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Went to a customer 13 months ago to condem her 2 year old Ariston washing m/c(Drum Bearings) at the time I stressed the importance of avoiding the cheaper machines. I suggested she brought a Bosch at around £300.
Been back this week to discover she replaced her Ariston with an Indesit which needs a new motor and guess what, she is off out to buy another cheap MACHINE.
It does seem that sometimes those people that have the least money land up paying more in the long run just because they cant go that extra £80 at the time of purchase. 😥
TurboRe: Dom/Appliance Poverty Trap
I usually recommend Zanussi / Tricity Bendix / Electrolux. If you shop around you can find one of these brands similarly priced to the Merloni but a better machine IMHO.
Re: Dom/Appliance Poverty Trap
Some people just don’t listen Turbo. 😕
I saw this coming a while ago when I had chap on the phone a few years ago with a Servis M3022 that the soap box had leaked onto the motor and module after 18 months. He’d bought it from Comet on tick and was still paying for it and he hadn’t taken the extended warranty, of course with the prices from Servis the machine was BER. Not because the spares were hard to get or they were hard to replace, just that they were so expensive.
The poor guy was in tears onthe phone as he couldn’t afford a new one and couldn’t put another on credit. Damned shame.
Not much you can do other than tell people that buying a decent brand name doesn’t always mean that you get a decent machine.
K.
Re: Dom/Appliance Poverty Trap
Point taken about the Zanussi T/Bendix Electrolux, the more sales I can deny Merloni the better 😉
Turbo
Re: Dom/Appliance Poverty Trap
Phidom wrote:I usually recommend Zanussi / Tricity Bendix / Electrolux.
Chances are that the lower priced ones of these will also have the dreaded sealed drums, not much use being better than the Indecent Companies offerings if a sock or coin is jammed in a impossible to remove place requiring a complete drum change 👿
Re: Dom/Appliance Poverty Trap
Before anyone accuses me, this is not a plug.
But it is also part of the mentality behind the whole ISE project.
Okay so it’s not the cheapest but at least you can confidently sell a machine that will survive for at least five years with all the other benefits. How many cheap machines can you say that about?
We all know Bosch is pretty reasonable on quality, even the Spanish ones aren’t that bad from what I can see. But how much is a module or a motor after three years?
To get better than that you’re into the German stuff and £400+ territory which, for a decent machine or decent deal, I think is reasonable and a sensible price these days. Even then, the spares prices can be quite scary.
We used to joke when doing a lot of spares sales that for some Candy stuff (amongst others) that we should have oxygen and a de-fib kit behind the spares counter. These days that’s not even funny when you see th elook on people’s faces when you tell the prrices of some spares. Oh and they don’t come with a guarantee either!
>£300 is throw-away machine territory and, as repairers, I don’t think that we should promote that and I do just bluntly shock customers by telling them that a module for an Indesit can easily cost over 30{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the new price and that they do fail.
By not telling people and allowing them to make an informed decison I don’t think I’m doing my job if I’m asked such questions and, IMO, cheap machines are a false economy.
K.
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