You could be screwed even with the extended warranty though. Nice to not have to pay for the repair, but if it takes the guy 3 months to get the part it doesn't make it any better. When ours went out I was looking for a garage sale $50 one to get by with until I found something.
Refrigerator shopping
- Thread starter dbias
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Yeah, I mean even though it shouldn't happen to these people and I do feel bad but you buy an appliance from a company based on the other side of the world and ... well ? Your kind of stuck with it.I've said it before and I'll say it again
Whirlpool = American company at least you have someplace to "go to" but never mind that, regardless of some comments in here, I think we have a pretty nice home here and all I know I think I will be replacing the appliances just to freshen up everything before any of them break down because they just keep going and going. 16 years now, dishwasher, stove, above stove microwave, refrigerator, washer, dryer. Why would I buy from an overseas company = China (GE) or Korea (Samsung/LG) if I got such good service my whole life from Whirlpool?
(sometimes I think we have something against our own products made here*LOL*)
Im just typing this whole heartily in a fun way but is the way I feel. I do also feel that competition for features makes some products from all brands unreliable. I dont get it, wife feels the same, why would I want WiFi appliances and other electronics features to do the job a well built machine is supposed to do and can do without all that marketing crap?
Its the one thing that gives me pause in the desire to change them out, we typically buy the higher end "elite" products but I dont want all this garbage thrown in for a task of keeping the food cold or washing my underwear, my god we are a nation of excesses.
What people dont realize, with electronics and wifi and other garbage, just like any electronic what looks modern is outdated in 5 years but the task of cooking, washing the clothes/dishes never ends and your high end machine, full of electronics and marketing garbage is outdated in 5 years, just like a phone or computer.
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I agree with what you said, but it doesn't work if you can't get one from Whirlpool for 3 months.
Yeah, tough times right now for someone needing one right away based on your post, but this is just a blip in time, things will be back to normal soon.
When we replaced appliances a couple of years ago the salesperson said stay away from Samsung if it has anything to do with water (dishwasher and fridge). We do love our Samsung oven and gas cook top though, no issues with either.
I hope so because things are heading the wrong way. I feel a little better with LG being South Korean instead of Chinese if there is any consolation. The Frigidaire that we had was from an American company too and it was the biggest piece of junk I have ever owned.
It's hard to pinpoint a single manufacturer being good or bad on reliability looking across multiple kitchen and laundry products...each appliance has its better and worse picks on brand which can make it a tough choice if you want everything in the kitchen to match. I'm just completing a kitchen remodel including new appliances, and went with GE on all counts minus the dishwasher. I chose to keep my existing KitchenAid unit and bought a new control panel and front panel in ss to match the new appliances. I wasn't going to go GE dishwasher because that is the one category they consistently rank lower in on reliability, compared to Whirlpool who makes some of the best dishwashers.
Fridges in general: ice in the door for french door model = the highest chance you'll have issues statistically. Stay simple with any brand IMO and you'll be better off. I went with a french door unit without water and ice in the door...ice box in the freezer drawer is just fine and it does have an internal water dispenser although I don't need it as we have an RO system at the sink.
As stated before, parts availability will always be better with GE, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, and their sub brands. My local appliance shop said they've had no issues getting parts throughout the past couple of years specifically for GE.
Fridges in general: ice in the door for french door model = the highest chance you'll have issues statistically. Stay simple with any brand IMO and you'll be better off. I went with a french door unit without water and ice in the door...ice box in the freezer drawer is just fine and it does have an internal water dispenser although I don't need it as we have an RO system at the sink.
As stated before, parts availability will always be better with GE, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, and their sub brands. My local appliance shop said they've had no issues getting parts throughout the past couple of years specifically for GE.
The problem with GE is that their parts prices are 2 to 3 times higher than Whirlpool and Frigidaire, and many of the same parts come from the same vendors.
They are definitely pricey. We had a vegetable drawer LED go out. Tech said it's a good thing we are under warranty. $500. That's beyond reason. It's a piece of plastic with a LED snapped onto the underside of it.
Yeah, I like the GE name but wouldn't be able to get "over" that its now majority owned by China (2016). Kind of a shame for me, only leaves me with Whirlpool (oh and maybe Kenmore?) which is great and would stay with Whirlpool anyway but in my mind one less choice because of GE being majority owned in China.
Many/Most Kenmore appliances have been manufactured by LG for the last few years.
"In October 2017, an announcement was made on the termination of the Sears-Whirlpool appliance relationship, which dates back to 1916. Sears will no longer sell Whirlpool and Whirlpool subsidiary-branded appliances."
This leaves Whirlpool (and it's subsidiary brands Amana, Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, and Maytag) as the only appliance manufacturer left that is both owned-by and produced-in the US. Whirlpool does manufacture appliances in China, but they sell them primarily in the far east.
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Great post //
As far as Sears, really sad what has happened to them, amazing all the poor choices they made, ran the company into the ground.
Ironically 16 years ago it was where we bought all our Appliances for our new home. That store in a nice mall near us was closed down years ago.
I still talk about it to my wife. Its why even Bozo(what I call him) says Amazon one day will become extinct, I mean, in many ways, decades ago, Sears was like an Amazon, household word.
Used to be my favorite store. You could get about anything you needed there. You could just see it eventually coming with the bad management, etc. The store looked like a garage sale junk pile right before they closed.
I asked the repairman who was fixing my Samsung fridge what he would buy. He said the same thing, GE & Frigidaire.
based on my experience I couldn't recommend Frigidaire.
It is truly a shame about Sears. They were an American icon, the world's largest retailer for many years (until 1990), and founded/spun-off quite a few companies, including... Allstate, Discover, H&R Block, Western Auto (now Advance), Tire America (now NTB), DeSoto paint (now Sherwin-Williams), Roper (AYP, now Electrolux), and Prodigy. They also put quite a few companies on the map and helped to make them successful by selling products manufactured by them, including... Whirlpool, Electrolux (vacuum cleaners), White (sewing machines), Tecumseh/Peerless (OPE engines and drive systems), Poulan/Weedeater, Stanley, Black & Decker, Michelin, Cooper, Armstrong Tires (now Titan), Globe-Union (JCI, now Clarios), Maremont (Gabriel), Walker, and MANY others. Sears even sold kit houses (many of which are still standing) and cars.
At one time, 75% of all the Whirlpool products manufactured were sold by Sears.
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Thinking back this is all I've ever had. Current is a Frigidaire that was here when I bought the house 7 years ago and it hasn't skipped a beat. Even the icemaker and dispenser work!
Our Maytag side by side with cold water dispenser has a filter too. The filter was very expensive so I bought a Maytag "filter delete" filter replacement. Cost about the same as a filter but it never needs replacing. The refrigerator asks for a new filter periodically and I just reset it.
The manual suggests it came with the filter delete filter replacement. But we didn't buy it so I can't say.
Our mains water is excellent so I don't know why we would want a filter. We don't have one on our kitchen tap.
If your old ones work I'd suggest you just hang onto them. That older stuff can at least be fixed a lot of the time.
The oven on our kitchen range has been a bit erratic. Likely a failing temperature probe. Will cost about $40 for a new probe and an hour of my time to replace it. Or we could buy a shiny new range for $1800 - 4000 plus $75 for delivery plus $20 to haul away the old one. What to do, what to do?
