New Appliances Installed - HD Does It Again!

[everythingold]

NEWSFLASH: big box stores sell especially made, stripped downed, cheap, pieces of junk. 25% off of course. In 5 years, when all the boards fail, call me, 616.490.1974, I will gladly advise you for free on how to get some real appliances.

Spread the message, tell your friends: DON'T BUY BIG BOX STORE SH**.

A 1 year warranty? Am I dreaming? Is there a joke that I don't get?

This insanity will only end when consumers revolt against the garbage being sold and DEMAND that their appliances last 20 years.

 

[whirlcool]

They said the same thing about our Whirlpool Electronic set that we bought back in 1993. We have never experienced a control board failure on with the washer or dryer. Never!

 

[qsd-dan]

In 5 years, when all the boards fail, call me

Hell, you don't even need sophisticated electronic control boards to render an appliance dead. The mechanical timers made nowadays fail on certain models in less than a year!! This was confirmed by an appliance repairmen with over 35 years in the field.

The only difference between a big box store and a independent ones these days is quality service and installation. It doesn't matter where you purchase an appliance at today, they're ALL under engineered, unreliable, pieces of trash compared to yesteryear.

 

[andrewinorlando]

"Until the Mexicans clean up their acts and the US starts paying American workers decent, living wages, that problem is incapable of resolution."

So, how is that going to resolve if there is a limitless supply of labor crossing the border? How is anyone going to be expected to pay "decent, living wages", when there is more labor than demand? Of course, people can smarten up and stop being so afraid to not be politically correct and demand with their dollars that labor and jobs go to American citizens.

If you come to my house to do a job or deliver an appliance, you'd better damned well speak English, or I'll kick you right the hell out, just like I did the roofers who tried to do my roof 2 years ago. Their supervisor insisted that they were "legal", so I said I'd call Immigration right now and have them verify this onsite. They were gone in 2 minutes. Bullshit to that. This is still America, not Mexico.

 

[panthera]

Andrew,

I think you may, perhaps (not trying to make you angry here) have had a knee-jerk response to my posting: panthera posted it, so it must be Marxist/Leninist/Fascist.
Which it wasn't at all.

So how would it help if the Mexicans cleaned up their act and Americans were paid a living wage?

OK, here's how. The Mexican government doesn't have to improve living conditions in their country because all the young men and women with 'get up and go' do. To the US.

If the Mexicans had a half-way decent country to live in, those people would be living at home.

Second here's how: The American middle-class (that group of people which all economists agree are necessary to a thriving capitalist economy)has been losing economic ground since Ronald Reagan. Under this administration, real income losses have been enormous for small business owners and 'normal' salaried workers - the middle class. Because these people, the drivers of the American market can no longer afford American made goods (that Value Addition I kept harping on about the last several years), things just get worse, a positive feedback loop as we are now seeing.

If we follow your argument about 'unlimited', well, I suggest the Chinese labor market is at least as great a threat to the well-being of the US worker and economy as are the desperate Mexicans.

Andrew, I am no fan of unlimited immigration. I teach refugees English and German in Germany. I had to prove language competence - in six months - to be able to stay in Germany. Don't make the mistake of casting me as your political enemy here, this issue has nothing to do with left/right politics and our dearly loved culture war. It has everything to do with the shrinking income of the US middle class, loss of Value Addition economy and a politically corrupt neighbor to the south.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Eveythinggold
I have heard the big box speciality stripped down inferior arguments before.
So I asked a Whirlpool and a Maytag dealer the question and was told this is wrong. Though some may have a special run, or exclusive machine all in all they are the same machines. All of them have just been cheapened over the years.

Now I was told on the Whirlpool and I assume it is true with Maytag; to look at the label. If it says "made in Mexico" get the extended warranty because the electronics have been giving them problems on the Duet sport.

 

[whirlcool]

I have heard of special run models for certain retailers before. Before we purchased these units, we checked on the GE & Maytag websites to make sure the model numbers were also listed there as well. So these are authentic Maytag/GE standard models.
While they are not TOL, they are near TOL models.

 

[gadgetgary]

Very Funny

The 12 pains of Christmas

 

[gadgetgary]

Sorry

Wrong post....

Oopsie!

 

[danemodsandy]

About What You'd Expect!

I know this was a horror story, but c'mon, what do you expect from stores whose management isn't even smart enough to figure out that you have to man some checkout lines to take people's money?

 

[launderess]

Special Runs

Aren't a new thing, Sears has been doing it for their "Kenmore" brand for ages.

Quality does not have to suffer, as again with the Kenmore brands, which often exceed in ratings of customer satisfaction and performance their branded cousins.

What big box stores can and often do is take a page from Walmart and demand units come in at a certian price point. Well if you are an appliance maker and someone is your largest customer, you are going to do what you have to do to get the numbers in on or below target. Something usually is going to have to go by the boards when prices drop, and sadly all too often it is quality.

According to Consumer Reports, the average lifespan of many "major appliances" runs from about three to ten years. At that point it becomes cheaper to replace than to repair (if repair is possible). So many people buy on features, which have become rather cheap to dole out, not expecting the lifespan of appliances of old.

L.

 

[ptcruiser51]

Let me try

to at least provide some answers, as a THD appliance salesman... Procedures may vary from state to state, I can only tell you how we operate here in the NY/NJ Metro area.

