appliance repair

SDE

Well-known Member
Today I fixed a woman's washing machine by unplugging a clogged hose. This woman said that it would cost $75 for a repairman to show up (1 mile) and she thought the washer was over 20 years old, and so she was just going to buy a new one. Are most repairman in the business of selling new machines and not actually wanting to repair their own products? I have more faith in the old stuff out lasting the new stuff.

The place where I drop off my recyclables, also takes appliances. Many of these are water heaters that do not look very old. Have we become such a throw away society that repairing the newer stuff isn't acceptable? Is it that only the do it yourself people are going to take the time to repair them. My water heater is a Montgomery Wards model. If it is as old as the house, it is 43 years old.


SDE
 
The cost of labor is what is killing a lot of repair business. Every time the minimum wage is increased the cost of everything goes up It is a vicious cycle
The ones that are hurt the most are seniors and anyone living on a fixed income.My parents lived pretty much from their SS income. Whenever they got a pittance of 1 or 2 percent the Medicare would go up twice as much putting them further behind. The politicians of this country should be ashamed of themselves, but we all know they have no shame.
 
The main problem with water heaters is lack of maintenance (flushing them out) if you have hard water. They get plugged up with limescale build up and not just the elements going out. I work for a water treatment facility and we are always cleaning and flushing the controls at our pump stations or the lines will plug up solid.
 
For the most part, I think people are afraid to even try to have things repaired.

Horror stories and personal experiences of incompetent and/or dishonest repair people that charge $100-150 to walk in the door regardless of if they actually repair the appliance or hit you with an amount that is equal to or close to the price of replacing the appliance.

And many appliances are not intended to be repaired, they are designed to operate for a given period of time and thrown away when they fail. Think modern refrigerators.

As a die hard DIY'er, I can afford to invest many hours of my time to go in after a problem that I can easily see would cost more than the appliance is worth if I were operating as a repair business having to overcome overhead, pay employees, and still turn a profit.

And then there are the parts... You think aftermarket tractor parts are junk, try buying appliance parts!

I've been disappointed many times with the poor quality of appliance parts. Even factory parts are subject to be bad out of the box.

I recently replaced the LED readout board on my range because of burned out segments, couldn't read the time or set the timer. Right at $300 for the board. It lasted about 2 weeks and has now lost readout segments, just like the original that lasted 10 years!

It's under warranty, but still the hassle of buying another, returning the bad one, and having to replace it, again!
 
Absolutely we have become a throw away society! Where I spend the winters in AZ there is a water heater in the dumpster every week, with the garbage! But there are about 500 residents in our community this winter, 30% vacant because of the virus. Our son couldn't get a repair man to come and look at his dryer, so he went and bought a new one, it was only a few years old.
 
How do you expect a repairman to stay in business if he doesn't charge at least 75 bucks for a service call? Yes, in this case he was only a couple of minutes away, but that's the exception rather than the rule. There's quite a bit of overhead; he has to maintain a vehicle and keep a stock of common parts. Plus all the other costs of running a business: insurance, taxes, advertising and so on. And how many calls does he do in a typical day? Two or three? Probably four or five tops. So, yes, most people opt to replace major appliances that are over five years old rather than call a repairman.
 

Part of the problem is they use lighter metals and plastic parts that don't last as long anymore. Even garage door openers have gone to those plastic gears that like to allow their teeth to get stripped off or else a plastic bushing goes bad. Also seems like any repairman out there are from the local appliance stores who get reimbursed for doing warranty work on appliances.
 
My daughter had some pipes freeze three years ago. That was just before my shoulder replacement and I couldn't do it so I called in a plumber, The Benjamin Franklin outfit. Talking with the guy he told me they have to charge $150 an hour to break even.
 
