I'm having issues with my new sewing machine (a Brother 2160) and am going to attempt to get my money back from Spotlight tomorrow. My best friend and I got our machines together and both have the same problems.

Firstly, the top thread gets stuck (for want of a better word) sometimes and the thread doesn't spin on the little thread holder, which means when you look at the back of the material you are sewing, all the thread is gathered up and ugly. It looks normal on the top but wrong underneath. So you have to unpick. This doesn't happen every time, probably 1 in 8-10 times. But it's ugly and annoying. I've been told this wouldn't be due to tension, because if it was tension then it would happen every time. Does that seem logical?

The other problem is that if you stop sewing and the needle is in the material, and you wind the machine's knob (I don't know the right term!) towards you to raise the needle, it then somehow puts the top thread into the bobbin and it gets stuck and you have to carefully cut the top thread and pull it out, while not losing the bobbin thread. Does that make sense? I would have thought this is not something that would happen EVERY time you stop sewing with the needle in the material. I mean, it's very annoying. Can anyone tell me if this happens on other machines?

I've spoken to the dept of consumer protection, they say that I can ask for my money back because, from my description, the machine is not fit for purpose (considered a major fault). That is, it's a sewing machine and it doesn't sew properly.

Any comments???