Ise Ceased Trading

I used to be an Asko dealer in the 90s and they were every bit as good as a Miele if not better. Sadly they stopped selling in the UK for some reason. I think ISE brought them back, but even they didn't sell them for long before reverting to selling "normal" washing machines that were nowhere near as well made. Maybe the Asko were just too good for their own good.

Well many years later the Asko built ISE10 we bought is still going strong, never needed a call out (that'll put the mockers on it) and just does the job it was bought for. No one was more disappointed than me all those years ago when ISE ceased trading and our 10 year warranties were suddenly worthless. Spares is always a concern of course.

I would certainly consider another Asko when the time comes, built like brick outhouses.

I'm the owner of an ISE10 (Asko 1606W) which is a superb machine. Like a couple of people on the thread I've had a small issue of water leaking from the detergent drawer, but this has mainly been due to excess pressure in my water main, splashing water around in the drawer so it overflows. There's no rubber gasket where the drawer housing attaches to the fascia, so a smear of silicone has assisted. Also helpful, and highly recommended, is fitting a pressure reducing valve upstream of the washing machine water supply point. I've use a Honeywell Pressure Reducing Valve which is adjustable and has a useful gauge. The version for 15mm pipe (standard) has the order code DO4FM-1/2ZGC as costs around £35. Since fitting one it has solved the water pressure issue for me, and it also prevents fluctuations in pressure, or the pressure exceeding the level set by me. I really think every household should have one of these on the rising main, together with a sediment filter, which I've also fitted, to trap silt and grit (also protecting my washing machine, taps, cistern valves etc)

Here's a picture of the PRV, for anyone interested:

Hello. Unfortunately it could be so many different things. Try the washing machine won’t start help article in the troubleshooting guide.

Hi, do you have any suggestions about our ise10 washing machine that suddenly won't start? All the correct lights are lit but when I press the start button, nothing happens and after a few moments the duration display goes off.. We checked the filter and removed some coins (sadly not enough to buy a new machine!) and the pump blades are rotating okay.

Do you have any ideas what the fault could be?

Dorothy King

Hello, if it was one of the "ordinary" ISE washing machines that were similar to the average washing machine I don't think it would be worth trying to keep it going. If it was one of the Asko made washing machines at around £1000 that would be a much better quality machine though but the price of a pcb and other spares is likely to be way too expensive to speculatively buy. If you bought all the major parts separately for any washing machine they would cost at least 10 times more than a complete washing machine. UKWhitegoods is the place to try for ISE spares though.

Hi does anybody know where you can get spares. I have a ISE W288e and although it is working it will no doubt fail one day. So, I'd like to buy any old stock (especially the electronics which are now-a-days impossible to repair at component level.

Our outlet pump is failing as it has hair wrapped around behind the impeller which is impossible to get to. Any advice on that would be appreciated too.

Thanks

Hi there,

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to do this. It's much appreciated. I can see it well and perhaps my husband will be able to make something that'll work when everything else fails.

Seems to have worked from my end. Hope you see it. Had to crop but I think you can still make out the mm on the rule + the info I sent before

Thank you Sophie's Mum. I'll check back tomorrow

You are right! I had never read that. It is the same tool, a grey plastic length 80mm long x 12 mm wide but the end that does the work tapers to 10 mm over a 13 mm length. Just under 3mm thick It works not just by putting it in the slot but by lifting up slightly & frankly I dont think it would last too long if used a lot. I have got photos but they are too big to even upload one. I don't know if I can reduce the bytes. I will try tomorrow.

Hi Sophie's Mum,

Thank you for your reply ...

It really confirms that I probably never received one although it clearly states in the manual on page 23 that there should be one

When I get an unbalanced load warning it's usually for the same reason as you but yesterday it was for a cotton sweater that I probably shouldn't have bothered trying to wash in the machine in the first place, or at least not without a pile of other things to balance the load. I'll be more careful in future.

It's always taken an age to get the door open when this happens but yesterday was the longest time ever and it looks as though there may be a fault with my electronic door opening button so I just hope someone can send me a picture of this elusive door opening tool if not the actual thing.

HI MEM

Same model as mine but as far as I know the only way to open the machine door is via the electronic button. The only "tool" I ever had was a small length of plastic for the drain door. Although I think a credit card works just as well. I do occasionally get the unbalanced load warning but I know that is down to heavy towelling bath mats. How I long to go back to the days of mechanical dials, lasted forever.

Hi,

I bought my W288ECO in June 2014 and it looks as though the company went out of business later that year. The supplier that I bought from has also gone out of business and I'm wondering if anyone here can help.

Although the machine seems to work OK it does have a problem when the spin cycle throws up an error "Unbalanced load". Yesterday I could really have used the door opening tool that I can't remember ever receiving!! I did eventually persuade the door to open using the button but it took a long time. This is not the first time it's happened and I'm concerned that eventually I won't be able to open the door.

