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I was at Tesco’s yesterday when I noticed that at the front of the store they had a “Special Offer” on a Whirlpool Washing Machine. (£179) (They also had a 7kg Servis @ £169 with a 5yr Guarantee…….judging from the comments on this board sounds like it will need it!)
On closer examination of the Whirlpool machine, I couldn’t help but thing it looked rather crappy made & somewhat basic for it’s money. (Which surprises me) Compared to my current Whirly machine, the Tesco Whirly had just a dial and two buttons on the front. The only thing it shares with mine is that it is made in Italy. There is no time to end display or spin speed selector. Even the door appears to be very flimsy in its opening an closing. 😮 – It rather saddens me that in the in the pursuit of customers, the art of quality is rapidly going out of the window from such a respected brand.
Re: Budget Whirlpool
It’s really simple WP…
To attain the price you have to strip things away. Features, quality of components, warranty… you can strip out whatever you like and get a cheap price, it’s really not hard. Or, you can leave the quality in but you retain a higher cost.
Tesco, like most large retailers, will go and order so many containers of machines but say that they will pay £*** for it to sell at £YYY price point, the manufacturers simply cater to that requirement and almost any factory in the world can produce rubbish if that’s what they are asked to do.
However a lot of this is down to customers who don’t seem to realise that these cheap machines are just that, cheap. That means that they are not built to last and that they do not perform as well as other, more realistically priced products.
There’s been a discussion running on the subject in the trade forums recently and I think that macmini summed it up rather well with, “For someone who’s using a machine once or twice a week, something at a couple of hundred quid is ideal.”
For a family situation or any kind of real use, I wouldn’t recommend a cheap machine as it is all too often a false economy IME. Don’t get me wrong, you can get lucky on occasion, but not often.
K.
Re: Budget Whirlpool
I couldn’t agree more with your post Kwatt. It saddens me that in everything in life now, quality is just not there & everything appears to be built to the “cost conscious buyer market”. I am quite heavy with my washing machine usage because I have a disabled husband & my machine is on most days dealing with bedding etc, I suppose if it was to breakdown tomorrow (touching head….I mean wood) it wouldn’t owe me anything, but as to whether or not I would replace it like for like, the jury is still out on that one!
On a separate note, I visited RENEW in Gateshead recently which is a project that deals in recycling older appliances by reconditioning them and selling them with a 6 month warranty. I was amazed at the sheer volume in their showroom of machines especially these Direct Drive LG/Samsung things & the amount of Hotpoints!!!! – They were selling them from £75 to £135. I managed to source a second dryer for the house, (electra dryer for £40) which beats the creda looking model in tesco for £109.
Have a good day Kwatt, I off to town now to pay my water bill. 🙁
WQ
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