Indesit Iwc 61655 And Persistant Faults

[chomerly]

Hi all,

I have an Indesit IWC 61655 washing machine which was purchased at the end of July of 2010 but was kept in storage until the middle of August while renovation works was going on in my house.

I bought the machine from Comet, along with other household appliances from Comet and 365Electrical, before the renovation works were completed.

The machine was used for around 3 months before the first issue manifested itself.

The machine would go through its cycle and when it came to the spin cycle it would randomly trip the breaker in my fuse box for that particular power ring.

I contacted the electricians (the whole house had been completely rewired to current regulations) who did a complete diagnostic on the entire system and said it had to be because of the washing machine.

I changed the fuse in the plug for the machine thinking it must be something simple as the machine is practically brand new.

Again and again it kept infrequently happening until i contacted Indesit in late February of last year who then sent out an engineer.

The engineer did an inspection on the machine and said that he couldn't find a fault and said that i should keep the spin cycle RPM on 1400 instead of the 1600 it was on.

Right at the beginning of March last year i called Indesit again as it was still happening and a different engineer arrived about a week later.

Again, an inspection was done but he too could not find an issue and said that because the model is new they don't stock the parts so he would get a new motor on order and come back to replace it.

A few days later he returned and replaced the motor and said that i should keep an eye on it and call as soon as it happens again.

After around 6 to 8 weeks later the machine started to do the same thing so i called Indesit again.

At first, the call centre agent said that because the warranty was up (on that day) that i would be charged for the engineer.

I wasn't happy about that and told him that this issue has been ongoing from very early on in the machines use and that the sales of goods act stipulates that goods must be fit for purpose.

He went off the line for a couple of minutes and then returned to say that an engineer would be booked free of charge and we went on to book a date.

An engineer came in August of last year and replaced the motor again and also, something that looks like a control board encased in white plastic.

Once this had been done the machine seemed ok and i haven't had that problem since.

However, last November, the machine would go through its wash cycle and every now and again, when it came to the spin cycle, the machine would just pump out the water but wouldn't spin.

I tried turning off the machine for a few minutes then turned it back on and it would work fine.

It did it again in November and then again in January and then i began to get worried.

I checked the Self Help section on the Indesit webpage and it said “Your Indesit washing machine has an in built feature to prevent it spinning with an unbalanced load.” And “....the control system senses the load within the drum and if it considers the load to be unbalanced, it will not automatically spin”.

I thought that it sounds about right as i would simply turn off the machine for a few minutes and then it would be fine.

That was until today when the machine would not spin at all and no matter how long i leave it off for, when i turn it back on it will not perform its spin cycle.

Now, this is where i need the help because i know that Indesit will no be willing to look at it unless i pay them to as it is out of warranty by 7 months or so.

The issues with this machine have been ongoing but i wanted to ask the advice of some of you who may have been through something similar or had to deal with a stubborn manufacturer.

Any advice will be very much appreciated.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

If the washing machine won't spin just every so often it is often due to the machine being unable to balance the load as described here - Washing machine wont spin just one item or very small loads

Unfortunately, although I can see where you are coming from, no one will take into account the fact that you didn't use the machine for some time after buying it. They never do as it's something that can't really be proved.

The fact that you had engineers several times to the other fault only really points to it being a difficult intermittent fault to fix, which ended up with them just guessing at parts until it was cured.

So they are likely to see this as only the second fault rather than you've had lots of faults. If it turns out to be another fault and they insist on charging you and you feel it's unreasonable then you would need to complain to the company you bought it from as under the sale of goods act only they are responsible.

I can see how it looks from your point of view, as far as you are concerned it's seems like it's been nothing but trouble. If they were all separate faults then it would look that way, but one fault taking a long time to cure because it's intermittent, and nothing shows up when an engineer tests it is just one of those things and I'm not sure they would see that as anything but one fault which was difficult to cure.

[chomerly]

Hi Andy,

I'm trying to deal with Comet now. They were the seller and i have had a reply from them.

They are asking me to pay for an inspection.

I'm not sure on what this costs as i am on a very limited income due to work. Or lack of it.

I'm not even sure whether i could claim back the cost of the engineers inspection if the fault is found to be something that wouldn't, or couldn't, be put down to wear and tear.

