Consumer advocacy group CHOICE has compiled a mass incident report to be submitted to the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), detailing 87 customers’ experiences with the machine.

Of the 87 cases, 18 Thermomix users required hospitalisation after being splattered with scalding hot liquid after the lid came loose. The claims relate to both the TM31 and TM5 machines.

“According to numerous reports that have come our way, the machine can be dangerously unsafe, to the extent that a critical part of the TM31 model ended up on Australia’s national product recall site in 2014, though Thermomix has adamantly refused to call the incident a recall,” CHOICE said in a statement.

“The ACCC, on the other hand, has confirmed that a voluntary recall was in fact issued and that ‘recall’ is the correct term.”

In March, delicious.com.au reported that a Perth resident required immediate hospitalisation after the lid came off her Thermomix, splattering her body with scalding sauce that caused second-degree burns to her upper torso and arms. Danika Jones’s burns are so bad that she now struggles to use a conventional oven because of the heat, and suffers lasting fears of being burnt.

CHOICE spokesman Tom Godfrey said that the company’s lack of clarity around safety issues prompted the investigation.

“It is deeply concerning that, in a number of cases, when the company was informed of an incident they blamed the consumer by classifying the product’s failure as ‘user error’,” he told the Herald Sun.

The CHOICE report also found that injured customers who complained or sought a refund were forced into signing non-disclosure agreements before any money was returned.

“In what may be an all-time low in customer service for a high-end product, Thermomix attempted to force customers to sign non-disclosure agreements – or gag orders – in exchange for a mere refund, not medical costs or other damages,” the report said.

“Acting for Thermomix, an Australian law firm wrote to customers saying, ‘the terms of the deed of settlement [refund of the cost of the machine] are strictly confidential and must not be disclosed to any person (but including via social media) without prior written consent’.

“And customers had to agree ‘not to disparage or otherwise comment negatively about Thermomix or Vorwerk [the German manufacturer] and not to take any action which it is intended, or would reasonably be expected, to harm the reputation of Thermomix or Vorwerk, or lead to unwanted or unfavourable publicity’.”