Hotpoint washers - into battle with Indesit!

By Value hunter on Jun 15, 2014 | In In the home, Bad business, Frugal wars, Rip off Britain

In the last 19 months I have had two brand new hotpoint washers.
As of yesterday, both hotpoint washers have now failed.

Into battle with Indesit - the corporate business that owns hotpoint - I go.

The first hotpoint was a "new" model, this turned out to be false, it was a clearance line and a replacement machine was unavailable.
This hotpoint first went faulty after just 3 months.
Four engineer visits later (4 days of waiting in and having time off work) the machine still continued to fail and we were offered a comparison replacement after informing Indesit of our intention to take them to small claims.

The comparison, was no comparison at all. Several standard features of the original machine were missing from their replacement.
Eventually, after many phone calls back and forth, they stood down and matched the features of the machine we had originally bought, with a new machine.

Within six months, this "new" washer started to sound like a jumbo jet landing when it started to spin.
It leaks water from the bottom at random.
But it did wash clothes so on we went.
Now aged just thirteen months old, a small pole type piece was found in the drum after a wash.
Now it is staining all the clothes being washed and leaving oil residue in the drum after each wash.
It is kaput, broken, unusable.

Of course this new hotpoint washing machine is less than one month out of it's basic 12 month warranty, so there's nothing that can be done and we will have to empty our emergency reserve and borrow some money to buy a replacement.
Or will we?

Under the sale of goods act, items must be "fit for purpose" of which they were bought.
They must also last for a reasonable timescale, before needing replacement.
I don't believe 13 months is an acceptable age for a brand new washing machine to last.
Starting from Monday, I will go to Indesit directly to see how we get on. I'll post updates here as I get them.

*UPDATE
Good news... the washer was fixed by Indesit, an entire new drum assembly was fitted, after the inspection. It took two weeks to come back into stock, but the washing machine is now working better than it's ever done.

Well done to Indesit service, for a quick and hassle free repair, all done without any cost to us, as they honoured the machine being fixed outside of it's standard 12 month warranty. So credit where it's due, a pleasant surprise Indesit, long may it continue!