Consumer Rights Act on White Goods

pinkshoes

tightauldgit said:

Seems fair yes. Expected life on a tumble dryer probably in the 5-7 year bracket and you've had 3 years usage. So you would be able to get about half your money back. You can try pushing for more but you'd be unlikely to get significantly better if you took it to court and may get less. 

Well I'm going to buck the trend here and say that I'd expect a decent tumble dryer to last about 10 years, or more if well maintained.

I'd say their offer is too low and I'd be looking for a partial refund of nearer 70%.

I'm sure there must be documents proving how long a tumble dryer should last.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

tightauldgit said:

I don't see the link between price and expected longevity 

Miele are barking up the wrong tree then. 

tightauldgit said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

It surprises me people are so readily willing to accept such poor lifespans for expensive goods.

First link on Google says 20 years, 3rd says 10-15 and fourth 5-10. 

Cheapest on AO.com is £350, at £700 I'd be expecting longer than 6 personally. 

 often the opposite is true, more features is more to go wrong. 

I do agree, I need two buttons on a tumble dryer, high/medium/low and a timer which ours pretty much is except 20 pre-set options on a dial but generally it's a simple machine. 

tightauldgit said:

Nowadays with the advances in energy efficiency etc it often actually makes financial sense to replace white goods on a more frequent basis than they might otherwise last as you'll often save more in energy than the cost of buying a new one. 

Replaced our washing machine (after 7 years) for another costing £500, at current prices that would buy me 1666 units of electricity, bearing in mind we're only talking about saved element I'm not sure I'm saving that much energy on a new machine over the old one going for another 3-5 years.  

Alderbank said:

Beana_3 said:

 I have proposed that they replace the tumble dryer as the cost to them should be near enough the same as what they've offered me as a refund, but we shall see.

I seriously doubt that they can buy in and deliver the machine for less than half the current retail price.

So do I but I do wonder how many of these machines are repaired, when AO took our washing machine away the delivery guys said they repair them and give them to charity, I said that's nice and the guy said I'm sure they make some money out of it.

But the main point is these companies fob you off to the manufacture and then refuse to repair a machine which probably could be repaired easily, and cheaply if it were more common, but it doesn't happen because they are keen to sell you another and say well stuff don't last long these days.

tightauldgit

pinkshoes said:

tightauldgit said:

Seems fair yes. Expected life on a tumble dryer probably in the 5-7 year bracket and you've had 3 years usage. So you would be able to get about half your money back. You can try pushing for more but you'd be unlikely to get significantly better if you took it to court and may get less. 

Well I'm going to buck the trend here and say that I'd expect a decent tumble dryer to last about 10 years, or more if well maintained.

I'd say their offer is too low and I'd be looking for a partial refund of nearer 70%.

I'm sure there must be documents proving how long a tumble dryer should last.

It's also going to depend how often you use it - if it's once a month vs 10 times a week. 

tightauldgit

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

tightauldgit said:

I don't see the link between price and expected longevity 

Miele are barking up the wrong tree then. 

tightauldgit said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

It surprises me people are so readily willing to accept such poor lifespans for expensive goods.

First link on Google says 20 years, 3rd says 10-15 and fourth 5-10. 

Cheapest on AO.com is £350, at £700 I'd be expecting longer than 6 personally. 

 often the opposite is true, more features is more to go wrong. 

I do agree, I need two buttons on a tumble dryer, high/medium/low and a timer which ours pretty much is except 20 pre-set options on a dial but generally it's a simple machine. 

tightauldgit said:

Nowadays with the advances in energy efficiency etc it often actually makes financial sense to replace white goods on a more frequent basis than they might otherwise last as you'll often save more in energy than the cost of buying a new one. 

Replaced our washing machine (after 7 years) for another costing £500, at current prices that would buy me 1666 units of electricity, bearing in mind we're only talking about saved element I'm not sure I'm saving that much energy on a new machine over the old one going for another 3-5 years.  

Alderbank said:

Beana_3 said:

 I have proposed that they replace the tumble dryer as the cost to them should be near enough the same as what they've offered me as a refund, but we shall see.

I seriously doubt that they can buy in and deliver the machine for less than half the current retail price.

So do I but I do wonder how many of these machines are repaired, when AO took our washing machine away the delivery guys said they repair them and give them to charity, I said that's nice and the guy said I'm sure they make some money out of it.

But the main point is these companies fob you off to the manufacture and then refuse to repair a machine which probably could be repaired easily, and cheaply if it were more common, but it doesn't happen because they are keen to sell you another and say well stuff don't last long these days.

Back of the fag packet calcs but the most efficient washing machines are 5, 6, 7 times more efficient than the worst still in people's houses and typically you're looking at £50 or £60 a year in energy costs for a modern one. If you've got an old washing machine you might save £200 a year or more getting a new one. 

I would guess a dryer would be an even bigger effect than that as they tend to be more energy hungry.

Beana_3

Hello all

I thought I'd send a quick update as I promised I'd report back.

I live alone and when I do wash my clothing (once a month as I hate doing laundry!) I only use the machine 1-2 times a month for bedding and towels as most of my clothing gets air dried as I have a lot of things that can't go in the tumble dryer so when this machine failed, I really wasn't happy with the fact that 8 months out of the warranty period, I have to bear the cost of £320 -especially as it wasn't a cheap machine.

I ended up speaking to someone much more senior and they offered me an higher figure as apparently the offer they gave me was calculated wrong (shame it took about 15 emails between us for them to recognise the error, but there you are). They then offered me £449 as a refund but insisted they had to collect the machine. I accepted the offer as I really couldn't be bothered to take it to court (as I'm sure they were hoping), but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.

I think in future perhaps buying a cheaper machine and expecting that white goods will only last 2-3 years is the way to manage expectations.

Thanks again for thoughts and suggestions.