Non-motoring > Cost of spares for white goods. Miscellaneous
Thread Author: henry k Replies: 28

 Cost of spares for white goods. - henry k
I was very surprised at the price of a spare part for my electric jug.

Our well used electric jug is a bit intermittent.
The connection in the round base is playing up so I searched for an exact replacement.
No luck it is now obsolete but I did find a spare part for it, a filter.
It is a triangular piece of plastic with two pieces of plastic mesh embedded in it.
It just slots in behind the spout
Cost ? It varies from £11.99 to £13.99 and £14.49 then p& p £1.49 up to £4.98.
I really think this is a rip off price. Yes I know cost of stocking etc but this surely an excessive price.
( Last price for the jug was £26.)

What other such prices have otheres experienced just for parts?
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Fursty Ferret
[stupid question]

What's an electric jug?

[/stupid question]
 Cost of spares for white goods. - VxFan
>> What's an electric jug?

Electric jug kettle.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Zero
For a white good that costs 26 quid, you are lucky to find any spare parts. Its a disposable item at that price.

10 years ago when 26 quid was a days pay it had meaning.

 Cost of spares for white goods. - henry k
>> For a white good that costs 26 quid you are lucky to find any spare
>> parts. Its a disposable item at that price.
>>
I quite agree. When I get a replacement jug perhaps I should advertise the filter :-)
 Cost of spares for white goods. - rtj70
You should also factor in the cost of time to find the spare part.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - RattleandSmoke
The last time I had to replace my dads carpet cleaner motor it cost me more than £200 so they said to source the motor. I probably could have taken the motor to a specialist electronics firm to refurbish but it wasn't worth the hassle. The cost apparently was so high because the part had to be from the USA. A bit of research on google revealed I could get exactly the same thing from the same supplier for £50.

It turned out it was just a fake RRP price. If you wanted a motor for a carpet cleaner for a machine that costs over £1k new then it would cost £200, if I wanted the same motor for no reason it was a quarter of the price.

I often pay £15 for belts for washing machines and tumble dryers. I had to scrap a tumble dryer last week because a bearing kit was £25 the dryers were only £100 new! We ended up buying a new condenser one.

It is also no doubt the same with my speakers, I bet a spare tweeter would cost £30 even though I got them for £100 a pair as they were discontunied.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - bathtub tom
Items like belts and bearings are usually 'bought in' by manufacturers and not designed specifically for one model - think nuts and bolts.

I replaced a washing machine bearing cheaply. The fitted bearing was a long outer and two inners - probably cheaper to assemble. My local bearing place supplied two separate bearings to the same dimensions and an oil seal at a fraction of the cost of the 'real thing'.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - -
. My local bearing place supplied two separate bearings
>> to the same dimensions and an oil seal at a fraction of the cost of

Have done the same meself, though since buying in to better makes of white goods haven't needed to perform such repairs...he said hoping to goodness fate in a bad mood isn't online.
The sometimes small extra cost at purchase time is paid back many fold.

It's difficult to source good quality genuine spares and they tend to be very expensive by the time the importer, wholesaler and retailer have added their hefty mark up's.

 Cost of spares for white goods. - Zero
The exception to this appears to be Bosch.

I always buy bosch, recently a Bosch vacuum cleaner. Not cheap but as it turns out appears to be have been designed and built by the chief engineer at Lada. Its a pile of cheap nasty cack. Plastic bits break with clock setting regularity.

Thankfully the last bit to go was the bit where you slde the bag in. Bosch provide on-line manuals and parts listing and a good mail order service. The bit I needed was £1.79. So I bought three.

Such support does not alter the careful re-thinking of the bosch buying strategy
 Cost of spares for white goods. - -
That's handy to know Z the washing machine is a Bosch and has given roughly 12 years service without a murmer, will keep that in mind when the time comes.

The one it replaced was a beko, at the time i was almost broke and needed cheap, it lasted about 2 weeks before the concrete weight broke and i had to connect a flapping wire before it worked at all, lasted about 8 months total, never again; my dear old Mum had a cooker of the same name, rubbish.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Zero
we have a Bosch Fridge, now three years old ( It was bought when I rebuilt the kitchen).

