joeypete
Well-known member
Yes it's all about competition. Alliance, as odd as it seems now, really is catering to a "niche" market now. A market that doesn't want anything fancy and modern. Granted their sales have taken off because of their reliability and probably due to the fact that there are still a lot of Americans (and Canadians) that want a top load machine with agitator. Actually that was why GE designed their new machines the way they did, because people still want that agitator!
A lot of the issues the HE machines have I think are pretty isolated and though not always, due to user error. Of course you always hear about those stories instead of the ones like mine that praise how well something works.
I'm not sure about Speed Queen, but most other manufacturers make their parts to be replaced not repaired. While reading up on my Filter-Flo there was an article from about when their "new" machines came out in the 90's and how the components could not longer be rebuilt. Basically you throw away a broken transmission and buy a new one. Honestly I'd be surprised if you could rebuild any of the components in a Speed Queen either....
Case in point...my coworker just bought a new Samsung gas stove. She noticed that the burners did not change between medium setting and high setting. Her husband used to repair appliances so he knew that it needed to be adjusted. They have propane so he suspected it wasn't set right. So they call Samsung for a warranty repair and right of the bat they told them they would just send them a new stove. A NEW stove...they had theirs for like a week and that was the only thing wrong with it. They didn't want the expense of sending a repairman out to adjust the burners, instead just send a whole new unit. Samsung in particular (from what I've read) prefers just to give you a new ---- instead of repairing. Throw away products. I suspect if you call even GE or WP they would send someone to look at it. While great, it makes it clear how they think of their products. Kinda sad really.
But to be fair too, manufacturers do what their customers want. Everyone is in a hurry these days. Do you want to wait a week for someone to come and fix your dishwasher? Or do you want to go online to Sears, Home Depot, etc and just buy a new dishwasher and have it delivered within a day or 2. No one wants to wait for anything these days. I want it NOW!!
A lot of the issues the HE machines have I think are pretty isolated and though not always, due to user error. Of course you always hear about those stories instead of the ones like mine that praise how well something works.
I'm not sure about Speed Queen, but most other manufacturers make their parts to be replaced not repaired. While reading up on my Filter-Flo there was an article from about when their "new" machines came out in the 90's and how the components could not longer be rebuilt. Basically you throw away a broken transmission and buy a new one. Honestly I'd be surprised if you could rebuild any of the components in a Speed Queen either....
Case in point...my coworker just bought a new Samsung gas stove. She noticed that the burners did not change between medium setting and high setting. Her husband used to repair appliances so he knew that it needed to be adjusted. They have propane so he suspected it wasn't set right. So they call Samsung for a warranty repair and right of the bat they told them they would just send them a new stove. A NEW stove...they had theirs for like a week and that was the only thing wrong with it. They didn't want the expense of sending a repairman out to adjust the burners, instead just send a whole new unit. Samsung in particular (from what I've read) prefers just to give you a new ---- instead of repairing. Throw away products. I suspect if you call even GE or WP they would send someone to look at it. While great, it makes it clear how they think of their products. Kinda sad really.
But to be fair too, manufacturers do what their customers want. Everyone is in a hurry these days. Do you want to wait a week for someone to come and fix your dishwasher? Or do you want to go online to Sears, Home Depot, etc and just buy a new dishwasher and have it delivered within a day or 2. No one wants to wait for anything these days. I want it NOW!!