To be 38 and unable to do my own washing

[Laundryhelp45678]

I don’t know if I’m being stupid but I’ve had a Bosch washing machine for a few years now and I literally can’t turn my washing machine on and I certainly can’t wash things well in it, so I’m washing clothes (really badly) in the sink! Laundry is a basic life skill and at my age this is really embarrassing!

I mean it turns on for me eventually but I’m literally there pressing the weird button thing for ages until eventually it works (I average about 7 attempts). I could be stood by the machine feeling like an idiot for ages!

Once I can get the machine to turn on, all my stuff comes out soapy and my towels come out hard as a rock. I mean I don’t need to buy sandpaper because the towels will do that job perfectly well!

My towels come out with holes and rips as well and this happened from the very moment we bought this new machine!

I’ve tried changing detergent and softener and using less but it hasn’t helped.

I can’t do laundry like a normal person, I dread using the machine and not being able to turn it on and worry about it ruining my clothes so I’ve literally been washing my clothes in the sink for the last couple of years (I still wash towels in it thought because I just can’t be bothered to wash them in the sink).

It never used to be like this, I had a Zanussi washing machine and it worked fine, you could load clothes in, press start and they would come out without holes, clean and not full of soap, which was great because we all have far bigger things to worry about than washing right?

I reported these problems to Bosch including showing pictures of the rips in towels in the first year of having the machine, an engineer came out to look, they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. For the last 2 years Bosch have just fobbed us off saying it’s user error (which may very well be the case LOL) and delayed doing anything about the issue despite numerous chases from ourselves. They eventually sent another engineer who said the drum was faulty and causing the holes in towels (didn’t explain why I was having the other issues with it though). But they had fobbed us off and delayed things for so long that the diagnosis from this second engineer was made after the machine went out of warranty (clever tactic from them I guess) so they are no longer obliged to do anything to help us. But even if I get the drum fixed, it’s not going to help if I can’t get the soap out of my clothes and turn the machine on first time.

Is the Bosch brand just more entry level and cheaper quality or something? Is that why the customer service is so bad? Or am I just useless at laundry? Do I just cut my losses and buy a more upmarket brand like AEG or Zanussi?

Yep, utterly bonkers. And very possibly completely untrue.

I thought it was mid range but I now realise having had the machine for a while and dealing with their customer service that it probably is a cheaper brand than I thought.

What an odd post lmao

Life’s too short and precious for this OP.

buy a new machine today pay for recycling of the old one. Get rid.

Please post exactly how long you’ve been liaising with customer service and what has been said all this time?

I have tried arguing this and they gave me 50% off the cost of the new drum, which was still over £400 for the part plus the cost of the repair, which was not worth it to me, after a bit of back and forth they have said we can have the drum for free but need to pay over £100 for an engineer to fit it. This is there final position and with the other issues I may as well put that towards a new machine. I’ve really tried to push it because I highlighted these issues within the warranty period so I figured they should sort it out but it doesn’t look like that’s happening now.

How long was the warranty?
A washing machine bought for hundreds of pounds can be expected to last longer than one year. Companies may say that the warranty is only for one year but that would not stand in court - obviously you are not going to court for a washing machine! - you have consumer rights and the short warranty violates those.
these companies know that most people will just believe them and give up without a fight as soon as the ‘warranty’ expires.
If your washing machine is less than 2 years old I would strongly fight for a full replacement.

Did you see my link to Trading Standards? You shouldn’t be paying anything for a faulty appliance.

Your title is very misleading by the way.

Look, it's very simple. If you notified them of the problem within the warranty period, they have to repair or replace the machine at their own cost.

Get ChatGPT to write a letter before action (use these words exactly), saying that you notified them of the problem when the machine was still under guarantee, they have a legal obligation to repair or replace it, and if they do not do so within the next month you will be taking them to the small claims court.

NRTFT (lazy here) but Bosch is definitely mid-range and we’ve had several Bosch appliances over the years that have been fab. Never had an issue with the brand.

Sounds like they sold you a faulty machine - cut your losses and buy a new one. Can’t believe you’ve been washing your clothes in the sink…for years…instead of sorting this out 😂

I can't remember what make my old washing machine was but it had sensor buttons and towards the end of it's life (which wasn't that long anyway) they didn't work properly and we'd have to try many times to turn it on. I'd get frustrated and hit the panel!
I have one now that has proper buttons and has never been a problem. It's a standard Hotpoint.
I got it from AO. Didn't need to get them to take my old one away. Just put it out front and it mysteriously disappears, like any metal that's left outside.

