After 9 years of sterling work our Zanussi washing machine has bitten the dust.

Any recommendations out there of a machine to go for (or more importantly to avoid)?

Ta

Posted 12 years ago

Our Bosch has been excellent. My parents and wife’s parents have Bosch too and all been great.

Posted 12 years ago

AEG here. YOu know it’s a good un when it puts the removal man’s back out 🙂

9 yrs and going strong.

Posted 12 years ago

My crappy Hotpoint died again this weekend – 4th time in 18 months! Having spent a few hours last night on the web, esp. here: washerhelp I finally decided to spend the money on a Miele from John Lewis that comes with a 10 year guarantee.

Hopefully means at least 10 years until I have to think about washing machines again.

Posted 12 years ago

When our Bosch died after 10 years I went for a Miele.

As Gilesey says, it has a 10 year warranty.

i went for the model with the bigger drum to cut down on the number of washes. It’s very quiet in use even when spinning.

Posted 12 years ago

Cheers all

I did of course mean machine in the title and not mashine. Miele sounds pretty good with the 10 year guarantee.

Posted 12 years ago

bosch, good value
AEG good but a bit pricey
Miele too expensive and bit overated

Posted 12 years ago

Miele too expensive and bit overated

Did yours break Ibis?

Posted 12 years ago

Spooky, but we have just ordered a replacement for our Zanussi we have had for about 9 years!

Going for a cheapo to replace it. Beko from Sainsbury’s electrical for about £220 delivering on Monday.

I think appliances these days are pretty much disposable after a 3-5 years so unless you go for the Miele I would just buy the cheapest one with a reasonable spin speed.

Posted 12 years ago

our Beaumatic washer drier died at christmas, its been replaced by a fantastic LG steam that I got for £400.00 from the John Lewis outlet in Swindon. Its the dogs dangles, it washes with steam and there’s a "refresh" option wtich you can chuck 3 items in and they are done in about 15 minutes and come out fresh and ready to iron.

its also the reason I’m now £400.00 shy of a Nikon D90 🙁

oh 9kg load (which it weighs before starting) and 180deg opening huge door.

Posted 12 years ago

Our 10yr old Indesit packed up about 6 weeks before Christmas and 2 weeks before I got made redundant…..

We were gonna get a Bosch as every Bosch thing any of my friends/family have owned seems to last ages.
But in the end plumped for a £230 Zanussi something or another from John Lewis. Seems to do a good job, has loads of options and well made.
Only thing is it doesn’t wash colder than 40 deg. I don’t think, which everyone seems to be banging on about these days – wash at 30 or 15 deg. C. We can’t, but nevermind.

Posted 12 years ago

I was a`white goods warehouse manager for a while, the machines we got the most of back percentage wise were hotpoint/indes*it, exactly the same machines badge engineered now. Bosch oddly enough, but they seem to keep a very good brand perception, whilst not actually being anything out of the ordinary at all.

The machines we got the least back percentage wise were Miele, we never really got any back except for one with cosmetic damage on delivery, LG, especially tyhe direct drive machines and beko, beko are amazing, cheap and indestructible, they break down sooo rarely it’s incredible, bloody ugly though. If you dont want to spend Miele money, just get a zanussi.

everything else was round the middle ground, part from dysons, which just ripped your washing to bits in a beautifully styled product, but not actually any f*****g good at all way.

Posted 12 years ago

Our four and a half year old Bosch went bash on Friday. On Saturday we bought a Siemens in a sale fo £440, cut down from £660. It comes with a five year call out,labour, & parts warranty so I think its worth paying a little more for that. And the action of the programme selection knob is most satisfying. I reckon it’s running on sealed ceramic bearings :0)

Them Hotpoints look & feel like they came from the middle of a Kinder Egg.

Buy quality, not some cheap clip together crap!

Posted 12 years ago

i am a white goods engineer i agree with everything jahwomble says, i would buy the cheapest beko from currys (i dont work for them) and take out the whatever happens product support and you are covered for 5 years no worries about anything for 5 years, this is what i honestly would do.

as for miele dont get me started, they like bosch are way overrated dont yuo see there red vans zooming about everywhere to fix broken down stuff cos i do.

dont buy a zanussi as the new drums,bearings,tub are a one piece throw away £200+ part

Posted 12 years ago

We figure that they all fall apart after a few years so we try to spend no more than £200. If we then get 3 years out of one then we’ve done well. Just ordered a £200 BEKO from Currys (down from about £270 in the sale). 1500 spin speed, so stuff comes out pretty dry. Fingers crossed it will last.

Posted 12 years ago

We use our machine 2 to 3 times a day (lots of kids) we have had 2 Bosch machines with 3yr warranties one lasted 5yrs the other 3 and a bit (cost £450ish each) So this time we bought a cr*ppy Beko bought the 5 year warrany spent under £300 saved £150 so if it goes t*ts after 3 to 4 yrs we get another to hopefully last another 3, theres ‘some’ logic there I think! 😆

Posted 12 years ago

We have LG direct drive one – so far (5 years) not a wobble or complaint…family of 5 so on daily.

Posted 12 years ago

Well I’ve had a Hotpoint WF865 for 4.5 years now, and it hasn’t missed a beat!

It’s on loads because there are 6 of us, and it came with a 5 year parts warranty.

Was meant to be around £550, but we paid £330 for it online.

Just goes to show you cant always go on what you read.