If someone has the tool and it's no longer required I'd be glad to pay for one, or if someone could take a photo of it and provide some measurements I might be able to get one made.

Thanks in advance.

Yes I think that was one of my earlier posts, I complained (they were still trading) & they sent another insert with a small bit hacked off the outlet pipe. Fat lot of good it did. Oh well, one of life's lessons.

Hello Sophie. There has definitely been an issue with leaking from some of the ISE washing machine soap dispenser drawers. I remember reading about some sort of modification.

Despite all the odds my machine is still going without as yet any major faults. I kept on having the quite frequent leak though. Not all the time & luckily as I have Vinyl flooring a nuisance rather than damage.

I don't know why I didn't do it earlier as I have always suspected the stupid design to the detergent drawer. So I took out the blue moulded insert.

No more leaks. & I do not believe it alters the order of the dispensing at all. And if you use the new pods straight into the drum it's irrelevant. So for those still soldiering on & have a leak this may be the answer.

I'm back on here that the tumble dryer which I had paid £900 5 years ago has died:( it was problematic and I paid an engineer to look at it a few moths ago, he didn't have a clue but it kept working on one setting only...last few cycles it was so extra warm and burning smell came out so I stopped using it....it's been 3 weeks I turned it on, it started but just stopped after a minute or so and doesn't come on at all now........I feel so angry and stupid that I bought into this and didn't buy a Miele at the time.......

Washing machine seal was stuck back by the engineer but it doesn't wash very well and it's already rusting:( the detergent drawer which I keep cleaning religiously is so rusty and the enamel is peeling off already....If this was a premium brand that was supposed to last for up to 20 years, I'm Marilyn Monroe!!!!

Morning all,

Here I am again on this thread that I have a sneaking suspicion could run for quite a while. I still have the intermittent leak & I am 99% certain in my case it is the lousy design of the detergent drawer & that if the water pressure (which does fluctuate) is just that much higher it will whoosh out. Just like a tap hitting a spoon in the sink! Yes we've all done that.

Yesterday I decided to take out the drain plug & give it a thorough clean. It was stuck! I know several of you have had this happen. I had a think. I live in a very hard water area, straight through the chalk Downs & out of bore holes. My old Bosch had no problems in 30 years with that. A solid housefrau she was. This diva is high maintenance.

I drained all remaining water. re-tightened the drain & poured about half a pint of white vinegar into the drum. I then left her to stew.

2 hours later I unscrewed enough for a dribble of vinegar to be let out around the thread. Another half hour & i gently unscrewed the whole thing that slid out. The narrow channels top & bottom of the drain hole where the protruding moulding of the plug slide in had just enough scale to have jammed it. Job done without any force or snapped bits. Plenty of fuming about ISE of course,

I have the W288 ECO.

I have just come on here after some time and I'm not in the slightest bit surprised to read that they have ceased trading and it looks like the guarantee isn't worth anything.

It was the worst mistake I made buying 2 of their machines, a washing machine and a dishwasher.

One was replaced under warranty within the first year but that took a great deal of effort by me. The replacement machine, which was the same model but the manufacture was slightly different had the typical leak from the soap dispenser draw and even the modified part didn't cure that. ISE didn't sort that and it still does it. I also found out that the retailer wasn't paid for some of the warranty repairs by ISE.

ISE always blamed the faults on myself or the detergent- it was never their fault. The faults were always unique to me- even the leaking dispenser (even though they manufactured a modified part).

I'm sorry to see them gone but hopefully at least it stops them selling anything else to unsuspecting customers. I have never met such an awful company with regard to customer service in the way they treat customers.

Thanks for the advice, I will have a look over the Christmas period. To be honest I thought my days of washer repair where over (at least for a while). My previous hotpoint lasted 12 years with me repairing it almost yearly after the first 7 or 8. I only went for the ISE because I had had enough of doing repairs, not a lot I can do about it now though, like everybody else I disapointed to have paid for a service I will not get.

The first thing to do is ensure the washing machine is level front to back and not slightly sloping forward. Also try reducing the water pressure by turning the cold tap to it down a little. Remove and clean all the drawer including the top of the dispenser above the drawer. Also make sure it isn't overloaded. Other than that there are multiple possible causes but an engineer should be able to work out why it's leaking.

Hi, Like many other I have just discovered I no longer have a warranty, what a Christmas Present! Washer now 2 years old and I also have the leak from the draw which has been discussed but I am unsure which part if any may need filing / trimming. Is it the bottom white part of the removalble tray (on top of which the blue part fits)?

I wanted to give my own personal update to this sorry story - my own 1607W bought three years ago for just shy of £1k, has been constantly problematic during and after the demise of ISE. In the last 6 months or so we've had constant F10 / F11 drainage related errors despite doing everything I reasonably could to ensure the machine was cleared out. It also regularly stopped rinsing and spinning meaning that cycles required frequent manual intervention to force these stages. I really wanted to believe that it was simply blocked in some way but after thoroughly cleaning and flushing the machine out, checking filter, hose etc. I couldn't find a problem, furthermore the behaviour was sporadic and it would work perfectly for one cycle and then stop the next.

