OT, but would appreciate input Warranties etc, maybe revisited.

Don't remember if it was this group or the RV group where we discussed
extra warranties.

Our new Kenmore frig/freezer, delivered yesterday from Sears has the
usual warranty.

They are "pushing" a $65/pa program where they come out annually to do
maintenance ( apparently the cooling fans whatever are underneath) . I
never knew they needed anything. It also covers a lot of parts, food
replacement ( up to $250 pa, which is under the Homeowner deductible).

To begin with I was against it, as is JIm.

On retrospect, we are in our 70s, don't do much of this "pull it out and
clean it" stuff.

I think I will try to talk DH into doing the five year contract. ONly
god or some other fate knows what we will be like 5 years from now.
Makes sense to me.
Opinions??

Gill

Gillian Murray wrote:
Don't remember if it was this group or the RV group where we discussed
extra warranties.

Our new Kenmore frig/freezer, delivered yesterday from Sears has the
usual warranty.

They are "pushing" a $65/pa program where they come out annually to do
maintenance ( apparently the cooling fans whatever are underneath) . I
never knew they needed anything. It also covers a lot of parts, food
replacement ( up to $250 pa, which is under the Homeowner deductible).

To begin with I was against it, as is JIm.

On retrospect, we are in our 70s, don't do much of this "pull it out and
clean it" stuff.

I think I will try to talk DH into doing the five year contract. ONly
god or some other fate knows what we will be like 5 years from now.
Makes sense to me.
Opinions??

Gill

DH has started to rethink the extended warranty on this sort of
stuff. We are only in our early 60's but there's just a lot of stuff
we don't want to bother with and it's worth the $60 or $70 a year to get
the warranty where someone else takes care of it. I say go for it if
you can afford it. As we get older, we rethink what we want to spend
our time and energy on and maintenance isn't high on MY list :-).
CiaoMeow ^;;^

PAX, Tia Mary ^;;^ (RCTQ Queen of Kitties)
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about
their whiskers!
Visit my Photo albums at http://community.webshots.com/user/tiamary

"Gillian Murray" wrote in message
...
Don't remember if it was this group or the RV group where we discussed
extra warranties.

Our new Kenmore frig/freezer, delivered yesterday from Sears has the usual
warranty.

They are "pushing" a $65/pa program where they come out annually to do
maintenance ( apparently the cooling fans whatever are underneath) . I
never knew they needed anything. It also covers a lot of parts, food
replacement ( up to $250 pa, which is under the Homeowner deductible).

To begin with I was against it, as is JIm.

On retrospect, we are in our 70s, don't do much of this "pull it out and
clean it" stuff.

I think I will try to talk DH into doing the five year contract. ONly god
or some other fate knows what we will be like 5 years from now. Makes
sense to me.
Opinions??

Gill

I do it for my air handler with a company that's been around for many years
doing mostly air, but not on the appliances. At one time I did have a
contract with a company that is here and covers all appliances. They were
fine for minor repairs, but when the refrigerator died they couldn't or
wouldn't get the proper part for repair for 4 days. They were supposed to
bring a loaner, which they did late afternoon on the 3rd day. Of course the
food was all in the garbage by then.

After 1,000 phone calls to the local office and 100 calls to the corporate
office, and a registered letter, they came up with $50 to cover the cost of
the spoiled food which I accepted out of frustration..

My friend had a contract on her air conditioner with the same company and
they left her without air conditioning for almost a week shortly after my
experience.

Needless to say that was the last they saw of either of us.

Maybe Sears, being a major company with a better reputation, would be
better.

On 7/2/09 9:21 PM, "Tia Mary" wrote:

Gillian Murray wrote:
Don't remember if it was this group or the RV group where we discussed
extra warranties.

Our new Kenmore frig/freezer, delivered yesterday from Sears has the
usual warranty.

They are "pushing" a $65/pa program where they come out annually to do
maintenance ( apparently the cooling fans whatever are underneath) . I
never knew they needed anything. It also covers a lot of parts, food
replacement ( up to $250 pa, which is under the Homeowner deductible).

To begin with I was against it, as is JIm.

On retrospect, we are in our 70s, don't do much of this "pull it out and
clean it" stuff.

I think I will try to talk DH into doing the five year contract. ONly
god or some other fate knows what we will be like 5 years from now.
Makes sense to me.
Opinions??

