Washing machine faulty under guarantee but unrepairable - what next?

[fossil971]

Oh dear

My washing machine came with a 5 year guarantee that has just expired (August 2013). It developed a bearings fault in July 2013 and an engineer attended to replace the drum under guarantee. Whilst he had the machine in pieces he damaged the circuit board and now the machine is unrepairable - spare PCB no longer available.

The manufacturer are now saying their guarantee underwriting company "might" pay something out in respect of the remaining warranty. They are in negotiations with the company but cannot tell me when or how much.

This sounds like a fob-off to me. They broke my washing machine! I don't have money sitting around ready for a new one either.

I only have a brief summary of the guarantee terms and conditions that is on the certificate - was never sent anything else, and the situation of unrepairable under guarantee is not mentioned.

Has anybody got any ideas of what to do next or where I could get some advice?

Small claims court is your recourse if they can't offer you an effective remedy. Check the wording of the guarantee. They usually say repair or replace, but your rights are governed by the terms of the contract.

Thanks Collaborate. I rang my home insurance legal helpline. They suggested a strongly worded letter to the repair agent (who I feel is really at fault here). I rang the repair agent up but they were very slippery. It seems as if the most I would get from court would be the market value of a 5 year old washing machine which is what - £150 at most?

It turns out the manufacturer (ISE) is having known problems honouring guarantees due to problems with their underwriter, so nothing is likely to happen fast. I think I'm going to suck it up and buy a used machine from ebay. If they do manage to send a cheque it will be a bonus. What a waste! Maybe a letter to the Guardian consumer column?

We had a dishwasher unrepairable and they gave us a cheque for the original amount we paid for it 4 years ago. But we were dealing with a proper company not ISE so I guess we were lucky.

Your situation is complicated by the fact that the reason it is unrepairable is because the repair company damaged it. This seems like something that would not normally be covered by a warranty anyway but would be the responsibility of the repair company. So I guess the advice to pursue them would be the best advice.