Just found my curry's receipt from July 2011. apart from a stupid mistake which my now ex wife did and damaged the door seal, this maching is just amazing. never has it let me down through malfunction. it is a constant. I keep it in am outhouse along with the dryer. Yes an outhouse, NOT a utility room, and it had been there since I got it. I dont think you can get these any more but if you see one on an well known auction site, and you want a machine that will last longer than my now ex wife did. get it. Yes the machine was more reliable and faithful to me than she ever was.

I've had my Excel 7 for 10 years and it's never failed, never let me down, always done what it's supposed to. I've stupidly overloaded it a couple off times but it's chugged on through and continued to deliver a great clean. I think other reviews have been seriously unlucky, as my machine couldn't have been a better purchase. I even bought one for my ex (yeah, I'm that nice guy!) and hers has just died (purchased at the same time) but that unit had a much harder life with a unit off 3 to look after. The fact that it's only just died I think says a lot about the durability built in. The question is, would I buy another Bosch? Yes, pure and simple, and in fact I've already got my eye on the replacement as/when mine dies, provided of course that the old machine gives up the ghost before the new model is replaced by a newer design!

Problems from Day 1 with this machine not finishing the wash cycle. It took 5 engineer visits over 12 months before they could offer no further explanation and just said "the problem is with you not the machine". Basically the machine has a mind of its own. If you put something in the wash that is different (eg a pair of undies in a towel wash or a T-shirt in a bedsheet wash), it senses it and decides that the wash is unbalanced and doesn't finish the wash

I’ve had my washing machine for a while now - and I hate it. The minute it breaks down I’ll be buying a non sensor basic model. I can only use Morrison’s own soap powder tablets because everything else results in the “too much soap” button flashing and the machine won’t complete the wash. That’s just using the recommended dose as well. You then have to change it to “rinse and spin” where you don’t get the fastest spin option. Additionally, it won’t spin if the drum isn’t balanced so you can’t wash anything on its own as you have to remove it from the machine absolutely dripping. If you like products like Bold, Ariel, Persil etc then don’t buy this. It does have some good programs like the 15 minute express wash - but that doesn’t make up for all the other stuff that drives me mad.

Just bought one, second hand. Hoping I can have it for a long time. After reading all the reviews. I'm thinking. Have I made a mistake!?

I bought one of these 3 years ago, the drum bearing failed after a year or so and Bosch replaced the machine. Nearly 2 years on the bearing has failed again. Bosch say its out of warranty and so i have to pay £95 for an engineer to have a look and may still have to pay to replace the machine. Do not buy this machine. If all units have a 2 year lifespan the cost of ownership is too high.

Hackedoff50's Response to Buffmartjo's Review Written on: You probably work for Bosch, you cant fool us with your salespeak drivel. I too Have a Bosch Exxcel 7 Vario NOT SO Perfect WAQ28460GB and guess what? Yes you guessed it! After 3 years 11 months, The bearing has gone on the drum, what a piece of junk, even Bosch told me it should last a lot longer than 4years. Now, shall I buy an entire drum at £200, which might last 6 months or maybe 3 years! or should I put it towards a Miele, or shall I buy another piece of C&@P..... Yes you guessed it. So many reviews of this model with failed bearings, must be a design fault. Dont by Bosch!

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUY THIS OR ANY OTHER BOSCH WASHING MACHINE. At 3 years old the drum bearings went. On any other washing machine I would replace the bearings myself (even though this is totally unacceptable on a 3 yr old machine) but on the BOSCH EXXCEL 7 THE PARTS ARE NOT REPLACEABLE. In fact this is putting me off Bosch as a company name for any product. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THAT BOSCH? NOTHING? OK THEN I AM GOING TO KEEP SLATING YOU ALL OVER THE INTERNET.

This isn't a cheap machine and is from a company that has built a reputation for quality and durability. Unfortunately they are flushing this reputation down the toilet with machines like this one. We've had ours for under 3 years and the drum bearings have failed. I assumed it would be a fairly straightforward fix, but the machine has not been designed with such maintenance in mind. Rather than replacing the bearings, you have to replace the entire drum unit at almost the cost of a replacement machine. This is therefore a disposable product and not a long term option. I won't be buying another Bosch.

DO NOT buy this useless piece of junk. It does not wash very well and certainly can't handle a decent load. I think it must be a problem with a vibration sensor because this machine certainly does not handle bedding well and does not spin if the load is all screwed up. The wash program does not cycle back and forth to keep the load evenly distributed. Unfortunately there is no spin program only one that wants to rinse as well and takes loner therefore to sort out the machines failings. Basically this is a light weight performer for light weight loads. Hand washing would be easier.

We were very happy with this machine initially; bought due to the reputation of Bosch, and the fact that we have one of their dishwashers that has lasted for 20-odd years. However it is now out of warranty and the bearings have gone. It appears that Bosch have gone the way of all the other low-end machines in a bid to compete. The repair man was much surprised that this was happening to a brand that he used to recommend, and on inspection also informed me that the bearings are designed not to be repaired as the drum is sealed. So I have no option but to buy a new machine - how green is that? It looks like Miele have the quality field to themselves now.

I paid over £400 for this machine a couple of years ago and for the most part was not disappointed. The machine was relatively quiet and produced great results with the added bonus that it was saving me money in energy bills. Unfortunately, just 5 months after the warranty ran out, the machine began to make a great deal of noise during the spin cycle. I called out an engineer from Bosch (At a ridiculous £95 callous fee!) to be told that the bearings were gone and it would be more cost efficient to buy a new machine! To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I will certainly not be replacing it with a Bosch.

After the hype of Bosch I cannot believe how disappointing the Bosch Exxcel 7 is. The most frustrating is that washing always lands up inside the duvet cover. I've tried every programme and every option and obviously fastening up the duvet but somehow it always happens - unless you wash the duvet cover on it's own which is hardly economical. Next is the spin - terribly unreliable - sometimes it works perfectly other times the washing is still soaking wet. This can happen regardless of size of wash or programme. OK, the spin programme will sort out the problem but it shouldn't be necessary. Would also agree with other comments - I am not totally satisfied with the standard of wash. I do not find the clothes are coming as clean as they should - particularly on the standard and hot washes. In fact, the only programmes I find good are the wool and delicate. Would not buy a Bosch again - wish I hadn't moved away from Zanussi.

Not impressed with this machine at all, it does not seem to wash the clothes properly, in fact they often come out looking worse than they went in, I got it to replace a dead Zanussi which really gve a good result in the wash, I have tried different cycles and different powders, same result, rubbish. Thinking about calling an engineer out to have a look at it. very disappointed

i bought this washing machine in November last year I am really disappointed with it . I am so annoyed that I have to spend at least 10 minutes trying to untangle my quilt from the sheet every time I wash them and they are always wet as it does not spin properly and when it is wet it's makes it a hard job. I agree with the other reviews that it does not spin properly. I wish I had never changed my old washing machine of 7 years it was 10 times better than this new one!

Overall this is a great machine but there is one thing that is annoying. You can't preset the cycles. For instance, every time I use the 'dark wash' cycle I have to set the correct temperature, spin speed and length of the wash cycle. The buttons to do this are supposed to be touch sensitive but it always takes me one or two attempts to shift the temperature and speed to the right setting. other than that, no problems.