TO REPAIR OR REPLACE?
1. Should I spend the cost for a professional estimate?
2. How much should I spend on my older appliance?
4. Our Replacement recommendations.
Whether to repair or replace a particular appliance is the most common question we are asked. So common in fact, we have the discussion daily. Sometime the question is whether to even spend the cost of a service call, or replace the appliance without even knowing the exact amount a repair would cost.
We see both extremes, customers who discard units, which have much useful life remaining to those who insist on repairing very questionable machines.
Although to some extent every situation needs to be considered individually, we will attempt to address some general guidelines here.
To decide ask yourself a few questions:
Is the appliance over 25 years old? ________
Is the appliance an imported or unusual brand? _________
Have you spent more than the present value on repairs during the past 2 years? ________
Is the physical condition of the appliance poor? _______
If you answer yes to any of these, you should probably go ahead and replace it, if you answer yes to more than one, DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY! BUY A NEW ONE!
But if the answer to all of these is no, then it is likely worth repairing, and at this point we suggest scheduling an appointment for a complete estimate.
Most customers next want to ask what it will cost to receive an accurate estimate, and we believe that is a very good idea!
We have tried to set fair rates that will encourage the initial evaluation. This is because it is the only accurate way to decide and because we believe we can repair the large majority of items at a price that will very reasonably extend the useful life of the appliance.
But here we caution you to ask questions! We are very glad to quote specific rates for an initial call, but unfortunately that is not the case for every firm. Some of the national service firms have very high up-front charges, and that is if you can even get them to quote specific rates.
Most customers want to discuss specific symptoms and sometimes it is helpful. However we would like to repeat, a specific "hands on" evaluation in the only accurate way to make an estimate, and we continually refer back to the general questions above.
Many times we have heard 50% of the cost of a replacement suggested as a rule of thumb to answer this question. We believe that is a fairly reasonable figure. We will suggest a few other things to consider.
First of all that assumes you have answered no to the questions in the section above. For example we would suggest a much lower % on a 25-year-old washer.
That percentage also should vary a little depending on the type of appliance. We suggest a little lower percentage on water appliances, such as washers and dishwashers and a little higher on dryers and refrigerators.
Be sure to calculate the add-on costs for replacement. Our estimates are usually all-inclusive and should be compared to the total replacement cost, including things like delivery, installation, and taxes. It is also fair to add the cost of the service to provide the estimate to the replacement cost, because if you do not repair the unit that will add to your total cost.
You may also want to consider the time and effort required to select a new unit, plus the date installation can be accomplished.
We admit to being biased, but we must suggest that probably the biggest factor in this decision is trust in your service company.
Is your company pre-disposed to a recommendation? Do they only want the easy jobs? Do they want to collect their (high) diagnostic fee and sell a new unit? Can you depend on their estimate?
We do not understand why anyone would call a company they do not trust. If that were the case with us we would not want you to call us. We believe this is what makes this decision so difficult.
At Bowers we are committed to honestly evaluating each job. We will take into account all of the information cited here and give you our best recommendation. We have been in business for a long time and plan to remain. We don’t want the headache of keeping a unit past it’s useful life patched up any more than you do. On the other hand we will stick to our estimates and will do our best to make your investment pay off when we recommend a repair.
Our business is built on our customers trust!
4. Our Replacement recommendations.
After we are asked whether to replace an appliance, the next most asked question is what brand we recommend as a replacement. We do not have one answer. We would suggest considering our opinions expressed here, and then buy the model that you feel best meets your needs.
Primarily we recommend brands that we do warranty service for. We feel that in our area those brands offer the best likelihood of long term satisfaction and a good value, based on cost per year to own. You will find these brands listed under the link on the left, "Manufacturers Represented."
In the past we have been partial to American brand names and in general still find that they offer the best service support as the appliance ages. However the differences continue to lessen as the majority of American branded appliances are being sold by large conglomerate corporations less sensitive to the individual consumer.
We tend to be partial to the basic models, ones with simple, mechanical controls, when you can find them. There are a LOT of premium featured appliances being marked today, but from a service point of view these high-end models often create unrealistic customer expectations about the overall quality of the unit. Often the added features provide few significant benefits. We suggest looking at features carefully and evaluating what real benefit they will offer you.
Digital controls in refrigerators and range products are pretty standard now. They are generally pretty dependable, but tend to be more expensive to replace and sometimes not available as the appliance gets older.
LAUNDRY
FRONT LOAD WASHERS are excellent for energy efficiency, but most of the models available today are very high-tech and can occasionally be difficult to diagnose and can be very expensive to repair. One misconception we see is that customers expect them to be 3 times more reliable than a standard top loader, because they are 3 times more expensive. Although they do offer much better energy efficiencies and have some other features not available on top loaders do not expect them to last any longer.
Also front-loaders installed on pedestals are popular, but unless you have a concrete floor, we would not recommend that. We see a LOT of stability issues from front loaders installed on pedestals in homes with wood floors.
OUR MOST COMMON RECOMMENDATION. As of this writing (2009) the standard Whirlpool top-load washer and their matching dryers are the laundry we recommend most often. They are sold under Whirlpool, Estate, Roper, Maytag, Kenmore, and other brand names. They are a standard chassis that have been manufactured for a number of years. The washers are direct-drive (no belts). They are easy to service and have a good service record. There are a lot of these in use that are 10-20 years old. A mid-featured washer model sells for around $349, so if you happen to have a major problem after they are a few years old they can still be economically replaced.
LOW ENERGY TOP LOADS. There a several "low water" top load models being marketed as low energy models. Examples of these are Whirlpool's Cabrio and Calypso models and Maytag's Neptune top Load. We do not recommend any of these. They tend to be expensive and give poor washing results on heavily soiled clothes.
OTHER BRANDS
PREMIUM BRANDS. There are some other higher quality brands available, brands like Sub Zero, Wolf, Five Star, etc that we do not strongly recommend because service support from the companies are poor or limited in our area. Fisher-Paykel and Samsung are brands some consider pretty good quality that we do not recommend at all because of this.
GENERAL ELECTRIC is the one major brand we do not do warranty service for. The quality of their mid-priced models are very similar to Whirlpool and Frigidaire, however the quality of their low-end leader models are notoriously poor. We do a lot of out of warranty service on GE, however availability of warranty service in our area is limited.
KENMORE is the Sears in-house brand. When you consider Kenmore appliances remember that Kenmore is not a manufacturer and that the unit may be made by any one of a number of manufacturers. They are generally good quality products, however the primary negative is that you are tied into their service department for the warranty period, regardless of your satisfaction. We service more Kenmore appliances than any other company in our area after they are out of warranty, however we sometimes do not have good access to service literature for some specific models. Sears usually sells units that match every Kenmore model under the original manufacturer's brand name. We recommend these because they give you more service options.