I'm not even sure whether i should allow Comet to do the inspection or whether i should get an independent inspection done, especially if i have to pay for it anyway.

Proving that the machine wasn't unpackaged or used would be fairly simple as the last thing to be done in my home was the installation of the kitchen and and the flooring and i know that the local council will have it documented on when the upgrades were completed as i have to sign off on it as well as the housing officer and the supervisor for the building company.

If i could ask your advice Andy.

If you just take it on the face value of the account i've given you, what would you do next?

At the moment i'm stumped on what i should do.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hello chomerly: If your case is proven or accepted then you definitely have the right to claim for all costs involved and should get the inspection charge refunded. Unfortunately all companies are likely to insist on being paid for an engineer to inspect a machine because until inspected they have no way of knowing they have any responsibility.

It's an undesirable situation to have to use the same company you are claiming against inspect the machine because you don't know if you can trust them to be balanced or not. I'm speaking entirely generally here though and not implying anything about the company in question. The problem is if you get a different engineer, unless it was someone like the manufacturer they may dispute the findings or just not accept their validity.

From what I can gather from reading your first post this is the situation -

• The new washing machine wasn't used for around the first several weeks
• When you did start to use it, within around 3 months it developed an intermittent fault (tripping electrics)
• The engineers took several visits and quite a long time to find and fix the fault but they eventually did
• After a further 3 months a different fault occurred where it intermittently doesn't spin

The current situation is that Comet suspect the intermittent not spinning fault may be caused by the normal out of balance feature as described in my article - Washing machine wont spin just one item or very small loads and as the washer is now several months out of guarantee believe it's legitimate to charge for sending an engineer because A: It's out of guarantee & B: There think there may not even be a fault anyway.

The first thing you need to do if you haven't already is carefully read the article I've linked to. Try to be sure there is an actual fault, and it isn't just that some of the loads you are washing cannot be balanced and the machine won't spin them to prevent damage. If the loads that don't spin are small loads with a few heavy items, or one large item as described in the article it may be that there isn't a fault that can be fixed.

However, as you've had the machine long enough, and this behaviour has only just manifest itself then unless you have changed what you are washing recently it could well be an actual fault. If it's another intermittent you are extremely unlucky. Intermittent faults are usually hard to find and most engineers are under such time restraints and pressure that they have no time to try and wait to see if they can observe the problem and can commonly just fob you off saying they can find no fault. (Related article My washing machine is under guarantee, but my repair company say they will charge me if their engineer can't find any fault. Can they do that?)

If you are convinced it's got another fault then technically it's out of guarantee so if you believe it's not fit for purpose because of all the trouble you've had you can only either seek advice from one of the consumer help bodies to see if they think you have a case or challenge Comet under the sale of goods act.

To be honest, your complaint may be less to do with the washer being fit for purpose or lasting a reasonable time and more to do with Comet not fixing the first problem in a reasonable time. If they had come out just the once to the first fault and fixed it then you would only be on the second fault, which although disappointing, isn't necessarily a strong case under the sale of Good Act.

You would need to seek professional consumer advice to see if they think two breakdowns within the first 2 years is grounds for complaint under the sale of goods act, and whether you can take into account the protracted nature of the service you've received. However, you also need to establish what this second fault actually is.

[chomerly]

Hi Andy,

I have been getting no joy from Comet or Indesit so i decided to take out an insurance policy with Domestic and General to have the machine repaired as i was in desperate need of a washing machine just for the kids sake.

The engineer was an actual Indesit/Hotpoint engineer and he identified the fault to be because of the module.

This part was previously replaced along with the motor back in August. I remembered what it looked like from last time around.

So, since i have had this machine for around 17 months it has had to have both the motor and the module replaced twice over and now i am left with the dilemma that i have no confidence in this machine at all.

I'll be getting in touch with Comet and Indesit in due course and i will let you know the outcome of any results both positive or negative.

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

I think you may have a case that the washing machine has had more problems than should be acceptable. You should at least try to get compensation to cover the cost of this last repair but you'll be highly unlikely to get Comet to accept anything without the backing from somewhere like Citizens Advice