Harry P. Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Sorry to hear of your expensive misfortune Harry. You're right about how companies really stick it to you when you're in a jam and need it now. Most of the time "we" don't think of shopping around for several estimates when we're "under the gun".Exactly! No time for shopping around and getting quotes when everything in the fridge is decomposing by the minute. And boy, they know it! (the fridge repair companies)... they know they have you by the.. um... spheres... and they take advantage of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 A home warranty policy is good for things like that...mine covers repairs to appliances, the A/C, plumbers, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Maybe it was time to buy a new refrigerator Harry, instead of putting money into the one you have. Or was that out of the question? Funny you mention that. The fridge was bought in 2001, so it's pretty old as far as kitchen appliance lifespans go. But this was the first time it ever had any problems in all those years, so I figure I've gotten my money's worth out of it. The repair guy said the average age of a refrigerator that needs repair is four years old! So I lucked out big time, going more than three times that long before needing repairs. We'll see how it goes. I may be good to go for another 14 years. Or it may break down again in a month. It's a Kitchen-Aid, which is supposedly a good brand. We'll see... A home warranty policy is good for things like that...mine covers repairs to appliances, the A/C, plumbers, etc... Yep. But one of those things you don't think sbout until you wish you had it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I got a home warranty about a year ago and it has paid off. The warranty was 100.00 to start and it is 50.00 a month. A service call is 65.00. Mine covers anything pretty much. Air, garage door items, all appliances, ceiling fans, water heater, RO system, water softener, all faucets ( had two done already ) and more. Seeing as the house is 8 years old now ( bought new ) and had the water heater go out at a cost of 700.00 and also my water softener fiberglass tank went out at a cost of 600.00 the warranty seemed like the way to go Those items went out before I bought the warranty. . Piece of mind is worth more than the cost of the plan. IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Call Uber. They'll give you mobility.No cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Call Uber. They'll give you mobility. No cash. Ouch. That sucks. Sorry to hear that, but I hear ya. No cash... not a lot of choices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Maybe it was time to buy a new refrigerator Harry, instead of putting money into the one you have. Or was that out of the question? Funny you mention that. The fridge was bought in 2001, so it's pretty old as far as kitchen appliance lifespans go. But this was the first time it ever had any problems in all those years, so I figure I've gotten my money's worth out of it. The repair guy said the average age of a refrigerator that needs repair is four years old! So I lucked out big time, going more than three times that long before needing repairs. We'll see how it goes. I may be good to go for another 14 years. Or it may break down again in a month. It's a Kitchen-Aid, which is supposedly a good brand. We'll see... A home warranty policy is good for things like that...mine covers repairs to appliances, the A/C, plumbers, etc... Yep. But one of those things you don't think sbout until you wish you had it! Funny how everybody is always harping on how much better cars, appliances and every other piece of carp under the sun is today. We have a vintage fridge in the shop been running since 1955. Never repaired, just engineered and designed with top-quality parts and materials to operate well, and not cost-engineered into trash. Of course, it doesn't have any iPhone apps, and it doesn't connect to the internet to remind you when your box of wine is getting low...it just keeps food cold. What a concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Ouch. That sucks. Sorry to hear that, but I hear ya. No cash... not a lot of choices. Early retirement kicks in in two months, I'll be able to begin to repair my life then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I suppose the phrase "they don't build them like they used to" applies here. When I was a kid we had a refrigerator that lasted forever. It was a "Speed Queen" and it just worked. Period. For years. Ouch. That sucks. Sorry to hear that, but I hear ya. No cash... not a lot of choices. Early retirement kicks in in two months, I'll be able to begin to repair my life then. Something to look forward to, at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Something to look forward to, at least.It seems that's about all I have to look forward to, Harry. I really try not to be bitter, but it still shows through sometimes, and today is one of those days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 The fridge conked out last night sometime. By the time I realized it this morning, it was room temp inside... had to throw out a lot of food... as in $$$.And to top it all off, the repair cost me $320. All for a cheap little part (compressor relay). Probably costs about a buck or two in reality, but by the time they add in their markup on the part, their "house call" fee, their "emergency call" fee, their "zone two" travel fee, their weekend fee, their labor fee, their "fee just because they can" fee... it all runs me $320. Harry- I'll make you feel better! The people I bought my house from had money oozing from their pores (the wife's grandfather left them millions) so they put in this major kitchen upgrade. Included with this is a Sub Zero brand refrigerator, a commercial grade $10k unit... and it's built in. The first year we were here a cooling fan went out, $300. Last year the freezer compressor went out (it has two!) for $1400. And a few weeks ago the freezer was warm enough to make the ice cream soft, and the main control panel inside the fridge side went blank so I feared I was going down for a major bill once again.We do have a second refrigerator / freezer out in the garage, so when we've had issues we've been fortunate enough to spot it early and move everything out to the garage fridge.I checked to find a replacement.. it's 48" wide... and found that all the units that large were $10k. And since it's built in, it would be a problem replacing it with a 36" wide unit (which most household ones are!) since there are cabinets over it and other special finishes I couldn't match.So I call my reliable repair guy and he checks it out. His first look at the control panel told me this was going to be a major bill... then he discovered it was just a bulb! If he was dishonest, he had me, but I'm glad he was honest. And it was the same friggin fan that we replaced a few years ago. He remembered and did it just for the part cost. So I got away with $200 this time. And per your comment that the average refrigerator lasts 4 years... My daughter had a one year old Whirlpool refrigerator that the compressor went out on a short time out of warranty. The cost of the repair was going to be more than buying a new one. She looked up the CEO of Whirlpool and send him an email. It got answered by an assistant