I had bought Whirlpool white magic front loading (fully auto) washing machine... after 1.5 years of use their was a slight smell of wire burning on using the machine and I called whirlpool service the engineer examined the machine for 2 min and said the ball bearings needs to be replaced....
I assumed that he might be right and since the machine was new decided to get the repair done from whirlpool ... they took the machine to be returned after 10 days and with a recommendation to get a water softener from them as water was hard in our area cost Rs 1800 + cost of ball bearing change Rs 4500 and transport Rs 390 Total cost = Rs 6690.
After another year when cleaning I noticed the body was rusted and this time I called a local mechanic he opened the machine in front of me and showed me that the pipe line inside the machine has torn off because of rubbing against the wall and also said it was a bad design to have the pipe against the wall where it would rub on spinning I myself noticed this design defect (myself being and engineer) and had not expected this from a world leader like Whirpool....the body had to be replaced costing Rs 3000 from the local guy and now again the ball bearings are faulty I am thinking of buying a new machine (not from whirlpool) rather then spend on repairs..
Faulty design in front load
1) Motor is below drum and water from drum on leakage falls on it and can wreck the motor
2) bad layout of poor quality pipes inside the machine
3) Service centers are expensive and cheats
I will opt for a Samsung or LG next time