Consumer rights advice - dead washing machine

Erm..... no. You broke it, it's not a manufacturing fault.

However, does your house / contents insurance cover accidental damage to items?

Erm….. no. You broke it, it’s not a manufacturing fault.

This - if it was a day old and it broke in the way you described you wouldn't get a replacement (unless it was a goodwill gesture).

Figured as much, just wanted to confirm. Not worth claiming on our insurance, excess is higher than new washing machine and as we saw it happening we were able to intervene and limit the water damage (I think).

Might as well ask. They may go beyond the statutory minimum. The rules are pretty vague "fit for purpose", "reasonable quality", etc. At least now you won't be disappointed if they say no.

I returned a faulty item recently and the supplier was not even remotely interested in the fault. They just did it through their normal returns policy and refunded even though it was outside the date of that policy.

They may go beyond the statutory minimum.

I had a tumble dryer from AO, when it was 14 months old it started getting crazy hot when drying, to the point that you couldn't pick the stuff up when dry.

I contacted them about claiming on the basis of the EU 2 year guarantee, this was before brexit, they just make it impracticable to claim. They ask for an engineers report on the fault and that the engineer must be VAT registered.

The machine cost £250 so it's just not worth paying out for a report, which would probably cost the same or maybe more than getting the thing repaired.

I'll never use AO again or buy any crap Hoover products.

Devil's advocate,

You said "likely“. How likely? How has it got past the inner drum? A photo might help.

I highly doubt you've got any recourse here either under CRA or warranties. You might get some sort of goodwill offer from Hoover if you ask nicely, but I'd hope for the best and expect the worst.

They ask for an engineers report on the fault and that the engineer must be VAT registered.

I had similar from ebuyer when a TV remote died. After a bit of back and forth by email they eventually said that in any case the remote wasn't covered by any warranty or consumer rights since it was a "free accessory"!

I still regret not taking them to the small claims court, but by that point I'd long since bought a new remote myself so I just couldn't be arsed.

What are your kids carrying around in their pockets to possibly do this? Hunks of lithium?

I've spoken with my dad who was an appliance repair man in a past life, when I showed him the below picture he suggested that it looks like a mount for the concrete block on the drum has pulled out. I've had another look and there is no evidence of there being a mount in this location, they are fairly large and obvious. It's a decent sized hole, i can get all my fingers in there.

What are your kids carrying around in their pockets to possibly do this? Hunks of lithium?

Which is why i'm slightly doubtful that this has been caused by damage and not some sort of manufacturing defect, but i'm going to have a very difficult time proving this. I have contacted AO to ask the question, not expecting much though.

We had a 12 year old LG develop a 'bullet hole' in the drum last year. The only thing we could find was a single small bolt which had held the inner drum...seems after 12 years it let go while spinning and fired out through the outer drum.

Had  mixed experience with AO in the past that ended well. Washing machine stopped working in warranty period, engineer came out and inspected/took it apart and said it was buggered and we'd need a new wiring harness that would be a few weeks. Contacted AO customer service who gave us the runaround. Emailed their chief exec with the line from their company report that said 'We treat every customer like our gran We make decisions that make our mums proud'. Asked if he would leave his Gran without a washing machine for 3 weeks if she had 2 kids, had a reply from his PA within a couple of hours and new washing machine arrived next day. Meanwhile customer services were ringing me to say the part was still delayed! May be worth quoting that to them.

Your dad might be correct, it's your interpretation that's awry.

If a damping block bolt shears the drum dances around like a whirling dervish and this movement can cause impact damage like the above to occur, especially on hard plastic.

You would know if a damping block isn't connected through via the associatied banging and the machine doing a MJ shuffle around the kitchen

You would know if a damping block isn’t connected through via the associatied banging and the machine doing a MJ shuffle around the kitchen

Nothing obvious unfortunately, must have done it during the wash yesterday when we were both out.

I appreciate that "manufacturing defect" or "damage caused by normal use" are different, but it's definitely one of those, and whichever it is, I would expect the retailer/manufacturer to make it right.

Unless the retailer is AO, or the manufacturer is Hoover..... in which case, I would expect them to act like bellends.

I would probably see what their initial response was (to gauge how this is probably going to play out), but accept that I was probably going to be buying a new one.  The issue is that even if AO/Hoover accept to send an engineer, and agree to fix/replace either for free or at a discounted rate (which is doubtful) - it probably won't be done in a timeframe acceptable to somebody with 2 kids and no washing machine.

Don't get me wrong, I'd be ****ing fuming if a washing machine catastrophically failed within 14 months of regular use (even from a somewhat budget brand like Hoover) - but I just don't think the time/hassle of trying to get something out of these two particular companies is going to be worth it, especially with the pressure of having dirty washing piling up in the meantime.  However, everyone is different - I lean towards pragmatism, whereas others may prefer to pursue something like this for as long as it takes on the point of principle.  And there's obviously the budgetary consideration.

If it makes you feel any better, my LG washer drier fairly regularly shits itself, and has done since it was 2 years old.  Bloody hate the thing, but it's limping on with me having replaced various bits, and striping-down/cleaning parts of it's innards every 10 months or so.  I'm looking forward to it's catastrophic failure one day, so that I can justify replacing it.  So maybe a fast death is preferable?

Bought a Haier machine from ao.com

Lifetime warranty on motor.
Rest expired at 2 years.
Just over two years Severn Trent increased water pressure to our house.
Machine couldn't cope.
Would let too much water in and it would spill out from inside the machine.

Called ao. No help.

Called Hotpoint (Haier own them)

Man came. Removed a piece of machine.
Explained to me that the machine was designed for mainland Europe where water pressure is generally lower. Not for UK domestic markets.

Machine worked fine since.

Got charged £140 for two mins work and to remove a piece of plastic that shouldn't have been there in the first place.

I paid £50 to Hotpoint and told them to do one.

Not heard anything for well over a year now.

Could be wrong but you've got to fight back sometimes.

The plastic drum is a spares item so should be replaceable.  You can do it yourself with simple tools.

The plastic drum is a spares item so should be replaceable. You can do it yourself with simple tools.

Unfortunately a new drum is 2/3rds the cost of a replacement machine so I know where the sensible money goes. Slightly worried that electrics etc will be damaged too so it's going.

If you can't find the pocket item in the filter, then there's no reason for you to assume that's the cause, but you'll have to find evidence of failure in order to make a warranty claim this far from the purchase date.

The size of the piece of plastic that's been ripped off, and no damage to the internal metal drum, is perplexing...

Is the drum still spinning freely? Can you turn off the water and run a slow spin cycle to see if it's still anchored down, or whether there is a stray bolt floating around somewhere?

Hoover

To add - we tried a heat pump drier from Hotpoint. After rejecting two machines beaches they filled the room and machine control panel with condensation we finally asked for our money back on the third machine. The local Currys where we bought it had to get involved as head office/helpline didn't believe us - yet the local Curries staff suggested that Hotpoint were the worst brand for out of the box failures they saw.

Is the drum still spinning freely? Can you turn off the water and run a slow spin cycle to see if it’s still anchored down, or whether there is a stray bolt floating around somewhere?

The drum is still spinning silently and smoothly. It is currently out in the garden, there is no way I am turning it on again as that hole is in the bottom of the drum. Any water going in goes straight onto the floor.

I was going to suggest just sticking it on spin so it wouldn't add water, but TIL that some machines throw in a bit of water for fun at the start of the cycle to help balance it.