Nightmare with Hotpoint Ultima (Hotpoint Ultima WMA61)

Member Name: Suz_Web

Product:	Hotpoint Ultima WMA61
Date:	13/09/02 (466 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good features

Disadvantages: lousy drum design

After my trusty Whirlpool Washing Maching packed up after four years, I decided on a Hotpoint Ultima. I liked the look of it (although I had to settle for white as Curry's has no silver in stock and it was needed urgently!) I was very pleased with it, I liked all the features, especially the child lock, which comes in handy with two young children. I liked the flexibility of the programmes, and used the timer on it regularly so I could have my first load of washing done by the time I got up in the morning.

All went well until last week. In hindsight, it had been making more noise than usual when it was doing the 1400 spin. But I didn't think it was anything to worry about until last sunday. I had just washed my childrens school uniforms and went to empty the machine to hang the clothes out.

Inside the machine are three plastic 'ridges' (dont know the technical name) they go from the front to the back of the drum and most machines have them, although on previous machines they were made of metal and were part of the drum itself, rather than plastic and screwed to the drum like on my Ultima.

One of these plastic ridges had completly come away from the drum, leaving two gaping holes in the drum. On inspecting my washing, over half of it had been ruined. One item was completly shredded and the rest were covered in oil.

I inspected the other two 'ridges' and found they were both loose. The screws that held them had gradually started to come loose and one had finally given way.

After spending half an hour on hold, I managed to get through to the service department and they told me someone would come out in five days time.

The engineer is due tomorrow. In the meantime I have had a week with no washing machine, and over £50 worth of ruined clothes. I don't know whether the machine will be fixed tomorrow or not.

I have enquired about being compensated for the loss of clothes but everyo
ne I have spoken to had passed the buck to someone else. I will keep trying as someone should be held responsible.

The machine is just over a year old. Luckily I took out an extended warrenty on it but for £176 I expected better service than having to wait for five days before an initial visit. God knows how long it will be before I have a working machine again.

In future I will always inspect the drum of any machine I consider buying and only buy one with 'ridges' as an integral part of the drum, and not some flimsy plastic efforts that are held in with a couple of screws.

Summary: