes at a time, eventually getting through to someone who didn’t know how to help. They said someone would call me back over the course of the next day.

I received a brief call back when I explained the situation and was told that a courier would collect the device. Again, there was no guidance on when this would be, so I had to wait home all day. After two and a half weeks I chased for an update, despite having been told I would have a response a week later.

Eventually this week

I got an email saying nothing was wrong with the device. – VH, via email A You supplied me with images of the burn, which you say occurred while you were holding the airwrap around two inches from your neck. You say you felt intense heat and immediately moved it away, only to discover a round, red 50p-sized blotch on your neck where your skin had been burnt. Over time the photographs showed the mark changed shape, becoming darker and redder, bearing an unfortunate resemblance to a love bite.

While you were adamant this £499 Airwrap produced a rogue jet of extreme heat and was in some way faulty, Dyson insisted there was nothing wrong with it.

I asked Dyson to provide a more detailed description of the tests it had done and it told me the electrical connections inside it had been checked, testers had used it several times, and all components were assessed for anomalies. I asked whether other similar complaints had been raised and was told yours was very much an isolated case.

So what actually happened here remains a mystery, but to my mind there are three possibilities. Either the Airwrap was faulty and Dyson’s checks failed to spot it; the burns arose from you unknowingly holding the device too close to your neck; or something else occurred that we have not thought of.

I agree with you that Dyson’s initial customer service could have been better. But before I got involved the company had already offered you a refund, replacement or alternative product, which was the right thing to do under the circumstances. You’ve said you don’t want another Airwrap after all this, so I’ve encouraged you to accept the refund option and move on.

Q For six months my wife and I have been hosting a Ukrainian family at our home in France. The family comprises a 50-year-old businesswoman, her 72-year-old mother and her five-year-old twins. Their stay in France is a stop-gap, as she is a fluent English speaker and is hoping to settle in an Anglophone country.

Through my pre-retirement connections, I have found her a sponsor and a job offer in Tain, in the Scottish Highlands. I first started the visa application process under the Homes for Ukraine scheme in October, but visas have still not been issued. It is impossible to get in direct touch with the visa section of the Home Office – the help line is simply an advice centre. Even attempts by my local MP to get further information have brought limited results.

Our plan had been to travel together to the UK so that I could help with logistics and introduce the family to the sponsor and employer. Brittany Ferries had offered them free transportation and a number of hotels along the 1,500 mile journey had offered free, or subsidised, accommodation. After changing the travel arrangements three times because of the delays, I could not delay further and I have had to travel alone, leaving the family in France.

If I had received an explanation for the constant delays, perhaps I could be more understanding, or have provided more information. In the absence of this it merely smacks of incompetence. –NL, via email

A The Home Office has been beset by delays since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, meaning families have faced lengthy waits for visas.

After I got in touch with it, the mother’s passport was swiftly processed. However, her twins’ documents were still outstanding.

You said the Home Office was requesting their Ukrainian passports as evidence, despite you having already explained that they didn’t possess these, and they had never been issued. After I chased again the Home Office confirmed that because you had taken the children to submit biometrics, this could be used to issue emergency travel documents, mitigating their need for passports to get to Scotland.

It’s a wonderful thing you’re doing to help this family and I hope that with your kind assistance they will settle well in Scotland. Best of luck with it all.

Ukrainian refugees waited six months for visas