faulty washing machine

jennmark

Hi everyone, hoping someone on here can help.
In January we bought a hoover washing machine, we had a couple of items get damaged in it but over the last few weeks it's eaten loads of stuff. I went into currys (where we bought it) they said I had to find the number on the receipt and an engineer would come out and check if it is faulty(!) And then it would be repaired or replaced based on that report. I just rang them and they put me straight through to hoover apparently they use their engineers to do the repairs, the woman I spoke to informed me that if the engineer reckons the fault is not due to manufacturers error then I will have to pay a £108 call out fee - I can so not afford this
What seems to be happening is that items of clothing at being partly pulled through the gap between the drum and the rubber seal, then when the machine spins up the clothes are getting shredded, one piece of detached clothing blocked the drain so we ended up with a very wet kitchen floor, on another occasion a whole sock got drawn through and blocked the water inlet so when the machine filled all the water came flooding out of the drawer and all over the floor. The thing that worries me is the woman in the call centre said if it's caused by something I put in the machine then we have to pay the example she used was the sock - she said if the fault was caused by the sock then I have to pay because I put it in! That just sounds ridiculous to me, surely a washing machine that can be damaged by a sock is not fit for purpose? I just don't know what to do, we can't keep losing clothes clothesline I can't afford the call out fee and I just feel like regardless of the cause they're going to make out its my fault, all the woman kept saying was that this is why they recommend taking the extended warranty.
Many thanks if anyone has any advice
Jen

battleborn

You are entilted to a replacement, demand a replacement as it is clearly faulty and not fit for the purpose you purchased it for.

This could also be something to inform your local trading standards officer about.

Ignore the call centre woman she is stupid and needs sacking, call out charge wont apply to you.

McKneff

You are entitled to a repair, replacement or refund because it is clearly faulty, but the choice is the retailers. You cant demand a replacement.

jennmark

Thanks so much for replying so quickly, I honestly don't mind what they do as long as I get a working machine back, I'm just really worried they will demand the call out fee and say it's my fault. The fault appeared less than 6 months after we bought it but we contacted them 6 months and 3 days after t he purchase date, will they insist I prove the fault was there all along? I have kept some of t he repairable items and have a photo of the most damaged item

battleborn

If a big company like them say you broke it, ask them to prove how you broke it.

Anyway they wont, and i have no doubt there will be no call out charge applied.

cattie

I think it's standard practice for many manufacturers to warn people of a call out charge if an appliance not found to be suffering from manufacturing fault.

I had the same thing told to me when my new built in combination microwave oven was found to be faulty after installation & I had to call the manufacturer.

Try not too worry about having to pay for the engineer's visit, you know the machine has been faulty from the start. You have evidence to prove what's been happening with the machine & the engineer should see what the problem is from that.

There is no need to be taking out expensive extended warranties, if an appliance is faulty, this gives you no more cover than the standard manufactures guarantee would, so take no notice of what the person on the phone said about that.

Fosterdog

OP please ignore battleborn, their post is incorrect, George Michael has given the correct response.

Currys DO NOT have to replace it, they can choose whether to repair, replace or refund, they have chosen to repair it using the manufacturer as the repair agent.

You can report them to trading standards if you so wish but they have done nothing at all wrong so your complaint wont be listened to or taken any further, so far they are complying with what they legally have to.

If you are sure that you haven't caused the damage then don't worry, if there's a chance that something you've washed has caused the problem then they are within their rights to charge you for wasted time of an engineer visit as long as they have told you up front about the cost.

Have you lost any bra wires? Have you washed money or any other items left in pockets of clothes? These items can damage the inside of the machine and then lead to other clothes being damaged.

jennmark

Not lost any bra wires, money i dont know, i do check and havent found any in the drain trap but i suppose something could have slipped through. One of the first things that got damaged was a baby vest, it got caught by the poppers at the crotch, i guess that could be the cause, would they deem that to be my fault? My view would be that the poppers are an integral part of the item of clothing, an item of clothing which i would expect the machine to be able to wash but from the callcentre ladys point of view the damage was caused by me because i put the vest in the machine:huh:

Fosterdog

Whether or not the popper caused the damage may depend on whether you close the poppers for washing or leave them open. Closed poppers are unlikely to damage a washing machine, open poppers could. Were the poppers metal or plastic?

Did the vest have any specific washing instructions? I know most are machine washable but some are handwash only, does the machine have a setting for baby clothes? If so are baby clothes washed separately and on the cycle designed for them?

rustyboy21

OP and others...

Just to give you an idea on why they may have said about the callout charge if found not faulty..

I was told a while back that Baxi after sales dept ( boilers,fires etc) had done some research on what their callouts to consumers homes consisted of, where the product was bought and what the outcome was.

They stated over 70% of callouts were to homes where the appliance had been bought online and had not been installed correctly , or the consumer didn't know how to work them ( not shown by the installer). Another factor was consumers stating that the appliance was bought in warranty, when they were not.

They, as well as a number of other manufacturers, over a wide range of appliances, now state that they will charge a callout, if found to be incorrectly installed, not faulty or out of the warranty period.

OP, Most likely you will have no issue whatsoever, they will most likely repair it that day, with no charge. Just keep the ripped clothes to show them what is happening and if you can mark on the appliance, where the clothes are getting stuck, it will quicken repair for you

jennmark

The popper were metal and they will have been open, I don't buy anything that is not machine washable except for bras which I handwash. There is no baby cycle and nothing in the instructions about washing baby clothes. The I don't even remember if that was the first damage, it was definitely the first significant damage but I think there may have been smaller bit first. I just think that it's in their interest to put the fault with us and I just don't have that kind of cash, if I knew it was my fault then I would find a local repairman who would be much cheaper! It only seems to happen on capacity loads at full spin, if I do a half load or reduce the spin spinspeed then everything makes it out unscathed. It's doubly frustrating as we bought this machine as a replacement for an indesit one that shook itself apart a la watchdog, chose a different brand hoping to avoid a repeat performance but at least the fault was obvious then!