These are indeed a UK Hotpoint, badged in Aus as GE.
I don't like them much. (I've owned a couple)
They are astonishingly noisy.
The drum floor has a step in it, so that they never completely pump out as the outlet to the pump is on the high side of the step. (WHY???) A little bit (about half a cup) of soapy water remains in the drum after each wash / rinse and goes into the next rinse. So I always found it to be a poor rinser. (I am very sensitive to soap residue though.)
They seem to have an appetite for brushes, and the brushes, if you can find them in Australia, are very dear. I last played with them over 10 years ago and at that time, you could get motor brushes for a Hoover front loader from any spare parts shop for $7 a pair. The GE brushes come in a plastic mount and cost $120 a pair, and had to be ordered in with a long delay.
They also have a crazy design of door lock which uses a plastic wedge (gloriously named a "pecker") connected by a cable to the door lock. When you try to open the door, the cable pulls at the pecker (excuse me!) and presses it towards the drum belt. If the belt is moving (the drum is still turning) then the moving belt deflects the pecker and the door won't open. If the belt has stopped, the pecker presses against the belt firmly, releasing the door lock. It seems to be pretty unreliable, from the couple I have seen. (though the other common design, with a door lock which heats up to lock and won't release till it has cooled down, isn't a paragon of reliability either.)
You could always order in parts from the UK these days - isn't the internet a wonderful thing?
It could be a moderately interesting addition to a collection, but I wouldn't use it as an everyday machine, unless you have another to use when it breaks down. (what, shock horror! someone dares question the reliability of British manufacturing??? as they used to say about Jaguars, you need to buy two, one to drive while the other is in being fixed!)