who arranged to get the refrigerator fixed free of charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinfan5 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 The temp being 113 today irked me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 My folks had a GE refrigerator that lasted I believe 35 years. My current appliances all date to 2002 when my sister bought the house and had the kitchen remodeled. The temp being 113 today irked me.Same old, same old..putrid AZ summer... at least the weather will be 'cool' again in about 3 months. If everything goes to plan, this will be my last summer here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 My folks had a GE refrigerator that lasted I believe 35 years. My current appliances all date to 2002 when my sister bought the house and had the kitchen remodeled. Apparently your appliances are living on borrowed time... The temp being 113 today irked me. That was the temp inside my fridge this morning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hall Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 My folks had a GE refrigerator that lasted I believe 35 years. My current appliances all date to 2002 when my sister bought the house and had the kitchen remodeled. Apparently your appliances are living on borrowed time... Other than replacing a washing machine, the other appliances haven't had any issues (at least since I moved here in '08). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinfan5 Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Oh yeah, nice gust of wind out of nowhere knocking the sun shade off the hooks and breaking it, for the second time(meaning, second sun shade), so now, the third one is up, lets see if my idea to bend the hooks upwards will prevent it from happening again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) My folks had a GE refrigerator that lasted I believe 35 years. My current appliances all date to 2002 when my sister bought the house and had the kitchen remodeled. That's from the good ole days when things were made to last! My inlaws bought their house in 1960 and there was an old tombstone refrigerator as a spare down in the den. We sold the house in 2014 and that sucker was still there working! My irk of the day... I spent some time today taking some nice photos. Edited a few and put them up on Fotki. And for some reason (probably the Java 1.8.0_15 that was uploaded yesterday) I cannot get a photo into a thread. The "Insert other media" "Insert image by URL" suddenly doesn't work anymore. I just get the in motion hamster wheel that keeps going forever! Edited July 26, 2015 by Tom Geiger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Here's an interesting little side note to my refrigerator woes... The icemaker is such a STOOOOOPID design I can't believe it made it into production. There's a sort of wire "handle" above the in-the-freezer-door ice maker. The theory is, as the ice bucket fills up, the wire handle is pushed upwards by the increasing level of ice cubes (actually ice semicircles to be precise), where it eventually reaches the point where it shuts off the ice maker (until you take out some of the ice cubes and reset the wire arm by putting it back down). But here's the problem: as the ice keeps getting made, and it fills up the ice bucket, the ice actually buries that wire arm. How anyone figured the wire arm would be pushed upwards as the ice cubes drop from above is beyond me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Here's an interesting little side note to my refrigerator woes... The icemaker is such a STOOOOOPID design I can't believe it made it into production. There's a sort of wire "handle" above the in-the-freezer-door ice maker. The theory is, as the ice bucket fills up, the wire handle is pushed upwards by the increasing level of ice cubes (actually ice semicircles to be precise), where it eventually reaches the point where it shuts off the ice maker (until you take out some of the ice cubes and reset the wire arm by putting it back down). But here's the problem: as the ice keeps getting made, and it fills up the ice bucket, the ice actually buries that wire arm. How anyone figured the wire arm would be pushed upwards as the ice cubes drop from above is beyond me. Actually Harry I was wondering the same thing and then one day I happened to be in the freezer when it went through its cycle. As the ice cubes(moons if you will) come out, there is a cam lobe that lifts the wire handle up, the ice falls in the tray, and the cam lets the wire down on top of the pile. Pile gets high enough it stops production. If your wire isn't doing that then look at how the cam and the wire interact. It may be bent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 I don't know what it is about modern appliances, but my parents have a freezer Mom's parents bought 50 years ago and so long as the lid stays shut (not usually a problem, a STRONG magnet holds it shut), things stay very cold. Right next to it is the fridge they bought when they first moved here in the early 70's, same thing and is a spare. Since then, we've had one die, and the current one was acting up a while Mom was in Sycamore and has had 2 handles break. The one at work was bought when my old bosses moved the store across town almost 3 years ago, when my new bosses took over the business in March of '14, it stopped cooling much at all so they had to replace a part (don't remember what one) already! We've even been through a couple stoves and dish washers too. One dish washer was bough when my 33 y/o sister was a baby and it's been replaced twice in the last 12-15 years, the stove I grew up with was bought around the same time the now spare fridge was and also hase been replaced twice since 2000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) Trying Pete's solution to get a photo onto the board.... and since we don't have a preview button anymore.... Edited July 26, 2015 by Tom Geiger Wow! That worked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 That's a pretty cool model... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 (edited) That's a pretty cool model... I cannot tell a lie Harry! It's a Danbury Mint 1929 Dodge Pickup. I know the photo is too sunny but I made the display base today for taking photos and wanted to see how it looked in a picture! I will buy a diecast of a light commercial truck that I will never see in plastic. Edited July 26, 2015 by Tom Geiger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Danbury made many excellent models. I have quite a few myself. It's a shame what happened to the company.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High octane Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 After carefully shopping for a new vehicle, washer, dryer, refrigerator, dish washer, etc. and making your choice by yourself or with the help of a salesperson, or reviews from the internet or elsewhere. Then the salesperson wants you to buy a warranty or an extended warranty. By doing so, you are making a money bet that your choice of the item you just purchased is going to break down. That is what's known as gambling and the store should have a casino license to sell you a warranty, because they are betting that your purchase will not break down. Capisce? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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