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Updated First Published

Washing machine prices shaved way too much – what’s going on?

Appliances-on-shopping-trolly I was recently passing time browsing at Boots while my wife tried to spend some of her birthday vouchers. Unfortunately I found myself infuriated at the price of a Philips shaver on display at £219 which reminded me just how ridiculously low washing machine prices have sunk.

What an outrageous price for such a small item. It’s only a shaver, it just shaves. My own shaver cost a ridiculous £99 and is the same as this one except it doesn’t have a fancy swivel head and an LCD display. I know I’ve probably been too critical about cheap white goods over the years but here’s why I think these shavers are outrageously expensive.

The reason is, I’m comparing them with washing machines, which for years have been one of the few products that hardly ever go up in price – only down (which can’t be fully accounted for by advances in technology or substantially increased volumes of sales). For example, at John Lewis, for (at least) the last 12 months you’ve been able to buy a Tricity AW1001 (1000 spin) washing machine for only £199 with free delivery AND a 2 year guarantee. This isn’t a discounted price it’s the “proper” price.

Something is definitely wrong. Think about it. On one hand you have a little shaver about 6 inches long, weighing very little because there’s not much inside it. It only has a little DC motor, a few electronics and shaving blades yet it costs £219. On the other hand you have a great big washing machine so heavy you can’t pick it up. It has a large metal cabinet, a tub, a stainless steel drum with bearings and seals. Then it has a large mains voltage motor, a water pump, heater, thermostat, control PCB running computer software, a door interlock, and lots of other parts.

You could fit many dozens of shavers in the same space that a washing machine takes up either for shipping, transporting or display in a shop, yet this washing machine is not only cheaper, it’s got a 2 year guarantee, and, someone will even deliver it to your house free of charge. Not only that, if it breaks down within the 2 year guarantee period the manufacturer has to pay an expensive engineer to come out to your home and repair it. The water pump alone is bigger than the shaver. How can the washing machine possibly be £20 cheaper? (There are many other washing machines between £200 and £250)

I can’t express enough how warped and mixed up this is to me. My opinion is that the shaver is vastly overpriced, but the market clearly stands it. However, the washing machine is seriously under-priced because the washing machine market is over-saturated with competition. It’s also viewed as a distress purchase by the public – a necessary-evil type of purchase, which further limits the amount people are prepared to pay.

Scrap appliances The reason I make this comparison is that it concentrates the mind on how unrealistically cheap many washing machines now are. I really don’t know how so many manufacturers of washing machines are still in business when the product they produce is apparently valued so little that they can’t even sell them at a fair price and have to conspire to sell them at way below sensible prices. At £199 the washing machine is not going to get repaired. Most people will dump it the first time it breaks down. Even the manufacturer’s repair agents will charge £97 (inc. VAT) to repair it out of warranty and that’s if it didn’t need any spare parts. They can’t just keep churning them out in their millions forever, they are overfilling our landfill sites.

We’ve had throwaway products for many years and I don’t mind admitting that it never bothered me before. Advances in manufacturing that enables production of very cheap products inevitably means they will never be economical to repair but it just didn’t seem too bad when I was throwing away small items. Now that the not-worth-repairing problem has started to include big things like washing machines and fridges it doesn’t seem right any more. Maybe it’s now time to consider making it illegal to produce certain products that can’t be economically repaired? Where is all this leading?

Updated First Published

I want a washing machine with a hot water valve

Hot-tap I still get people asking if I know of any washing machines with a hot water valve. There are just a few washing machines available with a hot water valve (some LG & Statesman models) but they hardly take any hot water in any more. Particularly on 40 degree washes, which is the most common wash programme. They only take in hot water on washes above 60 degrees.

Most washing machines now only have a cold water valve and most people instinctively don’t like this change. We all know that washing machines use hot water so it seems crazy not to use the hot water in our homes. This apparent madness is even more annoying for people who have an environmentally friendly and economic source of hot water such as solar powered. However, there is an argument (explained in great detail on the second link below) that because modern washing machines use so little water on wash there is no need for a hot valve and it is in fact more economical to use cold fill only on 40 ° washes.

