I have a very similar experience with Bosch. Below expected reliability with horrible service. I feel sorry for their technicians: they are doing an ok job but have to face their angry customers day-in, day-out while their managers are hiding. We have quite a number of Bosch products, all high end and all having problems. And most of the problems are my fault... Oven: installed by developer. The clock/timer broke after 2.5 years. According to the technicians, its Ok because the oven can still be used but what is the use of an high end oven when it can only be used in basic mode. Repair cost $250. Washing machine: top of the range made in Germany. New price $2.1K. Broke after 3 years. Water hose came off and flooded the bottom of the unit. Water leak sensor kicked in and stopped machine. Technician could only come after 5 days. Blamed hose coming loose on excessive vibrations due to worn shock absorbers. Shock absorbers replaced. Cost $200. My fault because "I overloaded machine" - it's an 8Kg model most of the time half full but still my fault. 6 Months later the motor driver PCB burnt. Cost to repair: $400. At the moment (3.5 years old), there is serious rust at the bottom of the door due to leaking seal. My fault because I use too much soap. The next time it breaks (does not matter if it is tomorrow or 10 years from now), we will replace it (but not with a Bosch unit). Dryer: High end model made in Poland. New price $1.9K. Started seriously leaking from new. "Not a problem, just condensation". After 4 months the stacker kit / folding table which contains wood was destroyed. Then they finally admitted that there was a problem. They could not fix it on the spot. The dryer was replaced with a new unit. It was supposed to be exactly the same model, but had major design changes to the seals. So there was a design problem on the original unit but not word about this. Now the dryer is broken again: the main PCB needs to be replaced. Quoted repair is $380. We decided to throw the dryer and replace it with a new one, which is definitely not a Bosch: better features, lower price, also made in Europe and we paid additional for 5 years extended warranty (lesson learned, should have done that with the Bosch unit too). One Bosch gone, a few more to go... And let's not talk about the "plug replacement program"... The service centre was bugging us to change the plug while the service was already done (with appointment made through the service centre). Hob: We have a high end Domino hob. Total cost $4K for all items combined. There are 3 sections: Grill, Gas Wok Burner and induction hob. First problem was that the Wok burner was delivered with smeared sealant on the edge and class at one side and a void at the other side. This is not a $100 item - it is a high end $1K+ unit (for a single burner!). Initially they refused to replace. Either the claim was that this is inherent in the manufacturing or at other times that our contractor had damaged it. Here is where our relationship with the service centre really broke down. After a lot of angry exchanges, they changed it but although the replacement set was better, it also had the same defect but we decided to accept because we needed to cook food. The induction hob broke about 5 months later. PCB broken and replaced under warranty. But our fault because not enough ventilation. It was installed according to their installation instructions but the statement was "oh this is Singapore so you need more ventilation". Now we have to cook with the kitchen cabinet doors open because the $1.5K Bosch induction hob does not work properly in Singapore. Built-in hood: Did not break, but just very poor quality. Spent $150+ on replacement filters till now and need to spend another $150+ soon. The hood costs about $350 new so the replacement part cost is very significant. The problem is that the metallic washable filters fall apart when you wash them due to poor construction. When we called the service line to inquire about buying replacement filters, they gave us the part numbers which to buy. When I went to the spare parts centre, it turned out that the part number given does not exist - it did not even look like a real part number. Luckily the spare parts centre in Jalan Penimpin (now moved to AMK) was helpful and found the correct part number which they luckily had in stock. The only reason we have not changed this is it is built-in so all cabinets need to be replaced if the hood is replaced. But it is planned for next year - the main reason to replace the cabinets is to get a better hood which has become the excuse for putting in better cabinets. Total cost of items bought: $8K + roughly $1K worth of developer installed items. Repair costs in just under 4 years: $1K + $0.15K coming soon and $0.4K we refuse to pay - $1.5K total Items can break, but we are now at the stage that "oh no not another Bosch product breaking". It is not just the cost, it is the hassle. Going to the coin operated laundry after you spent $4K on a washer/dryer combination is annoying. The Bosch technician knows us by name by now because he is visiting us so often. The real problem seems to be no communication within Bosch internally - you need to scream at them to get anything done.
