reasonable lifetime for a washing machine? 18 months?

[Stig MK2]

My NEFF washing machione decided to pack it in last night after 18 months (provided with the apartment as it was a new build).

As this is my first experience of a waschine machine playing up, I have no idea but it doesn seem a bit soon. (It fails to drain the water away after a cycle. I've followed the instructions to drain the water away manually and cleared the inductor properllor. It doesn't move what I'd call freely, but there doesn't seem to be anything blocking it. I tried my luck again on another cycle but the same thing happened again.

The NEFF phone lines open at 8 so I will be calling them but all their literature say they only offer a 12 month guarantee. I rememebr reading somewhere on here about consumer rights on goods like this and that it should be longer...
Does anyone have any advice/can point towards some useful info?

Thanks

[pyrogena]

I'd expect a decent washing machine to go way beyond 18 months.

[brendonw]

Yes - way beyond 18 months.

Especially a decent brand name such as Neff.

I think I have some draft letters esp. for this kind of thing. Drop me an email and I'll send then across to you.

[DM]

Could be worth looking the part up on ebay. My Samsung washer broke down with the drainage propeller and it cost me less than a tenner delivered.

[Stig MK2]

I'll keep that in mind. Nothing looks broken though...

Brendonw - you got mail.

Ta

[Liftnub]

Your house should come with a two year builder's guarantee and I think this covers appliances that were supplied with the house. Our oven element broke after a similar length of time after moving into our new build and I just phoned the manufacturer of the oven and they said they'd send a repair guy round and, as long as I could prove that I had not been in the house for longer than 2 years, the repair would be free.

[Brozyniak]

9 years and still going strong for my Siemens.

kiss of death that sentence

18 months is not particularly reasonable if it has had 'normal' usage.

[dvdphile]

We've got an Indesit which is a budget brand and it's still working fine after nearly 12 years!!!

[xbo]

Washing machines are notoriously unreliable. It wouldn't be a surprise for it to break down after 18 months, just bloody annoying!

We got an AEG-Electrolux based on their reliability (second only to Miele but much cheaper for washer-dryer) and the dryer part is flakey after just 2 years. I guess we just got unlucky, as did you!

I'd definitely look at the warranty though, as you may be lucky and find it is 2 or more years.

[Raigmore]

I would say 5 years at least. Our Bosch is into its 9th year and still working like a peach. Considering that there are 4 oof us using it regularly, I think that is very good. So far, we never had to call out a repair man.

Before the Bosch we had a Hotpoint that gave us a lot of problems but even that almost made the 5 years.

[stephen]

4 or 5 years seems like a reasonable length of to me. Our lat two have lasted that long before they went wrong and we bought another.

[amkhan]

Bought an AEG recently that came with 5 year warranty, which i think was what EU law said you should have anyway

[splobber]

Originally Posted by amkhan

Bought an AEG recently that came with 5 year warranty, which i think was what EU law said you should have anyway

EU law is 2 years. The reason we don't have it here is because of the ability to challenge anything within 5 years of purchase, although having a 2 year statutory guarantee means life would be easier as it is a load of aggro trying to get the retailer to accept burden of proof and in some cases it could be shown that a £199 washing machine has had it's money's worth in less than 2 years.

5 or 6 years is about all you can expect from a machine now unless you want to spend megabucks, which not a lot of people do nowadays. The public have wanted things cheap so the manufacturers have responded by cutting the quality. Unfortunately, many people want both which doesn't stack up.

NEFF is part of the BSH (Bosch/Siemens/Neff) group but not sure if they make it in-house or get someone else to make it for them as they aren't usually synonomous with laundry products as they mainly do built in ovens and hobs.

[Coolio]

Sale of goods act

[stevejm]

We got fed up with repairs to the various Zanussi machines we have had over the years.

I've just bought an ISE10 Washing machine that comes with a 10 year insurer underwritten warranty. It's not cheap but on the otherhand it should have a much lower total cost of ownership.

It's very well made ... apparently the main bearing for the drum is sourced from Volvo.

[emeyedeejay]

4-5 years ...

[Chris308]

Without wishing to ask the obvious, have you checked the filter is clear?

[Agent_Cooper]

5 years is reasonible but I've seen loads last 10 years or more as well. I'd be well ****** off if mine lasted only 18 months.

[Arthur Fowler]

Originally Posted by stevejm

We got fed up with repairs to the various Zanussi machines we have had over the years.

I've just bought an ISE10 Washing machine that comes with a 10 year insurer underwritten warranty. It's not cheap but on the otherhand it should have a much lower total cost of ownership.

It's very well made ... apparently the main bearing for the drum is sourced from Volvo.

But surely it's still a warranty against manufacturing defects. With the abuse a washing machine gets most problems will be due to wear and tear.

[splobber]

Originally Posted by Arthur Fowler

But surely it's still a warranty against manufacturing defects. With the abuse a washing machine gets most problems will be due to wear and tear.

His washing machine will be like Trigger's broom by the time it's finished.

The funny thing is that the service network the insurer uses will probably be the same Joe that does repairs for Beko.