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Re: What is it with Zanussi washing machine drum bearings?
It comes down to one thing really and, one thing only.
Cost!
If the manufacturer can save £1 on production bear in mind that that will equate to possibly 100,000 appliances a year then it’s a substantial saving.
Then factor in that you will pay roughly four or five times the raw production cost at the till, often more, that adds £4-5 to the price retail thus making a £299 machine cost £304 and therefore not meeting the price point that the appliance is aimed at. It is massively about marketing, not the quality or longevity of the machine and they are generally built to a price, not a specification.
If it looks nice, great. What the actual level of engineering is behind the pretty front is seems not to matter too much these days.
Where the customer loses in that is that the expectations of the appliance are higher than the engineering and, very often, the level of backup service available as there is simply not the financial ability in the price to pay for it.
Now we see more and more product being made in China and former Eastern Block countries where labour is cheap and the quality, IMO, is questionable at best, how much would you care if you earned what some of these people do? You can see it if you look around, just look at Dyson, they’ve moved production to Malaysia, Electrolux to the Eastern Block along with Merloni and many others, German branded appliances built in Spain (but they don’t tell you that), the next time you do buy an appliance it may be worth asking where it was actually made. As I said in another post, I doubt that many retailers would be able to tell you.
The changes are due to demands from certain retailers, as Alex suggests, as well as from consumers directly. If you want better built and engineered appliances then ask for them and be prepared to pay to get the quality and backup that you expect, tell the manufacturer/s what you want. Partly that’s the reason we run polls on UKW that are often deemed to be controversial.
The only way that consumers will get what they want is to become more informed and vote with their feet, the mnufacturers will soon get the message.
Sad but true, it’s the world we live in. 🙁
K.
Re: brandt
Actually Jason, no you don’t.
What you need is a handful of key players all telling them the same or similar things and, like it or loath it, we lead… others follow. Would we get support? Maybe not from the outset but it would come because they’d all be wondering why we kicked it inot touch, read up on the saga here and find out. This is why vocal support of any such endevour is vital.
In all honesty one repairer telling them to fuck off is an irritation, six or more is a collapse of the network and, as word spreads, others will also begin to question what they are doing and put that contract under a microscope. When that happens and questions are raised a total, or almost total, breakdown is almost inevitable.
It actually doesn’t take much to collapse a network as it is a house of cards.
K.
Re: Is the SMEG FAB28 fridge any good???
Hi Tagg,
I’ve not seen too many in a while as Expert took over all servicing for Smeg refrigeration UK-wide a couple of years back, but I’ve seen a few.
Yes there was problems with the doors and they took an age to come from Italy as well, 3 months or more in some cases. This was due to the door seal failing or not sealing correctly and it is (from memory) foamed in so it cannot be replaced apart from as a complete door assy. Worth knowing that a door seal replacement could cost about £300! :eeek:
There were also problems with the inner evaporator door not sealing and the catches were/are prone to breaking. The door didn’t seal right and led to a high build up of condensation in the unit.
However I am told that these problems have all been addressed in later revisions, whether they have or not I simply do not know. 😕
K.
Yeah conaero the loom is the whole loom as Dave says, it runs from the timer to every electrical component in the machine. Even we don’t like doing them too much. 😉
K.
Kev,
I saw the chart from AEG & Bauknecht before they changed out of German hands as well as a report from AMDEA at the time, the difference between 800 and 1000 is, literally, a thimble full of water. It is minimal, most of the difference is percieved by the customer in their heads I think. This was because of a debate that was raging at the time on the benefit of higher spin speeds.
I would wager that drying takes almost the same time after a 1000 or a 1400 spin in most cases.
As I said in the article I wrote there’s a load of other things that also factor in, like the water retention factor of the clothing, number of holes in the drum, the internal area of the drum surface and all sorts.
With the bearings, well tell me where we haven’t seen the quality cut in favour of pricing? 😉
Oh and Kev, we don’t do those old mumbo jumbo measurements, we haven’t for over 30 years! 😆
K.
