Should I let washing machine be taken away for repairs?

Sometimes an engineer may say they have to take your appliance away to be repaired. Most commonly, it might be your washing machine. There should be a good reason for taking an appliance away. An engineer should be very reluctant to do so. Here are the disadvantages to you the customer –

• It is most likely to cost you extra because considerably much more time and effort is involved
• Two visits are needed, so it drags out the length of the repair
• You have no idea what is being done to the washing machine
• You have no idea how long it’s been worked on
• Your washing machine could get damaged in transit
• Many cowboys routinely take washing machines away because they can charge for work not carried out, or fit second hand parts but charge for new ones
• All repairs should be able to be done in the home (see exceptions below)

Good Reasons for Taking a Washing Machine Away to Be Repaired

Having said all that, there may be some good reasons why an engineer might want to take your washing machine away. Some reputable engineers could legitimately want to take your washing machine away to a workshop if your machine has a fault that is intermittent. Such faults are very hard to trace, needing much more time than they can give whilst out on the road. These days, though, I would expect this is less and less likely. Few repairers have the time to invest in trying to fix such an “awkward” and time-consuming fault.

Kitchen too small

If you have a very small kitchen, someone may prefer to take it away for a tub or drum bearing change. It may be very difficult or even impossible to do such a big job in your home. However, again, and sadly, this is also less and less likely as it just costs too much to do such a big job these days.

Remember, an engineer should hate taking an appliance away to fix. It should be far more trouble than it’s worth. In most cases, taking one away should be something that makes sense to you from a reasonable explanation.