A few weeks ago my washing machine started flashing the dreaded F02 signal. I have had this happen before and we had fixed very simply the last few times. My husband takes apart the filter and cleans the entire thing out and solves the problem. This time however, after taking it apart a few times we could not get it to work.
I was only able to get through a load of laundry by restarting it about 5 times. If you can imagine the amount of laundry I do a week this was REALLY slowing me down! I had piles everywhere and was getting really frustrated. My washer is only about 5 years old but didn't have any warranty anymore. To have someone come out and look at it was $125 to start, plus whatever was wrong with it, the labor and parts. The people at Whirlpool estimated it to be about $350 to fix. To buy a 1 year warranty for it was $325.
We considered trying to fix it ourselves. We THOUGHT it MIGHT be the drain motor. To buy that part was $175. Now, if we were wrong, we were out the part and had to keep guessing.
So I started looking around at scratch and dent places. We have bought almost all of our appliances this way. As I am sure you can tell I have a really hard time paying full price for anything! :) A little scratch or small dent to save $$ is not going to hurt my feelings. We have not been really happy with our front loader. I know since 2006 they have redesigned them to drain better but my clothes always smelled a little mildewy. My Mother has not been very happy with her new one either. So I got a little brave and decided I was going back to the "old style" top loading washer. I am soooo happy that I did. I actually think my clothes are cleaner and the tub on this one is actually larger than my front loader. I am getting the same if not more clothes in at a time.
I found the one above, marked at $698. They discounted it to $450 because of a dent in the side you can't see. I talked her down to $400 almost by accident, I wasn't trying to bargain, I think she was worried I was walking away! I figure to fix my 5 year old model was going to be $350. I got a brand new one with a warranty for $50 more.
My only down side is that my washer and dryer don't match, but I can live with that. OH! AND, I sold my old washer for $150 on craigslist for parts!
Where do you shop for appliances? Do you have a top or front loader and do you like it?
12 comments:
I have had your new style washer for almost 5 years, minus the glass lid, and love it. I can fit all the bedding from overnight accidents in one run and have room for a couple towels too. I am all about the scratch and dent. We did Best Buy and then price matched with smaller businesses. Won't do Best Buy again, but I would buy that washer over again in a heartbeat. I hope you love it as much as I do!
I agree about it almost not being worth it to call a repair man out on appliances. We did once for our dryer, and it was over $100 for him to look at it.
Last year, we bought the front loader washer. I think it is really efficient, but I hate bending over to put clothes in and out.
Congrats on your bargains! :) Tanya
We have this washing machine too. We got it from Lowe's as part of the Texas Appliance Rebate Program a few months back. If it is the same size as mine, it holds about 3 times as much as the old washer I had from 2001. It has a super fast spin on it. This is good, but I found that if you don't take the wet laundry out right away, it starts to dry and has a bit of a smell to it (yuck). I tend to run it on the low spin cycle.
Overall, we're satisfied with it.
You got an awesome price too. I'm like you..scratch and dents don't bother me either!
Congrats!
Maria
Great bargain hunting! I'm still using a 13-year-old top-loading washer. Hopefully I will get a few more years out of it. Based on what my sister-in-law tells me about her experiences with a front-loader, I wouldn't buy one if I could avoid it. She says she won't buy another one.
I think a washing machine is a washing machine and I would never pay more for brand names or style. My washer I got 5 years ago (which was 5 years old when I got it) quit working, I bought a new for 295! I'm sure it will last 1 more years. I wash 6 peoples worth of clothes with it. No need to overpay!
We bought the Electrox last year, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it... I can't imagine life without it! Seriously! I had a top loader, an older one and this one does 2.5x the amount that my old machine did... 5 kids, plus a husband who thinks he literally needs to wear 3 sets of clothes daily, my washer has become my best friend! LOL!!!
I buy all of my appliances at Lowes scatch and dent, they come with the same warranty as the new ones and they will bargain with you, a few yars ago I boughta 26 cubic ft side by side and it was marked 1,600 down from 2,100....I had all my kids with me (6) and told them this was my dream refridgerator but there was no way I could afford it,I started lookin at it and noticed it had some cracks in the drawers, to ake a long story short...I got it for 600 out the door :) I go back there for everythng....I have a top loader BTW.
We got our washer and dryer from a co-worker of my husbands. We paid $150 and they were practically brand new, she only had them for about a half a year and she moved out of her house to an apt. They are the old fashion type with nothing fancy, but they work.
We are in the midst of a refrigerator issue and are deciding the same thing- repair or buy new? It was $60 for the service call and estimate. $270 more to fix it. we are looking at new ones today. Ours is 12-13 yrs old so it's probably not worth a fix.
We are going to price match at HH Gregg probably or go to Lowe's which has the lowest price and also the 10% off moving coupon!
Haha - This topic touches off SO many hot buttons for me! Front loaders are not "new" in the least, just the electronics are; and why won't they make cheaper front loaders with non-electronic panels like they do for the cheaper top-loaders? SO frustrating. :)
I grew up with a front loading machine and a clothes line, then moved to top loaders in and after college; and my husband grew up with a top loader. We both agreed right away that we wanted a front loading washer. It took us six months to choose what to buy after we bought our house, and after over six months of running to the laundromat, I can say that ANY washer/dryer would have been an improvement - hehe. :) We really wanted Electrolux, but decided it was too expensive and bought a cheaper LG instead, through Best Buy for the repair plans. Hopefully we won't ever need them though. ;) Most of my relatives have LG washers, and love them, too.
We did choose to buy the pedestals (B1G1) which makes it easier on the back, but harder to fold clothes on top of them. And we leave the washer door open after the last load so it can dry out.
I won't go back to a top loading machine by choice, but I would LOVE to have an old-style front-loading machine without the electronics. :)
PS. When we were considering whether to get a matched set or a cheaper dryer, my mother-in-law stated "most people start out with matching washers and dryers..." ;)
I apparently cannot do short comments. :P
I have a front load washer and dryer that is less than a year old and I absolutely love them! Mine are GE and I have been extremely happy with them.
We bought them at a scratch & dent place for almost half the price we would have paid for them from a full price store. The 'damage' was very minimal and they still completely match each other.
I have a top loader. It's the Kenmore version of the Whirlpool Cabrio. We got it from Sears and we did get the extended service plan to go with it---but last summer it quit working. Sears spent several weeks sending different guys out to try to fix it (they finally did succeed) during which time I spent a ton of money at the laundromat. Finally what we did was this---my husband remembered we have an extra washer hookup in the basement. We went to a garage sale and bought an old, basic used washer for $30 so now I have a backup if/when the thing quits working!! And I have had to use it a couple of times since then.
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