In the areas Ive lived Ive seen repair charges HIGHER then the $75 you spoke of as well as some LOWER. What a business charges is their call and based, of course, on what the traffic will bear and what they need to stay in business. Its good to shop and ask around for references and reviews and take cost and what your research shows before deciding on a repair person. There can be times if the repair cost is going to be huge and the appliance is old it may be best to bite the bullet and buy a new unit. Many out there (me included) if competent make their own repairs when possible, nothing wrong with that. There may be times when a $25 part and your own labor may save you hundreds !!!!!!!!

Indeed on many appliances and electronics and other goodies we are becoming a "throw away society" but if its more economical and practical and good engineering to toss out the old and buy new who are any of us to make YOUR decision. Go for it

Any professional repair persons out there ?? Nice to hear a professional opinion on this

Best wishes and God Bless America

John T
 
I have stripped the gears on my garage door openers before. If you put synthetic chain lube on them they wont strip.
 

Sometimes it easier and cheaper to fix them than go to the trouble of taking the old one to the dump. Any appliances I buy I haul them home and install them myself. It's really a pain to try to sell stuff locally also. I grew up poor so I hate to haul working stuff to the dump. Sometimes I will just set something at the end of the drive and tape a free sign on it. Stuff usually disappears.

My daughter lives on base housing at the marine base in Hawaii with people coming a going all the time. It's the norm there for people to put stuff out at the curb and someone will pick it up before the trash service does. They also have a base facebook sales page that works well for everyone. I'm not on facebook since I figure no one gives a hoot about what I had for lunch yesterday which is a typical post for some.
 
so did you charge her or do it feeling sorry,its just the way it is nowdays. you will get to that age to where things will change and you will have to pay for help. thats why she was going buy new, just like i did last week on mail vehicle used they wanted 39500 for 2012 with just under 300000 miles,bought brand new 2021 for 41000.00. it way it is. you suppose we could get that for the old unit its 2014 pushing 300000. we drive them usually till they do blow or 500000. then sell.
 

I'm sort of going through this now with a GE washer from Lowes. We bought the extended warranty because we've had a lot of appliances crap out in just 3-4 years. The problem is, all the new appliances, at least at my purchase cost level, are made to give a service life of 3-4 years! This washer is 4 years old. It stopped spinning and draining. Took 2-3 weeks to get the repair guy here. Another 2 weeks to get the part ordered in (circuit board), another week to come put it in, then the lid lock was bad. Another 2 weeks to get the new lid lock and to get the repair guy here was another week. He was confident it was A-OK. He left and I started a load. It would only put in maybe a quart of water and it would only put in cold water, plus the thing seemed to be stuck in diagnostic mode becasue it would beep and lights would flash if I turned the knobs. Called the repair company and they tell me the repairman is on vacation! A week or 2 later he calls and tells me it's probably a bad circuit board. That was 2 weeks ago and I haven't heard anything back yet. This started right after Christmas! So we went and rented a washer from one of those Rent A Center places at my wifes insistence rather than buying a 2nd washer. Lowes won't give me a new washer, but they did send me $50.00 to make up for the $20 and change a week the rental costs me. It's freakin' ridiculous!
 
When we bought our current washer from Lowes, we opted for the three-year extended warranty. It started acting up a little more than three years later. I bought several replacement parts trying to fix it before I figured out that the two wires going to the motor were both broken inside the insulation. Sometimes they'd make contact and the washer would work, which made troubleshooting a crap shoot and led to my unnecessary part-swapping. A couple of splices later, it was good to go and has been fine for five or six years. Here's the kicker: after going through all this nonsense, I realized the three-year extended warranty was on top of the one-year factory warranty. That washer was still under warranty! Oh well, I have plenty of spare parts for it now.
 
25+ year old Maytag quit spinning, service people say DON'T REPLACE, can't buy one as good. New ones are throwaway. So service man is coming tomorrow for $80 to give me an estimate to fix.

Just wait till the new cars with all the safety braking devices start locking up in the middle of traffic. Friend with a new tractor needs $4K worth of computers before they can even start to diagnose it.

Bill
 

I have no problem at all with a society that throws stuff away and gets new because I love manufacturing folks to have good and plentiful jobs. The economy is a trade-off and balance, but the more new appliances that are sold the better.

