The worst purchase we made was a new washer. It was supposed to be energy efficient, and to be able to conserve water. I liked the way it looked, too - it had a see through lid, and a deep drum. I thought it would be good for washing quilts so I wouldn't have to lug them to a laundromat. Well, we are now putting it on Craig's list!
First of all, the stupid thing wasn't getting our clothes clean! At first, we thought it was the laundry soap we had switched too, so we brought a stronger brand. Then I started noticing dry patches on the clothing after the wash was finished. Got suspicious, and looked it up on YouTube. There was a slew of videos about how to defeat the weight requirement by pouring in a quantity of water to make the clothes heavier, in order to trick the machine into filling with more water. So the darned thing wasn't capable of getting our clothes clean at all. When we moved into our current house, we were overjoyed to find that an old washing machine came with it; the kind that has an agitator and actually fills with as much water as you want. I never thought I would be glad to get rid of a modern machine in favor of an older one!