Washing machines on sale in supermarkets and other daft places
At the end of one of the isles in Asda there it was, a solitary Servis washing machine at a dirt cheap price. As I opened the door and looked disdainfully at its flimsy build I couldn’t help thinking what an inappropriate place this was to sell washing machines.
If I’d been a customer interested in buying a new washing machine there was no one around to ask about it, and even if I’d found someone I couldn’t help thinking how unlikely it was that they’d really know a lot about it. Apart from anything there was no other choice in sight so they couldn’t even guide me to a different brand or model if appropriate.
OK so they may be dipping their toe in with plans to expand the range later but I instinctively resent supermarkets thinking that just because they have regular customers and a lot of space they have to try and sell absolutely anything and everything. Of course they are free to sell what they like as long as it’s legal but the logical conclusion of their policy is that we don’t actually need any individual shops at all. They’d prefer us to have one super-hanger-sized building that sells everything we’d ever need under one roof owned by just one company. They are morphing into department stores before our eyes.
£99 washing machines?
I’d recently read about another national supermarket that also had a Servis washing machine on sale even cheaper at just £99 so I was already feeling negative about washing machines in supermarkets. What’s the point of a washing machine at £99? The first time it goes wrong out of warranty it will most likely be scrapped. Servis themselves would charge almost as much as that just to fix a minor fault that required no parts. Even most local repairmen would struggle to fix it for much less than the purchasing cost if it needed a part. It should be illegal to sell products at a loss because that’s how the big boys put other people out of business. It’s not competition, it’s using money to take customers from other traders because you can and you are lazy. It should also be illegal to make and sell washing machines that are effectively unrepairable.
It’s not just supermarkets either, it’s DIY stores like B&Q, Boots the chemist – and even Currys Digital now. Washing machines and tumble dryers just seem so far away from their established business models and they look bizarre in these alien environments.
Who’d want to sell washing machines anyway?
I’m perplexed at why everyone wants to sell washing machines all of a sudden. Of all the things a company can deal in, I can’t think of anything more potentially complex and troublesome to sell at such relatively low profit margins. Most people even hate replacing their washing machine and want to spend as little as possible when forced to do so. Too many people are selling washing machines, and there are far too many different makes and models being made as well.
Too much competition is bad
Competition is good for us all, but too much competition eventually leads to poorer quality products. This is because after an initial period of competing through innovation, and genuine production cost savings, unless some of the big players go bust, products inevitably end up competing purely on price. This results in a slow deterioration of quality and repairability until most players are producing products significantly inferior to ones they produced in the past – albeit at lower initial cost. Anyone trying to maintain standards risks being rejected by the public for being too expensive – because so many of them are obsessed with price.
Hang on a minute – am I being unfair?
These criticisms do seem logical to me, and fair. After all it’s bad for the environment that we scrap so many washing machines and other white goods appliances. It’s also very bad for local repairmen who are starting to look as unnecessary as blacksmiths not long after the invention of the car. The funny thing is though, I never felt this way before about supermarkets encroaching on other trades. I never felt this way when they started selling TVs and video recorders. So why do I feel this way? Have I got an axe to grind or a vested interest? Well not really because I don’t sell washing machines and I don’t repair washing machines either.
Specialists are better, and washing machines are just too big to be throwaway
At the end of the day all that matters to me is whether it’s good for the general public that all these different places are selling washing machines. Personally I doubt it. Supermarkets and DIY stores are trying to sell as many products as they can and as cheaply as they can. They are highly unlikely to know much about the washing machines and the other white goods they stock because they are just another commodity to them. The only things supermarkets ever specialised in was food, and that’s long since been abandoned. They are also highly unlikely to stock expensive (and better made) brands – just the cheap stuff. This encourages people to see washing machines as just another disposable cheap product, but they are too big to be discarded so quickly.
People are of course free to buy their washing machines from wherever they want but I just feel supermarkets are far from ideal, and people really need to buy from companies where washing machines are their business, or at least a substantial part of it, so they can get proper help choosing the right make and model, and help if things go wrong.
“Stack ’em high and sell ’em cheap” businesses ultimately only pander to one of our needs – cheap prices. Some needs are far less appealing, but more important. The need for good quality sustainable products that don’t actually cost the majority of people much more in the long run. The need to have an undamaged environment as well as the need for thriving local traders and service providers for example.