I’d definitely have got a replacement by now but cut my losses? No way would I let them get away with that. I’d have had a full refund by now with them having fetched the faulty machine.

Anyway, title of thread completely misleading. No reason, at all, to mention the OP’s age.

Totally agree - I was just matching my expectations to what I’ve read. If it’s taken OP years to get to a point where Bosch are saying there’s an issue with the machine, instead of say, taking them a couple of weeks, I didn’t want them to spend the next few years sporadically arguing about a refund and continuing to wash their laundry in the sink. Just accept the situation is FUBAR and move on.

When we first had the machine I spoke to the shop to get advice and read the manual/ watched videos to try and get it to work in case it was something I was doing like not spinning my towels for long enough after the initial wash, putting the tabs in in the wrong place, using the wrong detergent etc. after a while and following all the advice I was still getting issues so within the first year of having the machine we wrote to customer services. Initially I was washing my clothes in it but after I could see rips in towels I stopped doing this.

It took a while for them to send an engineer who told me to clean the filters and run some cleaning cycles to get soap out of the machine. I did show the engineer ripped towels but he didn’t explain why that was happening. I thought the cleaning cycles might solve the problem so I put the machine on 10 cleaning cycles to get every bit of soap out of the machine and cleaned the filters.

This still didn’t solve the problem, so then we had to pester them for months on and off (not every week or anything like that just occasionally) to send another engineer. I eventually sent them a long letter because I was fed up with it and they sent the second engineer who diagnosed the drum fault but this was then out of warranty so they are not paying for it but have agreed a discount. I don’t think this is worth paying for, I’d rather put the money towards a new machine.

Personally the faulty drum (if it is that) is not the main problem, overall I think it’s a badly designed machine that treats clothes and towels badly and leaves loads of soap residue due to the badly designed door seal. I think we need a whole replacement and I was hoping Bosch would do that for me.

I don’t like paying for things when I don’t have to and honestly thought eventually they would sort something for us but now I know Il just have to call it quits on them helping now and buy a new machine myself.

Out of principle you should fight it but after 2 years of hand washing I'd just cut my losses and get a new machine. This is why I buy cheaper brands thinking that for a couple of hundred pound when they die they die and I'll get a new one but in the past 11 I've only had 2 cheaper branded machines and only replaced the last one because I was moving house not because it broke.

Like I said - be firm! Lawfully they have to sort this out. They will try to wriggle out of it, that’s why you need to be firm. Again, how did you pay for it?

Don’t call it quits. You are definitely eligible for a full refund. Put an official complaint in following the steps here.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=who+to+contactbodficial+complaint+fsultynappliance+uk&client=safari&sca_esv=384401b7ee6788b1&source=hp&ei=8TxuaPqQAoO9hbIP95_DoQ4&iflsig=AOw8s4IAAAAAaG5LAYQjPQVsJ_HFuJRFCVJoJ2staqiV&ved=0ahUKEwi6zZPLwa-OAxWDXkEAHffPMOQQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=who+to+contactbodficial+complaint+fsultynappliance+uk&gs_lp=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__-6ySBwUzNi4xOKAHgr4CsgcFMzQuMTi4B-gjwgcJNC4yMC4yNi40yAfJAQ&sclient=gws-wiz

Thanks so much for this. I might try this but I think it’s worth getting on and changing the machine. If I get one I won’t give it any chances if it’s not working properly Il return it within a month.

If your main issue is soap, you're almost certainly underloading and oversoaping. Or have an issue with the water inlet.

I have a Bosch machine and had it for 9 years - it's great and it certainly wasn't cheap (for me anyway) Sometimes I have the issue if there isn't enough in it, it doesn't spin properly (like if I have just put a couple of bath matts in) but otherwise it's great and it's served us well through two little ones when it was on a two or three times a day sometimes!

Thank you for this Il look into it. The problem is us standing our ground for so long (and yes we haven’t pestered them every week and been in constant contact or anything) has meant longer without a fully working washing machine.

Our Bosch is just fine and doesn't chew holes or leave things soapy. But we use powder, and a lower dose than recommended by far. It's 8yo. Sometimes the door close sensor to operate needs a few closes of the door (weirdly 8yo DS gets it first time every time)
We bought this to replace previous Bosch when DS was tiny as it would cost nearly as much as a new machine to repair the 'spider'

This doesn't sound normal at all.

What do you mean "earthier"?