I have now replaced the machine with the Miele that I should have bought 3 years ago, which is performing flawlessly. I intended to keep the ISE and offer it to anyone here for parts as it seemed mechanically sound, however the Miele chaps were offering free fitting/disposal and with all of the aggro experienced I told them to take it away.

So the expensive, 20 year lifespan 'heavy duty' machine designed to replace cheap throwaway tat, is now sitting in a landfill at three years old!

Best of luck to anyone who still owns one of these - I hope you get more use out of it than I did.

The Swedish made machine had an excellent reputation,as good as the older miehle, sad they have closed. The £400+ ISE AW23 however was overpriced and prone to breakdown,for sure the one I have has been,retired as a spare we now use a (bought ex leased second hand) Bosch Classix 6 1200 much superior in all respects. I am advised by an engineer that the expensive washing machines are not really a good investment due to the prohibitive cost of spare parts.

We used the ISE Aw23 again recently waiting for a new door seal for the bosch,The ISE made a banging noise at spin cycle start.

Had the top and bottom panel off to discover the single right hand drum support has failed,second time this has happened(there are two on the left hand side). For sure this is the worst washing machine I have ever had the misfortune to own,it will be left in the front garden for the local 'Roma' to appropriate!

ColinS, we tried everything today to push it back in and it doesn't go back...I think it has to be glued somehow....I haven't heard back from D Quinn of Uk Whitegoods today so I might give him a call and ask if he could get an engineer out...

I had exactly the same part come off my machine. This was the only occassion I have ever called out an 'engineer' as ISE were still trading at the time. The engineer duly arrived and spent about 230 minutes trying to figure out how to fit it. In the end I had to show him! He glued it back in place and made an awful job of doing so as the excess glue oozed out and stained all aroud the seal.

From memory it's just a push fit but a few tidy spots of glue may help.

That looks like a seal between the outer and inner casing which presumably just dampens down noise. I can't see how it should stop it being used but I'm not familiar with those machines.

Yes it's a great shame, we needed a brand like this, they were truly unique and had a vision to change things for the better but I suppose it's just impossible to change the status quo without millions of pounds behind you. I would instinctively think the first point of call should be the people you bought it from. They should be fully aware of the full picture because it's affected them so much too. Unfortunately if a company has ceased trading then all of its infrastructure has gone. I don't know if the main people behind it will be able to help or will respond, but imagine if you'd bought the machine from Comet who also ceased trading - would there be much point emailing the former managing director? The company no longer exists so it's all gone and to be honest I'm not sure if there are legal restrictions on what they can do once it's wound up. I'm sure it will be possible to get these machines repaired in the future but the guy who sold it and (presumably) would have maintained it under warranty should know what options are available now.

As for the credit card, it's surprising what obligations credit card companies have, so it might be worth looking into further. According to Money Saving Expert the credit card company shares responsibility with the retailer -

"It's here that the section 75 rule above really comes into its own, if you have paid by credit card. That's because you have exactly the same rights with a credit card as with the retailer, which includes a breach of your statutory rights as well as administration, so you can ask it for a refund along the same lines. If you bought on a debit card or it was for under £100, it's also worth trying Chargeback procedures."

However, this looks like it's referring to when a retailer has gone bust. It's very hard to find any clear advice on what happens if a manufacturer ceases trading and the product can no longer be repaired under warranty. You need to seek more specialised consumer advice.

Here is the photo

Hello All! Our Ise washing machine's seal came off during a wash yesterday, I've emailed Kenneth Watt with a photo and haven't heard back then emailed David Quinn of UK Whitegoods saying Kenneth didn't get back is it safe to use the machine and how would we get it fixed no replies so decided to look on ise's website for a phone number and I've had a shock this morning!! I can't believe it! Then I found your forum thread..

Like many others, I was bought into this, I had thought lets not but Miele, let's back up our own people and having bought both the wm and tumble dryer and spent a fortune and read what you wrote above I'm shocked to hear and feel quite worried that our 10 year warranty means nothing now!!! I bought them in 2011 with a Coutts MasterCard, do you think I could get anywhere if I phoned them.. Or shall I try calling David Quinn as I bought the machines from him and still has the invoice...??

As you can see from the photo I think it's just cosmetic and doesn't affect the machine but I'm worried that more things might go wrong..

Noted, I have always reduced the powder by the recognised formula "that's probably about right" & never had too much build up nor any sudsing. Many thanks & all taken on board.

Yes Asko are technically the actual manufacturer, but ISE was the legal manufacturer in the same way that many household name manufacturers may have their machines built by other manufacturers to their specifications.