It remains to be seen if these companies will have any success selling big, bulky, heavy white goods that people can’t take away on their trolleys. Personally I can’t see it being a success but if it’s what the public want it’s what the public will get. I just hope enough people will eventually realise that washing machines are just too big and awkward, do too important a job, and have too big an environmental impact to just casually buy the cheapest and most convenient one that’s shoved in front of their trolleys then discard it when it breaks down.
UPDATE
I noticed Currys Digital have removed their dryers and washing machines. Asda have also removed theirs (at least in the main Sheffield store). It could just be temporary, but I hope it’s because they’ve realised it was simply a daft idea to try selling them in the first place.
UPDATE
I just read on a trade forum – “I was told last week by a customer who works for B & Q that they are going to stop selling free standing appliances, due to the amount of returns for problems and that they are unable to answer customers questions”
UPDATE
Some of these stores now have dedicated kitchen appliance web sites, which at least have a lot of appliances to choose from and special offers. If you are shopping mostly on price they may be worth having a look at especially if you are a regular customer of theirs anyway and collect their loyalty points –
UPDATE
The washing machine which sparked off my article selling at £99 was made by Servis UK, who have since gone bust (again)
For links to most major household appliance retailers and web sites visit my Buy Appliances page.
bouncer says
Nice Post, I agree
Nelly says
I read your comments with interest, having fallen into the trap myself! Today my washing machine failed to perform correctly; I opened the door after a wash to find the clothes dripping wet. Assuming one of our young children had tampered with the controls during the cycle, I put the machine on to rinse, pump and spin cycle, and went out. On my return, clothes were still wringing wet, so I crossly began the whole wash process again after leaving the machine unplugged for 10 minutes, hoping this would perform a ‘reset’. After a further cycle gave the same result, I decided the machine must definitely be faulty.
With the winter vomiting bug having made an unwelcome appearance during the night and thus a particularly disgusting pile of childrens’ bedclothes needing to be cleaned, this was about the last thing I needed, and I had to consider options fast;
Call an engineer ( Too slow if parts needed, poss expensive vs replacement machine cost, but enviro friendly to fix and repair )
Buy a new machine today; faster, (I have a van for collection) ‘peace of mind’ of a new machine.
I went for the latter, albeit with gritted teeth since our own Hotpoint was only bought in May 13, so only 18 months old! I had purchased this machine at a large electrical and computer chain, I’m sure you can guess who, to replace an older machine that we had bought nearly new 3 years before.
We had picked this particular Hotpoint because, if one believes the stated offer, it was a £400 machine reduced to £260 and therefore, I presumed, of better quality than the similarly priced machines that were not on special offer. It may be that the fault could have been cheaply fixed, it may not, but I will never know since it is now in the back of my van, and will be dumped in a few hours time. I hope it is recycled in some way rather than landfilled, but unfortunately I appear to have joined the ranks of ‘buy cheap and throw away’ consumers because I bought the cheapest Beko I could find with an 8kg drum, and will certainly not be repairing it if, or rather when it fails. If it fails within 2 years I will thenceforth simply rent a machine, since the costs will be virtually identical; our hotpoint cost us £14.44 per month, which could have been £22.22 per month if we had paid its original price. I am sure we could rent a machine for somewhere between these figures. But the interesting thing about the whole situation is that, had I paid £400 for the machine, and that was going to be the price of replacing it, there is a good chance I would have made an attempt to have it fixed; the fact that it, and its replacement, were so cheap meant that there was simply no point financially. So there you have it; They Win, I bought 2 of their cheap machines in 18 months and did not even consider writing a letter of complaint! Hopefully one day I will be able to afford to buy a better quality machine because I cannot justify filling the planet with broken washing machines. I am no philosopher but it does seem as though competition has steered the market, and therefore the planet, onto a very slippery slope….
Andy Trigg (Whitegoodshelp) says
Yes it commonly costs considerably more to buy cheap machines, especially if they are used for more than one or two people. It’s the old classic case of buy cheap buy twice or even three or four times :-)
Apart from the fact that they aren’t very well made, and cost a lot of money to repair, when you don’t invest a lot of money on a product you are less likely to care about it and repair it. If on the other hand you paid £1000 for a Miele you would definitely not consider throwing it away and would almost certainly get it repaired. It’s easier said than done for a lot of people but washing machines are one of the appliances it’s advisable to buy a a very good quality one and it should last a long time – or be prepared to buy new machines every three or four years which will cost considerably more in the long run. Unfortunately there are complications now with many manufacturers selling very expensive machines that are not actually as well made as their price strongly implies as described in this article here Is a more expensive washing machine a better one? so we have to go not on cost but on brand reputation.