ISE Appliances

It is an int eresting position in which I find myself being able to write about the history of a brand and actually being a part of that history. The brand is of course ISE, Independent Service Engineering.

Many people look at ISE as being a new brand and, factually it is a new brand on the market but there is a massive wealth of experience and knowledge backing that up.

In mid 2005 two directors of UK Whitegoods, became increasingly aware that repairers across the UK were totally frustrated by the cheap brands that were so pervasive in the market just as we were. They decided to do something about it.

Talking to our customers over the years and to the trade we came to realise that many people didn't want a cheap throw away

machine at all, what people wanted was a machine that fitted the bill, did the job and was built to last a good eight years or more as well as being cheap to repair if and when it went wrong.

And so, the concept behind ISE was born.

We trialled many appliances and none met the criteria that we had set with quality of build, longevity and repairability until we happened across a machine that was eventually to be built for us in Turkey. We would have liked to have a machine produced in the UK, but there were no available production facilities available here. But nonetheless we ended up with a robust machine that was well built, performed well and was repairable.

The first ISE appliance, the CI555WH washing machine, landed in early 2006 with sales starting in May of 2006.

In 2007 ISE has received praise for the ethical and environmental stance taken and is due to introduce a new range known as ISE10, appliances which are sold with a ten year parts and labour warranty. This range will be manufactured in Sweden by Asko Appliances to the highest possible standards, arguably the best quality appliances in the world.

We do hope that the concept of us actually looking after our machines and our customers appeals rather than being a faceless corporation that doesn't care. ISE does care deeply for its customers, its community and its environment after all, that was the point of the brand being formed in the first place.

Retail Prices

ISE is now firmly in the top market sector of the industry with the demise of all but the top end ISE10 range. In September of 2010 ISE delisted all the lower level models to concentrate solely on the high quality Swedish built products. Much of the reasons cited for this seem to center around a number of people buying the lower quality machines but expecting it to be a "cut down" version of the top level machines, which of course they were not as they were produced in different countries and factories from the ISE10 range. Rather than cause confusion ISE decided to simply drop out of that area of the market completely to concentrate on better quality applainces and expand their range.

Many of the ISE products are in light commercial use and a regularly seen in hotels, MOD bases, prisons and so on where the price is more gauged over the whole life of the product rather than the initial cost which is of greater importance in a retail environment.

In general the trade regards the Asko made ISE machines very highly indeed for build quality, reliability and longevity often all outstripping almost all brands now available.

ISE Spares

Spares pricing is very keen as this was also a founding reason for the ISE brand and part of making the appliances last longer, lessening the impact on the environment. Although spares prices cannot be cast in stone as there will be little sales of spares until 2011 due to the warranty on the products although some of the short lived ISE2 range will require spares in 2010.

Some spares have also started to appear in our store for machines that have come out of commercial warranty or, have been used in a commercial environment incorrectly and so far in relation to the machines the spares are actually very reasonablly priced. As a general guide, on like-for-like as best we can compare, an ISE10 motor is about half or less the equivelent Miele motor, a PCB controller almost a quarter of the cost of an equivelent Miele with no special tools or programming required to replace any of these spares. This could make the ISE a much more low cost appliance over the entire life of it let alone the ten year warranty.

From what we've seen so far though we'd have to say that spares costs are very good with almost 100% avaialbility on the ISE10 range which is very good.

ISE Service And Repairs

Aftersales service is provided by a network of independents locally for a faster more efficient service. In most cases the seller of the machine services it for the lifespan of the product.

Refreshingly, technical support and information is freely available to the trade and, as much as can be legally given, to customers. Thsi includes technical support in our forums where there are a number of active ISE agents and ISE employees that will respond to any issues that people have as well as the usual email and telephone support.

The ISE website explains more at iseappliances.co.uk