The ISE washing machines were somewhat customised for ISE according to their requirements but essentially they are still Asko appliances.

It would definitely be interesting to see what Asko's attitude is to helping ISE customers in the UK. I see no reason why they shouldn't be very helpful because ultimately they are their machines. I suspect that it won't be too long before there is good source of ISE spare parts once the dust has settled.

Hello Sophie's mum. In theory you should never have to add anything extra to cope with hard water. All washing machine detergent is designed to cope perfectly adequately with hard water at varying levels. All you need do is make sure that you use the quantities suggested by the detergent manufacturer for hard or very hard water. I would also ensure you use good quality detergent by one of the major brands and definitely not liquid detergent. However it might not be such a bad idea to add some of the washing soda during occasional maintenance washes as recommended here - maintenance washes reduce washing machine smells

If you actually use the correct quantities, but then add an extra product you could over soften the water which could cause excessive choose to. This could lead to leaks, and or reduced quality of washing due to the cushioning effect of the soap suds.

If you do add extra products to soften water then you would need to reduce the amount of detergent used to that of moderately hard or normal water. However, you couldn't be sure that the spoonful of washing soda is adequately compensating for the reduced detergent. It's a little bit of an inexact science so to speak.

Basically detergent is designed to wash laundry properly and to protect the washing machine from the effects of lime scale. People who have excessive limescale are almost certainly not using enough detergent. It might be possible to argue a case for using third-party products such as Calgon but only in conjunction of reducing detergent.

If you have time this is all explained in detail on my article here - do I need to use Calgon?

I have just been looking at Asko's home site from Sweden. They offer the 10 yr motor guarantee but I wonder where we stand when they were re-badged ISE? No doubt legalities mean they have no liability but is it worth a try to find out where UK customers of their machines (which is what they are) stand?

Hi

Thank you for your reply. I didn't know the original maker of these models. That could be very useful as time goes on.

And thanks for the info re the water level. I knew it was there but somehow never really focused on it. I will try a quick cycle with a normal load & compare results. At 45 mins v 1hr 40 there is a big energy use difference as well as the time to get laundry out on the line during short days (the wind is free) or another load done.

I live in a very hard water area & have always added a spoon of washing soda to the detergent to help with the hardness. I trust this is in order? I also do a regular (every 2-3 weeks) service wash at 60-80 degrees depending on what fabric is in there to keep bacteria down. There's only two in the house but it still has almost daily use with large sheets etc.

Many thanks

Hi Sophies mum. Yes there has been an issue with leaking from the soap dispenser which has been cured by trimming the siphon tube level with the back edge of the drawer though such a leak can be caused by several other factors. Check the instruction book too as many of those ISE machines (the expensive ones made by Asko) have the ability to be configured to use more water.

I bought my W288 ECO in March 2013. Like so many others I thought I was paying more for a robust machine that could be easily repaired via a sound network in the instance of a supposedly high quality machine going wrong in the first place. I am not an experienced researcher of WMs as my old Bosch lasted nearly thirty years & the repairs in the last 5 yrs of it's life such as belts hoses were done ourselves. However I read all the blurb & thought I was doing the right thing. Due to the demise of the company I am now the owner of something that if it does fail is probably beyond us to repair loaded as it is with all manner of stupid electronics.

One annoying fault is the intermittent leak of water from under the dispenser. I reported this several times. The quite rude receptionist blamed me, too much conditioner, not the right sort, not keeping the drawer clean etc. None of which was true. They replaced the dispenser drawer when I really stuck to my guns.... with an identical one that they had hacked a few mm of the syphon mouldings off! Hardly the work of good engineers!

So if any others out there have this "leak" check under the dispenser drawer, if its wet, especially with conditioner/liquid detergent take the insert out & file some of the plastic upright tube off, the bit that is the male to the removable female bit. I suggest this only if the owner of this excellent site concurs & you as owners also feel that there is no other way that you will get anything sorted if it is this design fault causing the leak. Normally such action would invalidate a warranty(?) but it looks like we have none.

Wish I'd bought a Miele.

I don't believe it washes as well as the old one due to the water saving measures, which of course have resulted in the use of far longer running times using energy generated by burning fossil fuel. Who dreams these "eco savings up"

Thankyou both.

It transpired that the plastic handle had 'snapped off' the front of the pump filter leaving the body wedged tightly inside the pump. By screwing the handle back into its thread tightly I managed to get it to click back onto the filter, then I could unscrew in the usual manner, but it was very difficult to get the filter out - about 5 minutes of wiggling it a few mm at a time. When it did come out a 50 pence piece was clearly causing problems but even with that removed, the pump filter was a very tight fit. I don't think it helps that we live in a very hard water area as some scaling was present in the pump, no doubt increasing friction.

Despite fixing this we still get frequent 'F10' errors and the machine fails to spin at the end of a wash until a rinse/spin cycle is manually selected and started. The machine seems to drain without any problems when it does work.

