And this second-hand bilge was worth starting a whole new thread, you thought?

You will be be bashed and lambasted here for criticizing the holy front loader.
I agree for the most part, although you can find some bell sand whistles once in awhile and not have them disintegrate on you.
My last washer was a "Maytag" and had all the bells and whistles and lasted 7 years without a single problem before I sold it 3 days ago for $200.

In general that is probably not far off, FL are usually not going to last as long, will cost more to start with and have more problems and more expensive to fix.

Yes in general a simple TL with basically nothing but an ON switch will probably last longer and be cheaper to fix if needed. If that works for you then probably about the best to get would the cheapest possible washing machine you can find. You can pick up a Kenmore TL for about $300 with 3 knobs on it and will probably last you 10 years.

I prefer to take my chances with a few bells and whistles with a TL HE washer though.
In general the foreign made (LG, Samsung, Miele) appliances seem to have the edge in reliability.

All basically a crap shoot though, you can buy the absolute worst brand FL and have it last 10+ years trouble free and buy the absolute best brand TL and have it break down in a week.

Asholo, actually, I do not care what you own or your 2 cents. I called the parts store to inquire about TL Speed Queens and they started blasting front loaders out of the blue. I thought I would just pass it on.

Whatever ... why is @asolo's two cents worth less than your two cents (which you started a new thread to share with us).

News flash - you could call 20 different places and you'd get several different opinions.

I've used FL for over 10 years with no issues. Others on this forum have used them even longer.

If they're not for you fine - doesn't mean they are garbage.

Fact is they clean and rinse better than any traditional TL.

"You will be be bashed and lambasted here for criticizing the holy front loader."

No. You get lambasted for being a jerk not for having an opinion. It's your opinion - doesn't make my opinion wrong (that's a concept you don't seem to grasp).

Let me say this. I DID NOT CALL THE PARTS STORES TO LEARN ABOUT FRONT LOADERS. I WAS SIMPLY ASKING WHERE I COULD VIEW SPEED QUEEN WASHERS. THE INFO I WROTE ABOUT WAS NOT MY 2 CENTS, IT WAS FROM THE 2 PARTS STORES AND I WAS SIMPLY PASSING IT ALONG. I AM NOT BASHING ANYONES WASHER. GESH, IF YOU LOVE YOUR WASHER, GOOD FOR YOU. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO HUG IT.

Wow .. you and @Nunyabiz1 should hang out. Sounds like you two "grumpy" old folks have something in common.

I find it interesting you called them about Speed Queen TL but you wrote nothing about those ...

Thanks for educating us all on what you heard second hand from heaven only knows who.

FWIW, you post this on an open forum about laundry ... you're going to get those who don't agree with you and they ARE allowed to voice their opinion too.

Others seeking information read these and they should have both sides of the argument to consider not just want some random guy told you.

There are plenty of people on here with "real life" experience to share.

Sorry if you don't like how it works. Perhaps you should start a blog where you are free to post whatever you like without opposition (make sure you don't allow comments).

Sometimes shouting just feels so good, doesn't it?

Did they happen to tell you what they recommend because that just eliminated about 95% of the washers that are currently in production. GE owns about 4 washer brands and Maytag is owned by whirlpool which owns about 6 brands. Maybe they mentioned Maytag because they are made by whirlpool and whirlpool makes some speedqueen washers. As far as the FL comment maybe they only know of speedqueen by the FL models. You really didn't give enough info about your conversation to draw any logical conclusions.

As far as bells and whistles I remember when people said not to get cars with power windows because it was just something else to break.

elbits, you didn't do anything wrong, except maybe in not clarifying initially that you called the store to ask about toploaders and that the store personnel gave their opinion on frontloaders under their own impetus. :-)

The comments you received above are making themselves quite clear by what they said and how they said it.

Whirlpool does not make any Speed Queen machines. Never have, never will.

MRB

I could be wrong about whirlpool making speed queen in Canada. I got that info from a usually reliable website linked below

Here is a link that might be useful: link

All our appliances have bells and whistles. Electronic controls and a bunch of other stuff. Never an issue with any of it.

I'd trust a solid state anything rather than something with lots of moving parts.

