Electrolux makes a horrible washing machine

June 27, 2008

When I moved into my new place about 3 months ago, I had to buy some of the appliances (they only included the dishwasher, stove, and microwave). The refrigerator and the dryer have been fine. But the Frigidaire washing machine is a piece of junk.

After three months, six visits from various repairmen, from two different appliance repair shops, and the replacement of three parts (one of the parts replaced twice), I finally appear to have a working washing machine. They ended up replacing the pressure sensor (that’s the part that got replaced twice), the main water valve, and the main control board.

All this so the darned thing would fill with water during the rinse cycle. That was its problem — it could fill just fine during the wash cycle, but whenever it got to the rinse it failed to fill and would beep an error code. But today, after this last repair visit, I’ve been able to run the full wash/rinse/spin cycle without error three times. So I am cautiously optimistic that it has finally been repaired.

Seriously, the only reason I put up with all that is because it’s all been under warranty (one year parts and labor). If I’d known after the first repair visit how long this would take, I would have returned it to the store and gone shopping for something else.

Frigidaire, it turns out, is a brand of the European conglomerate Electrolux. I did not know that. And it kinda surprised me when I found out. I’ve had a good impression of European consumer brands — they always seem well designed and well engineered. I mean, like every little boy I’ve lusted after BMW’s and Mercedes’ cars. And my house is full of nice cheap furniture from Ikea.

But apparently there’s an exception to every rule and Electrolux is it. There had to be at least one bad European brand out there and I found it. Judging from their washing machines, you should never buy anything from them. At least not without the one year warranty.