Smeg SAW7514 / SAW816

Smeg Rubbish – Nothing different to what's been reported in the below reviews. Machine is about 5 years old. Water going to the detergent compartment but not the barrel. Based on this experience....FIRST AND LAST SMEG. Show details

Worst purchase ever – Purchased this machine along with a Smeg dryer 5 years ago. Motor had to be replaced when it was only 3-4years old and now at 5 years old it's faulty again. Cycle starts but then barrel does not fill with water and clothes don't get washed. A washing machine of this type and price should last longer. Never buying Smeg again.  Show details

Good Machine – My Smeg works wonderfully cleaning my clothes, with a wide array of washing cycles. My machine did stop mid-use literally A DAY before the warranty ran out, however when I called Customer Care here in Adelaide they were brilliant. They had someone out the next day and he replaced the motor with no issues at all. I was informed that the new motor… Read more

only had a warranty that lasted until the original machines warranty expired (essentially the next day) but when speaking with the warranty team they advised that should anything untoward happen over the next year or so to just give them a call. AMAZING customer service. I would give them a 5/5 for the service the provide.

Wonderful Customer Care from SMEG – I had some problems with my SAW 7514 and the customer care from Smeg was exceptionally good. Staff from the technical department were available to give advice and, when service was recommended, the service team, from the staff member who organised service calls to the servicemen themselves, were all pleasant, efficient and helpful. When the… Read more

problem with the washer continued, Smeg replaced it with SAW 8160. I want to thank all at Smeg for the very pleasing level of customer care.

Disappointed – I wish I had read this site before I purchased this machine. My SMEG 7514 has suddenly stopped working. The 2 year warranty ceased 8 days over. The machine starts to fill with water then empties then fills then empties and continues this cycle. I bought SMEG as I thought it was a high quality brand & paid a lot of money in the hope that this… Read more

machine would last a long time. Barely 2 years. More fool me.

I have contacted the service department and am awaiting a response. Will advise further.

Paid good money for something that has broken down after 3 years – We paid well above average for this washing machine purchased in April 2014 on the promise of a very quiet machine and very high quality. Remember the days when appliances just lasted!!! After working perfectly for 3 years and as promised our SMEG SAW816 has stopped working and is out of warranty. The machine when starting a cycle starts to… Read more

fill up with water, then empties, then fills, then empties, then fills, then empties then stops and says "End". From what I have read from other reviews and on social this seems to be a common issue and I note this model is discontinued.

I thought SMEG was a high quality brand. So very disappointed. Let's hope SMEG service can do the right thing and put it right. We shall see.

The Worst! – This has to be the worst washing machine we have ever had! At the end of wash cycle it repeats the spin cycle over and over and over again. I need to go to machine and switch it off completely and then hope that when you restart it, that it doesn't repeat issue.... but it does. It was sold to us as the best on market for the money! What a… Read more

joke! It has been repaired once but never really worked well. Wish we could get our money back but I doubt that would happen. We recommend NOT TO BUY A SMEG washer! Stick to your cooktops Smeg.

Constantly stopping! – Drives us crazy, put your washing on come back expecting it to be done. No it has stopped or paused or turned off. We thought this would be great as it was a good brand but as it turns out its not that great.. I wish we had kept our old machine.  Show details

What a disappointment! – This is my 1st front loader & I hate it! I've had it for 18mths approx and it's been fixed twice, it was not cheap so this is very disappointing! It does not wash clothes well and I often have to put they twice on a long cycle, the dryer is nearly as equally bad. I'm so disappointed in this, I trusted the Smeg name! Never again. I'll be going back to a Fisher & Paykel top loader soon as I can afford it.!!  Show details

Aweful, not reliable at all – Washer Motor broke just inside warranty period (2) years. Replacement motor broke after 5 months of normal usage for a family of 4 - BUT parts only have a 3 month warranty :( So this otherwise excellent product is useless, the motors in this model are poor quality. Am trying here before i contact the ACCC as this product fails the basic… Read more

Australian consumer right of 'longevity'

Very unhappy with the quality and reliability,

Very unhappy with the after sales service

Very unhappy with the time taken for responses, feedback and parts

I can not recommend SMEG front loading washers at all based on our experience, 2 years is simply not good enough life-span.

Wish I'd never bought it - I want my money back – Bought May 2015 from Appliance Online based on great Choice Review. 1st broke in August 2015 & needed the motor replaced. Broke again November 2016 & had to wait 2 weeks for service call. Motor was replaced on 1st Dec 2016 & machine has broken again today. 27th Dec 2016. Wish I'd never bought it & will never buy Smeg again based on this experience. Should have paid the money for a Miele.  Show details

Wish I'd bought another brand – This machine is such a disappointment! I thought smeg was a good brand and all of the appliances in our new house were smeg but it was a bad choice. In under 2 years it has broken down and we have been waiting for almost 3 weeks for a new part to come in. Going to a laundromat with a young toddler in tow on your limited days off of work is not… Read more

much fun!! Before the machine broke down the wash was not great, quick wash would simply wet your clothes and not clean them, cottons wash would leave them thrashed and worn looking and gentle cycle is what I've compromised using but I still need to pre wash/scrub and clothes that need a real clean. I wish I bought something else.

Trouble shooting – When i start the wash cycle the machine starts to fill with water then stops after a few seconds. it seems to drain the water and do it all over again. This keeps repeating and the wash never starts. i can't find anything in the user manual under trouble shooting and don't know what to do.  Show details

Smeg make the WORST, most unreliable appliances I have ever owned – Today, my washing machine stopped working. This is a clean sweep for all the smeg appliances I bought for my newly renovated home breaking down and not working. Less than a year ago, I purchased a smeg gas hob, oven, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer. So far, the dryer had to be replaced as repair was attempted 3 times but could not be fixed,… Read more

the dishwasher soap dispenser does not open during the wash cycle, the ignition on the gas hob stopped working last week, the oven is useless - it has uneven heat as can be seen if using it to bake and the lopsided and unevenly browned results and the lights had to be replaced on the controls as they broke. Today, the washing machine tries to start its program but doesn't proceed, making the machine inoperable. I have to wait until Monday to call the appliance repair company, who based on my many past experiences with them, won't be available until probably a week later to come out and look at the machine, and as it looks like an electronics problem, I probably won't have a washing machine for weeks. Every single appliance so far has broken and needed repair. I am sick of it. I wish we had never bought any smeg appliances and would love it if I could send them all back and get my money back and buy ANY other brand of appliance - even the cheapest around would have to be better than smeg.

Most expensive worst washer I have ever owned – I bought this washer new 6 months ago after reading that Choice recommended it as the cleanest wash. My washing is getting duller with each wash, whites have taken on a dark, dirty grey appearance, getting worse with each wash. I'm using same products that I have used for years in top loader & twin tub washers. I have always been very fussy to… Read more

have a clean, stain free wash, unfortunately I don't have that anymore ... this is the most disappointing washer I have ever owned, ashamed to hang my wash out on the line. It is fairly quiet running.

Wish I'd bought another Miele – Recently purchased Smeg Washer SAW816 and dryer SAHP7. I'm not happy with their performance. If I wash a load on "Cotton" it comes out with only miniscule dampness, feels fairly dry to the touch, and does NOT smell freshly laundered. Likewise, in order to dry my clothes, I've had to resort to "Extra Dry" (2 hrs 55 minutes) and those clothes… Read more

will still come out with a slight feel of dampness. I have to restart the drying process in Extra Dry once again in order to completely dry the clothes. Have not stood there and watched actual time required for the "second" dry, but I really feel ANY time after 3 hours of drying is way too much. I never had these problems with my Miele washer and dryer. Buyer beware.

Early days - but I love it – I had the Smeg SAW816 delivered earlier today after my 4 year old Samsung developed a leak in the tub. I was initially looking at an 8.5kg LG or Fisher and Paykel, but they were too tall to fit under my laundry bench (by about 0.5cm). The Smeg is only 840mm high which was perfect. It's an 8kg model, so smaller than my previous 8.5kg one, but I… Read more

figured it was worth the sacrifice to not have to pull my laundry room about.

