hi, the bearings are starting to go on our 2.5yr old washing machine. would i have a reasonable claim under the sale of goods act? it's a run-of-the-mill £200 indesit machine. thanks, kristian

Hi bet I'm in wrong place, hope someone will move me to the correct place need some advice. I live in a three story block of flats a new tenant moved in below me around 18 months ago, I recently received a complaint from the housing officer regarding my washing machine being on during the night, its on a timer to start during the cheap rates times economy 7 once a week, it sits in the kitchen on a concrete floor. The tenant claims he can hear said washing machine, the housing officer has told me to stop using the machine and only use it in the day. Ive been using this machine since the tenant moved in as I said 18 months ago and well before that, what I don't understand is why has it only become a problem now I feel there is some aggregating going on regards to the noise level can the housing officer tell me to stop using washing machine with out checking first whether it really is a problem and not just take the tenants word for it that it is. what's next my tumble dryer my fridge.

I bought a washing machine from Comet that continued to repeatedly break down, eventually they replaced it, I put some more cash towards a better machine. It is an Indesit PWDE 8148s. It is 14 months old. Today it had a catastrophic electrical failure, probably the main PCB board. Also the heater element has blown and the door handle has snapped off. The door handle is integral to the door and the whole door will need replacing. At no time has the machine been abused, it has been de scaled every month or so. I called Indesit who told me, and I quote ''thats just the way it rocks'', they have now sold me a 1 year warranty for 14.99 a month for 12 months and are coming to fix the machine tomorrow evening. If they cannot fix it they will replace it. My question is this, should I be expected to pay this money after just 14 months or can I expect a washing machine/dryer to last longer before needing major repairs? I quoted the sale of good act to Indesit and they told me it doesnt apply to them , it is down to Comet (who are now no more) to abide by this act. Is there anything I can do? Can I have them fix it then cancel the 1 year warranty? they told me to do this would cost £104 which would be cheaper than getting the machine fixed by one of their engineers, it still has a 5 year parts guarantee.

I've just moved into a flat in Aberdeen which has an electric shower but no hot water tank anywhere in the place. There is a tank a little like a toilet cistern in the cupboard in the bathroom which feeds the hot water taps. The water coming from this is very stale and a little worrying. There was no advice given when I took the flat that this was the situation and I'm not sure what to do about it. Can anyone help?

Hi I purchased a washing machine from Curry's in May 2008. All fine until last year when door seal went. Repaired as I have a Whatever Happens policy. Last year 2 main boards replaced within 3 months and then on Friday it stops turning. My policy states if I call on a Friday they will come out on a Tuesday but they said not possible and they came today. Guy/engineer says it may need a new motor and he orders new part and it should be available next week. I call as I'm not happy. Family of 5 and no machine. They say they have 21 days to repair as they don't class it as essential. They are also supposed to call a few days before to try and diagnose so they can have parts ready but they didn't even do that. I could scream. I'm now doing a 60 mile round trip to my parents to get washing done. The policy is fine as long as the machine is still usable while waiting for parts but totally crap if it breaks and can't be used. I would advise people not to bother with a policy and just save the money so when it breaks you can just purchase a new one. What I want to know is how many times are they allowed to repair before replacing cause this is its 4th repair and I'm fed up.

Hi, This is my first post, so hopefully I've put it in the right area. We bought a Hoover WDYN854D washing machine last April. I wanted another Bosch, but they didn't have a washer / drier machine with an 8KG capacity . I was aware of the bad reputation Hoover had earned themselves in the past but thought that they must have got their act together, given the length of time they've had to correct issues within the company. The first sign of any problem was when one of the 32 amp ring main circuit breakers would occasionally trip, also taking out the 63 amp RCD. They would reset ok and we wouldn't have any problems for a week or so. Then one Saturday they both tripped again and when reset we noticed that the washing machine was dead, no display, just a fill valve constantly on. My wife called the Hoover Candy service centre and they sent an engineer out a few days later. He found that a ribbon cable in the wiring loom had been rubbing on the machine chassis and had shorted out. As a consequence the complete wiring loom, controller, display and three valves needed to be replaced. There was no charge for parts, as these are under a five year warranty. There was however a call out fee of £120 for the engineers two visits. We paid the engineer when he had finished the repair. I then sent a letter to Hoover Candy outlining the issue and stating that the problem was caused by an incorrectly routed cable during assembly. I also stated, quite rightly, that the wiring loom is not a wear part. I asked for a refund of the £120 along with re assurance that this issue would not re occur. I received a letter back with the usual nonsense about "striving to give utmost reliability", "continuous quality control procedures", etc. In short, ducking the real issue, which was a machine that had been assembled incorrectly at the factory, necessitating the replacement of most of its electrical components..... good job the parts were under warranty. I sent another letter after this one threatening legal action, I then sent another copy of this letter to them via recorded delivery. To date I have received no reply. I am a qualified electronics / controls engineer and I am quite appalled that a small ribbon cable was carrying enough power to trip a 32 amp breaker.... point 1. I also don't expect a wiring loom to have to be replaced, after all, would anyone expect to have a complete wiring loom on a fourteen month old car replaced? Of course not...... point 2. This may have been a Friday afternoon machine or it might be an inherent design fault, and I really don't care in all honesty. I just can't see why I should have to pay for poor workmanship. So, any feedback would be useful here. Is this a matter for the small claims court, or do I have to take a different route? Hoover Candy, never again

