Most retailers wouldn't be interested after far less a time (e.g 6 months) than that and would refer you back to the manufacturer. I know your contract is with the retailer, but this would have likely also been outside of warranty and given that it had worked it is deemed fit for purpose, and also would be extremely hard to prove it had not lasted for a reasonable time.

The key thing with tumble dryers is their energy efficiency. Most cheap dryers are C rated. This is B rated and so cheaper to run. Given that some dryers cost around £1 per load, it's worthwhile doing research on how many loads you will do in a year against cost per load. This will generally guide you to a suitable choice. For heavy users, it can sometimes work out better to spend £800 on an A rated machine.

Thanks. I understand the efficiency makes a difference. Don't think we'll use it enough to warrant a high cost high efficiency model. Just thought this model might have settings, electronics etc. that were above this price range. Thanks for the website, that looks useful.