I agree this is the place to share ideas and we all appreciate this as a forum for sharing, asking, and bragging! With that in mind, I also have heard some negatives about front-loading wash machines, particularly mine, a Maytag Neptune, which has reportedly had prblems with mold building up inside. I have had mine for going on nine years and I haven't had the first problem, no mold either. I live in the deep south where the humidity is notable so maybe it helps that I wash a load of whites with bleach probably evey other week. I agree bells and whistkes are normally a breakdown point. My drier is also nine years old and only problem was a sqeaky drive belt which I fixed with a little automotive belt dressing.

Always consider the source. Some appliance repair folks of a certain age and gender often have an attachment to yesterday that can impact their recommendations. Sometimes what they know and find easy to fix gets pushed ahead of other priorities like efficiency or effectiveness. There is little point in arguing with them, better to smile and nod and thank them for their insight and walk away. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Less bells and whistles is less things to go wrong. Maytag's problems are sort of yesterday's news - Consumer's reliability scores seem to be improving as the dark years fall off their data.

Actually, I have heard the same thing as elbits from two large reputable appliance dealers. I'll always have some sort of front loader to wash my quilts in so I'll keep this junky Whirlpool going until it dies and then buy something cheap after that. I'll put it in the barn.

I'm purchasing a no frills Speed Queen top load set for my new laundry room.

I could care less about so called consumer ratings, pretty looks, cycles that try to do my thinking for me. The childish and nasty fighting that goes on in this forum is appalling. I'm not sure why people identify so closely with a hunk of inert metal in the first place. Go with your gut, and buy what you like. That goes with both the top load and the front load fans.

By the way, the appliance dealers are fairly young ones. Both carry extremely high end and expensive products. I suspect they're being honest as it would benifit them to push the highest dollar product, rather than something much less costly.

caryscott: "Always consider the source. Some appliance repair folks of a certain age and gender often have an attachment to yesterday that can impact their recommendations."

Do not discount the effect of advertising on "conventional wisdom." Ask 100 randomly selected tire store salespersons what is the best category of tire for driving on wet roads at 40-50 degrees Farenheit, and 99 of them will "recommend" an all-season tire, which is precisely the worst of the possible recommendations. The salespeople, who have never seen objectively conducted tests on the relative traction of all-season vs. "summer" tires on wet pavement, therefore do not understand that the very same chemical technology that makes a tire with a non-aggressive tread stick to snow also causes water to stick to the tread (that is, causes the tread to fail effectively to shed water) under rainy conditions, creating a water-to-water interface where the rubber (consequently does not) meet(s) the road. The salespeople have been influenced by tire maker advertising -- every tire that we make is perfect for all conditions -- and the salespeople know that the customers also have been influenced by the same advertising, and "the customer is always right."

For an appliance salesperson, the incentive to give reinforcement to an urban legend -- "there are problems with any washing machine that is not exactly like your mother's washing machine"-- is an attractive path to a commission on a sale that might be made by encouraging the customer to feel good by reaffirming the urban legend with "insider" information.

I was told by a personal contact (who's in high end appliance sales) that sales people size someone up immediately and sell them what they already want to buy. They just push them in the same direction ... much easier than trying to change their minds. They do this for a living and they know what questions to ask to figure out what you're thinking.

"Always consider the source. Some appliance repair folks of a certain age and gender often have an attachment to yesterday that can impact their recommendations."

Not to stereotype but if someone is complaining about their machine not cleaning due to low water levels they are often over a certain age.

I know 27 people using FL and with the exception of my parents everyone is under the age of 50 (majority in their 30's and 40's). No complaints from any of them. They love their machines. Various brands (Miele, LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, Maytag).

"I'm not sure why people identify so closely with a hunk of inert metal"

Well ... this is a laundry forum. Chances are many of us are a little more into laundry than most folks :)

Many people come here looking for information. They should be allowed to read all sides of the argument.

I may have made an incorrect assumption but in our area we have specialized appliance parts stores (I assumed this is the type of retailer the OP was talking about) and they don't sell appliances. If you go into one of these stores they can tell you a lot about repairs and repair trends but not that much about how well machines clean and other little details that might be important to the user. It's good information but you have to decide if their criteria for making a recommendation is also yours.

I'm not sure what logic leads someone to dismiss fairly transparent consumer testing data but embrace the word of a couple of sales people they have never met before? I suspect its because the latter told them what they wanted to hear and the former didn't but that's pure conjecture on my part.