Gill

DH has started to rethink the extended warranty on this sort of
stuff. We are only in our early 60's but there's just a lot of stuff
we don't want to bother with and it's worth the $60 or $70 a year to get
the warranty where someone else takes care of it. I say go for it if
you can afford it. As we get older, we rethink what we want to spend
our time and energy on and maintenance isn't high on MY list :-).
CiaoMeow ^;;^

Well, we're a bit younger but with really busy schedules, and the reality
that many of the newer appliances are more specialized in parts, we've done
the warranty extensions. What we also found out, was that you have
generally at least a full year, or maybe with Sears 90 days, to purchase the
extended warranty. It's worth it if, IF, you remember to call them to come
and do the preventive thing. Appliances have gotten so costly, and repair
visits as well - that we've found it to be worthwhile in the past. We
hadn't extended on these appliances, and the warranty ran out - maybe about
a year ago. But, Whirlpool contacted us, and we were able to bargain to a
price that seemed worthwhile - as in less than the cost of replacing even
just the microwave - for 3 years, covering all our appliances. Things that
can use a regular maintenance - like the washer, dryer - are worth it. Even
with a fridge - if they come and check the cooling, make sure anything like
coils, etc are cleaned - it's worth it as opposed to spending a day moving
it, etc.

So, while I wouldn't buy one for a totally solid state thing like stereo or
TV (fewer moving parts to break) we did do it for the appliances that get a
regular work out.

Ellice

On 7/2/09 9:37 PM, "Lucille" wrote:


"Gillian Murray" wrote in message
...
Don't remember if it was this group or the RV group where we discussed
extra warranties.

Our new Kenmore frig/freezer, delivered yesterday from Sears has the usual
warranty.

They are "pushing" a $65/pa program where they come out annually to do
maintenance ( apparently the cooling fans whatever are underneath) . I
never knew they needed anything. It also covers a lot of parts, food
replacement ( up to $250 pa, which is under the Homeowner deductible).

To begin with I was against it, as is JIm.

On retrospect, we are in our 70s, don't do much of this "pull it out and
clean it" stuff.

I think I will try to talk DH into doing the five year contract. ONly god
or some other fate knows what we will be like 5 years from now. Makes
sense to me.
Opinions??

Gill

I do it for my air handler with a company that's been around for many years
doing mostly air, but not on the appliances. At one time I did have a
contract with a company that is here and covers all appliances. They were
fine for minor repairs, but when the refrigerator died they couldn't or
wouldn't get the proper part for repair for 4 days. They were supposed to
bring a loaner, which they did late afternoon on the 3rd day. Of course the
food was all in the garbage by then.

After 1,000 phone calls to the local office and 100 calls to the corporate
office, and a registered letter, they came up with $50 to cover the cost of
the spoiled food which I accepted out of frustration..

My friend had a contract on her air conditioner with the same company and
they left her without air conditioning for almost a week shortly after my
experience.

Needless to say that was the last they saw of either of us.

Maybe Sears, being a major company with a better reputation, would be
better.


I think Sears may farm out their maintenance. There is a big company called
"A&E Appliances" that has the contract for a lot of manufacturers. They did
the service on our washer/dryer at the old house - and when we moved here
and had to get a service call immediately ('cause the builder's plumber
didn't hook up the dishwasher properly - leaving it to back up water in the
bottom, and hadn't connected the 2nd motor for the internal disposal) - lo
and behold - it was a tech who we knew. Anyhow, we've had a few services
done by this company - for the washers, and the dishwasher - they were
great. On time, helpful -even got us extra parts. We had a different,
local service guy (Appliance store/repair place, I think) do the service
when the micro caught on fire. Not so happy - if the A&E guy had done it,
we would've had a new one. But, IIRC, Sears also contracts out their
service. I think they are working hard to gain back a good reputation, as a
few years back there was a huge scandal about improprieties, fraud,
mischarges, bad work, etc with the auto repair side at Sears.

We had a contract with a heating/AC company for the old house, and we
renewed it - but they lost the confirmation - big hassle - as we had to get
work done and it was kind of a rip off which made for lots of discussion to
get it sorted out as to what they charged or would charge for a module to go
into the heating unit - IIRC we ended up replacing part ourselves by
ordering the part. So, after the experience - the service call probably was
twice the cost of the contract at least, we wouldn't drop on on the
heater/ac.

Ellice

We've survived 2 sets of appliance folks in our home this year. The first
guys shoved the refrigerator back with such force that they gouged the
pantry floor. The 2nd set 'half' plugged the stove in. That could have
caused a fire. We wouldn't have discovered it except we had to pull the
stove out when the floor was replaced.
You can buy a vacuum cleaner attachment that will reach beneath the
refrigerator. I would be surprised to meet anybody who lifted their
refrigerator and washed its innards. I vote no extended warranty. If the
new refrigerator is going to do something strange, it will probably happen
within warranty. IMHO, of course, Polly

"Gillian Murray" wrote in message
...
Don't remember if it was this group or the RV group where we discussed
extra warranties.

Our new Kenmore frig/freezer, delivered yesterday from Sears has the usual
warranty.

