After 20 years my old Whirlpool top loader washing machine died. I looked around and found that the market had changed since I last bought a machine and front loaders were the way to go. I don’t like buying unless I research adequately and was gearing towards LG or Samsung as they seemed to be the bigger capacity machines. However when I did call LG & Samsung customer service area with a few questions I was put through to overseas call centers. Whilst these customer service operators were friendly, they didn’t know the answers and to top it off they couldn’t even understand my basic enquiry. Well that made my mind up very quickly as these machines have some complex cycles, they even connect to WiFi/Bluetooth; if I did need help who would help me?? I rang around and found certain manufacturers have their customer service in Australia, I then narrowed it down to which our of these offered the best warranty. I found the AEG ticked all the boxes and went with that. I love my new machine!!
Glad to see you found a machine you were happy with, appliance buying can be a hassle at times. I’ve found over the years that whilst some manufacturers seem to have bad/hard to get hold of customer service it appears that a lot of them have taken the view that the service part is the retailer’s responsibility. If you contact them the first question they ask is who you bought it from. That’s why I’m very careful these days with my product research but even more careful with who I purchase from. My best bit of advice regarding research to is to avoid so-called social media ‘Influencers’ like the plague lol. You are as likely to get an honest opinion from one of those people as you are in getting a burger from McDonalds that looks like the photo on the menu 
Glad to hear you love your choice of washing machine.
I know it’s too late for you, but did you know Choice did a review of washing machines just recently? Choice 2018 Feb washing machine review (member content)
Could have saved you a lot of work.
Yes I did use it for a bit of research. However after calling Samsung and LG which rated high in choice reviews, I found their overseas customer service didn’t have a clue, so I basically eliminated any company that had offshore customer service.
That can be a two edged issue. If a product or service with on-shore customer service is the only criteria one could buy an inferior product (not suggesting you have or that AEG is).
My unscientific observation is that there are 4 basic categories of company.
Bad products and bad customer service
Good products and good service at high prices (eg. Miele and competitors)
Good products at ‘competitive prices’ with ordinary customer services
Good products at ‘competitive prices’ with bad customer service.
All are subject to the ACL, but the efficacy of that is often with the customer and only comes to light after a failure.
It seems a few companies making products that are regularly in the high end of reliability and functionality sometimes have service and support at the very ordinary end of the scale. Why? Their systems do not have to respond to volume failures so they do not invest in infrastructure or a robust customer service system to keep their overheads down. When they get a problem they are unpractised and ‘under-systemed’ so they appear to fall over.
~15 years ago I bought an Asko washer (paraphrased) built to last 20 years. It was a good washer but at 12 years the control board died. The folks on the customer service line were pretty good to deal with but their message was the part was out of production, there were no spares anywhere, and they suggested I try some used appliance houses in case they night have the part. I sent the Asko to the tip and bought an LG on Choice recommendation. A lovely washer! The owners manual was on the ordinary side and I contacted LG support with some questions and their reply indicated they may have struggled with English or struggled with reading and comprehension. The responses demonstrated zero skill with Australian conditions but it was not a show stopper by any means.
~4 years on the higher end LG washer has not had any faults, continues to be a good performer, and my encounter with their ‘customer service’ has not impacted anything excepting my opinion of LG ‘customer service’. An important part of my equation was that the higher end LG cost less than half the lower end Asko and is a volume product, likely to have spares should I need one. Would I prefer an on-shore support group? Yes, but considering our domestic customer counts and global distribution I have become comfortable with 24 x 7 routing to whatever call centre was on call at the hour.
In our multi-cultural society sometimes our on-shore call centres can be as challenging as off-shore ones for communication, and no matter where located whether they are empowered to do more than enter rote details seems the most important aspect to their delivery of service that we are happy with.
HI @mrshanna I’m with @PhilT. I would rather buy a volume production machine at half or less the price (we bought a 10kg LG from the Choice evaluation) because of the availability of parts etc if needed. We have had ours for six years with out a hiccup. If it dies, we will replace it with a new machine, and still be no worse off financially (compared to buying a much more expensive machine such as you bought).
