[andygrif]

Originally Posted by handyman

I cannot see the logic in buying a mediocre washer for £200 with sub standard wash performance and water ecomomy with a 2 year life when for £441 you can have a AA washer with a 20 year life? Miele 500

The point is that there are millions of people in this country that simply cannot afford 441 quid. There are also lots of people who don't need 5 washes a week - that's why I bought my Indesit in 1992, I was a young single bloke with lots of clothes and probably did one wash every other week or so. Aside from the fact that I had to buy everything else for the house in 1992 as well, I simply didn't have disposably cash to fork out for expensive kit back then. Over the years, I've become older, richer, paired-up and have replaced old and worn out kit with higher end stuff.

Maybe I've been lucky, but I took the old fridge-freezer from my sister (which was also an Indesit) that they bought SECOND HAND about ten years before I got and it lasted another ten years for me before various bits fell off it. Technically it was still perfect, it was cheap when new, and lasted at least 20 years and still worked at the end. Now I've got a big American job, and that's fine too.

The old tumble drier I had was slightly less good. I paid about 100 quid for it, it was some no-name unit. That only lasted me seven years before a strange burning smell came out of it, and I upgraded it. But 100 quid for seven years isn't bad.

Originally Posted by handyman

Is this your machine andy?

No, it's a few years old now, doesn't have a digital display. I couldn't tell you the model number without looking at it I'm afraid.

Originally Posted by iadom

For 'cheap and cheerful' you now need to substitute 'cheap and nasty' for a good many machines on the market today, that includes all £200 appliances.

You might be right, but I would hazard an educated guess that whilst there might be a lot more appliances chucked that are less than two years old now, comparted to the good old days, I would still suggest that the vast majority of all 200 quid machines are NOT scrapped in this time frame.

Originally Posted by iadom

From that you will understand why most of the trade inserts a letter 'h' between the 5th & 6th letters of the companies name.

I like it

Originally Posted by Wicked_and_Crazy

i expected so, i know someone who works for John Lewis and they SERIOUSLY push Miele machines.

I wonder why that is? profit margin maybe

No, John Lewis sales staff are not comissioned in the same way as Currys and Comet et al. That's why I shop there for this kind of stuff - they price match any other store, the staff actually know what they are selling and there's no pressure at all.

I guess they recommend them as they are the best, and as has been pointed out, it does out cheaper to own one of these with a ten year warranty than it does to replace a cheapy every couple of years. But I wouldn't say they pushed us into picking a Miele, he was equally complimentary about Bosch and Siemens.

We did end up spending more than we wanted to (a couple of hundred more) but if you can be happy with a washing machine, we are! Although we're moving house next month, and the sheer weight of this beast is unbelivable, so we may regret it a little then.