They are "pushing" a $65/pa program where they come out annually to do
maintenance ( apparently the cooling fans whatever are underneath) . I
never knew they needed anything. It also covers a lot of parts, food
replacement ( up to $250 pa, which is under the Homeowner deductible).

To begin with I was against it, as is JIm.

On retrospect, we are in our 70s, don't do much of this "pull it out and
clean it" stuff.

I think I will try to talk DH into doing the five year contract. ONly god
or some other fate knows what we will be like 5 years from now. Makes
sense to me.
Opinions??

Gill

IMHO Extended warranties are a waste of money and I think that there are
consumer reports out there that confirm this. All of our appliances were
made in North America. IIRC all appliances had at least a one year warranty.
Extended warranties usually start from date of purchase so paying for the
first year twice doesn't make any sense. Most service work is contracted out
and adequate service can often be hit or miss. All of our appliances have
lasted at least 15 years, in part because we do not buy appliances with 101
seldom used features.

Having said that I would say that if you buy quality items there is no need
for extended warranties. When you add the price of extended warranties to
the poorer quality appliance prices you will find that you might as well
have gone for quality in the first place. Every power tool that I have in my
shop was made in North America and although some have done yeomen's work for
over twenty years they still perform when called upon.

With any quality made refrigerator there are only a few things to be
concerned about.
(1) That the unit is far enough away from the wall to provide adequate
cooling air to reach the compressor and the compressor motor.
(2) That the unit should be plugged into a grounded wall outlet that is on a
circuit breaker separate from all other appliances. This ensure that the
compressor motor can get the right amount of power that it needs.
(3) That the refrigerator is level, and well supported at ALL four corners.
A refrigerator that rocks when the door is closed or when the compressor
starts can cause the refrigerant lines to crack and leak.
(4) If the refrigerator has a drain line from inside the refrigerator going
down to a fluid catch pan make sure that food particles do not get into the
line and plug it. For some reason small green peas have a habit of dancing
around at night and one or more sometimes jump into the drain line. Result
is high moisture content builds up in the refrigerator reducing it's
efficiency.
(5) Don't pile a hundred time expired food packages around the internal air
circulating fan air inlets. The fans won't be able to circulate air properly
plus they could overheat and burn out.
(6) Don't put numerous heavy items in door compartments - this can wear out
door hinges and/or cause undue wear on the door seals.

I believe all of the above is stated in your owner's manual - on the other
hand who ever reads through 20 pages of warning notices in 20 languages to
get to the important stuff, which by the way is why I read most owner's
manuals from back to front. LOL

Fred
http://www.stitchaway.com
If nothing changes, nothing changes.
Don't back stitch to email, just stitchit.

Lucille wrote:

I do it for my air handler with a company that's been around for many
years doing mostly air, but not on the appliances. At one time I did
have a contract with a company that is here and covers all appliances.
They were fine for minor repairs, but when the refrigerator died they
couldn't or wouldn't get the proper part for repair for 4 days. They
were supposed to bring a loaner, which they did late afternoon on the
3rd day. Of course the food was all in the garbage by then.

After 1,000 phone calls to the local office and 100 calls to the
corporate office, and a registered letter, they came up with $50 to
cover the cost of the spoiled food which I accepted out of frustration..

My friend had a contract on her air conditioner with the same company
and they left her without air conditioning for almost a week shortly
after my experience.

Needless to say that was the last they saw of either of us.

Maybe Sears, being a major company with a better reputation, would be
better.

Wellllllllll, I have to say we didn't have good luck
with a warranty repair for our refrigerator with Sears. We
ended up without a refrigerator for nearly a month while they
made several trips out and waited on parts. The refrigerator
was not purchased by us and was not purchased from Sears (at
least I don't think it was), but the manufacturer provided warranty
service through Sears. That might make a difference. Nevertheless,
it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience (three kids and no
refrigerator for a month is a Bad Thing!). When we replaced the
refrigerator, we went with a local company with a good reputation
for promptly servicing the appliances they sell and bought an
extended warranty from them.

Best wishes,
Ericka

On 7/3/09 9:06 AM, "Ericka Kammerer" wrote:

Lucille wrote:

I do it for my air handler with a company that's been around for many
years doing mostly air, but not on the appliances. At one time I did
have a contract with a company that is here and covers all appliances.
They were fine for minor repairs, but when the refrigerator died they
couldn't or wouldn't get the proper part for repair for 4 days. They
were supposed to bring a loaner, which they did late afternoon on the
3rd day. Of course the food was all in the garbage by then.

After 1,000 phone calls to the local office and 100 calls to the
corporate office, and a registered letter, they came up with $50 to
cover the cost of the spoiled food which I accepted out of frustration..