We'll run a few descaling tablets though it and see if that helps.

We have also replaced the rear balancing springs about 6-7 times (and have about 5 spares sat around), however I believe these were breaking because they weren't being fitted properly by repair engineers. I haven't had one break for a while now since I fitted it myself.

Spares seem to be available from UK Whitegoods who are owned, I believe, by the same parent company as ISE Limited.

I spoke with them today as I need a door seal and they tell me the part is available, albeit not for a week or so. I guess they are importing them direct from the manufacturer?

Ise washing machine spare parts

I had to recently remove the pump filter on one of these machines and it was a real struggle. From memory I had to tease it out with a pair of pliers and with lots of tugging after, I believe, rotating the cover anticlockwise to unlock it. Nothing was jamming it, there were a couple of small coins only inside once I removed it.

I was trying to trace an intermittent rubbing noise which actually turned out to be one of the top drum support springs which had worn through on it's mounting point.

Hi, I answered that point under the post you quote.

Any chance you can advise on how the filter was removed - I'm having exactly the same problem with an ISE 1607W bought barely two years ago. The plastic filter handle seems to have sheered off so the filter can't be removed. Its been the most problematic appliance I've ever owned and I'm inclined to write it off now with news of ISE's demise, but it seems daft to scrap the machine for the sake of a stuck filter.

Yes, I find it hard to believe that no one will be able to get spares. The major reason the ISE brand was created was so that independent engineers had appliances out there that they could repair and maintain. The ISE brand are not unique appliances created only for ISE, they were created using standard parts used by Beko or Asko. Any spares company should be able to get them. I will definitely keep an eye out for any developments and post here if they become available.

Yes, and I understand that many involved must have suffered here.

My issue is the warranty seems not to have been what I thought and I doubt I'm the only one. It was never promised to disappear in a puff of smoke if they'went bust!

Putting this aside. The whole thing was longevity, now parts look difficult to obtain, other fora report previous independent engineers who dealt with ISE refusing to go out to them.

With no parts supply, a simple fault can seemingly make these robust, well built machines (designed and promised with longevity in mind) completely worthless and with a short lifespan.

I hope a parts supply is found at the very least.

I'd hate to scrap the machine for a simple fault that turns up in the future which cant be fixed due to lack if parts supply.

I've no real idea how many machines are out there to know whether supplying parts would be viable. Even ukwhitegoods, run by one of the ISE directors, can not guarantee parts supply at the moment. There could be tens of machines or tens of thousands, who knows!

I hope mine keeps on, but even a simple fault may make it scrap one day I suppose....

As far as I can make out this is the main issue. If the warranty is protected and still able to be used it seems to have been made redundant by the fact that the company ISE is no longer trading. In almost every other case that I'm aware of where the manufacturer has ceased trading it has been taken over by another party and most of the infrastructure remains functional.

Unfortunately the ISE project is not one that has been attractive to buyers. It was very much a niche, almost maverick project which I amongst many others wanted to support. Sadly the reality is that nothing will ever change and it is impossible for a small group of people to change how appliances are made because it is such a massive international multibillion pound industry. There were many people, myself included, and many of their customers who really wanted this to work. Sadly, the people behind it have probably lost a lot of money, and a lot of sleep to say the least and tried their best to keep it going. I suppose it's understandable that they have just had to close it down. I suspect it may even be against certain rules to keep it going in any capacity once they have ceased trading. I don't think it's possible for a company to cease trading, or go bust, but then still trade in some small capacity even if they really wanted to try and help. I don't know this for sure, it's just my speculation.

Yes. The issue of the warranty and what was bought ( if anything) seems very very unclear.

This idea that the insurance backed warranty cannot be claimed upon because ISE are needed to process claims and they are now bust seems crazy and makes me feel very much that the water tight warranty we bought was no such thing. To be honest, there's no way of knowing if any insurance backed cover for my machine was purchased by the company at any point.

Very disappointed by this outfit.

Since 23rd December 2014 the Home page of ISE Appliances has been rewritten, setting out several anticipated FAQs concerning the warranty and future repairs, and giving ISE's sad replies. The warranty/repair situation therefore remains unchanged.

It is interesting to note that "the warranty fund did exactly as it was intended . . . [was] always a finite resource . . . only in place from early 2011 until late 2012 . . . ".

ISE comes clean, too, about the [mis?]use of the warranty and the viability of its business: "[The warranty] has been used as we sought to finds a buyer or even someone to take ISE on as a goon concern . . ."

Thank you.

Yes my understanding was there were 2 clear different warranty provisions in place, or at least advertised.

First (and this involved my machine, purchased 2010) was an insurance based warranty with the risk underwritten by an insurance policy. My belief from reading the website and from questions posed was that this warranty would provide a full 10 year cover even if ISE was to be wound up as it seems is now transpiring. My current understanding is that this will not be the case. The explanation to date has been that the warranties were indeed bought however it was explained in the forum they require a trading entity (eg ISE) to organise and process and so we are told therefore it is now useless! We seem to be told there is therefore no warranty. I've not really managed to get a full answer as to the name of the current or previous insurance provider.