Looks nice too, it’s all digital.

Posted 12 years ago

I’ll see your hotpoint and raise you our LG!!

is this the first ever STW washing machine willy waving thread?

Posted 12 years ago

Haha, now you’re being silly! 😉

Posted 12 years ago

god save us from the nouveau riche! 🙂

Posted 12 years ago

beamers have you not answered your own question (After 9 years of sterling work our Zanussi washing machine has bitten the dust.)
Why change?

Posted 12 years ago

I’ve got this Indesit and had a about a year. Quite impressed with it… it washes clothes at a variety of temperatures and has loads of setting I will never use!

Posted 12 years ago

Friend has just bought a Miele with 10 year guarantee and thinks it’s great – even has a light inside the drum to illuminate you clothes!!!!!

Personally I’d buy one with a 5 year guarantee and wash things half as much….

Posted 12 years ago

Its not been a completely trouble free 9 years.

Interesting comments above about Zanussi from "those in the know".

Posted 12 years ago

ah but is that mangle A++ rated?

and correct me if I’m worng but isn’t that just one of them Yorkshire niche things! 😀

Posted 12 years ago

Right then, based upon the advice above and by the shiny machines in our local Currys we bought these:

LG F1406TDSP Black 1400 Spin Steam Washing Machine

and

LG RC8003C Silver Tumble Dryer

This purchase weighed in at a total of £1105. Its a lot of money but its also a lot of machine.

Now, Curry’s are doing a cover package called “whateverhappens” which for £7 a month (for both machines) you are covered for absolutely any damage whatsoever for however long you wish to keep paying the money. Sounds great, but if LG are as good as this thread leads me to believe, if and when they go bang 10 years down the line the equivalent machine(s) will cost a lot less than they do now.

So my question is this (I’m looking at Jahwomble and Flatpack here) is it worth paying the £7 a month, given that we have gone with LG and they should last for 10 years plus and so therefore end up paying way more for the cover plan than the value of a replacement machine 10 years down the line, or running them until they fall apart and buying again from new?

The more I think about it I’m leaning towards the no cover option.

Thoughts?

Posted 12 years ago

Curry’s are doing a cover package called “whateverhappens” which for £7 a month (for both machines) you are covered for absolutely any damage whatsoever

Assuming Currys are still in business. In the current market that’s not certain.

Posted 12 years ago

the cover will be underwritten by another organisation. Whether insurers are any safer than retailers is another matter though 🙂

Posted 12 years ago

If you pay £7 a month, for 10 years, and dont use the cover that is £840 down the drain.

I know you know this, but sometimes it helps to see it in black and white.

To me, it looks like that way you are almost guaranteed to lose.

I dont really like extended warranties though.

Posted 12 years ago

Also, isn’t there a thing where what you buy has to last a reasonable amount of time, which for that price should be easily 6 years or so?

These 12 month warranties don’t over-rule your statutory rights, whatever shops try and have you believe.

Posted 12 years ago

Posted 12 years ago

With this cover plan an engineer will come out and fix the machine no matter what has happened to it, i.e. worn out due to time, trashed on day two by a chunky zip trashing the drum.

It sounds too good to be true in my opinion. Interestingly Curry’s offer the same plan (not sure if its for the same price) on all of their machines, including the £200 Beko ones. we opted for the LG due to its high load capacity, economy rating and steam clean function.

Posted 12 years ago

Thinking about this even more, if the appliances are going to last for 10 years I would be better off putting £7a month into a savings account (interest rates will surely rise again in the next 10 years) and buying our next machines from the money in that savings account. Instead of chucking £7 away each month I’ll be earning a very small amount of interest on the increasing balance.

Posted 12 years ago

Sounds good to me.

Posted 12 years ago

Thinking about this even more, if the appliances are going to last for 10 years I would be better off putting £7a month into a savings account

Or buying a Miele with a 10 year warranty.

Posted 12 years ago

having just spent a grand on an LG I’m not about to spend another grand on a Miele.

Posted 12 years ago

Sorry didn’t realise you’d bought one.

You could always get the Miele as a spare

Posted 12 years ago

Well I got a Hotpoint Aquarius 18 months ago. It’s been really good (touch wood). It was the most efficient we could find that wasn’t silly money, and it is almost completely silent in use – which is nice.

Only one thing that annoys me, but it’s the same on every single washing machine out there – you can’t independently set the temperature and spin speed on any programme. You can LOWER the temp and spin speed, but you can’t RAISE it. Why the flying F*CK is that? If I want a quick 30 min wash, like I normally do, I have to put up with a half speed spin. They’re my F*CKING clothes, I will spin them as fast as I F*CKING well like you B*STARDS! So I either have to put them on for a longer wash and waste energy, dry wetter clothes which takes longer and cools the house for longer, or put it on a faster spin manually – which is ok if I’m there but it can’t be done automatically.

I just can’t understand why washing manufs won’t let you do this?!

Posted 12 years ago

Had a Bosch washer/dryer for the last 10 years and to be honest it’s never been that great, spin is poor, noisy and the tunble dryer is rubbish. I’ve had to to some repairs to it over the years – new brushes on the motor etc. At the moment it doesn’t spin very well, door needs banged shut several times to get it to start, been sticking with it till we get our new kitchen in 3 months then we’ll be glad to see the back of it. I wouldn’t buy another bosch.

Posted 12 years ago