My friend had a contract on her air conditioner with the same company
and they left her without air conditioning for almost a week shortly
after my experience.

Needless to say that was the last they saw of either of us.

Maybe Sears, being a major company with a better reputation, would be
better.

Wellllllllll, I have to say we didn't have good luck
with a warranty repair for our refrigerator with Sears. We
ended up without a refrigerator for nearly a month while they
made several trips out and waited on parts. The refrigerator
was not purchased by us and was not purchased from Sears (at
least I don't think it was), but the manufacturer provided warranty
service through Sears. That might make a difference. Nevertheless,
it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience (three kids and no
refrigerator for a month is a Bad Thing!). When we replaced the
refrigerator, we went with a local company with a good reputation
for promptly servicing the appliances they sell and bought an
extended warranty from them.

Best wishes,
Ericka
Interesting, Ericka. I think the last 10 years at least, Sears has truly
capitalized on its reputation, particularly with so to speak Middle America.
I had a lot of Kenmore appliances growing up, and my first washer/dryer - 20
years ago. But, in the last 10 + years, we did a bit of research, and went
as you did - with a locally owned independent appliance store that carried
quality lines. And were extremely happy with the service they provided,
their installers, etc. Only getting the extended warranty at the end of the
comes with time - and it was transferrable when we sold the other house.

I understand Fred's point - and 10 years ago - I wouldn't have bought
extended warranties. But, some of these items - the reality is they are
very expensive to have a basic service call, and are more specialized, so
the cost - even with quality items - worked out - for us. Would I do it for
anything like a stereo or tv? No, 'cause they'll either go immediately, or
way later past any warranty. Recently, however, with some of the large tvs
- like the Mitsu's with the lamps in them - depending on pricing - it may be
worth it because the lamp replacement is so expensive.

When we decided to get the warranties this time - after having waited 2
years - it was because both Whirlpool/Kitchenaid made us a good offer - and
the handle on the front loader had cracked - so after pricing ordering a
part, etc - well - might as well do the warranty. Incrementally - the cost
of covering the fridge is so miniscule compared to everything else - maybe
$60 for 3 years, it's worth it - IMHO.

We've been really happy with the folks that have the main contract - A&E,
and I also have found that when we need to schedule an apptmt - the
Whirlpool people work with you -offering up dates and which company would do
the service - so after the not fab experience with the other contract
service folks, I just say "no" to them.

Ah, we each make our own decisions.

ellice

ellice wrote:
Interesting, Ericka. I think the last 10 years at least, Sears has truly
capitalized on its reputation, particularly with so to speak Middle America.
I had a lot of Kenmore appliances growing up, and my first washer/dryer - 20
years ago. But, in the last 10 + years, we did a bit of research, and went
as you did - with a locally owned independent appliance store that carried
quality lines. And were extremely happy with the service they provided,
their installers, etc. Only getting the extended warranty at the end of the
comes with time - and it was transferrable when we sold the other house.

I understand Fred's point - and 10 years ago - I wouldn't have bought
extended warranties. But, some of these items - the reality is they are
very expensive to have a basic service call, and are more specialized, so
the cost - even with quality items - worked out - for us. Would I do it for
anything like a stereo or tv? No, 'cause they'll either go immediately, or
way later past any warranty. Recently, however, with some of the large tvs
- like the Mitsu's with the lamps in them - depending on pricing - it may be
worth it because the lamp replacement is so expensive.

When we decided to get the warranties this time - after having waited 2
years - it was because both Whirlpool/Kitchenaid made us a good offer - and
the handle on the front loader had cracked - so after pricing ordering a
part, etc - well - might as well do the warranty. Incrementally - the cost
of covering the fridge is so miniscule compared to everything else - maybe
$60 for 3 years, it's worth it - IMHO.

We've been really happy with the folks that have the main contract - A&E,
and I also have found that when we need to schedule an apptmt - the
Whirlpool people work with you -offering up dates and which company would do
the service - so after the not fab experience with the other contract
service folks, I just say "no" to them.

Ah, we each make our own decisions.

ellice



I tend toward the same philosophy about covering major household
appliances because of cost of repair. We have plans with GE, with Sears,
and with Kitchen Aid, and I've been going round and round with the
Kitchen Aid folks and they can't get the billing/payment straight, so I
don't have confidence in their repair abilities. I'm going to let that
one lapse and switch it over to the GE people, who've been really good
in the past.

(You don't want to know how much time I've wasted on the phone trying to
straighten out the plan payment, which should be a simple thing!
Especially since we're in agreement about how much I owe. And when
you're willing to give someone money and they're not smart enough to
take it, well...duh!)

sue



--
Susan Hartman/Dirty Linen
The Magazine of Folk and World Music
www.dirtylinen.com