Updated However, you can now buy a British made washing machine with a hot water valve. Ebac’s hot & cold fill washing machine uses, “Intelligent hot fill technology”. It appears they have now made one that isn’t just a dumb hot fill machine. It’s especially for people this article is aimed at who want to use their hot water. Check it out here Ebac – Intelligent Hot Fill Technology

A few issues are raised by the lack of a hot water valve in modern washing machines

Some people, after reading and understanding about the cold fill issue, whilst accepting that for most people it’s either cheaper or has negligible effect, still want a washing machine with a hot water valve. This is because they either get cheap (or even free) hot water, or unlike most people they use a lot of hot washes. Even if you get free hot water though, as the link above explains, modern washing machines hardly use any water on wash. So because hot water cools in the pipes and the cold water has much greater pressure, the result is that hardly any hot water gets into a modern washing machine anyway.

The only way I would think it’s worth considering buying a hot and cold fill washing machine is if you really use a lot of 60° or 90° washes and you have a very cheap hot water supply.

NOTE:

  • If you do buy a washing machine purely for the hot valve you are severely limiting your choice. (However, the new Ebac intelligent hot fill washer made in Britain looks like a good buy)
  • If it’s not a very good washing machine in other areas then the savings can easily be wiped out
  • If it’s unreliable or doesn’t last a reasonable length of time it would also end up costing considerably more than buying a good quality cold fill washing machine
  • Some Hotpoint washing machines appear to be hot and cold but they are designed for cold fill because there’s only a cold fill hose supplied and a y-piece adapter supplies both valves. I suspect this is a temporary measure and that subsequent models will just have the cold valve
  • A modern cold fill washing machine only uses around £30 of electricity per year (figures based on a typical family of 4 and on 10p per unit) Therefore potential savings by using a hot water supply are less than many people might assume unless you do a lot of hot washes

Comments?

Comments disabledComments on this topic have been closed. There were over 600 comments now trimmed down to 233. There are very interesting discussions there. If interested try here – archived comments for this article (newest First) | – archived comments for this article (Oldest First)

Updated First Published

Eco-labels suggestion

Energy-efficient Although the Eco-labels are a good idea and have been very useful, I think they have big flaws and could do with an overhaul. They’ve been out for so long now that most appliances are equally good or there’s very little between them as they’ve all designed appliances to score well. I have some critical comments on them here – What do the ECO labels mean?

New Section on Eco-Labels needed

I’d love to see an extra section added to the eco-label rating, either “Expected Lifespan” or “Average life span” based on longevity statistics.

My criticism of the eco-labels revolves mostly round the fact that they don’t take into account the longevity of an appliance or its build quality and reliability, which I believe to be more important than being A rated. A poorly built or economically unrepairable appliance that may only last a few years can still get a AAA rating giving the impression it’s environmentally friendly, while the massive harm to the environment caused by throwaway washing machines is ignored.

I also continually advise that an appliance that lasts will work out cheaper in the long run and is probably even more environmentally friendly than one that used a bit less less energy but only lasts several years.

If customers could see a realistic expected life span of a product it would probably make many of them prepared to spend more instead of being obsessed by cheap prices and short termism. Imagine seeing the following washing machines side by side –

  • Appliance X: £850 – Average lifespan 20 – 25 years
  • Appliance Y: £299 – Average lifespan 3 – 7 years
  • Appliance Z: £575 – Average lifespan 10 – 15 years

I’m not suggesting everyone would buy the more expensive ones, but many would be inclined to invest more to get the longer life, and ultimately better value, and at least people would be making informed choices.

Here are two examples of washing machines with differing prices. One has a bigger drum and faster spin plus it’s cheaper – but is likely to last nowhere near as long.

