It does depend what you mean for TL'S.....machines with wash plate and weird like stuff, rollers etc are top loaders too but can't provide a good wash as Agitator type does.
Even some agitator type of new ones does not get clothes clean and does not work....clothes must be agitated and flushed in water to get clean, looks like for some modern manufacterers clothes must be just soaked to be clean, infact their washer do everyything but moving and flushing clothes properly.
I know aussie TL's especially simpsons, I know newer does have indexing tubs and long strokes, well, personally I find this thing a huge idiocy as with an indexing tub you just get your clothes spinning and not flushed and agitated properly, agitator back and forth action is vanished, with an indexing tub there's not water recirculation in the tub that you have with a normal one also, clothes are just moved ahead along with tub and then pushed again to agitator ramps..... and there's not even the amount of water recirculation going up.
Said this I think all depends from machines, you have maytag so it's very strange you're getting scum marks as they have a good rinse, scum marks happends with some crappy detergents reacting with liquid softener especially detergents with soap flakes or soap bars type of soap in, also some type of surfactans, this mostly happends where water pressure is so bad to reduce a good and effective spray rinse ,happened to me once using an italian detergent with soap flakes and liquid softener (I use it at times when I go out of dryer sheets), inlet screen got full as they fixed pipes around here, with the left out suds the softener reacts and during drain and or spin it deposits on clothes a thing that with FL's does not happend as clothes are not sink in "full" contact with water and most of times in many machines also constantly moved during drain till kicking into spin.
Living in Italy I've seen and I see many FL's, no one ever provided a good wash result as TL's does! Infact alot of italians who never knew agitator washers till last years are amazed from wash results you get with them and who can get one, are very expensive here, and are getting really famous even because are alot more energy efficient using hot water instead of a heater.
I've read a lot of trifles before, for example one is that washing with a Tl's you have to pretreat stuff! What? Never had any need to pretreat something with Tl's, a thing that rather with for FL's is the rule, as for prewashing heavy soiled stuff, I let you imagine what you'd get loading muddy stuff in a FL that use less water than a TL,if someone claim you need to prewash with TL I can't imagine with a FL!
At my seaside house we have a FL and I have not only to pretreat but prewash and soak night long stained laundry by hand, infact I can tell you that is a "normal" and a "everyday" practice at least for the people I know here in Italy to pretreat and prewash by hand heavy soiled and stained stuff, before washing everyone I know who use FL's do a meticolous search even just for that pasta sauce stain there could be somewhere and pretreat it.
Things that for me are absolutely unusual and not normal!
Another thing:
TL's are "hard" on fabrics not at all, is actually the same thing of a hand washing!
I agree anyway with the fact Fl's have a genteler "action",no that being washed with an harder action like agitators matters something anyway in terms of wearing clothes as someone claim also, but of course FL's are gentler! They does not even move clothes! Just tumble wrapped, packed laundry and balls of laundry down splashing into few inches water, and this would be washing? At least older ones used more water, now just few inches!
The only thing that goes near a wash for me is when you load them with very few items, clothes at least in this occasion drop and are flushed just a little bit in water, but most part of them drop in water vertically and are not even flushed.
I think the most effective wash action of FL's I've seen (just on video though) is the Westinghouse Laundromat washer and the English Hoover (maybe Keymatic?), because of water amount used and oblique drum, but anyway I think are not even nearly comparable to TL agitator ones!
But as someone already said, we could go ahead forever with this topic.......
The only thing that leaves me a little upset is that often people who talks, I bet my nuts, have not even ever seen and or tried a FL or a TL one! You can understand this from the speeches they does!
But anyway:
About scum marks just try not using liquid softener or a different kind of detergent.