Second, a new warranty provision was subsequently marketed (as you describe above) with funds set aside to adequately cover current and future warranty liabilities. It was described as an Escrow type account. My understanding also was this was to be held separate from the company. I think the position now described is these funds are now "spent up". Obviously there was some intimation that Sterling was the third party Escrow holder, I can't verify this part. The ISE machine is touted as being very reliable, but I suppose the business could have made a significant error in machine failure rate which means it (seemingly woefully) underestimated the number of calls upon the warranty. This has been hinted at with complaints that customers made large amounts of spurious claims. This would not explain the insurance backed original warranty being unavailable, unless what was purchased also was woefully not up to purpose we felt was suggested. Again, at best a business decision that went wrong at that point.

I imagine we are not likely to gain much other than venting spleen. I'm keen to document what I understood and was lead to believe when I bought.

Some consolation is that some of the engineers on the site seem to feel parts provision may not be too much of an issue in the future and so hopefully if this machine is well built it may in future be repairable (albeit at our own cost). I appreciate you've had trouble with your machine, mine has actually been very good and I hope it continues to be so (it'll probably pack in tomorrow now!)

I'm galled on a couple of levels. Firstly, all obviously is quite opaque and I have concerns regarding the warranty. Moreover was the principle that ISE was founded on - help the independent trader, pay more than you usually would, parts would be provided at cost even out of warranty to enable sensible repairs this being good for the customer and the Trade. I loved the idea, bought into it, spent more than I usually would and the warranty promises seemed great. We now have machines that may or may not be no better ecologically, financially or in terms of longevity than a cheapo Indesit!

The least we can hope for is someone at least looks at parts provision, the idea that parts may not be sourced in the future I find gutting. I'd still try and have repairs made in future, even if at my cost (but paying will vex me!). I think I still believe it was a well specced, quality machine but clearly events such as this make you doubt even that.

Regards.

In reply to ajsdoc, I repeat here what I have already posted on the ukwhitegoods site, but on a page several back from his own contributions there - so he may not have seen it. Other owners of ISE washing machines may also find the information of use, should their machine at some stage require a call on the 10 year warranty.

The ISE Appliances website used to (but no longer) include reference to its 'provision funds'. From the wording given (shown below) I understood that these funds were held in place outwith ISE itself specifically in order to give potential and existing customers assurance that in the case of difficulties with ISE itself (as has now transpired - ceased trading) the 'provision funds' would ensure that the warranty would continue to be honoured for its full term. I found the wording on ISE's page unambiguous - but it seems that I was mistaken. Here is what I wrote:

When in July 2014 Mr Watt suddenly cancelled the 10-year warranty on my W288 eco (bought new in Nov 2012 from a Glasgow retailer) on the grounds that this carefully selected dealer hadn't passed on to him my payment, I queried the warranty cover with the fund provider named on the iseappliances website. I cited the relevant website paragraph:

'Our provision funds are lodged with Sterling Assurance who are a trading name of Zurich Assurance (company number 02395416) and is fully regulated and authorised by the FSA. Our fund is account number W523411 and the money for the provision of the 10 year guarantee on all ISE applicances purchased since launch is held in that fund'.

On 6th August 2014 Sterling replied to me:

Sterling Assurance and Sterling ISA Managers have no knowledge of, or involvement in, the provision of any warranties whether relating to domestic appliances or otherwise. We are not an ‘insurance’ company, we are an ‘assurance’ company – the difference being that we offer an element of life cover with some of our investments, and we do not offer cover for material items. . . .I can completely understand that as our company name has been made available on the ISE Appliances website linked to their warranty, you may feel this infers we have a responsibility in this respect. However until you made us aware of the information ISE Appliances have placed in the public domain on their website, we were completely unaware of the situation.

--- So, from my reading of this reply it would appear that there never was a repair warranty covered by Sterling. Or, at the least, Sterling was unaware that the funds accumulated in account number W523411 were intended by ISE for repair warranty cover. ISE may have intended the funds to support warranty claims, but if so this was without Sterling's knowledge.

All perhaps seems not above board here.

There were many assurances that the warranty was either insurance backed or an escrow fund was protected in the event of the company going bust.

It now has and I'm unsure if either of these assurances remain.

People's money funded these promises at purchase, people felt the warranty was watertight.

Where are the protected funds, where is the insurance backed warranty.

Odd.

