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I’m surprised no-one’s come up with this for a topic yet. 🙂
Just a bit of fun, what do you think was the worst ever machine built and/or to work on?
My vote is for the Candy Toploader which was a ********** NIGHTMARE! I still have bad dreams about those things. 😕
K.
Re: The Worst Machine Ever Built!
Wow!
Where do I start? My experience within the trade goes way back, so I have dealt with many machines that will easily fit into this category.
Here is just a selection over the years:-
1). Hoover Keymatic 3208
2). Hotpoint 1400
3). Hotpoint 1600
4). Colston Commodore
5). Nyborg (C Series)
6). Asea Electronic Integrated D/W (Circa 1994- forgot Model No?)
7). Bosch SPA series Slimline D/w’s
8 ). Whirlpool Top Loaders (All models are crap to get at!)
9). Zanussi Jetsystem Washer Dryers (every single model!)
10) Finally, All makes of built-in D/w’s who’s manufacturer insist on fitting those long thin adjustable feet in all four corners of the machine that rust up solid and bend when you try to move the darn things. Whoever came up with that idea needs to go back to his Lego set in Kindergarten!Martin
Re: The Worst Machine Ever Built!
Zanussi Jetsystem Washer Dryers
I think any zanussi can be a pig….but the one that gets my vote is the Vogue 1 snotpoint washer dryers.. wires break. condensers fall off the back. get blocked easily. drums are hassle to replace. the old hotpoint GDA motors are rubbish too.
And oh, yes. the WMA. This beauty finished the reputation of Hotpoint.
Nearly EVERY single part to this machine was naff. even better still, when they had the bearing failure problem, word round the campfire was that the guys at Design & Development were designing a WMA Washer-Dryer!!!!! hahaha funny. 😳Re: The Worst Machine Ever Built!
Teba cookers 😯
Not a “machine” as such, but dear God, what a pile of dung they are.
Dave.
Re: The Worst Machine Ever Built!
Dave_Conway wrote:Teba cookers 😯
Not a “machine” as such, but dear God, what a pile of dung they are.
Dave.
I had the pleasure of fitting a fan oven element to one last week ,WHY is the mains block in the middle of the back panel!!! preventing access to the elementLawrence
It always used to be anything starting with Candy – it even says “No Candy’s” on the adverts.
THEN…………….
I had to do a set of bearings on a WFL series Bosch with the plastic tank. What a complete s@d of a job! And I LIKE Bosch and encourage people to buy them……….
Regards,
Penguin.Heh, I like Candy for the main part, great machines with the exception of that abortion of a toploader which was built to compete with the pile of Philips cr@p that was around at the time. Easy to work on, simple machines and really pretty reliable up until the Charme range. But the real beauty is that no other bugger wanted to know about them. 😉
Me and Bosch never got on but only as I didn’t see enouh of them.
K.
Re: The Worst Machine Ever Built!
Lawrence wrote:I had the pleasure of fitting a fan oven element to one last week
That tripled it’s resale value then 😆
Dave.
Re: The Worst Machine Ever Built!
Anything by Merloni and his brother. 😛
Martin, I’m shocked to see the Whirlpool Toploader in your list, does this include the “American style”? Cause I find them brilliant to work on. Hate the smaller bu**ers though
Philips/Whirpool toploader (the EU ones) – seen one and after the Candy experiences I hope never to see another.
K.
Nothing wrong with the slimline Whirlpool toploaders (apart from being French) – it’s just a sideways automatic. The only time it’s awkward is if you need to pull the retaining clip off the “blindside” bearing. It ain’t exactly difficult!
Bosch slimline dishwashers? Think like the maker! Take it outside and turn it upside down, then take the base off. It’s all there in front of you. Easy!
We miss the point perhaps. There’s bad engineering – cheap continental ovens are a case in point – then there is cost engineering…. I hate to say it, but the prime culprit is Hotpoint. The descent from the robust late 18 series/early 95 series plastic tank tank machines to the flimsy lightweight cr@p of the last 95’s and the WM series demonstrates all too clearly how to destroy your own reputation. Then they try to save the situation with the WMA seies. Oh dear.
Yet so many engineers are prepared to put time and money into rebuilding them on the strength of the Hotpoint name. You can fit new parts, but if what you start with is rubbish, it’s still rubbish when you finish!
So the company is now about to launch rebadged Indesit/Ariston machines as Hotpoints, Hoover are already selling tarted up Candy machines, Servis is an Italian joke, the last Credas were made by Fagor. This leaves Dyson as the last British manufacturer – until they transfer production to Malaysia.
Smacks of the demise of the British car industry to me!
Truly bad machines are relatively thin on the ground and don’t tend to survive long because of the difficulties of getting service (sometimes even from the manufacturers), but the atrocities commited by the “big” manufacturers get glossed over because of the badge.
Regards,
Penguin.Oh yes P, we’ve seen some abortions over the years, I’ve often thought to myself when seeing a new appliance “why the f*** did they do that as that’s just asking for trouble”. But, in your previously exhalted position you will know as well as I that it comes down to two factors, is it cheap to produce and will it cause major warranty problems. Service is an afterthought, at best.
That said, at times I think that all the part changes etc are a deliberate tactic to discourage third party repairers from looking at the appliance. This very tactic was once mooted by a manufacturer to me who shall remain nameless, but I didn’t think that it was too nice.
What the manufacturers don’t seem to consider that if the appliance can’t be repaired easily by the likes of our good selves that many customers switch off the brand. That is so even on the ones that are a pain, we all start to slag them off and just think, we see 10 customers (roughly) per engineer per day. That’s a lot of customers put off an appliance or brand, but conversely it can also be quite a few sales to be gained on a decent appliance.
K.
Very true. My Mother had a bad experience with a Hotpoint Princess back in the year dot, and won’t have a Hotpoint appliance in the house to this day!
Penguin.
Re: The Worst Machine Ever Built!
Darn!
How could I possibly have missed out on nominating the current Hoover/Candy Washer Dryers. Remember the good old days when on the Classic/New wave series you just had 2 screws to remove the lid and 3 screws to drop off the entire front panel to get at the door seal, heater, even take the drum out in a matter of minutes!
What brilliant mind came up with a welded cabinet so you can’t access the drum and door seal, a lid made from MDF that swells in the damp, and an air pressure hose system that runs circles around the cabinet and drum?
History repeating itself? Groundhog Day even? Only the Italians would do that surely? Please don’t tell me it was designed here in the UK by British Engineers, surely not?
Martin
Re: The Worst Machine Ever Built!
What about the Hoover top loader made in France? Was is A1004 or something? They had a design flaw where the machine would work with the drum not closed and many people set them going without closing the inner drum. Result was a jammed drum and a full strip down. You also had to remove the shell to do anything on the machine. I hated working on them.
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