What washing machine?

For me the big attraction of the Samsung was the moulded drum, which meant the baffles inside the drum that slow the clothing going round in the drum were all part of the part and not separate parts bolted/welded (I am not sure which) together

In my Hotpoint the baffles were cut outs from the drum bent upwards, sharp rectangles of metal with v shaped pieces of metal fixed over them to protect the clothes. Unfortunately for me two of the protective pieces came off mid wash so that the clothes were pulled and dropped over the sharp pieces of metal. They managed to destroy a whole drum full of washing. Every item that came out of the machine was pockmarked with little holes and some were ripped. Replacing the garments was neither easy nor cheap. The plastic fascia also cracked. It had 14 cracks in it by the time I ditched it. Fortunately it was hidden in a utility room. I certainly wouldn't have wanted a machine with a cracked fascia in the kitchen.

I also found the Hotpoint very noisy with a loud high pitched sound when spinning. I actally got a repair man out shortly after it was fitted because I thought there was something wrong with it. It was particularly annoying as the washing machine is in a small utility room at the bottom of the stairs to our bedroom and I could no longer put washing on overnight because the nosie kept us awake.

I am on my second Hotpoint the first one I had 11yrs , they have always been reliable and I mostly use the quickwash function unless its a load of towels or bedding then a longer hot wash. I only had one repair on the first machine for door lock but the newer one I have now is great its quiet and the quickwash is 45mins and is fine for most of my laundry. I also have a Hotpoint dishwasher with no problems.

I've had a simple Bosch for some years and very happy with it (fingers crossed it doesn't go wrong now) - but it wasn't a washer dryer.

John Lewis offer a 5 year guarantee on some appliances with online registration.

I did the different programmes as two separate columns. The two columns seem to have been merged into one in transit so each column line lists two programmes.

For clarity the programmes are: Super Eco wash, Outdoor care, Wool, Handwash, Spin, Rinse and spin, Cotton, Synthetics, 15 minute Quick wash, Daily wash, Stain away.

My Samsung has both a handwash programme and a rinse and spin function

I have a Samsung Ecobubble 7kg bought about 18 months ago. The programmes on my machine are as follows:

Super Eco wash Cotton
Outdoor care Synthetics
Wool 15 minute Quick wash
Handwash Baby Care
Spin Daily wash
Rinse and Spin Stain away

I have looked at the AO site and all the Samsung machines they sell have identical dials to mine with all the same programmes. One even has two more.

Hmm, I've been looking online, reading reviews, reading specifications etc. Was starting to lean towards the Samsung after all, BUT, according to AO's list of features the Samsungs don't appear to have a 'Spin and Drain' feature. Seriously? . So I couldn't, for example, spin a jumper that I'd hand washed? They don't seem to have handwash or delicates programmes either, so I couldn't even put that handwash item through an appropriate programme and spin at the end.
Not impressed with that at all. Back to Bosch I reckon, or AEG.

The saying goes: You only buy one Miele. They last forever.

If I last as long as my dad, this machine's only got to do another 7 years.....

so unless it lasts that much longer it's not going to pay for itself.

And of course, unless we last that much longer

I would think that Samsung were probably left out because there weren't enough punters to make a reliable sample size Monica. IIRC you could have bought two or three of my machines for the price of a Miele, so unless it lasts that much longer it's not going to pay for itself. That seems to be a problem with Which, they tend to prioritise performance at any price over value for money.

I use quick wash and wash in low temps all the time, except for white, which I expect to have a longer cycle. Oh how I miss the washer and dryer I had years ago which was "set dial, push button."

When I bought a new Zanussi washer two years ago, I was surprised at the length of the cycles. Then I remembered that all (almost all?) washing machines are now cold-fill only whereas my previous machines could all take hot water as well. This presumably adds to the time taken as the machine has to heat the water up to the required temperature.

I agree J52. AO On Line are excellent both for price and speedy service. They take the packaging and old appliance away too.

