Hotpoint Washing Machine Ripping Holes in Clothes ****Resolved****

[blinky123]

Hi there people,

 

I've just had a Hotpoint engineer to look at my washing machine (bought 15.4.2011) because it is ripping holes in my clothes and bobbling them up so something that has been washed 10 times looks like it has been washed 100 times! It's really getting me down, I bought a brand new top the other day that had holes ripped in it and bobbled up on it's first wash so it's ruined now. I always use good quality washing powder and conditioner and perform a maintenance cycle once a month.

 

The engineer couldn't find anything wrong, he just removed some rough mold from round the inside of the rubber bit at the front. He suggests I send samples of the clothes to the customer care department to at least get some compensation for the ones that are ripped.

 

I'm not happy with the machine, the quality is rubbish if there really is nothing wrong with it like the engineer says. It wasn't the most expensive machine but it wasn't the cheapest either, I paid about £350 for it.

 

Is there a hope in hell that I could get them to replace my machine with a different model, or possibly find out what's causing it to ruin all my clothes?

 

Many thanks

[rebel11]

Hi blink

 

Have a read of 10,12 and 13 in my signature. You need to get onto the retailer.

 

10) SALE OF GOODS ACT-EDUCATE YOUR RETAILER CLICK HERE 12) SOGA SUMMARY CLICK HERE

13) WHICH? TEMPLATES CLICK HERE

[PriorityOne]

Check for bra underwiring that's either snapped off or stuck. This happened to me many years ago and the engineer said it was one of the most common reasons for unexplained holes in clothing....

[blinky123]

The engineer checked for bra wiring and found none

 

Thanks I will get onto the retailer. So it's not Hotpoint I should be chasing? x

[rebel11]

It's the retailer, I'd be tempted to Write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such, explain what happened and what you want them to do.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1242161/How--write-letter-complaint.html

 

The engineer checked for bra wiring and found none

 

Thanks I will get onto the retailer. So it's not Hotpoint I should be chasing? x

[rebel11]

Who is the retailer?

[blinky123]

It's a local independent household electronics store in my very small hometown.

[perplexity]

I'm not happy with the machine, the quality is rubbish if there really is nothing wrong with it like the engineer says.

 

It is also possible that the quality of your clothes is rubbish.

 

[rebel11]

Thats fine, SOGA applies to all retailers equally.

 

It's a local independent household electronics store in my very small hometown.

[blinky123]

Thanks, I will have a look at the links in your sig. Would 4 months be an adequate amount of time to reject the appliance? I t wasn't so bad at doing this at first but has gotten worse and worse. Also, should I stop using it completely (I am still washing towels and muslin cloths in it but sending my actual clothes home for my mum to wash)

[rebel11]

I don't think you can reject it as such, but if it's damaging your clothes then they need to do something so that your clothes aren't being damaged. You need to tell them that you want them to compensate you for the damaged clothing and all other subsequent damage.

[blinky123]

Oh and I'm wondering if I should go in softly softly and just pop in and have a chat with them, or if I should just write a letter, go in quite strongly and just say I want a replacement outright. Also, would they be able to give me a similar model from a different brand around about the same price I paid for it as a replacement, or do I have to have an exact copy? I have lost faith in Hotpoint and this make and model now.

[blinky123]

The thing is, they can't find a fault with it so they won't be able to fix it if you see what I mean? There must be something wrong with it for it to be ripping holes in my clothes but Hotpoint can't find a fault at all.

[rebel11]

As it's a small town, go in softly, see what they say, tell them if they don't resolve the matter, you will be forced to take further action. You have several options.

 

Take some of the clothes with you.

 

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-1721858/Why-credit-card-firms-must-pay-for-faulty-goods.html

[blinky123]

Thank you, I'll go and have a word with them some time tomorrow. Taking my ruined brand new top with me and a few of my sons bobbled babygros

[rebel11]

The big point is that if it carry's on happening it will cost them more then a washing machine. Good luck and don't forget to report back

 

Thank you, I'll go and have a word with them some time tomorrow. Taking my ruined brand new top with me and a few of my sons bobbled babygros

[perplexity]

The bigger point is this:

 

The engineer couldn't find anything wrong

 

Nothing wrong means no liability.

[blinky123]

So far so good - I went in on Saturday to talk to them and they were very good about it, told me they couldn't do anything at the moment as it was a Saturday, then this morning I have a knock on my door and it is a Hotpoint technical engineer coming to have another look. He's been in the kitchen longer than the other guy so I'm hoping he'll find something!

