Comment by schrijver
1 day ago
I know HN loves Miele, but they are very Apple like when it comes to repair — they don’t make their parts available to the public and since a few years neither to independent repair shops.
In contrast I had a great experience repairing a Smeg stove and buying all the necessary parts directly from them, so it’s not like it’s impossible.
> they are very Apple like when it comes to repair — they don’t make their parts available to the public
False on both counts.
Both Apple and Miele offer Self Service Repair.
Specifically in the case of Miele (since its the subject of this thread), you can buy spares directly from Miele. They openly show exploded parts diagrams on their website, and if you can't find it, you can call their parts sales number.
> Specifically in the case of Miele (since its the subject of this thread), you can buy spares directly from Miele.
With the caveat that the prices are ridiculously high to encourage you to just buy a new one. My brand new Miele C3 vacuum cost 300 EUR and I just checked the official spare parts store you mentioned. Replacement handle is 90 EUR (not including the telescopic pipe, that's another 80 EUR, or hose, that's another 40 EUR), cable reel is 100 EUR, new motor is also 100 EUR, top plastic cover (which can't cost more than 5 EUR manufactured and delivered) costs 50 EUR, and so on.
Apple's self service repair is an absolute joke and its only purpose is to exist on paper while deterring everybody away. They will ship a pelican case of factory level equipment to your house, which you need to rent ($49/week) and pay a massive deposit for ($1200). Companies that actually want users to be able to repair their stuff will write at-home repair guides and sell minimal kits similar to what's on iFixit (e.g. tell the user to heat adhesive with their hair dryer rather than a $500 piece of commercial repair equipment)
Yeah but also for an upright vacuum I bought they stopped selling parts less than one year after I bought it. They couldn’t even tell me the basic dimensions of the vacuum belt I needed. For a vacuum that was less than a year old.
The instant they stop selling a model, all the documentation is thoroughly whisked away and inaccessible to customers or anyone a customer can reach.
And they never gave me that kind of documentation so it’s not even something I “should have” saved myself.
My bad, a few years ago this was reported in the press (in the Netherlands). Maybe the regulatory framework caught up with them in the mean time.