  • Washing machine X: £750. 6 Kg drum, 1400 spin – expected lifespan 20 – 25 years
  • Washing machine Y: £389. 7kg drum 1600 spin – expected lifespan 5 – 8 years

With this information people would at least get a proper perspective on why some washing machines cost much more and have less features instead of just writing them off as “expensive”. At the moment it’s too easy to be beguiled by features and superficially cheap prices without realising the quality is being eroded to such an extent that many are actually more expensive than the “expensive” ones at the end of the day.

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Updated First Published

What You Need to Know About Appliance Extended Warranties

Appliance repairs are expensive – but should you buy an extended warranty?

Extended Warranties Extended warranties have changed over recent years. They no longer give the type of cover most people would expect. But how many people realise? Washing machines have been decreasing in price (and quality) for decades, but spare parts prices and repair costs have increased disproportionately. Many washing machines aren’t economically worth repairing at increasingly younger ages. The youngest I’ve come across that wasn’t worth repairing after a breakdown was just 13 months old.

It must be comforting to think your washing machine has an extended warranty to cover break downs. But think about it, if the average washing machine has become so expensive to repair that you really need protecting – would insurance companies be daft enough to take the hit for you? No, we all know they are anything but daft.

Many appliances are being scrapped under Extended Warranties

Scrap appliances Extended warranty schemes are writing off washing machines left right and centre these days. Once past 5 years old they don’t like to spend much money on them. You could find yourself cyclically buying new washing machines and extended warranties far too regularly. But who’s to blame?

Ultimately it’s the public for demanding and unrealistically cheap finished goods. Many people buy these extended warranties thinking they are an answer to expensive repairs, but the insurance companies are just as negatively affected by unrealistic repair prices. So their prices and the quality of cover is negatively affected.

What’s the answer?

The most obvious answer would be to increase the cost of the appliance extended warranties to reflect the higher repair prices. But that would just make the price of an extended warranty too expensive.

What’s the alternative?

So if you can’t increase prices you have to decrease the costs of the product. When that’s taken as far as possible you have to start decreasing the quality of the product. The reality of extending the warranty on something so cheap to buy but so expensive to repair is that the quality of cover is detrimentally affected.

Extended warranties don’t guarantee to keep repairing your appliance

Insure an appliance with an extended warranty these days and when it’s past 5 years old you might find it gets scrapped if it breaks down. Many of the leading extended warranty companies will only repair it if the cost of parts and labour don’t exceed 50% of the cost of “the cheapest available replacement”. This means if you insure a washing machine that costs £250, any repair above £125 will scrap it (after 5 years). Doesn’t sound too bad? Unfortunately £125 doesn’t get lots of repairs done these days. Contrary to what you might expect, some of the cheapest washing machines have the most disproportionately expensive prices for spare parts.

Example: You can buy a ridiculously cheap washer dryer in the shops right now for just £266. But the PCP circuit board (just one small part) costs £138 as a spare part (This figure is from an email to me from a customer saying it was quoted by a repair agent over the phone). With fitting costs it could be around £178 – £200 to replace. This is way above the maximum price for a repair after 5 years old for that machine.

The type of faults that aren’t likely to get fixed on many washing machines over 5 years old are the PCB, motor, drum, tub, and depending on make and model even the drum bearings. The new Hotpoint Aqualtis washing machine can’t even be stripped down because it has a sealed tub and drum. This is becoming extremely common with many brands. It could be scrapped after 5 years simply because something’s got trapped under the drum because it can’t be stripped down to retrieve it.

Once a washing machine is over 6 years old they’ll commonly only pay up to 40% of the price of the cheapest new one available. At 7 years of age they’ll only pay out up to 30% of a replacement cost, which frankly will hardly cover any repairs at all (£79.80). The idea appears to be that they’ll cover repairs for the first 5 years but after that they’ll scrap it unless only a minor repair is needed but you will still be charged for cover.

What happens when a repair exceeds these percentages?

The good news is you get a new one. The bad news is it’s usually supplied by their suppliers, and you have to pay at least half of the cost to replace it. Your warranty is then cancelled (even if it’s only been in force a few weeks).

