Hello Guys,

I am looking for advice on best place to start with my issue.

I have 2 years 9 month old Bosch washing machine purchased from online retailer washtech.co.uk which suddenly developed sevaral cracks in the outside plastic drum.

Washing machine was working ok for a first year then touch screen controls started playing up and I got it repaired under warranty in October last year. No problem with controls since then but

today my garage got flooded by the water during drum clean cycle.

I took back panel off hoping it was a pump or waste pipe.

Unfortunately external plastic drum had at least two long cracks.

I understand I can try and get it fixed by retailer as it not lasted a reasonable amount time or fix it myself and then take them to small court if they refuse to pay for repairs.

I just wonder if I could try to start with Bosch to see if they agree to repair it free of charge or provide some sort of report or their view on the fault?

I was told by their technician that after repair they made I do not have any warranty (original warranty was running out in two weeks after they made repair).

I know some manufacturers extend warranty after repair by another year.

And Bosh themselves say they will give 12 month warranty on the appliance if they fix it.

But I guess it is meant when you pay them or could it apply to any repairs?

Thanks for reading!

nothing to do with any manufacturers warranty

they are in addition to your consumer rights under CRA

under CRA if you get a report done and fwd it to washtech then they are duty bound to investigate your complaint.

Thank you for your advice dx100uk.

I think in my case it would be SGA not CRA as I purchased it in Oct 2014.

Should I call seller in a first instance to discuss it before getting report? Maybe they can pay / arrange report to be done?

Once I have report can I contact washtech via e-mail or does it have to be recorded mail?

Is there specific wording you can suggest I can used to mention that claim is under SGA?

I was thinking something in the lines of:

I am making this claim under Sales of Goods Act 1979 amended.

I believe that there was manufacturing / design fault and washing machine was not durable as required by Sales of Goods Act 1979 amended.

According to several reports average lifespan of a washing machine is between 5 -15 years. (I can provide copy of online articles like this one https://www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/how-long-should-a-washing-machine-last/

I would like you to arrange repair / replacement or refund money I paid for it.

If I arrange report myself but do not take seller to small court would I still be able to get money paid for report back?

Thanks!

Quick update.

Had Bosh Engineer called out. He confirmed it was cracked drum and beyond economical repair but mentioned it was due to having foreign object probably coming out of pocket like coins.

I could probably get some sort of report from Bosh but as they seem to suggest it was my fault not sure if I can get far with that report.

Should I still try to go with it to the seller or try to get independent report?

both

did the boshman leave you a copy?

I should be able to get copy from Bosch engineer in a couple of days.

Couple of independent repair companies I spoke to were not keen on making reports.

I think even independent report would probably mention foreign object which would suggest I will be at fault.

Not sure if the will be strong evidence to take seller to small court.

I think I'll call seller now and explain the situation probably mentioning that Bosch confirmed it is beyond economical repair, SGA and small court to get sellers view on that.

Have found two other people on facebook complaining about the same problem of a cracked drum - might be worth getting together with them over the experience....

I can't share a link, but if you type in "bosch washing machine cracked drum" in Facebooks search and then select, 'posts', you'll find others with your issue.... July and Aug last year and feb this year - so could be a design issue if you find enough evidence that you all haven't been mistreating your machines

Thanks Fienderella,

I'll have look at these posts. Bosch insist it is not design fault as they do not get many reports on this issue.

They have not been helpful and could only offer repair at a fairly discounted rate but still just under £200!

Of course they are not going to get many reports on the issue - it requires people to say, 'yes' to the work being carried out for it to be properly recorded and considering they are going to charge you more than the cost of replacing, most will say 'no' so the only thing that would be reported instead would be the 'uneconomical to repair' part of the report - just like you experienced already Fingers crossed you find others and can collectively get something done or at least highlight you are not the first and probably won't be the last

Quick update:

Spoke to the seller on a few occasions but we disagree on the principal issue of who is liable to the repair cost (even though Bosch have now agreed to cap it at £95).

I am moving my conversations with the seller to written format. Sending them e-mail and hard copy letter asking to pay for the repairs giving 7 days to reply but do not have much hope of resolving it with them direct.

For some weird reason seller is panning to forward my correspondence to Bosch

I guess my next step would need to be to follow pre-action protocol.

Any thoughts would be appreciated