my 5 year old washing machine finally died.

ruksaana

I bought my washing machine just over 5 years ago. It cost £1000 and was made by the british inventor also famous for his bagless vaccuums.

Ever since I have owned it there have been numerous problems but as the machine came with a 5 year warranty I have never had to pay for any of the repairs.

Yesterday the machine failed again! I called the helpline and today an engineer visited to carry out the repair- free of charge as the last repair was less than a year ago. However, the engineer informed me that the machine needed some parts that were no longer manufactured- instead the company were offering £150 to buy back the machine.

Is it reasonable to accept this amount? what is the usual life expectancy of a washing machine (on another website it stated it was 11 years for a front loader) surely if a machine cost £1000 it should last longer than 5 years? why is the company offering to buy back my machine?- the engineer was in my house for what seemed only minutes before he concluded that the machine could not be repaired- does the company realise there are major problems with this appliance and to offer to buy back the product is more cost effective than to continualy repair?

does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Art_2

ruksaana wrote: »

I bought my washing machine just over 5 years ago. It cost £1000 and was made by the british inventor also famous for his bagless vaccuums.

Ever since I have owned it there have been numerous problems but as the machine came with a 5 year warranty I have never had to pay for any of the repairs.

Yesterday the machine failed again! I called the helpline and today an engineer visited to carry out the repair- free of charge as the last repair was less than a year ago. However, the engineer informed me that the machine needed some parts that were no longer manufactured- instead the company were offering £150 to buy back the machine.

Is it reasonable to accept this amount? what is the usual life expectancy of a washing machine (on another website it stated it was 11 years for a front loader) surely if a machine cost £1000 it should last longer than 5 years? why is the company offering to buy back my machine?- the engineer was in my house for what seemed only minutes before he concluded that the machine could not be repaired- does the company realise there are major problems with this appliance and to offer to buy back the product is more cost effective than to continualy repair?

does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Accept the offer and get a new machine.

Regards,
Art.

cheapscate

You raise some intresting issues ruksaana - it does make you suspicious if the repairman didn't spend very long looking at your machine before making the offer. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a manufacturer to continue making replacement parts for an expensive machine for longer than the time you have had yours - where is the point in investing in 'better quality' if it ends up on the scrap heap anyway. Perhaps you could get an independant engineer to look at the machine to clarify which part is broken and then speak to a second hand spares supplier as they keep a stock of 'old' spares for this type of event. If you can find a spare part perhaps you could contact the helpline and see if the repairman will fit it.

Swans1912

your machine lasted for 5 years? Wow, you're lucky! I say accept the £150 and buy a cheaper machine machine and invest in the longest warranty option.

isplumm

Hi,

Well we bought our £250 Hotpoint washing machine new in 1997 & is still going strong!!

Mark

bcl999

Interesting thread here (with some recent comments, one mentions a buy-back included with the warranty) - http://boakes.org/poorly-dyson/

cally6008

My washing machine has had the engineer out to it 5 times (3 of which have been in the last 2 months). He's finally doing a report and seeing if they will give me a new washing machine since it went wrong after 5 days (after he put new motor and module in). Mine is a Matsui. Don't buy one of these.

Mark_Hewitt

I'd say you're getting a good deal. Most of my washing machines last on average 5 years, and need reparing around once every 18 months.

bookworm1363

Dyson stopped producing their washing-machines very quickly, which tells you a lot about them. I had the same problem and it got to the point where I thought I'd rather get a cheaper machine and not have such high expectations.

You are quite right, of course, that a £1000 + machine should be expected to last a lot longer than a £200 one. The reason the engineer didn't spend long there is that he knew the parts are no longer available unless they still have remaining stock, which means that more and more of these w/m will be consigned to the scrapheap as the stocks run lower and lower.

I suspect that the £150 offered will be a rough calculation of cost of w/m minus number of yrs used compared to cost + expected lifetime (which they won't tell you what it is) = buyback.

Is it a reasonable offer? Only you know. Like you, I expected my Dyson w/m to last at least 10 years and the fact it failed after 5 really annoys me, as that's what I would have expected from a 5 times cheaper one. But it got to the point where I couldn't face paying an engineer again, so I cut my losses... I'll be flogging the w/m on e-bay as a scrap/repair job.

My instinct would be to hold out for a slightly higher amount considering the brand/price paid, on the principle of "never accept a 1st offer" anyway.

pinkshoes

My parents have just replaced their washing machine (Miele) which they bought when I was about 15. I'm now 29...

The one before that they had for 7 years I think.

I would expect at least 5 years out of a basic-ish washing machine, and much longer for a good quality one.

The specific washing machine you're talking about was in theory ergonomically brilliant, but due the fact they couldn't bring the prices down in manufacture, it sold very poorly, and production was stopped. Hence it's hard to get parts for it.

KILL_BILL

ruksaana wrote: »

i bought my washing machine just over 5 years ago. It cost £1000 and was made by the british inventor also famous for his bagless vaccuums.

Ever since i have owned it there have been numerous problems but as the machine came with a 5 year warranty i have never had to pay for any of the repairs.

Yesterday the machine failed again! I called the helpline and today an engineer visited to carry out the repair- free of charge as the last repair was less than a year ago. However, the engineer informed me that the machine needed some parts that were no longer manufactured- instead the company were offering £150 to buy back the machine.

Is it reasonable to accept this amount? What is the usual life expectancy of a washing machine (on another website it stated it was 11 years for a front loader) surely if a machine cost £1000 it should last longer than 5 years? Why is the company offering to buy back my machine?- the engineer was in my house for what seemed only minutes before he concluded that the machine could not be repaired- does the company realise there are major problems with this appliance and to offer to buy back the product is more cost effective than to continualy repair?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

haggle !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!