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i googled the model refrigerator i want (LFX31925ST), which the cheapest i've found in a store is around $2500, and found it at buyriteappliances.com for about $2300. that's pretty good, but i don't know where to fine the most reliable reviews about different online retailers.
I had bad luck when buying my W/D from HomeEverything.com, they took 3 weeks to arrive and we had to install them ourselves. They look and run great, but can't handle the load size they advertise which has me always wondering if thats why we saved. I would spend the extra $200 and have the piece of mind.
I'm a pretty dedicated online shopper due to personal circumstances that make it hard for me to leave the house. But I had an experience just recently that made me think twice about buying top-dollar purchases online.
I spent a lot of time deciding what kind of laptop computer to buy. I carefully compared prices. I got by far the best deal online and the fact that the company offered me an extra year's warranty over the one most places offered sealed the deal for me. After happily using the $800 computer for 16 months, the hard drive crashed. Thank heavens I have that extra warranty time, but even so it's been a real pain to get it fixed. The seller's only offer to me is that I should send it -- not to them, but to the manufacturer -- and they can give me no idea whatsoever of when I will get it back. The reason? Because of the tsunami in Japan (!) "nobody has any hard drives." I'm just supposed to accept that response and I have no manager to yell at or no store to camp out in until I get some "customer satisfaction."
I am NOT a happy camper. I refused to send my computer out into the blue and finally got them to agree to send the hard drive to me since they admitted that would be much faster "because of the holidays," but it's now been three weeks since the crash and still no hard drive.
I have a friend who owns many rental properties she buys appliances for and she told me she would never buy appliances online because it's too hard to get any satisfaction if something is wrong. I think she has a point. I really wish I had spent a little extra and bought my computer from a local brick and mortar store.
There are number of reason that I would recommend against buying appliances from any online-only store.
Unlike things like MP3 players appliances still have LOTS of moving parts. Though they are designed to be somewhat jostled during shipping the degree to which they can get literally beat to death by some "lowest cost" freight service trying to get it to your home is a disaster waiting to happen. I have seen LOTS of "scratch & dent" appliance from even reputable, skilled appliance delivery firms that I would NEVER want installed in my home as the odds of them working as designed for their full life span is NIL when it has basically been thrown off a truck.
Even if the product looks OK there is strong possiblity that the ARROWS that say "This Side UP" have been ignored by some third party that wants to cram as much into their truck as possible, for LOTS of appliances this will result in the bearing for the moving parts being stressed in a destructive way - this will cut the life significantly. Items with compressors (like freezer, fridge, A/C) can have the oil backup and the efficiency of the unit will be compromissed.
Finally all appliance makers have a warranty policy that is geared toward "date of installation" -- for firms that do their own installs (which is frankly the ONLY kind of appliance dealer to consider...) they will activate the warranty once they do the final installation. Firms that ship stuff across the country can cut WEEKS off your warranty, and given how picky some manufacturers are such appliances have been known to have their warranty TOTALLY voided...
In my experience there are honest family appliance dealers in / near most any good sized city that will jump at the chance to meet / beat any legitimate internet price for commonly available major appliances -- sometimes, with any an off color or a unit that has unpopular features, the manufacturer gives the mom & pop shops HUGE discounts. I find this is far & away the better deal than either 'scratch & dent' or internet order. To get all appliances looking good instead of having some "biscuit" and other "almond" or "sand" I also recommend getting the "panel kit" from the appliance manufacturer and then geting the appropriate trim from your cabinet company to make it all blend in seamlessly...
I'm a pretty dedicated online shopper due to personal circumstances that make it hard for me to leave the house. But I had an experience just recently that made me think twice about buying top-dollar purchases online.
I spent a lot of time deciding what kind of laptop computer to buy. I carefully compared prices. I got by far the best deal online and the fact that the company offered me an extra year's warranty over the one most places offered sealed the deal for me. After happily using the $800 computer for 16 months, the hard drive crashed. Thank heavens I have that extra warranty time, but even so it's been a real pain to get it fixed. The seller's only offer to me is that I should send it -- not to them, but to the manufacturer -- and they can give me no idea whatsoever of when I will get it back. The reason? Because of the tsunami in Japan (!) "nobody has any hard drives." I'm just supposed to accept that response and I have no manager to yell at or no store to camp out in until I get some "customer satisfaction."
I am NOT a happy camper. I refused to send my computer out into the blue and finally got them to agree to send the hard drive to me since they admitted that would be much faster "because of the holidays," but it's now been three weeks since the crash and still no hard drive.
I have a friend who owns many rental properties she buys appliances for and she told me she would never buy appliances online because it's too hard to get any satisfaction if something is wrong. I think she has a point. I really wish I had spent a little extra and bought my computer from a local brick and mortar store.
The recent flooding in the Bangkok area has really disrupted a large portion of the global disk drive supply. Western Digital specifically and many others, too, manufacture drives and parts in that area. They were under 5 feet of water for about a month, 600 people died.....http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/bu...pagewanted=all
Last edited by khuntrevor; 12-11-2011 at 11:04 PM..
I bought a whole kitchen worth of appliances from US Appliance and had no problems at all. The order came in promptly and I installed them. No shipping charges either, from what I remember. I think we saved about $1,000 altogether.
I did a lot of research online looking for the perfect specs in the type of fridge I wanted. Eventually found the exact model I wanted, and several places that sold it -- all online, couldn't find anywhere brick and mortar that had it on the floor for me to look at.
However, I did have a good local appliance store that was willing to special order it for me, and at a price close to the online prices. It was nice to be able to get what I wanted through online research, and still support a local store. Sometimes if you call around, you can handle it this way, and then still have the local stores support for delivery and installation, repairmen, etc.
Just remember when you buy on line you are hurting the local stores.
So if your not over paying for your anything you buy, YOU are hurting the economy. See a sale on clothes? Resist that urge to buy it, go to the most expensive store in town and pay more for the same stuff, think of all the jobs you be saving.
Honestly I can't see your logic here. Why should I over pay when i can get the same thing cheaper. If someone else can't complete, then they go out of business. It's the Capitalist way. I remember I purchased some furniture at a store that was going out of business. They gave me a that I thought was great price, even taking something extra off cause it had a small scratch, last one in stock, had to pay extra for shipping. Armed with the brand/model information I decided to do an online search to see what a good deal I got. I quickly found the same exact thing online for $200 cheaper, no scratch and free shipping. To make matters worse, I went back a few weeks later to see what else they had left and they had another set of the "last" set they had on display. People who do not shop around, weather it's in stores or online are SUCKERS!
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