Thanks for the update and great to see it's good news. That's what I suggest in my article, you have to take the sump hose off to get to it. There are many faults that aren't covered by the extended guarantee so combined with the higher quality of the ISE10 range most people shouldn't have too much trouble. All extended manufacturer's guarantees are worth a lot less than people imagine but give great peace of mind. They only cover failure of parts due to manufacturing defects, and such failings are rare out of the 12 month period - especially with a quality product. They never cover anything that just wears or breaks through use, or of course things like obstructions

Hello,

Thought I should do an update. A great engineer came out and managed to find the problem. Two (missing) front door keys were caught in the filter. Engineer managed to get to the filter from the back of the machine, without smashing the filter which would not undo from the front. Lesson learned...double check husbands jean pockets before putting in machine. Engineer a bit puzzled as to how we had such a flood? Anyway, thank you for all your comments. Machine will be treated with extra love and care in light of current situation.

Hello Winston. If you can't get the pump filter out it's possible there could be something jamming it from the inside. Things like bra wires and other obstructions can get inside the filter and prevent it from being turned. I mention briefly how to get round this problem in my article here Pump Filter. Obviously any fault caused by an obstruction would not be covered under warranty.

Normally with a washing machine claim for not lasting a reasonable time under the sale of goods act they will take into account the amount of use a customer has already had. In other words, even if entitled to refund you can't get a full refund if you've used it for a year. In the case of a washing machine that is say four years old then the four years of use would be knocked off any compensation. Sadly, as the average age of most washing machines is supposedly as little as seven years it could be argued that in the case of a four year old washing machine it has already lasted over half its expected life. I presume they would knock off any VAT that was paid, because again presumably we cannot get VAT back because that was paid to the government. It could be that on a four year old washing machine deemed to have lasted over half its life, with the VAT taken off might only be worth a small fraction of what was paid. - and there we have the kind of depreciating value that is talked about in the reply. However, the £1000 plus ISE 10s were sold as designed to last 20 years...

Hi, thank you for all your replies! We bought both machines from UK White Goods. We spoke to someone from there yesterday and they complained about the cost of the engineer, although have not offered to pay! We tried to get the filter out ( on the advice of the engineer) just to check there was nothing stuck in there. However, the handle came off and we couldn't get the filter out. The Uk white Goods man said we would have to smash the filter to get it out but we have been told by the engineer that there is a shortage in parts! The White Goods man also said he was convinced that the leak has been caused by something stuck in the filter and if this is the case it will render our warranty null and void?

We have the engineer coming out on Monday and as one of you have suggested, we will ask the engineer to do a report.

This is the email reply my husband got from UK White Goods:

Sadly ISE is currently not trading and is likely (we hope) to be bought over by another company in the not too distant future but, that is unlikely to be fully complete by the end of the year and more likely to be at some point in the first half of 2015. Quite what will happen from that point forward we do not know at this time.

ISE currently have no manned administration at all as it has in effect ceased trading for the time being which leaves us, along with owners, with no route to service or spare parts presently until things are hopefully sorted out. This is of course of little comfort or use in the interim and we do realise this.

With an appliance, much like a car or virtually any other goods, if it is returned after a period of time there is depreciation (which is particularly severe for appliances), the loss of the VAT element and also what is known as rescission or, the use of the product. Practically what this means is that a full refund is not possible although we can certainly look at some form of repayment if you wish us to do so when the item is returned.

If you wish, you can opt to have the machine delivered back to us and we will review the situation at that point for you.

We are very sorry but we, like you are in a position whereby there is very little good news in the current circumstances and we also have no way to seek to claim back any costs incurred.

Can you tell us what the problem is though as we may be able to help or advise on solving any minor issues without involving anyone?

I've written dozens of articles myself on consumer issues and rights including the ones listed below, but there is little information on what happens if a manufacturer goes bust and there's no spares available etc. It's no use trying to make the retailer responsible for repairs under warranty if the whole service side has collapsed and there are no spares. Virtually all the advice is about when manufacturers and retailers are both still trading and spares and technical info is available or for when the machine is relatively new.

Sale of Goods Act gives us 6 years to claim for faulty appliances?

Is manufacturer or retailer responsible for faulty appliances?

Buying appliances online: What if the retailer goes bust?

Buying faulty appliances with credit cards – protection

Is the sale of goods act too hard on retailers?

The person requesting help will need to go to the retailer and be nice though, as after 6 month you have to prove it was a fault and not reasonable wear and tear, now thats going to be easy as at those prices its reasonable to expect it to last longer than 8 months (unless you have installed it wrong or been using it incorrectly), but you may need to pay for an independent expert to come and take a look (paying the call out fee for a repair man will probably be enough), and provide a report stating why they feel its not your fault.

You may then end up having to go to court to get the retailer to sort it out.. which again is unfair (but they should factor this possibility into prices as its how the law has worked for years), and I assume you can then claim the costs back.. Its in their interests to sort the problem out for you to save themselves that hassle.

In summary.. its easier to be nice to them and hope they offer to fix it. But instead of speaking to the repair agent.. you need to talk to the retailer for sure.

One of the good things about the Uk is we do actually have very good consumer protection.. (which yes is definitly not good for the small businesses it might hurt)

The actual legislation is here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/54but its a boring and complex read..

