Live data from Hacker News

Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

nbcbayarea.com

181–190 of 191 posts

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#181

The only thing worse than having to pay for premature appliance replacement is.. the process of actually replacing them. Across different homes, different appliances, different brands, and different vendors it is always a disaster. Dishwashers especially since they touch cabinetry, plumbing, and electrical. I would pay an "A Team" premium to have an entire squad come deliver and do all work to accommodate installatio…

I hire my actual plumber/electrician to do appliance installs I won’t do myself. I’ve had nothing but problems with the contractors Home Depot and Best Buy have sent. It costs a bit, but is done right and I get to approve the work, not Best Buy.

For the last 5 years, I buy appliances from a small independent dealer rather than a big box store. I have a guys name, and it’s the same guy year after year. Their prices are as good or slightly better than you’d see at a big box retailer.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#182
post #181

The only thing worse than having to pay for premature appliance replacement is.. the process of actually replacing them. Across different homes, different appliances, different brands, and different vendors it is always a disaster. Dishwashers especially since they touch cabinetry, plumbing, and electrical. I would pay an "A Team" premium to have an entire squad come deliver and do all work to accommodate installatio…

I hire my actual plumber/electrician to do appliance installs I won’t do myself. I’ve had nothing but problems with the contractors Home Depot and Best Buy have sent. It costs a bit, but is done right and I get to approve the work, not Best Buy. For the last 5 years, I buy appliances from a small independent dealer rather than a big box store. I have a guys name, and it’s the same guy year after year. Their prices ar…

Didn't shop at any of the big 3 big box stores. You'd be surprised how bad even the local/regional family owned chain appliance specialists are.

And the repair guy was the Bosch official warranty service guy for apparently all of Long Island. I found this out when he announced he was going on vacation as he left and we wouldn't be able to get the DW compute board replaced until he returned.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Miele, it also is "expensive". On the long term is the cheaper option.

Maybe on average. Certainly isn't cheaper for my Miele dishwasher that is broken (online search suggests a fucked relay). I am somewhat cynical about buying expensive "quality" brands after being burnt a few times.

> I am somewhat cynical about buying expensive "quality" brands after being burnt a few times.

You and me both. I am (was?) a big believer of "buy it for life" because I don't like producing waste and I like the peace of mind of owning high quality, reliable equipment that doesn't break (% regular maintenance and wear parts)

But these days it seems like the only options available are paying $10 for a $10-quality product, paying $100 for a $20 quality product, or paying $1000 for a $50 quality product, none of which are appealing. I dread buying anything that's expected to last more than a year.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your drain tube is freezing up. This can be fixed permanently by using a small copper wire to connect the heating element to the drain, for better heat conduction.

Yup, and this is what one of the class-action lawsuits is about. The problem is that on our model, that drain is behind glued-in molded styrofoam that also channels the air over the coils. It broke apart when removed. The plastic is also glued on and the fan is part of the styrofoam/plastic assembly. Samsung’s design uses just a thin Z-shaped finger of aluminum that sits in the drain, and it doesn’t do enough to prev…

I didn't know there was a class action! I have the same or similar model as you. When fixing this I managed to get the Styrofoam out in two pieces and put it back well enough to cover it up again.

Terrible design. Won't be buying Samsung again.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#185
post #5

I recently bought a house with what I can only describe as some "zany" appliances. For example: - An impeller-based washer that doesn't cover clothes in water, even with the "deep water" setting, and soil level all the way up. It frequently doesn't submerge half the stuff during the pre-soak. It's a $1,000 washer and I routinely pour water into it from the sink. - A fridge with a giant ice maker in the refrigerator,…

I recommend Speed Queens for washing machine and dishwasher. We have them in our house and barn the prosumer versions not the coin ops. Have survived everything from nails-horse blankets and even a miswired 220 on the dryer.

I second the recommendation. We got rid of a Samsung washer for a Speed Queen. It does a better job cleaning the clothes for less of the time.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blackpill is once you realize this all stems from democracy catering to the lowest common denominator in everything.

I wouldn't call it democracy; the stuff this person is complaining about is neither caused by, nor even particularly related to, the government. I would call these trends in popular culture.

Democracy of the markets maybe? People are voting with their wallets and these are our results.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#187
post #29

It's not just fridges. Most appliances (most things in general?) I've seen at any price point are fairly awful. I've taken to, when at all possible, buying machines that are older (20 years or more) because those tend to work well, can be reasonably repaired, and lack those crazy undesirable features that seem to be implemented instead of implementing quality.

It's distressing. 30 years ago if you bought cheap you got cheap and maybe you get lucky or not. If you paid extra you got solid. Now there isn't much correlation. You can pay dear and get junk. And cheap is worse than it used to be. And the middle seems gone where you can buy something low frills and solid. I remember a guys essay about buying a new toaster. Turned out all the toasters he looked at had the exact sam…

In product sale terms, $15 once is also very close to $80 once. They are differentiating on "the main segment of toaster buyers".

It would be nice if someone had an incentive to differentiate for people willing to pay more.

Re: Expensive fridges are dying, leading to fraud claims

#189
post #155

All of our Samsung appliances, including the fridge, have needed multiple expensive assemblies that have molded-in non-replaceable components, turning repairs that should have cost ~$20 for a part into >$200 multi-hour DIY jobs. Our $1500 Samsung fridge, which ended up in the landfill after less than 5 years, was one of the lucky ones involved in the class-action lawsuit because it doesn’t properly de-ice the coils.…

I swear by GE Appliances. Yes, they got bought out by Haier, but their stuff is still crazy reliable, or at least it has been in our experience. We bought a GE fridge for our old rental (whole house; didn't come with appliances). That fridge was AWESOME. I still think about it, especially since the Whirlpool fridge that came with our current rental (whole house) is fine, but definitely showing its age (16yo). That sa…

I’ve had multiple GE appliances fail early on. And you can find plenty of people online saying the same.

YMMV.

Post reply on HN