As to the call centres / customer support, I have talked to people with incredibly thick accents who had little knowledge in Australian based call centres, and also with knowledgeable people. Same with overseas call centres. I think that it is often a matter of luck as to whether you get a good or a bad experience at any given call centre.
I decided on the AEG because of te capacity, warranty period, functions, where it’s made & the fact that their customer service wasn’t offshore; for me it ticked all the boxes and so far I haven’t looked back. The frustration I felt dealing with the offshore customer service was just enough to put me off.
I can understand your point of view. The AEG just ticked all the boxes for me. It’s been a very smooth transition from top to front loader for me.
And when it all comes down to it that’s the most important consumer result of all - a customer that is happy with their purchase 
. I have to admit laundry isn’t one of my favourite chores but having a machine that does the job well with limited hassle at least makes it bearable (and my wife happier)
This may be useful to any singles looking to buy a washing machine - let us know if you have any tips when doing laundry for one!
We were looking at replacing our washing machine (an LG top loader) a few months ago after the wife got fed up with the clothes tangling. As it happened we had an LG tech fixing our LG dishwasher and he advised the main cause of clothes tangling with top loaders is 1. too much water (dont over ride the program), and 2. no central agitator. We went to the local stores, and were advised that the most popular are the front loaders however there is 2 main problems with front loaders 1. they need a bloody big block of concrete in their base to stop them walking around the laundry (try moving them in the store) so you better have a good laundry floor. 2. they take much longer to wash a load, how ever they use less water (water cost nothing but electricity does). We bought a new top loader and so far no issues and no clothes tangling.
For a lot of people water does cost either because they have limited storage eg @gordon has limited storage due to having tanks or they have to pay for water delivery to top up so need to conserve, or someone lives in an area where they pay for the amount used. Water usage is dramatically down when we swapped to front loaders years ago. Washing powder or liquid usage in a front loader is also typically less than in a Top loader.
Electricity use is also typically down in a Front loader compared to a Top loader when comparing warm washes but cold washes a Top loader may be cheaper than a Front loader… Part of the reason is a Front loader is moving a lot less water around during the cycle so tends to be more energy efficient and as the amount of water that needs heating is also much reduced so is the cost. But certainly wash times are faster in a Top loader.
Having said all that though if your prdference is a Top loader it is an equally valid choice as a Front loader is for someone else.
I bought a new top loader not so long ago, but have now decided that the front loader I did have was a better option. Now, I need to replace my clothes dryer too, which lives in the garage because my laundry (house was built on the cheap with blutack and sticky tape) has NO ventilation. I can leave the door open but in rainy weather, which is when you want to be using the dryer for some things, its a bit of a pest. A new door with some kid of opening window might be worth investigating, for me.
I’m looking now at the washer-dryer combos which seem to have come down in price quite markedly. Any chance that Choice might review these in the near future?
If you are only familiar with vented/sensor dryers you might check a condenser or more modern heat pump dryer. Neither needs ventilation although the room they are in will warm up, and beyond a certain point the warmer the room the less efficient the dryer. Note that it is the same style technology that a combo washer-dryer uses although the combos use water not air (as do the standalones) to condense.
Here is the Choice buying guide for the combo units.
and (drum roll, member content)
and if you have not watched, the Samsung 2017 Shonky winner, worth watching the video.
Some conventional resistive heater (conventional) style driers can be connected to an external vent kit which enables the hot moist air to be ducted outside. Our F&P had that as an option.
We have also had at least one tropical laundry that had a large fixed vent fan, same as for a bathroom in the ceiling. I’ve also seen the vent fans installed in outside walls or even a door!
Our drier sees limited use, mostly when there is extended wet weather (summer in coastal Qld) so energy usage was not a big factor in the purchase or use. Line dry wins, particularly on the verandah.
P.s. (edit added)
We used a large combo washer drier in the apartment on our last OS trip. It did a great job (performance) allowing for a full evening out and after diner entertainment, only to return and find the cycle still had an hour to complete! Any one up for cards for an hour? Zzzz!
Brand and model not available in Australia. With the FX conversion it was easy to see why.
I thought about other dryers but … money, honey! I will check those links later when back at computer. Thanks!
