Malcolm, i am glad your aunt has had such reliability. At the time it was the most expensive washer we had ever purchased and lasted the least amount of time. It had a powerful wash action and buttons to modify any cycle you could possibly want. I would think it was entirely possible just a bad lot of center seals. I continued to use mine, i just put an old towel down until the leak got too bad. I do remember it was right after we returned home after katrina. They wanted $350 to fix it, the seal was cheap the labor charges resulted from having to darn near take the whole thing apart. arthur