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Profiteering by Screwfix I would think. You should get a significant trade discount with your Connect account, I guess?
Do ASWO sell GDHA parts? I know they were massively cheaper than Connect for some brands
Electricity boards had shops which sold appliances. Comet was a leading discount store chain. Department stores were often the place to go for premium appliances, along with some smaller independent stores. Second hand appliance shops were on every high street, at least in more deprived neighbourhoods, often with appliances stacked up outside. Retailers advertised in the local and national press, or printed illustrated price guides to pick up in store. Customers chose appliances by visiting retail stores. Hardly anyone sold appliances on the internet.
Currys like to promote quality of service as the reason for their success, but I suspect add-on sales are a more significant factor. This is much easier to achieve in-store than online.
Take the example of my elderly father-in-law a few years back, who went to Currys and chose an approx £550 Samsung TV. Following some smooth talking from the retail assistant, he was persuaded to “upgrade” with a bundle of extras – premium HDMI cable, extended guarantee, premium Sky subscription, DVD to optimise picture setup, etc, bringing the to a shade over £1000.
My father-in-law didn’t understand what any of these extras were or how to use them, so I went back to Currys with him and arranged for all these extras to be refunded, one-by-one
Ach, sorry, I misread your post title. It looks like the lamp is secured with metal tabs cut out from the reflector, so I guess it might be feasible to cut them free with some fine nose cutters from inside the oven cacity
Water pump pliers over thick rubber gloves or similar – try twisting a little in alternate directions to break the seal. I wasn’t an oven specialist but I helped out a couple customers who mentioned it when I was there for another appliance
The timer on my mum’s 38 year old Miele T366 tumble dryer finally lost the ability to drive the motor this year. I initially recommended she bought the best of the literally only a handful of vented dryer models still on the market – an Indesit-branded Beko priced £249.
However, a quick search on ebay came up with an effectively as-new 20-year old Miele vented dryer nearby priced around £100 – a much better buy. A detailed clean-up outside is all that was needed. Virtually dust-free inside. As a bonus, it matches the 20 year old Miele washing machine sitting beside it
I only saw one Miele washing machine with bearing failure, out of likely 200-300 I worked on, which could suggest the “nightmare” strip down may be a function of a more durable construction.
You can probably tell I am a fan of Miele. We have 8 Miele appliances, 3 of which are around 23 years old, the others about 8. The quality of construction, even on the more recent machines, far exceeds any other brands I have seen or worked on
The WQ1000 has a sealed stainless steel tank, not plastic. And it is not available as a spare part. Miele have not provided a tub repair service for many years, presumably as their charge for parts and labour would be prohibitive. That being so, I guess from their viewpoint, there is no logical reason to make replacement tubs available as spare parts.
For me this has always been a non-issue. In 18 years of trading, I can probably count the number of split tub repairs I carried out an all brands with the fingers of two hands. The number of sealed tub replacements was probably double that. In most cases of drum failure, pricing in the cost of parts and my labour time, there was simply no way I could make the repair cost-effective.
Our Miele W320 washing machine has been extremely reliable over the 23 years we have owned it, with a family of 5 over most of that period.
Admittedly, one of the last of the 5 kg drum machines with fully stainless steel tub, drum and spider.
Parts replaced are door seal (at 1 year, under guarantee), suspension dampers (at around 18 years of age) and drain pump (last year).
So still on the original drum, motor brushes, heater, springs, hoses, electrical parts, electronics, belt, dispenser, door parts, etc.
And it’s had some beating. I wish I knew how to download the running time log but I bet it has far exceeded Miele’s 20 year (10,000 hour) durability target.
A quick scan through parts diagrams on Miele’s MSD system reveals that Miele started making washing machines with sealed tubs in 2019, and they are now fitted to all Miele entry level machines priced up to around £1000 (though I expect significantly cheaper from online retailers).
The surprise to me is that Miele don’t list replacement tubs for these machines as spare parts.
As electrofix suggests, one of this really matters if the tubs are well made, incorporating durable bearing seals. Miele’s bearing kit for current stainless steel tubbed machines is priced £229 including VAT, which certainly appears to be of top quality:
electrofix wrote:
tel no puts Solt in Yorkshire if you can believe thatThe telephone prefix 01759 for after sales support may suggest support is/was through the same service provider as Rangemaster and a few others, as they also use a call centre with that area code
The washing machines look like Vestel, confirmed here:
https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/appliance-brands/4599-solt-appliancesI would check ASWO for spares. I found them pretty comprehensive for parts diagrams and decent stock for other brands under the Vestel umbrella such as Electra
Interesting article. I certainly noticed a clear link between smelly machines and premature drum failure. Especially on integrated machines with the door kept closed with moisture trapped inside. Washer/dryers would often fare better, with the drum dried and sterilised after every wash.
One factor that has had a significant impact on poor drum health, along with lower wash temperatures, is the transition from powder-based detergents incorporating bleaching agents to liquid-based detergents, which do not contain bleach. These bleaching agents have a significant part to play in minimising bacterial growth. I always recommended customers added a bleaching agent to their “whites” wash, along with a 60 degree cycle at least every couple of weeks
I notice security patches for the software on these fridges ends 5 years from product launch. Fair enough for a purely technological item, I guess, but on a fridge, arguably a clear case of built-in obsolescence?