Still using the Bosch that we inhereted from MIL 12 years ago. She must have had it at least 8 years.

Before buying any appliance from a traditional shop, I would check out AO On Line. They often are cheaper and have delivered, free, to us in under 24 hrs. They will take the old appliance away, at no extra cost.

x

my washer just went three days ago, so I'm looking at buying another too. I was looking at a Zanussi at John Lewis which was basic and reasonably priced. I need to get in gear and get it ordered soon. The length of the washing cycles is ridiculous. 3 hours?? Why??

We have bought a Bosch washing machine recently. I wanted a pretty basic washer because in my opinion the more gadgets the more there is to go wrong (past experience). I love this machine. It's so simple to use and to remember what the dials and figures are for. I don't need to put my glasses on to remind me. It washes brilliantly and rinses well. The clothes after the spin are only damp. Excellent! Reasonably priced too!

I considered Miele but the price was way beyond my budget. I notice Samsung is not on the list. Did Which say why it was excluded?

Here are the Which reliability ratings:

Miele 90%
John Lewis 89%
LG 85%
Bosch 78%
Siemens 76%
AEG 74%
Indesit 73%
Zanussi 73%
Hoover 65%
Whirlpool 61%
Hotpoint 59%

mcem I believe your repair man is right. Last year, the day before my DS was going on holiday with his family, his washing machine broke down. He asked me if I could get my repair man out to have a look at it (he knew I used a very reliable fellow, have done for years). On inspection he found that the motherboard had gone, a part that costs next to nothing to produce, but they cannot be bought for under (I think he said) about £125. With labour costs, it simply wasn't worth doing. He's convinced it is a deliberate ploy on the part of the manufacturers to discourage people from having the machines repaired, and to buy new instead. He knows self-employed repair men like him will soon be out of business - he's nearing retirement and just hopes he can hang on long enough.

My washing-machine repair man has advised against buying anything other than the simplest, most basic machine available. Behind the brand names and logos the parts are virtually the same and no machine is built to last ten years. Repairs are becoming impossible to carry out because electronic parts are so expensive and the construction of modern machines make it almost impossible to repair mechanical parts. Built-in obsolescence.
He insists that there is no significant difference between Bosch and Indesit apart from the number of programmes.
My Indesit washer/dryer is now over ten years old so I'm working on borrowed time! In due course it will be replaced by another Indesit!
(Short wash option is 30 minutes.)

My Hotpoint is excellent - large capacity drum (and door!) taking 9 kilo load. The wash cycles are in the two-three hour range.

Very quiet runner (until today when somehow a half-litre plastic beer mug got in there with the load! Scared the life out of me ...)

Your experience with Hotpoint sounds shocking M0nica - did you take it up with them? My DS has always had Hotpoints and has always liked them. My current (dead) machine is a Zanussi and it has been fantastic, as has the Zanussi dishwasher that we bought at the same time, which is still going strong. However, they were built nearly 20 years ago and I don't expect the modern versions to be anything like as good.

Well, I didn't buy my Beko because it was cheap, I bought it because it was the one with the simplest dial and had a short-wash option. But just the one short-wash option - the other cycles take hours...and it's noisy!

I always felt that I wouldn't trust a Beko, just because they're too cheap . I've never owned an Indesit, but I did have a couple of Hoovers and they were very noisy The second one was actually an Electra, I think, and I found out too late that it was made by Hoover and used the same noisy system. If I'd known beforehand I wouldn't have bought it!

I have looked at the Samsungs and would love one, but they are very expensive. Not a problem under normal circumstances, but we are hoping to have a new kitchen in the next 12 months or so, and don't feel inclined to spend out that kind of money only for it to be replaced so soon with an integrated one. Definitely will be considering one for the new kitchen.

My previous machine was a Hotpoint, noisy and unreliable - and as I said, shed bits of the drum during a wash and shredded all the clothes in the machine