Indesit W123 - Merloni (Indesit W123)

Member Name: Neil2004

Product:	Indesit W123
Date:	23/02/04 (887 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Good features, Great Engineer

Disadvantages: Won't last, Appalling customer service

I bought one of these about 20 months ago from Currys. For 1st 18 months no problems (although normal 40 degree wash takes about 1hr 40 mins) but then strted to get very noisy on spin - I realised the main bearing had gone. I have to say that I would expect a main bearing to last at least 5 years. I called Indesit (Merloni) to arrange a repair and was told it would be £69:99 plus parts, I asked how much a bearing kit would be and was told £35 so total repair should be £105. Made an appointment and was very specific to make sure they told engineer it was a bearing problem. Day of appointment arrived and at 10am rec'd call to say engineer sick and appointment cancelled. Re booked for 2 weeks later between 8 and 1, at 1:15 no sign of engineer, called office and they arranged for him to call me. He said the earliest he could be with me was 2, I asked have you got a bearing kit with you? He of course replied no - "my notes just say noisy on spin" I cancelled the appointment. Here's the good part the engineer then spent 10mins telling me how to do the job myself - what tools I needed (a Torx 40 bit (star head) from Halfords £2:99) and what parts - a bearing and spider assembly (£50) as changing the bearing alone is impossible. In skill level if you do a bit of car maintenance you can do this job. Machine now stripped down and parts awaited.....
Conclusion - cheap washing machine that won't last, spend a bit more and get a Candy (good WHICH review) or a bit more again and get a Bosch. Merloni appear to be rubbish, the web is littered with other reports of no shows, cancelled appointments, and bad repairs - they simply do not seem to care. Top engineer though!!

Summary: