Washing Machines - which makes are generally thought of as the best these days?

[fourtytwo]

I ignore so called polls on the basis that most of the replies are either fake or given in haste immediately after purchase, I would far rather feedback from someone genuine.

In my case we have had an Indesit widl126 wash/dryer for about 15 years and so far have only had to repair the pcb once (about a year ago). I think in this case it is more reliable as it still has an aluminum drum rather than plastic. I chose it mainly because it had hot and cold fill saving energy as we heat our water by solar. I also had an Indesit fridge freezer BUT that had icing problems due to the design flaw (same for many manufacturers) of using air from the freezer to cool the fridge, I have since bought a Liebherr that doesn't have that particular fault and has so far worked for 3 years.

 

[JohnD]

I ignore so called polls on the basis that most of the replies are either fake or given in haste immediately after purchase, I would far rather feedback from someone genuine.

How do you think the Which user surveys are done?

 

[opps]

I don't think randoms on the net are as good a source as a consumer organisation that polls literally thousands of owners every year.

I agree with the point about about "randoms" but the Which? polls are not necessarily more reliable.

I have seen work carried out by pretty awful tradesmen that have 5 star ratings on those CheckaTrade type sites. My point being that the general public are not always that knowledgeable about the subject that they are commenting on.

Someone that has a 6 month old washing machine, might not be aware that the drum has sealed bearings and that if they fail 24 months later, they will have to bin the whole machine. 6 months down the line, it works and they are happy.

 

[JohnD]

The Which surveys ask thousands of members questions like

Have you got a washing machine
When did you buy it
What make?
How happy with it are you?
Has it ever broken down? When? How often?
Did you get it repaired?
Did you scrap it?
Would you buy this make again?

The members don't need to know if the bearings are replaceable to answer.

They are mostly not answering in the first six months of ownership

They are not self-selecting complainers

It's unlikely you will find anybody else who asks thousands of users every year.

 

[opps]

The Which surveys ask thousands of members questions like

Have you got a washing machine
When did you buy it
What make?
How happy with it are you?
Has it ever broken down? When? How often?
Did you get it repaired?
Did you scrap it?
Would you buy this make again?

The members don't need to know if the bearings are replaceable to answer.

They are mostly not answering in the first six months of ownership

They are not self-selecting complainers

It's unlikely you will find anybody else who asks thousands of users every year.

Ok, perhaps I was being unfairly dismissive.

However, let's look at a brand like Miele. One would hope that a customer will have a washing machine that lasts about 15 years before it needs to be replaced. IF, only 5 percent of Which? customers own a Miele, you have a pretty small base of customers that are able to comment on the longevity of a rather expensive machine.

I would be more impressed if Which? were to buy machines from various brands and run them continuously for X amount of days/years, and to then pay an independent engineer to strip down each machine and review the build quality.

To be fair to them, I understand why they don't, they cannot afford to.

 

[JohnD]

They say

"... this year, in our unique longevity and customer satisfaction survey, we've asked more than 12,000 Which? members and 5,000 members of the public to tell us whether they're happy with their washing machine and if they've experienced problems.

Our survey data takes into account which washing machines had faults reported and whether they needed to be repaired or replaced as a result."

So quite a lot of people

And they publish a table

"The table below summarises this year’s results, based on washing machines bought in the past seven years. Brands are ranked by their customer score, which reflects customers' level of satisfaction and whether they would recommend each brand.

The 'proportion faulty' is the percentage that experienced a fault and the 'proportion repaired or replaced' is the percentage of washing machines that were fixed or thrown away due to the fault. The fewer replaced, the better."

For example

Brand	Customer score	Proportion faulty in the first seven years	Proportion repaired or replaced due to a fault

Miele

89%

10%

7%

Bosch

83%

12%

6%

Hotpoint

74%

23%

12%

There are pages more of detail and commentary