Don't buy the Hoover AAA160 (Hoover Six.AAA Whisper AAA160)

Member Name: suziethemac

Product:	Hoover Six.AAA Whisper AAA160
Date:	17/01/05 (766 review reads)
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Advantages: Large drum, high spin speed

Disadvantages: cannot fill drum to capacity, caused one of the bolts holding drum to concrete blocks to sheer off

On 16/03/02 I brought a Hoover AAA160 from Comet. I chose it for the high spin speed of 1600 rpm, the larger than average drum and the high number of programmes. Experiences have included conditioner being left behind in the dispensing tray, clothes being 'chewed' by being jammed between the seal and the drum (option of up to 6kg) and residue soap powder being left on clothes. So if you only half fill the drum you won't get these problems but then what was the point of buying a larger drum! Then more recently the machine was getting noisier on the spin cycle - the machine is sold under the heading 'whisper'. Then last week the noise and the banging was so bad that I switch the machine off mid spin. A mechanical engineer has inspected the machine and one of the metal bolts holding the front concrete block has sheered off leaving the end of the bolt in the drum. This will now weaken the other retaining bolts which will in turn sheer off too. He stated that it was a stress facture and now means that the whole drum needs to be replaced as the end of the bolt cannot be removed. The 5 year parts guarantee requires the parts to be fitted by a Hoover engineer. I will be asking Hoover what they intend to do as this is obviously a design fault. I will report on here the details of their response. - 17/01/05
PS I have also seen comments (on the Comparestoreprices.co.uk site) about their machine lasting 18 months when 2 bolts sheered off.

UPDATE- Hoover would not accept that it was a design fault. The only way of utilising the 5 year parts guarantee was to pay a Hoover engineer £84.95 to come round and inspect the machine. He would then order the relevant parts and return with them at a later date and repair the machine without further charge. Having been satisifed that as this wasn't going to be a case of an 'open cheque', I booked for an engineer to come round. When he turned up in the morning (he had been booked for the afternoon) he blamed the fault on the bolts being loose and the machine not being serviced, but later admitted to my brother, who is a mechanical engineer that this would be difficult as nothing is easily assessible. However, he did manage to repair the problem without needing any new parts. The machine is now working as normal. The engineer did mention that this was one of the earlier prototypes and they have improved the newer models but would still not admit that this was a design fault.

My advice - always consider the extended warranty if you are not in a position to just dump the machine when it goes wrong.

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