Which do a good outline here: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/sale-of-goods-act

The relevant sections:

"Your rights are against the retailer – the company that sold you the product – not the manufacturer, and so you must make any claim against the retailer."

"Getting faulty goods replaced or repaired

You have the right to get faulty goods replaced or repaired if it's too late to reject them. You can ask the retailer to do either, but they can normally choose to do whatever would be cheapest.

Under the Sale of Goods Act, the retailer must either repair or replace faulty goods 'within a reasonable time but without causing significant inconvenience'.

If the seller doesn't do this, you're entitled to claim either:

• a reduction on the purchase price, or • your money back, minus an amount for the usage you've had of the goods (called recision)

If the retailer refuses to repair the goods, and they won't replace them either, you may have the right to arrange for someone else to repair your item, and then claim compensation from the retailer for the cost of doing this.

You have six years to take a claim to court for faulty goods in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; in Scotland you have five years."

I used to sell appliances in the 90s. I was a Hoover and an Asko sales dealer. Back then we'd all virtually never heard of the sale of goods act. The way things have panned out now I would never sell anything again. The liabilities that retailers have can be far-reaching and spread out over many years. When I used to sell a brand-new washing machine we often used to just make £50. The idea that five or six years later that customer could come back to us and claim some sort of compensation would have definitely stopped me selling them.

I don't understand how a small retailer selling an appliance and possibly making £70 profit should be financially responsible if the manufacturer of that product goes bust. It seems so ridiculously unfair. As I say, I am seeking to clarify exactly what liability anyone has. These things don't happen very often so it's not really very common knowledge and there's a lot of confusion over what rights anyone actually has and who is actually liable.

Yeah I agree entirely, but within the first year they (the retailer) will definitely end up being responsible as under SoG the contract the customer has is between him/her and the retailer. . If the user in question bought the machine in March of this year its only 8 months old.. the retailer will end up bearing the cost of repair/replacement, especially since they cant claim it back from the manufacturer.

One good thing is if they are a small independent they might stand a chance of fixing the machine using their own skills and labor, at a minimal cost and not needing to write off such a large amount.

Its very unfair.. but its something they would have been aware of when they chose to become a retailer and sell goods and I assume they may have some sort of insurance in place to cover this sort of failure of supplier.. They also would have a claim against their distributor/supplier assuming they didn't get the product direct from ISE I guess. (although im sure the SoG act doesnt cover that angle it may be contractually covered..perhaps)

I can't imagine anyone being offered their money back to be honest. The guys that sold these are sole traders or very small independents, many who struggle just to make ends meet.

Clearly this has nothing at all to do with the retailers. It's not their fault. However, if there is any obligation under UK consumer law there will be nothing they could do about that. If the manufacturer has ceased trading and the extra guarantees with the machines were provided by the manufacturer then it may well be that the guarantees have literally died with the company. I am double checking, but I would be surprised if retailers have liability to do with the guarantee.

They may have some liability under the sale of goods act. Though again this would seem extremely harsh. If they do have liability this could be very financially damaging for small retailer who has done absolutely nothing wrong. The extent of any liability could potentially be around the fact that an appliance may not have lasted a reasonable time if it can no longer be repaired. If this is the case people may be entitled to some compensation which would be pro rata depending on how much use they have already had from the appliance.

Of course customers have done nothing wrong either, and their primary concern is going to be how this affects them. Some of them may be so angry they are not remotely concerned about the retailers. At the end of the day this is all going to pan out according to consumer law. I will post back if I find out anything different.

Manufacturers have gone bust before. The British appliance manufacturer Servis have gone bust at least twice to my knowledge. And two or three other relatively well-known manufacturers have previously gone bust. However, the difference here is that as far as I know they all got bought out by rivals and the brand continued. What I am unsure about is whether when the brand was bought out the previous liabilities for repairs and guarantees were ever honoured. I believe any buyer would not be liable and only likely to entertain any redress out of goodwill.

You should be OK as long as you bought it someplace that's not ISE themselves. The retailer will have to pick up the tab on that under the sale of good acts as its definitely not beyond a reasonable period. You could argue that a 10 year warranty implies that they expect it to last 10 years.

It certainly should last 10 months though so as your contract is with the retailer you need to go back to them.

If they offer a refund though it might be wise to take it under the circumstances.

Also, the ISE10 is a very good quality machine so it may not need much work on it. There's also the possibility the leak is not even from the machine as leaks from hoses at the back or the plumbing where it pumps out can be to blame for leaks. If I was the retailer who sold it I'd at least offer to come out and see what I could do, it could be something very minor. However, the retailer is also in a bad place here - it's no more his fault than the customers

Hi, I don't believe it. Yesterday my £1000 Ise10 washing machine leaked all over our new wooden floor. We bought the machine in March this year and also bought the tumble dryer