The Indesit Moon washing machine advert had a catchy tag line, “Future Friendly”, and a catchy music track by New Order. I’m sceptical about the use of the phrase future friendly though.
The phrase implies it will either last a very long time, or that a product is so technically advanced it is unlikely to be superseded by anything better in the near future.
If they have genuinely pulled this off it would be an amazing achievement for one of the cheapest brands in the UK.
The TV advert was very slick showing lots of robots mingling with people in everyday life apparently integrated into society. The accompanying overlaid text says, One day – Man and machine – Will live together – In perfect harmony. Then as a woman loads her new Indesit washing machine with laundry it continues, That day – Has dawned. As she closes the door the voice over says, Indesit Moon: Future friendly.
The advert is brilliant (I’m not being sarcastic). It has great music, great visuals, and a great overall concept. I was just disappointed to see it was only advertising a washing machine – and one of the cheapest washing machines in the business.
£299 for a 6 kg washing machine with a 1400 rpm spin is cheap, and these days many cheap washing machines are notoriously not worth repairing (and get scrapped way too soon) if they break down out of guarantee unless it is a minor fault.
It would be great if the spare parts for this washing machine are going to be priced lower than previous Indesit spare parts, and at levels that make it economic to repair in the future.
So far this is not the case with many cheap washing machines and to me, something can’t be truly future friendly if it isn’t worth repairing after 3 or 4 years just because the PCB has failed. I do like the look of this washing machine. I also like the simple solitary control button offering just 4 wash programmes.
Many customers have often told me they want simple controls and fewer programmes – not more. It will appeal to customers buying at the budget end who see extremely simple controls as a priority but they won’t have to mind if this involves compromises elsewhere.
The Moon’s looks
The innovative soap dispenser behind the door looks interesting too although it’s too early to judge if this is a genuinely good idea or not yet (it wasn’t – see update below). The advantage is that, “because water is constantly splashing inside this dispenser as the drum rotates it should be kept very clean”.
However, one disadvantage is that it replaces the customary door glass – so you can no longer see the laundry laundry inside.
Although the novelty of watching laundry go round and round in a washing machine has long since worn off – it is still useful to be able to see the laundry as the drum revolves.
You can occasionally notice something that shouldn’t be there (such as a coin or credit card) and stop the wash to attempt to retrieve it before any damage occurs.
At the end of the day this is a great advert bigging up a normally quite basic brand who’s priority is to make washing machines as cheaply as possible and hopefully give some value for money.
It represents Indesit trying to become more sophisticated and more innovative, but it could only be truly “future friendly” if it proves to be much more reliable than other previous models, and if spares are much more reasonably priced to encourage future repairs. Otherwise the future friendly tag is disingenuous.
Update:
Which? have since reviewed the Indesit Moon and their opening paragraph says, “we weren’t overly impressed by the Moon”. They say it’s not very good on the 40 degree wash, the one most people use, and say it’s only good for light stains. However, surprisingly they say it is good at rinsing, which is remarkably rare these days and even most of their “best buys” aren’t highly rated for rinsing (Why can’t modern washing machines rinse properly?).
So if you require a cheap washing machine and rinsing is especially important to you because of irritation or allergies you might be interested in one but at the compromise of not being very good on 40 degree washes. It has to be said too that Indesit don’t have a good reliability record either according to my experience and Which? reports.
(1 month trial offer plus a copy of the Which? magazine) to get the full benefit of the latest washing machine reviews)
Update: April 2011
The Indesit Moon has now been the subject of a BBC Watchdog item due to them receiving so many complaints about it. The focus of the programme’s criticism is that the Indesit Moon is particularly vulnerable to the nasty build up of grease, grime, sludge, bacteria and black mould as described in my Washerhelp article Washing machine smells – causes of grease, slime and black mould inside washing machines.
Which although affecting any washing machine if the conditions I describe are present, the Indesit Moon appears to be uniquely incapable of doing the 90 degree maintenance boil wash manufacturers (including Indesit themselves) recommend.
If you have a Moon model which is covered in mould and grease you should read the article above for tips on how to discourage the problem.
Although the moon cannot do a 90 degree wash you can still try to limit the problem by not using liquid detergents, doing a 60 degree maintenance wash regularly with normal detergent containing bleaching agent etc.
On balance I think it’s fair to say this model should be avoided.