Hi was wondering if you could help, brought a washing machine from argos 16 months ago and the bearings have gone on it making it unuseable. Have phoned argos and they said they are unable to help as it is after the 12 months warranty! They gave us 2 phone numbers 1 was a warranty company and the other was hotpoint direct, both places wanted around £200 to help. Reading through some previous threads on here i see that it is argos themselfs who need to fix the problem. Can you please give some advice on what to do and what to say to them please, many thanks.

I have read a few things about holes in clothes online regarding washing machines. Although this is a strange one, purchased three new T-shirts and a jumper last week, washed them separately in the washing machine and all four items had small holes in them. The T-shirts in the sleeves and the jumper in the back middle. I emailed the manufacturer over the weekend to gain some sort of response, I received the email reply below. However when I called them they are sending out an engineer, although the machine is still under guarantee it is now 7 years old. Engineer is booked for Wednesday, not sure what the response will be but judging from past experience with them it took six call outs before they replaced the PCB on the machine. Any suggestions? Many thanks for your recent email. We are very concerned to learn of your disappointment in the performance of your appliance. We would assume that your machine is working to specification and that there are no mechanical or electrical faults present. Modern machines are now more efficient than older appliances and use less water to provide greater economy and efficiency. As a result, the importance of correct programme selection is crucial to a good wash performance. Each specific programme has been designed with a particular fabric in mind, so it is very important that the clothing care labels are strictly adhered to. Please refer to your instruction manual for additional information. It is also important to make sure that the machine is not overloaded, as this would have an adverse effect on the wash. We recommend choosing the Short programme which will make the wash less vigorous and, in addition, you may wish to select the Water Plus option or a delicate wash cycle to add more cushioning to your wash items. Furthermore, you may wish to programme the Gentle Action function into your appliance, as this has been specifically designed to reduce the drum action and the agitation it can cause on garments. To programme this function, please refer to page 64 of your operating manual (Programmable Functions chapter). It is also worth mentioning that biological detergents may cause damage to certain natural fabrics as the enzymes in the detergent can destroy the natural proteins in the materials. We hope that this information will help to improve the situation and restore your faith in our brand.

In Jan 2011 I bought a Zanussi ZwI1125 washing machine from Comet for £463.50. In August 2011 clothes that we had washed started to come out of the washing machine with rusty brown stains and then the drum stopped spinning. We rang Zanussi and they sent out an engineer to fix the problem. This February the washing machine started to make the brown stains again. As the warranty from Comet and Zanussi had run out a month earlier I rang the Comet helpline and paid for an engineer to come out. When the engineer arrived I said I thought there might be a problem with the drum as it had been making a very loud noise and the same problem had occurred 6 months earlier. He turned it onto spin and as it was no longer making the same noise so said that I should probably check the filter for coins or hair grips and if that wasn’t the problem and it still continued to make the noise I should ring Comet back and they would send someone else round. I checked the filter and there was nothing there. In the following weeks the noise stopped but the brown marks would still occasionally appear and so we started to only wash darks in the machine and take whites elsewhere to be washed. In June the drum in the washing machine has completely stopped working and will not spin despite the fact the motor is still working. Water has also leaked out onto the floor in the kitchen and there are holes in a number of items of clothes that were in the machine at the time. I wrote to Comet regarding the SOGA and they replied saying "while goods must conform to contract at the time of sale the Act does not require that they should remain so throughout their working life as it recognises that goods cannot always be expected to work fault free. They can break down through normal use and the Act does not hold the seller responsible for that.Furthermore after six months from purchase it falls on the consumer to prove the lack of conformity existed at the time of sale" I contacted citizens advice and they said I should write back quoting Sales of Goods Act: section14, 2b, subsection (e). For the purposes of this Act, the quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following (among others) are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods — (e) durability. Comet then replied saying that they refer me to their previous letter. Since then I have used Money Claims Online and have just received the acknowledgement of service with Comet wishing to defend the claim. I'm a little apprehensive about the next stage being court action. It seems to me from what I have read that they are in the wrong but I can't see how I would stand a chance against a solicitor from Comet if it does go to court as I don't really know what Im dealing with? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.