scrap washing machines and fridgesOwen Humphreys/PA Archive/Press Association Images

The consumer group, Which?, is warning of a rising tide of people reporting that the glass in their washing machine door has shattered. Some machines are only a few weeks old, others were not even in use at the time. The glass apparently shatters, leaving shards all over the kitchen or over the washing itself.

So what's going on, and what can you do if it happens to you?


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Reports

The reports have been coming in direct to the Which? site, and through the whitegoodshelp forum, and the consumer association says it has now seen 50 reported incidents. They started up 18 months ago - but have been more common in recent months.

Some of the machines in question were on a hot wash, some on a drying cycle, some were spinning, and others were part way through a gentle 40 degree wash - 12 of them were standing idle when it happened.

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The truly odd thing about the phenomenon is that it isn't restricted to one or two models or makes: there have been unconfirmed reports of it affecting effecting all sorts of models, including Beko, Miele, Zanussi, Bosch, Hoover, LG and Samsung.

Users

One user on the forum said: "I am currently waiting for an engineer to come and fix the glass in my Zanussi washer dryer. I was doing a 40 wash not overly full and when I went to open the door I cut my hands on some glass. The inner door had exploded all over my clothes..."

Another said: "I have had a Beko washing machine, for 10 days. Last evening around 4pm, we were sitting in the living room, when we heard this loud bang, we found the cause, the door on the washing machine had exploded, the machine was not in use at the time."

One user added: "My Miele W1613 had been unused for a few days when my a "bang" was heard. On inspection the inner glass door had exploded. Just to clarify: it was not in use at the time."

So what's going on?

Which? says "This hasn't happened to any washing machines during our lab tests, so we have been unable to observe it in laboratory conditions and follow up with a proper analysis."

Unconfirmed theories have been floated on the forum - including hair cracks in the glass, the thickness of the glass currently in use, or scratches from items such as zips and belt bucks.

Which? said: "We've contacted the manufacturers, and they're looking into the problem." However, so far they have not identified a problem with the washers mentioned.

Beko responded by saying: "Whilst we have no reason to believe that there is a fault with our washing machine range, we are investigating these incidents in full and always take such matters seriously."

Miele said: "We conducted an investigation... [which] confirmed we have had no recent reports of such an incident." It added: "However, should such isolated incidents exist then we would ask our customers to contact us and we will investigate fully."

Hotpoint, meanwhile, said this sort of thing was 'rare' but that it would of course investigate if a pattern emerged.

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What can you do?

We will have to wait for a more in depth investigation of these anecdotal stories. In the interim it may be wise to take a little extra care around your washing machine.

If it does happen to you, your rights depend on a few things. If it's within a couple of weeks after you bought the machine, you can argue that it was faulty on delivery and therefore not fit for purpose, so you can contact the retailer quoting the Sale of Goods Act and demanding a refund or replacement.

If it happens after this, but within six months, you have the right to a repair or replacement free of charge, although it's up to the retailer which they pick. If they refuse, quote the Sale of Goods act to them. If they stand firm you can take them to the small claims court where it will be up to them to prove the machine was fit for purpose.

After six months, you have the right to expect that the machine will function properly for a reasonable length of time. How long is 'reasonable' is a grey area. It can be anything up to six years, but some manufacturers will argue that a £200 washing machine, used every day, isn't going to last that long.

With this in mind, if it is within the manufacturer's warranty, this is usually your best-bet.

If it is out of warranty and it was a very expensive model, you can still argue that it should have lasted longer. However, if the retailer refuses to repair or replace, you will have to go to court - where you will have to prove it was not a matter of wear and tear. At this stage you may consider the risk and expense too much bother compared to the price of repair.

Have you experienced anything like this? Let us know in the comments.

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