Miele - worth it?

[DaveCWK]

I need a new washing machine - I've had a variety of second hand Bosch/Siemens ones previously but thought this time i'd just buy something new & top quality that will last.

Everyone says to get a Miele, they last for 20 years etc etc.

But then I look at the reviews on trustpilot & they are truly awful:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.miele.co.uk

I know no-one leaves a review when all is well but some of those do make grim reading, & having paid a premium to then not get the durability/service expected would be far worse to me than just replacing a cheap machine every few years, or repairing an older one occasionally.

Maybe the quality has nosedived the past few years - does anyone know?

[Alucidnation]

Nah.

Buy the cheapest machine you can find and just bin it after a couple of years.

[silversurfer1]

My experience to date is 6 years in my previous house had a miele dish washer and microwave no issues

Current house 7 years got quite a bit, micro wave two fridge freezers steam oven, dish washer, extractor, warming draw washing machine condensing dryer.

No break downs but the dishwasher plastic degraded and so i needed a new pcb and housing which was piss poor, and the condensing tumble dryer is crap, id buy again to be honest

SS

[vaud]

Generally I’d say yes, especially when they run some promotions with very long warranties.

Also if you shop around the Miele dealers you can normally get way below list price (as with the outlet centre)

[Alucidnation]

vaud said:

Also if you shop around the Miele dealers you can normally get way below list price (as with the outlet centre)

All Miele dealers are tiered, so some can offer better discounts than others.

Some, none at all.

[liner33]

The Miele washing machines do seems to last ages, all very well buying a cheap one as long as when it breaks it doesnt set your house on fire or flood it imo

[Riley Blue]

Alucidnation said:

Nah.

Buy the cheapest machine you can find and just bin it after a couple of years.

I used to think the opposite and bought Miele or similar appliances. Then I switched to Beko about eight years ago, they've all been 100% reliable.

[Sheepshanks]

You do see a lot of "they don't make 'em like they used to" comments about Miele. Also, a lot of people seem to think all their machines are guaranteed for 10 years when in reality that's not the case.

I don't know what the right answer is but in our family we just go for a £400ish Bosch machines - both washing machines and dishwashers.

The main issue there is somewhat baffling array of choice of machines from Bosch with a very similar spec and similar prices - there's no logic (that I've detected) in their model structure. They do "Series" 2,4 6 & 8 machines but the features and prices overlap all over the place.

Simplified things a little buying for one of our daughters last month from Costo online - £399 was the cheapest Bosch they had. I just looked and it's gone now - although I do see they have a bunch of Miele machines now.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Wednesday 19th February 15:41

[Aluminati]

Our Miele is faultless, but it was made over 20 years ago. Nowadays, who knows what price point they’ve been built down to.

[liner33]

Miele washing machines are expected to last 20 years , based on 5 loads a week . Our first one was guaranteed for 10 years and died at age 11 with a leak , we used to do around 15 loads a week so it did pretty well and I got a couple of hundred on it on ebay it cost £800 iirc. Darent say how old our current one is as I dont want to jinx it but it only came with a 5 year warranty and that's long gone but we only do around 10 loads a week now

I think the average washing machine is expected to last around 13 years so as long as a average washing machine is 2/3rd the price of a Miele then its cheaper to buy one of those

[rxe]

Never had a problem with a Miele washing machine. Ours is 10 years old and has cleaned up after my 2 boys - hasn't needed anything. Got another one in London (used to be used heavily, less so now) also been flawless.

Miele dishwashers - we have two. One has been flawless, the other has been cursed. The cursed one is now about 10 years old, and has had major faults twice. One was under warranty (5 years) and the other was paid for (this year.). However, on the + side, Miele do a service plan - you give them £240 quid, they will unconditionally fix anything wrong with the machine for a year. The cursed machine has had new everything this year, including a complete wiring loom. Good value....

My observation is that that Miele stuff either works perfectly or it doesn't work at all. Pretty much everything else out there fails gradually, and just limps on doing a st/noisy job until it finally dies.

[Scabutz]

Not washing machines but we had a Miele hoover and we got a 10 year warranty for 30 quid. Best 30 quid we ever spent because the bloody thing was constantly needing repairs . It had significant design flaws which meant if you sucked up anything bigger than a spec of dust it clogged in a completely inaccessible place.

For washing machines we go cheap and fix ourselves or bin when they are uneconomic to repair. ESpares, YouTube and torx driver can fix most things. Weve had stupid things go wrong like the vacuum tube for the door lock rubbing against the side of the machine causing a hole. 3 quid to repair opposed to 50 plus for an fixer to come.

Only time I was beaten was by a Bosch dishwasher where I couldn't work out how to remove the pump. That's another thing against miele, DIY repairs are very hard as they are bloody hard to disassemble.

[zygalski]

Aluminati said:

Our Miele is faultless, but it was made over 20 years ago. Nowadays, who knows what price point they’ve been built down to.

With some washing machines available under £1k, it would indeed appear they do now cater for the nouveau riche council house crowd.

[Fishlegs]

Washers at the top end of the Miele product line are nice and quiet, so if noise is a primary concern it might be a good bet.

They're no more functional or reliable than Neff/Bosch/Siemens though. So if quiet isn't your main goal, save your money.

[Gio G]

Simple answer is yes. Father in-law works for a prestigious kitchen company and many of his customers go for Miele appliances, as they last a very long time. If you look at the internals of one, everything is beefed up in size to last.. My Miele washing machine is over 15 years old and still going strong..

G

[NDA]

I used to have one - it's a good brand, but pricey.

I am about to equip a new house with washing machine, fridge and freezer - it will be Bosch throughout. They seem the best 'mid price' brand.

[Fishlegs]

Gio G said:

Simple answer is yes. Father in-law works for a prestigious kitchen company and many of his customers go for Miele appliances, as they last a very long time. If you look at the internals of one, everything is beefed up in size to last.. My Miele washing machine is over 15 years old and still going strong..

G

Same business, but different experience. As others have mentioned above, when they go wrong they do it spectacularly and expensively and out of warranty.

They're absolutely no more reliable than N/B/S. They're more of a pain though, because customers have far higher expectations (having been upsold).

Usability on some of the cooking stuff is terrible too. Stupid menus and functions.

A Miele microwave once cooked my hand because I opened the door and reached in. The door switch (and whatever other inline fail-safes it had) had failed, so it was still cooking. That's an interesting feeling... having every molecule in your hand instantly excited from the inside. Quite the yelp! No lasting damage, and sadly no superpowers.

[NDA]

Fishlegs said:

No lasting damage, and sadly no superpowers.

Damn - I was expecting a better ending.

[slow_poke]

Scabutz said:

Not washing machines but we had a Miele hoover and we got a 10 year warranty for 30 quid. Best 30 quid we ever spent because the bloody thing was constantly needing repairs . It had significant design flaws which meant if you sucked up anything bigger than a spec of dust it clogged in a completely inaccessible place.

For washing machines we go cheap and fix ourselves or bin when they are uneconomic to repair. ESpares, YouTube and torx driver can fix most things. Weve had stupid things go wrong like the vacuum tube for the door lock rubbing against the side of the machine causing a hole. 3 quid to repair opposed to 50 plus for an fixer to come.

Only time I was beaten was by a Bosch dishwasher where I couldn't work out how to remove the pump. That's another thing against miele, DIY repairs are very hard as they are bloody hard to disassemble.

I've got a Miele vacuum cleaner too.

It sucks.

[anonymous-user]

We've had one of their washing machines for a couple of years. No issues. Does what it says on the tin. Also got a Bosch heat pump dryer for similar time and that's been fine too.