Appliance Buying Rant

C

Chewy

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My dishwasher started to act up a couple of months ago. I fixed it. I told my wife to look at different models and select ones she was happy with. Not the most expensive but good mid price ones of which she picked out 4. Tuesday night it threw a code saying the control panels switches were toast. Looked through all my TV/Radio, Ham and Computer junk boxes but nothing close enough to try. Gave her the go ahead to buy one. Nobody keeps appliances any more. In 15 miles, there are two department stores, Best Buy, 4 Lowes and a HD. Expand that to 35 miles and the numbers are crazy. Every store shows to have the models in stock. Correction, they show the floor model in stock. Not for sale. 1-2 weeks for warehouse delivery. Can't get it faster because they don't know which warehouse has it.

Finally found a scratch and dent in Best Buy Pineville, 51 miles away. Open box, excellent condition, service manuals, everything there, $200 off. BS! No mounting brackets, kick plate, electrical cover or installation manual. Now after fixing mechanical things for 60 years, I was quite able to handle the installation. But, why don't they say the item is missing stuff? I don't think they know or care to look. And they want to know why their sales are falling off.

Bottom line is this, if an appliance breaks down, be prepared to do with out unless you can find one on Craigslist or Facebook. And yes, I do know how to wash dishes by hand. We didn't get a dishwasher until I was 15-16.
 
The problem with the big box stores is that no one knows what to look for. When an item is pulled out of the box for a display model, al of that unnecessary stuff is tucked away and forgotten. Worse yet is when a customer buys an appliance, takes it home, and discovers the defect. The appliance is taken back to the store but often not all the miscellaneous items are returned. Again, the staff accepting the returned item doesn't know anything about the product so it is just accepted and often put back into stock for resale.

I dread the day when one of our appliances fails beyond repair. Our kitchen is all matched and my wife is particular about looks so more than likely, she will insist on all new appliances. And then, I will have to find appliances that will fit the built-in spaces. The good news is that I have a limited time left on this rock and they may outlive me. (I consider a 20 year warrantee as lifetime now ;) ). When I'm 98, if I am still kicking, I won't give a damn any more.
 
Ah, appliance roulette! Rebuilt my washing machine about two years ago. We've had it for 22 years from new. Hope to get quite a few more years out of it. Got the drier used about 23 years ago. They don't make stuff to last anymore. What's this "dishwasher" thing?
 
Our LG dryer was purchased new 2-1/2 years ago. A few weeks ago, I noticed that the drum was still rotating after completing the drying cycle. I literally tore that dryer apart looking for the cause. It turns out that there is a bad relay on the control board and after some sleuthing found one from Newark for $3 or so (plus $10 shipping, so I bought two). I haven't installed the new relay yet but that is on my to-do list, most likely for this weeked.
 
I got a Speed Queen S7 stacked washer dryer for our place, which has a REALLY good warranty, fantastic service, and is supposed to be bullet proof. It took a year and a half to get during the pandemic, and is now about 1k more than we bought it for!
That said, its basically a 'buy it for life' washer/dryer, as are basically all of the modern SQ stuff.

We DID have 1 warranty event. We had an error code show up 2 or 3 times, but unplugging it fixed it. We contacted a local repair center, Speed Queen took our 'word' that the error code showed up and sent the workers a TON Of parts.

According to the manual we found, the problem was basically 'signal trouble getting from motor to computer'. A vast majority of them are fixed by just replacing/fixing the wire harness between the two. Instead of doing trouble-shooting, SQ sent a new motor, computer, and harness, had the guys replace it in place, and all has been perfect since.
 
That's the problem I have with all this computerized appliance stuff nowadays. If they built it like NASA would, fine, but they don't.
One little 5 cent part fails and the whole thing shuts down. Fooey.
This is from an electronics person too. Give me an old manual machine.
 
PS not even a 5 cent part- more like a fraction of a cent, with surface mount technology
 
markba633csi said:
PS not even a 5 cent part- more like a fraction of a cent, with surface mount technology
Click to expand...
So it's replace the whole module but the module was obsolete before your dryer ever left the store so the module is no longer available. Now, if you had a schematic, you might have half a chance of repairing it yourself but the repair manuals and/or schematics aren't available so.....
 
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