Not meaning to burst your bubble...
Hi Robliverpool, I can see that your new Hotpoint turned out to be a fiasco and I'm glad you realised in time to get rid of it: I recently tried one of them myself and I soon sent it packing... in a roundabout way for the same reasons you're giving in your post.
I had a similarly bad experience (or even worse) with a Beko though, it looked identical to this one on the outside (see pic below), but it might have been different from the inside and the way it worked compared to the one you got. It was a 7Kg slim-depth model (50cm deep) and I'd say it was the worst, most inflexible and primitive machine I've used in my life! I used to like the look of it so much, that when I was presented with an offer on this model, I couldn't resist and I sold my Zanussi Lindo to make room for the Beko: that was the biggest mistake I've ever made!
Inflexibility of use and incompatibility of wash functions/options were just some of the limitations of this machine: e.g. the 'Prewash' could not be selected with any other option, I often use this function on other washers for small loads of cleaning cloths and sponges and I typically like to choose a shorter wash time (small loads don't need to be beaten in the drum for hours on end) and add some extra rinses as these little loads would be particularly grubby... but this wasn't possible with this Beko. Compared to older Bekos, the main wash phase had been given some thought and criteria (e.g. the machine would tumble immediately while loading water so it would get an adequate amount of water for the size and absorbency of the load inserted in the drum), but when it came to the rinse, the machine would statically load a set quantity of water ignoring any possible load size/type and resulting in a massive waste for a small load which would be swimming in an ocean of water... and barely enough water for a big load which would absorb it and drop its level considerably: I found this totally unacceptable from a washer conceived in 2015... considering that most washers have nowadays evolved to recognise what they have inside and wash/rinse appropriately reaching maximum performance and efficiency. So many other things, no matter how significant they were, made me loathe this machine with a passion... to name but few: the tremendous gap in the spin speed selection, either 800rpm or 1400rpm with nothing in between; all those pre-programmed phases carried out even when not needed resulting in more waste of resources and time (other machines I've tried use an anti-suds phase only when suds are present) and even little annoying things like how accidentally moving the knob during the wash would change the program (unless child lock was used) and end up with a cancelled cycle.
In my case, this machine was sent packing and replaced by the Hotpoint which ended up the same... I now have a Hisense which is far superior in terms of efficiency, flexibility and wash evolution/intelligence... I'd say, in comparison to the first 2 contendants, it's the equivalent of a human being vs a mere machine. Rant over