However when service is needed I think a $75 service call charge is a steal. It is well over $100 for a service call where I am. The fact that the problem in this case was just a clog in a hose just means the customer wouldn't have a parts charge. Good for her!
 
Bret my dad bought a refrigerator from lowes and it was 3 yrs old. They came out four times to fix it and it didn't work kept freezing the refer side. The last repair man
called and told them to scrap it. They gave him the purchase price minus deductable. He went and bought a new one I took the old one went on the internet and fixed it for
$150. For a 3 door stainless fridge. been going for a year now no problems.
 
I buy 5 year extended from Lowes. First service call, the warranty is paid for. I get my moneys worth and then some from all my extended lowes warranties. Have used lowes extended on every appliance we bought.

The service guy that repairs our stuff, works for a company and his job is repairing, not selling. He also tells warranty company what repair will cost before ordering parts. One time, repairing a 2 year washer was too much. We got a full refund from company. Had to buy new washer from Lowes not the repair company.
geo.
 
John could you e-mail me. I have a question that as to do with a legal matter with my bed ridden mother and don't want ever Tom Dick and Harry to answer it here. THANKS
 
Lowes extended warranty is about $100. Repairman gets a little over $100. However he has to make 2 trips. One to diagnosis problem and second trip to install parts. So both line he may get $50 a trip. My repairman said I was his eighth call and he had more calls before his day was over.

George
 
Yes. I have replaced 3 perfectly good water heaters in the past 35 years. They were 10-13 years old. They have a period of time where they are good, and at some point, the integrity of the tank comes into question. As preventative maintenance, I replace them with. You either replace a perfectly good water heater at some point, or wait a few years till the tank springs a big leak, only to come home after a weekend gone to 4" of water in the basement. Now, you have all the grief & cost of correcting everything in your basement, AND, replacing a water heater. Preventative maintenance is a gamble to ensure systems keep operating as they should.

Regarding the old water heaters in junk yards, if they go to a scrap yard, they go into the recycle stream. Land fill, well, that's another story.
 

Now you got me started on Lowest. Bot a new range and matching microwave made by Samsung a few years ago. Some push buttons on front of microwave went bad. Called Samsung support, still under warranty, they sent me a new door with repairman to come later. Made appointment and when he got here he said they sent the wrong door. He got another one shipped. He came to put it on and it had a little ding on the front. Said I could get them to send another one and told him to forget it. Then it went off warranty and the whole power board went bad. Ended up buying another one the exact same at Lowest with extended warranty. Of course the stove is off warranty. Then the background lights on the stove all started flashing and rotating around. The timer and all functions work OK. Giggled it and it was a common problem that some got fixed when it happened under warranty and many others were stiffed with no warranty. I like the range and can deal with the flashing things like roast, self, and some numbers but that is just bad quality control.
 
> Yes. I have replaced 3 perfectly good water heaters in the past 35 years. They were 10-13 years old.

A couple of years ago I replaced the water heater in our Florida condo. I'm pretty sure it was the original from about '73. Several water heaters have failed in our building over the past few years, and you really don't want that to happen when you're not around and your unit is on the top floor, as ours is. I think I got ten bucks for the old heater at the scrap yard; they paid me for the rust and water I couldn't completely drain out!

Water heater nodes should be changed out every few years, but nobody does that.
 
This attitude of "How DARE an appliance repairman CHARGE for their services!" just has to stop.

The cost of appliances adjusted for inflation, as a portion of the average income, has gone WAY WAY down over the years.

How do you think this was achieved? Something had to give. You can only gain so much with modern manufacturing processes and economies of scale. Durability of course had to suffer.

On the other hand, the cost of a repairman doing business has done nothing but go UP. The days of having the repairman come and fix the problem for $10 is long gone.