Re: Smeg washer dryer conversions
Here’s the way I see things…
Customer buys a gazzilion rpm spin washer as they are led to believe, stupidly, that it will extract more water and hence lower the drying time in the dryer or on the line. Partially true but really a bit of a con all things considered as there are a lot of other things that factor into that equation besides raw spin speed.
As I had to explain (AGAIN!) to a customer today all about flooring as well as the suspension system in the appliance and how the vibration is dampened. It’s engineering 101 though really, if you put an object that vibtrates on something that is not rock solid then the vibration is amplified through the structure, it’s simple. See, my days in civil engineering were not entirely wasted on pub lunches!
So in the UK we’re fairly unique in that we have what is called flotation flooring, i.e. bits of wood that “float” across a span, in our case, wooden beams. Wood vibrates and wood also amplifies and carries vibration very well indeed and whilst you can dampen the effect you cannot eliminate it entirely, it’s just a structural fact. Of course the fact that they float, are nailed to a wooden beam that supports other panels (which also vibrates) and are usually tounge & groove joined to other panels only serves to heighten the effect.
Then we have the laminate flooring on top of wood, but that’s a whole other saga.
Also, my suspicion is that the excessive vibration is also causing the ABC controls to kick in early in some case as it tricks some of them into thinking that they are OOB, but I can’t prove it.
On two occasions I have asked a manufacturer if their appliances were tested on wooden floors, on both occasions the answer was no.
I first came across this problem years ago while Glasgow was getting a whole load of brownfield type sites done where they gutted the buildings and laid this type of flooring, it’s cheap you see. I have often seen pots being bounced off a cooker on the other side of the kitchen, ten feet away and there’s no fault with the washer!
K.
The model number has to be right otherwise you’re liable to get incorrect spares and/or information.
It’s a bit like saying, “I want a wheel bearing for a Fiesta but have no idea about the year or VIN.”
It should be on the rating plate down around the crisper drawer at the bottom.
K.
Hehe, I thought it was only me that would come to the conclusion that the high spin speed was unsuitable on many a wooden floor.
But what do we know, we only fix them. 😉
K.
Re: New Moderators
chezza wrote:Sorry Mark, but that should be a bloody jock that i have become 😆
I don’t see any problem with that! :rotfl:
K.
Re: brandt
Alex I can’t believe anyone is solely reliant on Brandt to earn a crust (other then teh employed muppets of coourse ;)) as TBH, you’d need to be off your fucking head to be in that position. Especially since I was told by Therese that it was agents that they took on so they could keep doing Brandt, presumably this was after Manoj’s little letter and if they went down that road after that then they really are fucking stupid.
I made a big thing of the “multiple visits” bit, but as ever I have an agenda there, I have planted the seed and I’ll now see where that leads me.
She did talk about a tiered rates system due to the vastness of my area but I did stress that the area was not the problem, going back time and again was along with the other issues mentioned by both you and Kevin.
I also made it abundantly clear that Manoj fucking us over did not go over well with me one bit and I still have had no reply from the twat.
I said I’d allow them the chance to address the issues and see what happens as WE did not wantto fuck up DAG, but of course I did not elaborate on just who or how many WE are. So evin, it’s up to you to plant the seed that there may be a lot more than just the three of us that are pissed off with Brandt. 😉
Co-ordination, gotta love it!
K.
Re: Smeg washer dryer conversions
I’ve not had one yet Lawrence, but I do expect to get one at some stage.
I’ve been told that the first one you do is a pig, after that they’re just little oinkers. 😆
Seriously though I am really glad at the moment that another agent has been getting all the calls in the “G” postcodes as we’ve fitted rather a few shall we say, to new-builds. There’s a story in that too, but another time.
K.
Hi,
Yes, most likely the thermostat has gone on it.
If you give us some more information, like a model number at least we may be able to help a bit more.
K.
Hi cazd,
There is absolutely no information on the Dyson washer presently available outside of Dyson I’m afraid. I think a couple of the guys have seen them, messed a bit maybe, but I doubt they know what the codes are. 🙁
My attitude is that James Dyson left the trade out in the cold and I do likewise in return and refuse to look at any of his product.
K.