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I emailed Indesit saying what a crap machine they had and how I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone and how I now don’t bother looking at any Indesit products because of the machine and a lady from customer services telephoned me to say how sorry she was. I tolds her I can only use a 40 wash otherwise any other wash makes my clothes more dirty.
She sent an engineer round to change the mouldy horrible seal of the machine and 5 sachets of cleaner to use twice a week for 2 weeks. Then go back to twice a month cleaning with the products that you can only buy from Indesit! I am now on the second week of using the cleaner so I will let you know what happens then. I will be emailing the company back to kick sand in their face once again as I doubt anything but a nuclear device could cure this fault!!
the problem is the lack of a 90 degree wash i gave up on the moon after a year and purchased an Indesit with a 90 degree wash and find it does the job well
Indesit just made a bad call with the moon …. add a 90 degree wash and it would be a great machine
Oooo an update, I emailed the CEO of Indesit in Italy and my emails have been forwarded to Indesit UK managers, I know have to give them my details and washing machine details and someone will contact me….watch this space!
I’ve done it, Indesit have offered me another washing machine!
Yes it is possible to get money back. I have done it and bought zanussi.
Keep on at Indesit and your retailer. In my personal opinion and from fim well researched evidence on BBC Watchdog programme either this machine or a batch of these machines are not fit for purpose and should have been recalled. Have had other indesits in the past and all has been fine with them. However after this little episode with this machine which went on for 18months culminating in a television programe I will not be buying Indesit again.
I have contacted indesit due to a problem with my machine taking 15hours + to do a 60 cycle however never completed and they want me to pay for an engineer to come out and check the fault i would be greatyul if you could email the batch number of machines that required to be taken back as mine sppears to be one of them
Hello t leonard: There is no faulty batch, all of the Moon machines have been criticised for giving poor wash results and being overly susceptible to a build up of black mould, grease and slime. If your machine is out of guarantee then they will want paying to look at it. If you are unhappy about that then depending on how long you’ve had it you could have a legitimate complaint under the sale of goods act, but it all depends on the exact circumstances.
If it’s only 14 months old for example you might have a claim if it’s an expensive repair, but if it’s 3 or 4 years old and been washing for a family it might be considered just a normal breakdown that we have to pay for. If it’s the latter, but you are told it’s going to cost nearly as much as a new washing machine to fix then you might have a legitimate complaint that it hasn’t lasted a reasonable time. All washing machines can break down and it’s not automatically anything we can complain about. It depends entirely on the circumstances.
Can anyone advise…
Same problem with the Moon as everyone else has – black mould that simply won’t shift and is now destroying our clothes (we have photos to prove!)
Indesit initailly offered to replace the seal and leave us with some cleaning agent to use to maintain the seal in future. We refused this based on the fact that it’s not the cleaning that’s the problem but the temperature. This morning they phoned and offered us a different machine at a discounted price of £150. We don’t really want to pay up for a new machine as we’re still paying the Moon off but at the same time don’t want to be stuck with the Moon.
Can anyone suggest how best to proceed – do we take up the offer of a new seal and see how it goes, take the discount machine or push for a free replacement?
Hello,
I recently had the seal replaced and the sachets of cleaning stuff and it made no difference at all.
I emailed the CEO of Indesit in Italy and complained in a civilised manner. No swearing, ranting or raving but I explained exactly what was wrong and said I was actively discouraging people from buying their goods as I had no faith in them.
This email was forwarded by him to the head on Indesit customer services UK where I went through the whole palaver again and was eventually offered a free washing machine as a gesture of goodwill; even though as the Head of customer services Christina Greaves says “there is nothing wrong with the Moon” I did tell her to come and look at this blog!!
They did try to make me pay £40.20 delivery but I emailed again and eventually got that free as well.
I am absolutely happy with the new washing machine, it is fantastic to be able to just wash clothes and not worry about whether they need re-washing again.
Hope this helps people. Sometimes complaining to the right people and in the right way works!!
In my personal opinion
Unbelievable that this is still going on after Watchdog programme.
Sales of goods act covers your purchase – contract between retailer and you the purchaser.
System need to be put in place by Indesit so that they can refund retailer so that retailer can refiund you.
My Moon washing machine was not fit for purpose and after 18months of contact with Indesit and Retailer plus a television programme I received refund. They make it has hard as possible for this to happen and no I would not bother again if something similar happened. It really is not worth the agro.
Just will not purchase any Indesit product again. This will not make any difference to them.