Appliance repair folks HAVE to be able to make a profit, or else there is no sense in being in business. That's why there are so few of them around to begin with. You can't operate being expected to work for free. You can't operate when people automatically think you're trying to screw them. There's only so much a repair person can do to economize their operation. At some point costs have to be covered, with money left over to feed and clothe their families, and provide them with a little comfort and convenience as well.
 
(quoted from post at 12:04:56 03/02/21)
I have no problem at all with a society that throws stuff away and gets new because I love manufacturing folks to have good and plentiful jobs. The economy is a trade-off and balance, but the more new appliances that are sold the better.
!

Quite an outlook on things. So designed in obsolescence is fine by you? What about quality and getting something for your money other than junk? Sorry friend, but if I'm paying north of, say, $750.00 for a freakin' fridge, I expect to get at least 15 years out of it. And if I was foolish enough to pay $2-3K like some do, I'd expect 30-40 years lifespan. I have my folks Garland range from our restaurant in a shed. It's at least 55-60 years old and would still work if I hitched it up. They paid less than $200 for it new IIRC. That is a quality appliance.
 
(quoted from post at 07:57:41 03/03/21) Quite an outlook on things. So designed in obsolescence is fine by you? What about quality and getting something for your money other than junk? Sorry friend, but if I'm paying north of, say, $750.00 for a freakin' fridge, I expect to get at least 15 years out of it. And if I was foolish enough to pay $2-3K like some do, I'd expect 30-40 years lifespan. I have my folks Garland range from our restaurant in a shed. It's at least 55-60 years old and would still work if I hitched it up. They paid less than $200 for it new IIRC. That is a quality appliance.

Designed in obsolescence has been around forever. It's nothing new. Just look at tractors through the 1950's and 1960's. Every two years, new model with new features and you just HAD to upgrade if you were anybody.

Sure you paid $200 for that Garland range new, but WHEN? The 1950's? $200 then is $2000 now, so even if you pay $750 for a range now, you're still paying less than HALF what you paid for that Garland.
 
Appliances are one topic. One of the widows from church asked my son to come over and help remove the dead freezer from her basement. I offered to help and bring my truck. When I looked at it, I asked what was wrong, she said it just quit and the repair guy said it wasn't worth him even coming to look, just buy a new one!

She can afford to buy the whole store, so it's no big deal, and some people don't want to deal with a repair guy's visits, or the risk of a failure (warm frozen meat is a waste). But, I fixed the old one for under $20 total, in about 30 minutes. She likes her new freezer, I like my new extra freezer.

The topic where planned obsolescence grates me is in more substantial items, like my furnace. Ten year-old Trane had it's first issue, and they already suggested replacing it!No way!

Since then I have installed a whole new blower fan and motor assembly, flame sensor, A/C capacitor, etc. But when the main control board went out, even they could not get a replacement (it was 15 years old then). I took a chance on retrofitting a generic board and got lucky, this time. Now it's 20 years old, and will likely get replaced with the next problem...
 
I still repair stuff, when I figure I'll come out ahead.

Just put bearings in the front load washer...Sears won't sell bearings, just the tub with bearings pre-installed.Want close to $400 for it. If I had to pay that I would buy a new washer.

Matched up Timkens, don't wanna do this job twice. What a PITA...was able to get the drum out without help, couldn't get it back in and hooked up, too heavy, engine hoist worked good.

I don't begrudge any mechanic/repairman what they (or their company) charge. They gotta make a living. Doesn't mean I have to pay it if I can do the work myself....and with google and youtube, all the info is out there if you want to find it. I've found most people just don't want to do the work, but will gripe about what a service call costs.

Fred
cvphoto80353.jpg
 
(quoted from post at 16:53:15 03/03/21)
(quoted from post at 07:57:41 03/03/21) Quite an outlook on things. So designed in obsolescence is fine by you? What about quality and getting something for your money other than junk? Sorry friend, but if I'm paying north of, say, $750.00 for a freakin' fridge, I expect to get at least 15 years out of it. And if I was foolish enough to pay $2-3K like some do, I'd expect 30-40 years lifespan. I have my folks Garland range from our restaurant in a shed. It's at least 55-60 years old and would still work if I hitched it up. They paid less than $200 for it new IIRC. That is a quality appliance.