[blinky123]

He didn't find anything, just reprogrammed the machine I'm gonna try it for another week and see how I go.

[rebel11]

O.K. let us know what happens.

[ro284]

Hello Blinky, Sorry you are having problems, i have repaired machines for 30 years, something i have noticed quite often on a machine tearing up clothes, is the following -when you look in the drum and you see all the holes, these holes are recessed, as if they are countersunk, they are made that way to aid the removal of the water and to protect the clothes, however sometimes a 50 pence peice or similer can slip by the door rubber after falling out of a pocket,(of course it should not be able to!) it then bounces all round between the stainless drum and the outer Tub. if it gets on edge, it can force the recessed holes inside out. if you follow me. this causes the sharp edges of the holes to protude upwards in to the clothing. these are razor sharp and will do a lot of damage. you can carefully go round the drum feeling fot these inverted holes. There could be other reasons, but it is worth a look. i have in past, to save a big bill for the customer,tapped the holes into the shape they were with a small tool i made for the job. the 50p may never be seen as often it settles somewhere in the outside tub, and never reaches the pump.too big! if you were to see the drum from the outside , it is a bit like a cheese grater, mind you do not cut yourself. good luck Ro

[blinky123]

Hello Blinky, Sorry you are having problems, i have repaired machines for 30 years, something i have noticed quite often on a machine tearing up clothes, is the following -when you look in the drum and you see all the holes, these holes are recessed, as if they are countersunk, they are made that way to aid the removal of the water and to protect the clothes, however sometimes a 50 pence peice or similer can slip by the door rubber after falling out of a pocket,(of course it should not be able to!) it then bounces all round between the stainless drum and the outer Tub. if it gets on edge, it can force the recessed holes inside out. if you follow me. this causes the sharp edges of the holes to protude upwards in to the clothing. these are razor sharp and will do a lot of damage. you can carefully go round the drum feeling fot these inverted holes. There could be other reasons, but it is worth a look. i have in past, to save a big bill for the customer,tapped the holes into the shape they were with a small tool i made for the job. the 50p may never be seen as often it settles somewhere in the outside tub, and never reaches the pump.too big! if you were to see the drum from the outside , it is a bit like a cheese grater, mind you do not cut yourself. good luck Ro

 

Thank you very much for this. I will have a good feel around the drum for any sharp bits. That's really helpful as I just can't understand why it's doing this as they can't find any obvious reason.

 

The other thing I hate is the excessive bobbling. I know bobbling is normal with low quality clothes and over time and I know it's caused by different clothes rubbing together, but I've literally just moved out of my mums house and did washing every day in her machine and it never caused such bobbling so I know it has to be something to do with this particular one. The problem is, I'm pretty sure they won't let me return the machine for a replacement on the sole reason that it causes my clothes to look bobbly because they can't find any reason for the holes so this is really the only thing I can go on. Even brand new items after one wash look mussed up and bobbly, surely that can't be right?

[ro284]

No it is not right blinky. the machine should be designed to care for your clothes, as well as wash them,could you tell me what model no this one is? i am retired now from repairing machines,sadly. i also used to supply them. but only Bosch, anyway i still have some contacts in the trade, back to inside the drum, there are often plastic paddles usually 3 of them, i have known these to be loose from new, which also could damage clothes.by getting threads caught in the gap where they are loose. returning to the holes in the drum, it would only need one damaged hole sticking up to ruin clothes, i would have expected the engineer to have looked in the drum with a torch fort this.i have seen hundreds of lost bra wires, which are often stainless steel, if they get through to the outer tub they often get wrapped around the heater element, and scrape against the outside of the innner drum, then centrifugal force on spin could force some thin clothing through the holes, and be chopped off by the bra wire like a Guillotine, i am not saying that is this is problem on your machine, but with the machine empty, you would hear a scraping noise on turning the drum, Regards Ro

[perplexity]

No it is not right blinky. the machine should be designed to care for your clothes, as well as wash them,could you tell me what model no this one is?

 

 

If you think you know how to design a machine to cope a 50 pence piece, or any other bit of loose metal you should take it to Dragon's Den, seriously.

 

In the mean time, I would expect that there is something, somewhere to warn in advance that the machine is not intended to wash a 50 pence piece so the danger remains, that it is just as easy to think that the user is the one with a screw loose, not the machine.

[blinky123]

It is a Hotpoint Aquarius WML520. I had a feel and can't feel any of the holes as being sharp, I'm at a loss. xx