Electric Appliances

Hi

I have just bought a house and need to buy the following.

Washing machine
Tumble dryer
dishwasher
fridge freezer
oven
hob
kettle
toaster

could you please advise me from your experience which brands are best for each item and also which shops offer the best service as regards discount/guarantees

Although price is obviously an object, I would prefer to get the best I can afford.


Any replies would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

I won't advise on brands, to be honest I think they more or less are all the same. If money is a factor then go for the cheaper brands ( not the cheapest ) , as with the well known brands you are paying a lot extra just for the name.

Regarding which shops, the best thing is to shop around. I did buy my washing machine from Currys in Liffey Valley and would NOT recommend them. They made a right mess of the order and the delivery afterwards and were not in the least helpful or professional.

Another thing to take into account is that the big shops are not always better than the small ones, and sometimes you can get a good bargain in smaller local shops.

Finally another thing to watch out for is that the larger stores will all try and get you to buy extended warranties. These are a waste of money, as if the item is faulty it will most likely break within the first 12 months ( and is therefore covered by the normal warranty ) , and if it does not break within the first 12 months then it is unlikely to break in the next 4 years as it is not faulty and is built to last that ammount of time anyway. The extended warranties are very expensive. If you have the misfortune that something does break after the first 12 months, then the cost will be certainly less that all the extended warranties would have cost you.

Hope this helps

Brands are certainly not all the same. In washing machines and dishwashers especially, there are huge differences in reliability, less so in fridges.

'Which' magazine in the UK do regular reliability surveys, but not available in Ireland. Bosch, Siemens (same factory, same model, different brand names) are consistently good and not too pricy. Miele is excellent but expensive (but likely to keep going for 20 years).

cheers,
Diziet

..

IMHO, DID are very good on both service and price.

Personally, I wouldn't buy anything in Currys etc that i might have to return. I overheard their treatment of a customer complaint one lunchtime - it was nothing short of disgraceful.

Re: ..

(a) avoid the big multinationals — Currys, etc. — not because they're "evil corporations" or "furriners" but because their managers are usually less than 6 months in the job and will have moved on by the time you have a faulty item/after-sales problem. So you'll get the kind of treatment (vaguely) evoked above...
(b) seek out instead a small-to-medium outlet that's been around your area since you were knee-high to a grasshopper — they're less likely to risk spoiling their passing trade by messing you around, and in my experience they will always try to match the "special offer" ad from category (a) above — or come out and tell you frankly if they can't, which is nearly as good...
(c) Once you've shopped around, get your chosen supplier to knock off at least 10% on the total price of a "package" including all the items you mentioned. DID and PowerCity (to mention but two) will definitely do this. They know it makes sense... And finally,
(d) The previous posts are both right — paradoxically. You pay over the odds for established brand names, but there are also significant differences reliability-wise. Quiz the salesperson. Ask them which brand (of the particular item in question) they have least "comeback" problems with. It's in their interest as much as yours. And yes, don't buy the extended guarantees. They're money for old rope, from the suppliers' (and the insurers') point of view... If your appliance doesn't develop a fault in the first 12 months, it's unlikely to do so in the following 48. And if it does, the price of having it repaired/replaced is likely to be less than what you would have paid out in premiums for the extended warranty.

Dr. M.


[P.S. Congrats on your new home. "Well wear"...!]

IMHO Miele brand is excellent but very expensive. I've heard it said that what you spend initially on Miele machines you more than save on in maintenance/repairs/replacement in the long run.

Ditto for Bosch/Siemens (I think they're now the same company).

Vorsprung durch technik... (or something to that effect. Pity about their oul' economy! :rollin )

I swear by DID electrical.

We have a great AEG dishwasher but I dont think the sell them in Ireland any more. We have a Zanussi Washing Machine and Drier - no problems with it and good quick servicing when required.

ajapale

Appliances

Thank you very much for all your replies - very helpful.

Anyone had problems with Power City?

Power City

We had a thread here last year about Power City. If I remember correctly people were critical of the the product knowledge of the sales staff.

Power City

Don't touch them with a barge pole, everyone I know who has bought something from them has had problems with the goods.

Best brands - Bosch/Neff/Miele - all the top end but the best

Re: Power City

My experiences:
ESB-Too expensive
Power City- Salesperson wasn't very helpful or knowledgeable, prices good.
DID: Salesperson excellent (Aussie bloke in Blanchardstown)
prices good.
Dixons/Currys: Salesperson not overly interested in talking about the product only wanted the sale. Prices not as good as I would have thought.
Went for Whirlpool mostly due to salesmans recommendations even though there were more expensive makes on show.
No problems so far (touch wood).
The point about the cash discount is very true.
Means you can buy something else with the savings.

Discount Electrical

...on Mountjoy Square - good service, good range and knowledge and good prices IMHO - also they will deliver and tend to do so at the time you ask for

Electrical appliances - go north

If you are within a couple hours radius from the border & don't mind driving, then I recommend "Watters" Electrical in Culloville Armagh. I shopped around alot & in terms of expertise/price & brand names these guys can't be beaten. They also delivered to Dublin for me. Worth a call some Saturday afternoon IMHO.

Discount Electrical

Try www.discountelectrical.ie for an idea on prices. Great selection on line!

I bought my house 1 yrs ago & had some old appliences. As they died, I replaced them with Whirlpool, initially cos of the 10yr guarentee on parts. All still going, fridge, chest freeser, microwave, dishwasher. Very good. The wife is a good cook so we went a bit upmarket when we redid the kitchen last year & went for de deitrich. No complaints (yet).

first(?) "A rated" tumble dryer available

The Schulthess group-a major supplier to major white goods manufacturers -has brought a tumble drier on to the market that has the energy rating A.It is supposed to use 50%less electricity than the best C rated ones.
They use an internal heat pump to regain some of the energy.It seems to be a good machine,Swiss quality,for commercial use as well.
[broken link removed]

white goods

I am going to echo MCC: Watters in Culloville wont be beaten on price or repairs etc. Easy for me ( dundalk) to say but maybe worth a call. Another thing to look out for is that brand names dont always match the appliance. ie I have a dishwasher with the brand 'Hotpoint' on it. Well out of guarantee etc ( approx 8 years old) it gave trouble. Nixer man come to fix it and declares it a Bosch in Hotpoint clothing. If you are buying of Watters, especially tv's ask them who 'really' makes the product. ie Black Diamond not really Mitsubishi at all and also Toshiba sometimes in a Black Diamont chasis. GOOD LUCK.

Agree with the Previous comments about Currys. The particular store I went to in Ireland has no stock whatsoever.Their customer service is atrocious. The sales staff are not properly trained and don't have a clue about the products on sale. Its just a showroom basically. Because they had no stock they wanted to flog the shopfloor display model of a tumble dryer to me without a discount. In my book, when the packaging has been removed from the item it's second hand! Failing that they wanted to order the model from their stores in the UK and had the audacity to pass on a delivery charge of 27.50 euro which I did not want to avail of.
I agree with previous threads - avoid the big multinationals. I'll check out DID, thanks for the tip!

Try Harvey Norman, they offered us free delivery last week. We also asked for a discount as we were buying several appliances and they knocked money off. If you tell them you have seen an item cheaper elsewhere they will match the price.