Designed in obsolescence has been around forever. It's nothing new. Just look at tractors through the 1950's and 1960's. Every two years, new model with new features and you just HAD to upgrade if you were anybody.

Sure you paid $200 for that Garland range new, but WHEN? The 1950's? $200 then is $2000 now, so even if you pay $750 for a range now, you're still paying less than HALF what you paid for that Garland.


With all due respect, "new models with new features and having to have one to be someone" is not designed in obsolescence. Designed in obsolescence is not being able to get parts for your 8 year old washer or furnace. It's your Windows computer system that is no longer supported and won't work with new programs. And you end up making my point in your second paragraph- the $750 you pay for a range today won't last 60 years! A commercial Garland type range runs $8-10K, but it will last and last and last. That's what I'm talking about when I say quality for your $$$.
 
Good evening, sde and others: Just for perspective, I recently felt the need to have a computer/smart-phone repairman come to the house to work on our internet and wi-fi system. No problem to come out to our house, some things cannot be figured out in the store when the problem is occurring in your house! He was clear when I first talked to him, that he charges by the hour, from the time he leaves his store until he gets back to the store.
His rate is $200.00 per hour. Good news is- he fixed our problem.

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
 
I missed this thread when it originally came up but I'll add my 2 cents from the side of the service technician. I worked for a company that charged $149.00 for a service call and that gave you up to a half hour in the home.Then $15.00 every 10 minutes after that. That was 3 years ago before I retired. You did your best to diagnose and repair the issue in that first half hour. However manufacturers in recent years were constantly changing their products so you never got familiar with issues. The manufacturers pushed the technicians to call their help lines which would take forever. They just wanted people to buy new. Then if you couldn't fix the issue customers would ask which brand they should buy. In the last dozen or so years I would throw up my hands and say no idea since none of them were what they used to be. When I talked with salesmen in the store they would say the manufacturers knew exactly how long their appliances would last because they would say it at the sales training meetings. Tom in Mn
 
(quoted from post at 04:25:45 03/05/21) I dont know about a stove that is flashing Roast - Self ?

I get it now. lol Does that mean me or is that a Missouri plot against Bill Self? If my wife looked at it long enough to make that connection then it would be on the way to the dump as she is a diehard KU fan. She give me heck one time driving through MO and we were coming up on Columbia around supper time. She made it clear she could wait a while to eat without stopping there. It also flashes the "sec" after the time. All three rotate in succession. Samsung uses electronics from South Korea probably. I like their phones though.
 
Well, I paid my $80 service call and found out the old Maytag is dead! Transmission is locked up, not worth replacing.

Gonna get a Commercial Speed Queen or the Commercial Maytag. Any experience?

Bill
 
(quoted from post at 11:02:53 03/05/21) Well, I paid my $80 service call and found out the old Maytag is dead! Transmission is locked up, not worth replacing.

Gonna get a Commercial Speed Queen or the Commercial Maytag. Any experience?

Bill

Check with Speed Queen dealers for a used unit. As I understand it, the newer ones act like the old ones but the controls are electronic now, not mechanical and are subject to the same types of breakdowns as BBS type units. There are supposed to be rebuilt older units out there, but I've never found one.
 

Naw, just send the wife to the laundry mat. Get it all done at once. Back when I was single it was quicker to got their and load a few washers and dryers at the same time. Anymore here at home, it seems like there is always a load going in the washer or dryer. Got the Samsung set at Lowest a few years ago with the front loading washer. So far they are doing fine and both have steam settings.
 
The cost of labor has made it more expensive to repair than to replace. Even though the new stuff is of poorer quality and durability, there comes a time when it simply is not economical to repair. I don't like it, but that is reality.

I fix my own things as much as possible, but sometimes parts cannot be had for any price.
 

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