Buying Kitchen White Goods

firstTimeBuyer_2-2

Hi,

I've just bought my first house and am looking to buy a washing machine and a fridge freezer.

Does any one know of any good offers going just now? or the best retailers to use, or any advice for buying washing machines or fridge freezers?

Any advice or pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

majjie

It's a big question ... but this is a good place to go for advice:

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/index.php

Gangstabird

I used to be really random with white goods and go with what was cheapest. Learnt from my mistakes and now buy German quality stuff from John Lewis. It's a bit more money but they give a 3 year guarantee on their own stuff. Also when you buy insurance from Comet or Currys, it can be a pain to sort out if things go wrong. JL just cough up or change immediately.

andrew-b

It's difficult to say what retailer to use...but the best approach is to find a make and model you want that's in your budget and then shop around on the internet to find the best price. The fridge/freezer we bought was cheapest at Dixons online but i also got 5% cashback via my credit card (look into cashback sites like quidco too - see other fora and Martin's article on cashback sites) and looked for vouchers in the voucher section of these fora.

Buying the white goods from the same place as kitchen units generally is more expensive (though we did that with our oven, hob and extractor fan - though sometimes you can pick up decent offers if your lucky.

For washing machine we have a Tricity Bendix that is a make my Mum recommended - no probs other than having to replace the drive belt (diy job for less than £10). Tumble drier Creda (again family recommendation - all my family have them!).

Fridge freezer...well a few months ago i would have said Beko but the compressor on ours packed up losing us all our food just out of warranty and although i managed to get a free repair i would never buy one again because customer service is a complete joke. The repair man reckoned Zanussi was one of the better makes to go for (we have zanussi oven that although had a factory fault customer service was good). Other goods we have are electrolux gas hob and extractor fan - no probs so nothing to complain about!


Hope that helps you a bit

Andy

AndysDad

andrew-b wrote: »

It's difficult to say what retailer to use...but the best approach is to find a make and model you want that's in your budget and then shop around on the internet to find the best price. The fridge/freezer we bought was cheapest at Dixons online but i also got 5% cashback via my credit card (look into cashback sites like quidco too - see other fora and Martin's article on cashback sites) and looked for vouchers in the voucher section of these fora.

Buying the white goods from the same place as kitchen units generally is more expensive (though we did that with our oven, hob and extractor fan - though sometimes you can pick up decent offers if your lucky.

For washing machine we have a Tricity Bendix that is a make my Mum recommended - no probs other than having to replace the drive belt (diy job for less than £10). Tumble drier Creda (again family recommendation - all my family have them!).

Fridge freezer...well a few months ago i would have said Beko but the compressor on ours packed up losing us all our food just out of warranty and although i managed to get a free repair i would never buy one again because customer service is a complete joke. The repair man reckoned Zanussi was one of the better makes to go for (we have zanussi oven that although had a factory fault customer service was good). Other goods we have are electrolux gas hob and extractor fan - no probs so nothing to complain about!


Hope that helps you a bit

Andy

I believe Electrolux and Zanussi are the same outfit.Not quite sure who owns who.

andrew-b

Yes zanussi are part of Electrolux PLC...the Zanussi goods seems to have an extra year guarantee compared to Electrolux one's though (at least that was the case with our oven).

Andy

Gangstabird

Our Beko dishwasher & fridge conked out after 13 months.

frank.hopper

Gangstabird wrote: »

Our Beko dishwasher & fridge conked out after 13 months.

Well, you must have abused them! > roll eyes< ..........>bang head off wall<:eek:

andrew-b

Our beko fridge freezer was certainly not abused and has been extremely well looked after (to the point that it gets polished with microfibre cloth every couple of week to keep it shiny!) and yet packed in after about 14 months whilst still looking as good as new. So it really doesn't surprise me that gangstabird's Beko appliances would pack in just out of guarantee even if well looked after and following the instruction booklet to the letter. That there are two of us here saying our beko goods packed up just out of guarantee doesn't really bode well does it? When ours packs in again (and it won't surprise me one bit when it does - i deliberately say when rather than if!) i expect we will just get a new zanussi one instead! The good bits on our fridge/freezer are the large capacity and low price but you do usually get what you pay for unfortunately!

I'm sure some of the manufacturers design their appliances to break after the guarantee period expires and foolishly think that we'll buy from them again - not a chance i will though!

Andy

AndysDad

andrew-b wrote: »

Our beko fridge freezer was certainly not abused and has been extremely well looked after (to the point that it gets polished with microfibre cloth every couple of week to keep it shiny!) and yet packed in after about 14 months whilst still looking as good as new. So it really doesn't surprise me that gangstabird's Beko appliances would pack in just out of guarantee even if well looked after and following the instruction booklet to the letter. That there are two of us here saying our beko goods packed up just out of guarantee doesn't really bode well does it? When ours packs in again (and it won't surprise me one bit when it does - i deliberately say when rather than if!) i expect we will just get a new zanussi one instead! The good bits on our fridge/freezer are the large capacity and low price but you do usually get what you pay for unfortunately!

I'm sure some of the manufacturers design their appliances to break after the guarantee period expires and foolishly think that we'll buy from them again - not a chance i will though!

Andy

May be too late now but under the Sale of Goods Act items have to be fit for purpose and that includes lasting for more than 14 months!.Several people on this forum have been lucky with the TWF television from Sainsburys and got their money back.

andrew-b

When i finally managed to talk to someone at beko that didn't just pass me to someone else or put the phone down on me (yes it happened about 3 times!!) i calmly mentioned sales of goods act ..i think that's when they agreed to a free repair despite being out of warranty. I suppose i could have tried to get my money back via Dixons who i bought it from but I reckon it might have been a longer battle. If they hadn't repaired it for free then i'd definitely have gone for the refund approach.

Oh and btw..your not my dad...at least i dont think so!!

Andy