Don't tell me Beko is the same but half the price because I looked into that too and the cheaper ones were all too tall. Once you hit the 840mm Beko's (so closer to the model I bought), they were virtually the same price as the Smeg. I'm sure that works for some people, but I needed a washing machine in a hurry (ordered yesterday, delivered today), and this was my only real option. If I wanted an 850mm tall one, I had many, many more options and lots of them cheaper than the Smeg. I chose this one because it suited my requirements.

I did the drum wash initially, and I'm now into my second load of washing. This thing is quiet. I haven't tried the 1600 spin cycle out yet, but at 1200 it's whisper quiet and it scarcely moves. Fingers crossed there's no more need to shove the machine back into place after a few loads of washing. I had to check to see if it even had any water in it. The noisiest thing about it is when the water drains down the sink tube.

I'm using the Full Load Quick cycle which is done in 28 minutes - that's half the time of my previous Daily Wash cycle. It's on 30degree heat, and the cycle gets longer if you choose to make the water hotter - but only by 10 minutes if you want it at 40degrees. I'm happy with cool so far. Plenty of options with it, including anti-crease and pet hair removal (with a friendly reminder in the manual to never wash your pets in the machine).

Only down sides after owning it for all of 4 hours are that it make absolutely no sound when it's finished the cycle - not even a brief 'ding'. It's so quiet, you might forget you were even doing laundry. Also, the detergent dispenser is full of water after the wash has finished. Not sure if that's going to turn out to be a problem, but I'm just tipping the water away and then getting on with the next load.

I'll see how it goes as I use it more - it'll be used virtually every day. If I run into problems, I will update this. This review is an immediate sense of what the machine's like - it's quiet, efficient, fast, and I'm delighted with it.

why didn't we upgrade sooner! – The absolutely brilliant SAW816 was delivered on time and with no issues 2 weeks ago. It replaces a 35 year old Hoover top loader. The difference in washing is amazing. It is virtually silent; it cleans the clothes better (much better); there is virtually no residue lint on the clothes; to be able to select a spin speed (600 - 1600) regardless… Read more ·  3

of cycle is very useful; similarly with selection of washing temperature (cold - 90C); to have the ability to add a special rinse function to any cycle is good if you worry about soap residue on clothes; it uses less water; it uses less laundry detergent; replacing the top loader means the laundry seems so much BIGGER; we now have that extra bench space; did I say it is whisper quiet!

Regarding the spin adjustment; fast spin (1600max) leaves the clothes more dry but stiff. Reducing to about 1200 is a good compromise. There is an "Anti-crease" function if you want to reduce creasing and this is achieved by limiting spin speed and finishing with slower cycles to 'fluff' up the clothes.

Now "I told you so" from my wife is heard often after my resisting the change for so many years, under the false impression that the old Hoover top loader was the best and my thinking "they don't make them like this any more". How wrong I was.

Only ONE complaint. Prior to purchase, it was difficult to find detailed specs on this model and, in particular, if there are any significant differences between this and the smaller model. Calls to both SMEG and the distributor could not resolve our question about the water inputs. "Does it have HOT and COLD input, or COLD only?" A manual for this model was downloaded online and a diagram showed hot and cold water inputs. For the record, the washer we received has COLD ONLY (the hot is blanked out). Whilst we were keen to get a hot & cold model, the benefits of a COLD only washer have been explained and we would now choose a COLD only model.

Sorry, TWO complaints: The liquid "Dynamo" (for front loader) that we have is too thick for this machine. After a washing cycle, most of it still remained in the cup dispenser. So, it must be diluted (1:1 dynamo:water) to work properly. Not a big issue. Alternatively, the washing liquid could probably be put directly into the machine with the clothes.

So happy with the SMEG and love using it.

But, will it last 35 years? it is so quiet problem using liquid detergent