Our "warehouse", as such, is just an "across-the-dock" facility. Stuff comes off Maytag/Whirlpool's truck and goes onto the truck going to your house. There is no storage facility there, so anything not delivered simply goes on the truck back to the vendor's warehouse. Re-scheduling just repeats the above procedure, which is why you are directed to call the delivery service to do that.

General Electric's delivery vendor is used for all THD deliveries,regardless of make. This is why GE called you about your Maytag delivery.

Installation services vary widely between states. Here in NJ, they use different delivery teams depending on the services requested/paid for. Some teams do delivery only, others are scheduled for delivery+installation. Some are only for "go-backs" (damaged/nonworking appliance, forgotten parts). In NYC, for instance, gas hookups must be done by licensed plumbers. THD sends someone following delivery to do this. THD does not install some things at all: wall ovens, slide-in or drop-in ranges, cooktops, built-in fridges. If someone shows up unequipped to do the install, it most likely means "someone" doing the scheduling overlooked that requirement. Mea culpa.

In NJ, at least one member of a delivery team is required to speak English. I can't speak (pardon the pun) for other areas.

Delivery teams in this area are not allowed to accept payments of any kind, so I have no explanation for the dishwasher output hose situation. Perhaps in TX they are permitted to offer upgrades, such as burst-resistant hoses?

Store sales personnel are SUPPOSED to identify specific delivery needs at the time of sale (back door delivery, through the garage, etc.) Also supposed to inform the customer that a "straight shot" is necessary to deliver the appliance (no furniture in the way, hence the problem with the fridge needing to be moved by you). Delivery persons are not permitted to do this due to liability issues. Yes, someone did not do their job properly.

Your troubles are certainly out of the ordinary. You may want to contact THD Customer Care 800-791-2750 and kvetch about it. It's really up to local management, but maybe they'll offer you store credit or something. It helps A LOT if you have names, order #'s, dates, etc. Good luck.

BTW, nice choice of stuff! The Maytag dishwashers are the last things actually made in their plant(s) that have not converted to WHP. Very quiet and effective machines, my customers are usually happy with them. Are you OK with the "green" in the stove window? I always point this out, lots of customers find that a "deal breaker" - a little too glaring green for most tastes. The drawer underneath I find not particularly useful for anything other than cookie sheets! Barring that, you should be happy with this purchase. General Electric invented the over-the-range micro, so they seem to have a better track record than others, IMHO.

Wash that floor. Do it now.

 

[Cybrvanr]

My "Big Box Hell" is similar to yours, but not quite as bad. Thankfully, it had a good resolution at a local appliance shop...Hurray for Lakeside Appliance!

2 years ago, I set out to buy a new fridge. I saw a flyer in the newspaper 2 years ago for a 15 cu/ft energy star Frigidaire fridge at Best-Buy while nosing through my parent's newspaper on Christmas day. The ad also said "Free ice machine with any fridge purchase" So, I hit the road the day after Christmas to get to the store when it opened to buy this fridge I wanted. Well, typical of big-box stores, somehow they ran OUT of the model BEFORE the doors even opened on the sale day! They said they would either sell me a bigger fridge with the same discount as the smaller one, or I could wait till January 18th with they would get another shipment of that particular model.

Well, I couldn't use the bigger model because it wouldn't fit where I wanted to put it, and if I waited till January 18th, the fridge would be back at it's normal price, and I would hafta pay extra for the ice maker. I walked out of the store with my money, and didn't give them any. I then hit Lowe's, Home-Depot, and Sears looking for the same or other similar model. Nobody even wanted to even bother with getting me the fridge I wanted. Home-depot had a non energy-star model for cheaper, but it consumed much more energy (and also wouldn't run off of my backup power inverter!)

Finally, I stopped by Lakeside Appliance just up the street. Their response? SURE, we have 6 of em in the warehouse, we can have one there tomorrow! Now, they didn't have the ice maker for free, BUT they did have free delivery and installation! I went ahead and bought an ice maker for it anyways, and it came out to what I would have paid at the "sale" at Best Buy.

Well, just as they said, the guys arrived the next day with my fridge, they spoke English, and even moved my old fridge out to my garage for me! He installed the ice maker, and connected it up to my water line. They guys were very helpful, and had the job done quickly and efficiently! Best part...I didn't pay any more than I would have buying form a big-box store to get that extra mile of service!

 

[whirlcool]

Thanks for the insight as to what may have happened during this purchase. Your explanations seem right in place.

So far the appliances are working perfectly and the performance is actually better than we expected. We are very happy with the units we purchased. We love cooking with gas over electric now.

You know, we didn't even notice the green in the oven window. After I read your post, I had to go look for myself. We've used the oven a few times with the oven light on and to tell you the truth, we never noticed it. And we are usually very observant people. It doesn't bother us at all, you only see it when the oven light is on. I can't believe that this is a deal breaker for some people. I really like the fact that the oven door stays perfectly cool the entire time the oven is in use.
I'd put up with that green any day for the cool door feature.

The only comment I have is that some of the oven controls are not very intuitive. You have to read the manual to get the full use out of the system. For example, we use convection cooking the other morning. The convection fan would not turn on. I thought it was a malfunction. What the problem was is that the Convenction Fan does not turn on until the oven reaches the temperature you select. Then it turns on. This is clearly outlined in the manual.