Does reliability top your list of appliance ‘must haves’?

I avoid buying anything that is likely to be unreliable based on the experience of friends and family, Which? reports and online reviews. I prefer to examine prospective purchases, looking for anything that might be fragile, difficult to keep clean or might look dated in a few years.

With electrical appliances I try not to overload them or run them for long periods. With the washing machine, for example, I let the motor cool down before putting on a second load.

Perhaps the exception proves the rule and I was one who had a couple of problems with a Miele vacuum cleaner. Fortunately these happened when the machine was under guarantee.

Nollaig has mentioned the problem of failure of rechargeable batteries. I have had two hand-held vacuum cleaners and four cordless drills become useless because of this. With some items such as cordless shavers I have managed to solder in replacement batteries but often it is difficult to source the correct size. Even if they are available, the cost is often too high to make repair worthwhile.

Motorists have voted with their feet (sorry about the oxymoron). In the 1960s you were lucky if an exhaust pipe lasted a year and a day (the limit of the guarantee). Other parts were not far behind and after 4 years, enough rust could be on the car to make economical repair out of the question. Enter reliable, competitively priced cars from Japan. Now a car can often go ten years and still have an appreciable resale value!
If everyone paid as much heed to domestic appliances every machine would be as reliable as a Miele. You would only be paying extra, should you decide to do so, for style and convenience

I regard reliability as the most important feature when purchasing appliances. Another important dimension, which is rarely commented upon or assessed, is repairability.

For motor vehicles I believe their is legislation requiring the manufacturer to have parts available for a fixed number of years. A similar requirement should be placed on domestic appliance manufacturers.
Many years ago I purchased an antique replica telephone with a walnut body and gold plated fittings, from BT. It needed it repairing just outside the guarantee period and required a part. Astonishingly, BT could not repair it even for a fee, could not supply any parts and would not even divulge the name of the manufacturer they had commissioned to produce it.
Perhaps Which? could do an article on spare parts suppliers and domestic appliance repairers?

I have found ebay a godsend for finding obsolete parts, products and instruction manuals.

I bought an AEG8800 (Best Buy) in 2006. Last week the on/off button broke. A replacement control panel would cost £140ish but I am able to fit myself. The problem is Electrolux tell me this item has been discontinued. I am faced with replacing an otherwise serviceable £800 oven after 6 years. I have asked Which to add a warning to their website advising members that parts may be I available after 6 years. Some existing Best Buys have been I production for 6 years.

Thanks Wavechange. AEG use an array of 7 switches in a flush panel so to have to replace the whole array hence the £140 price tag. I was ready to fit the part myself but they have stopped making it. I got the oven working by bypassing the on/off button. Keeping my fingers crossed for Xmas Lunch!! Merry Christmas everyone.

When we refurbished our kitchen 3 1/2 years ago we did a lot of research about reliability and energy efficiency. We decided on a Miele integrated fridge-freezer. We figured that the higher price would be offset by the longer life of the appliance. Wrong. It has broken down. We also counted on Miele for good customer service. Since the appliance is out of warranty they will only repair it if we pay, asking £117 plus parts.. We think a Miele appliance should last more than 3 1/2 years. We called their Customer Service a number of times and even called and emailed their main headquarters in Germany – to no avail. This in our opinion, is not good customer service. The product has a very poor life. Considering the trouble now to repair/replace an integrated fridge-freezer – makes us think very hard about buying any more Miele products.

If a product was manufactured in Germany I consider it a front runner for reliability and customer service. I have a variety of AEG and Miele appliances and have found them to be outstanding for all dimensions of quality. I recently purchased a Medion computer from Aldi. Although it developed a minor faults and I had to return it to Germany for repair, the customer service was gold standard. Inevitably things will go wrong from time to time but it is how you are treated on these occasions that is the measure of quality. Some years ago I had a Telechron 2000 central heating programmer installed,once again a German product. I tried to reprogram it and messed it up. I phoned the customer helpline in Germany on a Saturday morning and they put me on to an English speaking engineer who patiently explained how to reset it. That experience, to me, was the epitome of German quality ,customer service. I am surprised to learn of the bad experience of the member with the Miele appliance. The moral of the story is to be merciless in reporting your experiences through Which?.

I spent £400 on a Stove cooker which was a waste of money. I got it via AO and to be honest 11 months on I wish I had gone to ebay and bought another eye level grill cooker from a lady going into a home. I have had Stove out as the main oven cook NOTHING according to the instruction on any packet or my training as a CHEF. The engineer told me all the figures were guide lines and therefore varied from appliance to appliance. The fact that “when I was a lad” if you opened an oven at 200C you fried your eyebrows, appears no longer to be the case. I appear to have heat resistant eyebrows.

Very personal thing but I think which should start cooking food precisely as the instructions say and see what the result is. The Stove cooker requires in excess of 40% more time and 20% more heat do what we did ” back when I was a lad”