I've have had a Zanussi DW24 slim line dishwasher for about 4 years now, The wheels on the baskets have now totally failed and are falling off annoying the wife and hence annoying me.
I refuse to pay Zanussi approx £5 per wheel (16 total) for spares!! There is also a burning smell which I think a piece of plastic melted to the heating coil (not too big a problem), and the main filter has a hold stuck together with super glue.
Given what I consider are extraordinarily high prices for spares Zanussi charge!!! I am looking to purchase a new NON Zanussi dishwasher (Slim line). Can any one recommend a good brand/model which has competitively prices spares.
I have looked at Miele as a serious contender but at approx 2.5-3 times the price of a other dish washer comets have them in stock £829.95 I am wondering if their really worth the extra?
Also is there any recommended placed to purchase. I (don't throw things now) like comets or curry's as I can always turn up at the shop if there's a problem. That is why I am a bit wary of internet sellers.
Might be worth seeing if they're any cheaper from CPC.
I've had a 50cm wide Creda for probably about 12 years (I think it was really made by Hotpoint). I needed to replace the main motor/pump assembly after about 3 years (water leaked into the motor bearing) which cost around £100 IIRC, but that's the only outlay so far.
I have had Zanussi products many years ago and ended up spending a fortune over the years on these wheels, the pegs that support them and solenoid valves.
Definitely. I have three of their appliances (washer, dryer, dishwasher) with a combined service life of around 25 years. All perform as well as on day 1 and the appearance has not deteriorated either.
I have the G698SC model, which at the time of purchase was £750 or so (now about £900)and came with a 10 year parts and labour warranty. This one is now superceded, I think, but has all the bells and whistles.
There are a number of good features throughout the range, but those that I think are most useful are:
- Very quiet indeed in operation
- Cutlery tray in the top rather than a basket, provides more space and cleaner cutlery because each item is separately placed.
- Easy to keep clean with no annoying crevices
I don't think that it makes any difference. Legally, the retailer has responsibility if there is a problem. The manufacturer's warranty is a convenience that allows them to pass execution of that responsibility to the manufacturer.
There's no real value any longer in bricks and mortar shops because they don't typically have the product you want in the showroom and you have to often buy unseen anyway. They are certainly not interested in dealing with your service problem in a retail store.
Internet traders as well as the stores typically act as order takers and the manufacturer ships them directly. Therefore the issue becomes a cash flow and margin one in terms of the viability of the business. Undoubtedly there are internet traders who have gone spectacularly bust in the same way that retail stores have. For example, I don't suppose that a large on-line retailer like EmpireDirect is any more or less likely to go broke than a catalogue operation or Comet.
In my mind there are four issues, in this order:
- Quality of the product
- Manufacturer reputation, service operation and spares availability for the anticipated product lifetime
- Ensuring that the financial investment is secure.
- Product price
I am completely satisfied with Miele's service operation. I have had to use them on a couple of occasions (one washer, one dryer) for minor issues (a switch) and they are superb. You book an appointment (day and morning/afternoon) and on the day before you can call their automated number after 1800 once the engineers are scheduled and get a time to within 2hrs of the visit. The engineer phones as he is leaving his previous appointment so you know pretty accurately when he will arrive. Those that have visited have been good people and well organised.
I've been involved in the past in the service aspect of a business in a different sector where people are pretty demanding and am completely intolerant of anything less than top flight service. I really can't fault Miele in any way on service.
You can buy spares if you like, but they are at least as expensive as Zanussi. However, it is unlikely that you would need any after 4 years, so if you consider the spares cost over the 15 or so year design life of Miele products it really doesn't matter.
The manufacturer warranty financing is done through Domestic and General. The only dealing with them is to send the product registration on purchase. After that, everything is handled directly with Miele and nobody else is involved.
So, this leaves the only remaining issue being one of protecting the investment in the event of somebody not performing somewhere. The simple solution to this is to purchase using a credit card or a 6 month interest free credit agreement with all monies paid off. In this way, the credit supplier is on the hook legally with the retailer and it really doesn't matter if the retailer goes broke.
THerefore, considering all the above, I would suggest that a safe and sensible thing is to buy a Miele product from the cheapest source using a credit card. I really wouldn't fret about whether that is a bricks and mortar shop or an online place. Assume that the service from either will be non-existent other than to sell you the product and place the order on the manufacturer.
Check out your local tip, errr..."recycling centre". They will often have complete donor machines for around £3 a pop. Far chearer than paying £5 per wheel!
Strip the parts you need on site and leave the rest if the machine for disposal.
My Miele is still a wonderful thing after 15 years, only two problems in that time: a plastic nut disintegrated, cost about a fiver delivered, and the water level sensor got blocked up, I replaced it rather than clean it, I think it was 25 pounds or so, it has recently developed an intermittent fault which requires it to be restarted, but I am ignoring that till it dies completely, it is almost silent in operation, the third cutlery drawer was a revelation compared to ordinary machines. So even though miele are dear initially, I think they are worth it in the long run.
Cheaper Mieles are available - we got one a couple of years back for about
500 quid with a 5 year warranty. We were so impressed with it we bought a washing machine from them as well.
Agreed
Yep - this is excellent. A big improvement on our old machine
Exception to this seems to be John Lewis. Had very good service from them. They are (according to Miele) the biggest resellers of Miele kit in the country but you have to watch out - some of the models they sell are JL exclusive. We have a fridge, the dishwasher and the washing machine that I mention from JL and all three were in stock. Prices vary from very competitive to not close depending on model.
This is the only thing that has let them down in my experience so far. A few weeks ago out washing machine stopped mid cycle showing "---" on the screen and flashing a led. Manual suggested restarted the cycle which we did and it works. As this was the 3rd time this had happened I rang Miele to ask for advice. They said they would send out an engineer to have a look.
Engineer turned up as promised and within a couple of mins claimed that there was nothing he could do as it hadn't logged any fault codes. He also said that as there was no fault he would have to charge us 90 quid. We pointed out that it was *their* decision to send an engineer and that they hadn't warned of a charge. He then looked on his computer and noted that they hadn't marked it as "Price advised" so rang the office to get the charge waived. This they did but claimed that this would be left on record and made my wife feel rather guily and as if we have now used up our "free warranty call out".
We have written to them and are awaiting a responce (2.5 weeks so far).
As I say, the system was impresive and worked well. But we currently have a washing machine that has failed 3 times and that seems to be untracable. As it hasn't logged a fault they seem uninterested in helping. I realise that this sort of thing is difficult (near impossible!) to diagnose but their attitude disappointed me some what. I'll see what their reply to our letter is before I comment further - they still have a chance to redeem themselves...
I must admit though, even despite this incident I would be tempted by Miele again in the future.
Also, worth a look at
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see what offers are running. You can usually find 5 or even 10 year warranties on their dishwashers and washing machines (we have one of each).
I did take a trip to my local store tonight to look at the machines, although with the intention not to purchase. I did look at one of the approx
500 pound Miele's and to be honest I was not impressed, although the cutlery tray at the top was a good idea, the supporting rails felt very cheap to me. The Bosch models felt a lot firmer and more solidly built. Looking at this I am now swaying towards a Bosch, but I would like to call them before I purchase to check out the costs of spares (wheels in particular). I have noticed that Bosch now have wheels which appear to be permanently attached via metal stud, which I imagine could help in the future, It's just a shame the wheels are not metal too.
Oh I did ask when looking for spare wheels if I could have a discount for purchasing all the wheels, and I was told that I could possible get away with half the amount as the person on the phone thought that 16 was a little over kill
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