Servis M3115

...we looked at - The Servis M3115S at Argos. So back to the first shop then!!

For the princely sum of £217 the washing machine was purchased, and delivered with no extra charge within seven days of ordering. (Argos only promise 14 days though) There was some distress caused by the delivery times available - as the machine comes direct from the supplier, the available slot is between 10am and 2pm, so you can't even do a half day at work. ...
...have gone to work and saved my day's holiday- bah, humbug!!!

On unpacking, the full splendor of the machine within is revealed. This model comes in a very sleek, sexy silver colour (Hence the model name M3115S - for Silver, do you see?)

The user manual is reasonably straightforward, with the usual puzzling diagrams. However, it wasn't too hard to figure out what they were getting at. The achine comes with the standard ... more

Hello everyone. Hubby to be is in Barcelona, having been to the footie last night, so I thought I'd make my first foray into the world of domestic appliance opinions.

Washing machines are brilliant. I lived for a couple of years without one, and I was forever spending in excess of three hours a week at the launderette, just watching my smalls going round and round. On occasion, this was a good thing, as a launderette is a prime place to chat up single men. Only on Thursday nights though - it seems young chaps don't do washing at the weekend.

For the last couple of years, our washing machine has been perfectly serviceable, but wasn't the most good looking appliance in the kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, it sadly passed away, and an engineer told us it would cost over £100 to fix. Well, I thought to myself, why bother fixing it then, when a new one doesn't cost much more than that. And hubby to be wisely nodded his head and agreed that this was a good idea.

So, onto the shopping. We visited all the usual suspects (Comet, Curry's, Empire Direct and Argos) As is to be expected, my heart was set on the first one we looked at - The Servis M3115S at Argos. So back to the first shop then!!

For the princely sum of £217 the washing machine was purchased, and delivered with no extra charge within seven days of ordering. (Argos only promise 14 days though) There was some distress caused by the delivery times available - as the machine comes direct from the supplier, the available slot is between 10am and 2pm, so you can't even do a half day at work. In addition, it didn't arrive until 5pm, so I could have gone to work and saved my day's holiday- bah, humbug!!!

On unpacking, the full splendor of the machine within is revealed. This model comes in a very sleek, sexy silver colour (Hence the model name M3115S - for Silver, do you see?)

The user manual is reasonably straightforward, with the usual puzzling diagrams. However, it wasn't too hard to figure out what they were getting at. The achine comes with the standard 12 month warantee, and several standard safety features - it won't turn on if the door is't properly closed, and it won't spin if the load isn't properly distributed. About what you'd expect really - nothing too fancy.

One thing to be wary of - most machines have one bolt holding everything steady during transport. The M3115S has, count'em FOUR!!!!! These must be removed before use. Also, behind the back panel are four plastic "spacers" which if not removed can damage the machine. They looked a bit like cotton spools to me, and I found the best thing was to unscrew all eight screws holding on the back and take them out by hand. The book mentions all sorts of weird manouveres (did I spell that right?) with a screwdriver - but my way is easier, honest.

The dimensions are approximately 60cm wide, 50cm deep and 85 cm high, so it fit most snugly in the allocated kitchen space we have. The height can be raised or lowered by some little feet that alter in the manner of the stools in instant photo booths. This allowed me to make sure the machine was well footed on the wonky, uneven flooring installed by Mssrs Bodgeit and Scarper who lived in my house previously - that one is a story in itself, believe me. It's a heavy old thing though, weighing in at
81 kilos (about 12 stone for the un-Metricated) and I could only just about move it by myself. I found it much easier to let the man of the house take the strain!!

So, anyway, having installed my new washing wonder, it was time for my first wash. The machine was amazingly quiet, and didn't smash all the glasses on the worktop with it's bad vibrations - so top marks for that. Mind you, any new machine sounds much quieter than the old one in my opinion. It's very easy to clean, as the detergent drawer and filter are very easy to remove.

There are a huge array of functions with this machine. Just as a quick rundown, you have five buttons at the front. These represent Rinse Hold, Half load, no spin, extra rinses and slow spin. There is also a temperature dial set in 10 degree Celcius increments from Min (20) to 90 - so all types of muck, grime and filth are catered for. Finally on the front is the programme selector. I spent quite a while trying to work out how to turn the thing on,(the last one had a button) until I read the manual and found that you select your programme, and then pull out the dial to switch it on.

Programme wise, there are 16 different options going from a traditional hot wash at 90 degrees, to a wool silk wash at 35. Most of the variants in between seem to be there as well.

The maximum load for this washer is 2.2 kilos for man made fibres, which apparently equates to 5 pairs of pants, 3 blouses, 2 nighties, 3 shirts, 2 pairs pyjamas and 1 apron. This is nothing like what I put in it, as I do not own an apron!!

For cottens and linens you can get a massive 4.5 kilos in, which is much more like it.

My wash emerged cleaner and more thoroughly spinned than before, so I am happy. Hopefully, my new friend will live a long and productive life - I'll let you know if it breaks down in the next year or so.

For the price, I don't think this machine can be beaten for style or function, so if you're in the market for a cheap machine that looks quite expensive, this may be the one for you. If you like expensive machines that look very expensive, you'll probably need to look elsewhere.

I hope you enjoyed this - all comments gratefully received as this is the first opinion of this type I've done. Cheers for reading it, especially if you don't actually want to buy a new machine. Oh God, now I feel really bad - like a double glazing saleman stopping a mum with three screaming kids and twelve shopping bags!! 

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