Renting a washing machine, or how to fix the strawberry floating things

Yo Holmeses,

My family's third washing machine (albeit in something like 15 years) has bit the dust, we're broke and we're very pissed off because they just keep dying. We are considering renting a washing machine or a washer/drier. Does anyone (e.g. students, nomad types) have any experience renting household appliances like this?

Any particularly good companies/services?

Good brands of machine in your experience?

Any pitfals or dodgy business to look out for? We really can't afford to get ripped off.

Failing that.. any advice on getting an affordable washing machine that doesn't suck.. although we can't really afford to buy another one retail.

First person to mention Calgon gets a fist to the face. With splinters.

Cheers team.

What's wrong with it? Won't work at all? tries to start?

It's more than likely the bushes on the motor if it's the latter. Easy to change and it will make you look like a hero.

I am up for fixing something if someone that can fix computers can do it. I can't do any electronics gooseberry fool although I have a soldering iron.. no cables though.

Got some wrenches and screwdrivers lying about.

I'm not exactly sure what's wrong right now but I know that it was leaking and it only worked on a certain rinse mode.. it can't go into full spin or the long wash or something like that. At one point it just stopped for no apparent reason and the only way to fix it was to turn off the mains power.. presumably resetting the programming.

I'll ask my mum how it's been behaving and get back to you tomorrow, cheers.

Buy one with a decent warranty and throw Calgon in it once a month. Avoid Hotpoint and Whirlpool like the plague. If you can get a Tricity Bendix. Ive got one (so has my mum) and they are awesome and good value. John Lewis will give you a 2yr warrantee and the machine is £300. LG, Miele, Siemens and Indesit arent too bad.

Funny you should say that because it is a Hotpoint.. :lol:

I didn't choose the thing.

Cheers for the recommendations.. although I really doubt we can spend that kind of money on a replacement for something that we might just about be able to eek some performance out of yet.. rental's all we can really afford otherwise. I mean we literally have no money at all.

Anyone got experience with rental?

or

Daz is a workable temp solution in the bath I guess, cheers.

No laundrettes in town though.

Green Gecko wrote:Daz is a workable temp solution in the bath I guess, cheers. No laundrettes in town though.

Have you looked on Gumtree? There are people who give these sort of things away, if for example they're having a new fitted kitchen or something.

Have you tried turning it off and on again.

Also.... make sure the filter isn't blocked. This can happen sometimes. Also, do NOT get a combined washer / dryer. If you do have one don't use the dryer. The fluff from drying blocks the filter, then strawberry floats everything up causing a nasty mess.

Just a word of caution, it might not be the best idea to try and fix an electrical appliance that's leaking water if you don't have any qualifications in the repair of washing machines/general electrical stuff. Electrified floor FTL.

Green Gecko wrote:Funny you should say that because it is a Hotpoint.. I didn't choose the thing.

Cheers for the recommendations.. although I really doubt we can spend that kind of money on a replacement for something that we might just about be able to eek some performance out of yet.. rental's all we can really afford otherwise. I mean we literally have no money at all.

Anyone got experience with rental?

My parents Rent their TV and its kinda like renting a house in that the Vendor is responsible for repairs, so even if you end up with a sh*t machine you arent paying any extra if it breaks.

sounds like a seal has split and maybe a curcuit board is strawberry floated as well. pity you dont live in leeds as I know a guy who sorts this gooseberry fool out daily.

You could check out freecycle and see if anyone in your area's giving away an old/spare machine.

Just a quick note, an average of 1 washing machine per 5 years, isn't too bad value in itself.

Ours tends to last about 3-4 years on average.

renting one is a posssibility, but why not get one on credit or pay next year gooseberry fool? I know strawberry float all about fixing them I'm afraid.

Getting one on Hire purchase might be an idea.

Cheers for all the advice everyone.

Yeah the best pro about rental is not having to worry about it breaking down it seems.

The thing was leaking again today.. my brother must have tried to run it again. We have switched it on and off at the mains already.

We can disconnect it from the mains and wait for it to drain if I can find out what's wrong with it.. forgot to make a diagnosis today though. I'll need to study what it's doing.

The reason we are annoyed is that we don't just have this one dying, the accompanying dryer bit the dust a short while ago as well. Neither lasted as long as the previous machines, and then we had something before that which I can't remember. So two machines not lasting as long as the one before.. bit rubbish. Especially since we're lazy and don't really keep up with the laundry, so it sees only a few cycles a week at most. We had it repaired but it just died again.. and just thought sod it, we'll dry our clothes over the radiator.. which is better for the textiles anyway.

My mum bought from Comet but didn't renew the cover plan forever ago.

I hadn't thought about picking up something cheap in a quick sale / giveaway.. I'll take a look at Gumtree. The problem would be collection, but we do have a MPV.. not sure if it has MOT though. We're planning on just selling the car.

Freecycle looks fantastic.. I've rambled on and on about such concepts so much before, I'm surprised I hadn't bothered to find that kind of thing already working.

Thanks again.

JiggerJay wrote:Just a quick note, an average of 1 washing machine per 5 years, isn't too bad value in itself.

Ours tends to last about 3-4 years on average.

renting one is a posssibility, but why not get one on credit or pay next year gooseberry fool? I know strawberry float all about fixing them I'm afraid.

My parents have bought 2 in 30 years :lol:

Green Gecko wrote:The reason we are annoyed is that we don't just have this one dying, the accompanying dryer bit the dust a short while ago as well. Neither lasted as long as the previous machines, and then we had something before that which I can't remember. So two machines not lasting as long as the one before.. bit rubbish.

Green Gecko wrote:We had it repaired but it just died again.. and just thought sod it

Are you sure you are not confusing your washer with an XBox360? :lol:

Green Gecko wrote:Especially since we're lazy and don't really keep up with the laundry, so it sees only a few cycles a week at most.

This may be the mystery behind why it keeps breaking down. Are you overloading it?
What I recommend you try is giving Domestic and General a call. They will probably let you get onto one of their maintenance contracts even though you've already got a problem (make sure you tell them on the phone you have a problem with it). They will charge you more in the first year as a result (maybe something like £160) but then the following years will be less. Someone will then come out and check the machine, if its not viable to repair they will refund your money and the contract will be cancelled.

From what you've described it doesn't sound like a terminal problem, so a maintenance contract sounds like your best bet. Washing machines can be expensive to repair and replace so definitely something worth having a maintenance agreement for IMO.

My washing machine is older than I am! The only problem with it is that the dial sometimes sticks, so it needs a little encouragement during the cycle. They don't make them like they used to.

Renting a washing machine, or how to fix the strawberry floating things

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