The plastic moulding across the top of the fridge door is now cracking and coming away at the corners. Its really canned my respect for bosch stuff. I still follow the buy quality theory, but bosch does not fit into that list any more,
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Dog
I've got an old Arcam Alpha 7 amp and the potentiometers (knobs to you) were wrecked early on in their lives by swmbo drying the washing in front of the multi-fuel stove in the lounge :(
I've sprayed them with switch cleaner but I should imagine that they are kaput.
Should I bin the (excellent) amp.
Send it to Arcam 4 repair.
Take it to a TV/Radio repair shop.
Or get my soldering iron out and source some new knobs from Radiospares (if they're still going) or Maplins etc.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Zero
Radiospares is still going strong.

uk.rs-online.com/web/

treat it as a restoration project.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - RattleandSmoke
The Alhpa 7 despite being very old now (mid 90's?) is a very good amp. I can't imagine it will cost more than £50 to repair a POT but if you can solder you can do it yourself if you can get the part.

Just make sure you get a decent one.

I've got a problem with my Cambridge 640A which often overheats :(
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Dog
>>> Just make sure you get a decent one. <<<

Yea, I was thinking about that, or it won't be an Alpha 7 anymore.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - -

>> The plastic moulding across the top of the fridge door is now cracking and coming
>> away at the corners.

That does surprise me and notice taken, we have a Leibherr larder fridge and Seimens fridgefreezer in the kitchen and Seimens freezer in garage all are around 6 to 10 years old, common theme with them is the interiors are virtually indestructible and exterior paintwork and fittings durable, and apart from the Leibherr (newest) needing a new thermostat have been reliable.
Meile dishwasher continues to do what it should without any drama.
Upright vacuum cleaner, still find Oreck to take some beating, ultra light weight not leading to fragility in the least.
De Dietrich hob and oven so far tough and reliable.

Maybe this thread might bring some other makes to the surface.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - VxFan
Have used this company for ordering parts for my re-chargeable strimmer, various brushes for motors and drive belts in the past.

www.espares.co.uk

 Cost of spares for white goods. - CGNorwich
Bosch are very much mainstream and their products are of average quality and are priced accordingly. If you want better quality you need to spend more on something like Miele for example. Personally I prefer to buy mainstream bottom of the range and replace as necessary.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Bagpuss
The white goods offered by Bosch and Siemens are identical with one another, manufactured in the same factories but with fitted different front plates.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - bathtub tom
Were Bosch tied in with Zanussi and Electrolux?

I know which products I won't buy.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - spamcan61
>> I always buy bosch recently a Bosch vacuum cleaner. Not cheap but as it turns
>> out appears to be have been designed and built by the chief engineer at Lada.
>> Its a pile of cheap nasty cack. Plastic bits break with clock setting regularity.
>>
Same here, bought a made in Germany Bosch vacuum cleaner about 3 years ago, within 6 months the plastic baseplate had cracked, so there was no longer a vacuum wher ethere should be. A nice polite letter to Bosch asking if this was what i could expect from one of their products elicited no response, a fix with araldite and tape lasted a few months. A Henry seems to be standing up much better.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - R.P.
Soon after Mrs P passed away I impulsively bought a VAX from Tesco - the belt broke within a day (there was a lot of salty footfalls through the house by visitors) - phoned VAX all they said was send a belt out within 10 days ! ( 10 DAYS) - took it back to Tesco got my money back no bother and bought a brilliant Miele from Amazon - brilliant bit of German kit....solid as a BMW (!)
 Cost of spares for white goods. - MD
I have never owned a Miele product but over the years many customers have and I have NEVER heard a bad word about their products.

MD
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Dog
>>> bought a brilliant Miele from Amazon - brilliant bit of German kit....solid as a BMW (!) <<<

Funny you should say that Pugley because that is *exactly* how I see our Miele vac,
and its even the same metallic blue of the 3 series I once owned.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - R.P.
Is it front wheel or rear wheel drive
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Zero
if you have turbo failure in one of those you really are goosed.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Dog
I did try it out on the road recently, but I fluffed it in the end.
 Cost of spares for white goods. - Fenlander
The apparent cost of white goods spares varies massively depending on source. EBay is a pretty good place for most spares... as is the traditional market stall in our local city. We do have a long standing specialist appliance spares shop in town too but the guy is an absolute ripoff... nothing is marked with prices and I'm sure he just goes for the max he thinks you'll pay. Needed a cooker oven element the other week and he offered a pattern part at almost £40... told him I'd wait for the genuine item from an Ebay supplier I'd seen for £16 inc postage.

With vacuums I'm a big Dyson fan and have four DC04 models. One for the house, one for garage, one I supply/maintain for Mum and one for spares. Buy them down the tip or on EBay for £5-£10 and use the spare one to supply parts to fettle the others.

Once you've stripped/repaired one they are so easy to work on and their common faults that cause folks to scrap them are so easily resolved.

The Series Land Rover of the vacuum world.
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