  • If your appliance is between 5 and 6 years old you contribute 50% of the replacement price
  • Between 6 and 7 years old they will contribute 40% and you need to find 60%
  • At 7 years or older you just get 30% towards a new one and have to pay the remaining 70% – All plus delivery charges

What repairs are covered under the extended warranty?

There will most likely be a long list of exclusions that you need to check. Common exclusions often include “no fault found”, objects left in pockets and anything related to misuse or not using as per instructions. However, the biggest concern is things like, “claims arising as a result of normal wear and tear (e.g. belts, fuses, seals). A policy with exclusions like this will not cover many repairs!

Check the terms and conditions

Terms-and-conditions If you have an extended warranty, carefully read the terms and conditions. There’s nothing you can do about it but at least it won’t be as big a shock if they scrap your washing machine. Consider putting the money towards a better quality washing machine next time.

If you are considering buying an extended warranty right now, consider whether to put the money toward buying a better quality washing machine in the first place or not. Many better quality washing machines have free guarantees of 2, 3, 5 and even 10 years (5 Tips for buying a new appliance | TIP: John Lewis guarantee their own “John Lewis” brand appliances for 3 years, and some Miele washing machines have as long as 10 year guarantees).

Some people take comfort in having an extended warranty

Many people do like being covered, and it clearly must work out beneficial for some people, but at least be aware of the limitations of cover these days. I don’t intend to criticise these companies who are doing what they can to survive and to keep prices affordable, but while prices of new washing machines keep falling and prices of spares and repairs keep being ridiculous you may find yourself forced into replacing your washing machine quite regularly. This I believe would cost more in the long run than spending more on a high quality washing machine instead.

Finally, don’t confuse paying more for a washing machine with getting a better quality washing machine If I buy a more expensive washing machine do I get a better washing machine? | Related article Should I buy an extended warranty / guarantee?

Updated First Published

Washing machines with faster washes

Mitsubishi have produced “the world’s quickest washing machine” (currently only available in Japan). Most people have erroneously reported it as the world’s “fastest” washing machine (which implies spin speed) whereas this washing machine washes in world record time (quickest). It’s reported to be capable of washing nine kilograms (20 pounds) of clothes in just 35 minutes.

This reminds me of the frustration many customers have with the long length of time modern washing machines take to wash, which is an increasingly irritating issue for customers who these days have never been so short of time.

Why do we need faster washes?

It’s not that washing machines take up more of our actual time. We only need to load, set the programme and unload. It’s just that people are generally very busy. They don’t want to wait so long before they can get on with drying and ironing etc. My wife for example would love to hang the washing out before she sets off for work in the morning. Instead she has to rely on me to get it out if I get chance (or even remember) or leave the washing getting more and more creased in the drum until she gets home several hours after.

My experience tells me that lots of people want washing machines that can wash really quickly, and that they are annoyed and frustrated by washing machines taking far too long to wash. I’ve explained the reasons for this modern-day frustration on Washerhelp’s washing machine forum Wash Times Too Long? Reasons why (also explains why even though washes are much longer they are actually more energy efficient).

However, understanding the reasons doesn’t detract from the annoyance. Many current quick wash options still don’t give a quick enough wash and don’t wash very thoroughly either. They are also only relatively quick compared with washing machines from the past. Manufacturers know people want quicker washers so are producing “quick” washes but they don’t wash dirty loads properly. Many people are so desperate for quicker wash times they are using quick wash programmes and options inappropriately. Most quick wash programmes are only designed for freshening up laundry or washing very lightly soiled laundry.

I have a feeling that a significant amount of customers would still favour a washing machine that washed in 45 mins and gave decent wash results to one that took nearly two hours but gave an A rated wash. They don’t expect that the price to pay for A wash ratings is very long wash times – often around 2 hours.  As long as a washing machine is capable of giving A wash results when used “properly”, why not let people have the choice of accepting lower quality washes as a compromise for having them done in about 45 minutes with a genuinely quick, “quick wash”?

(Since writing this I’ve found something that may be on the right track - Quick wash options aren’t quick enough – let’s set the time ourselves)