Appliance pricing rant
 

So, this is the 2nd time I have run across this in the last 6 months. I have been shopping for a fridge. 2-3 weeks ago I came up with the make and model I wanted - Whirlpool WRT541SZDB. The price at Sears, Lowes, Home Depot & Best Buy was $854. Bad enough that they were all the same price to the $. Then… I was at HD a week ago buying carpet, and the lady there told us that all appliances were going on sale 11/5 for the pre Black Friday Sale. I decide to wait. STU-PID! Now the identical Fridge at all the referenced stores is $950 with the only exception being Lowe's which has it for $901. All these places tout sales now going on. WTH? I am almost willing to listen to the old crappy one in the new place just b/c I don't want to give the jackasses my $. I think when I go in to HD, I am going to confront them & see if they will sell me the thing for the previous price. There used to be consumer price fixing cases, but I guess since we have nearly eliminated consumer oriented lawsuits with 'loser pays' we get what we deserve.

I just bought a fridge. Many hrs. on the computer. Bad thing about counter depth is more $ for less fridge.

Anyway, how bout this? No tax or shipping...

http://www.goedekers.com/Whirlpool-WRT541SZDB.html

I've heard that it's different elseware in the country, but out here Lowes and HD prices stink on appliances. The place to go is an appliance-only store. (Howard's, Pacific Sales, etc.)

As for the pricing games; that's how it works. Even REI gets in on it: They take a no-name, $250 mountain bike and put a "$650; marked down to $400" sign on it - everyone jumps at the chance to "save" $400.

I bought a gigantic refrigerator with all the bell and whistles (water and ice in the door, etc. etc. etc.) at Salvation Army years ago. It was marked $300 but they have a half-price Tuesday sale every week so I got it for $150. No sales tax, either.

Had to haul it home in my BIL's truck. It's still working. Sometimes it doesn't make sense to shell out 9 bills.

First problem was looking at the big box retailers. Try shopping a local merchant, you will get better service, and they probably can match, or beat the price.

I haven't bought a "new" appliance in over 10 years. That was a new refrigerator. Everything else we have came off someone's trade in pile. Washer needed a set of belts. Dryer, nothing was wrong with it. Stove needed a spark module. Etc....

I kinda look at major appliances like new cars. As soon as they are out of the showroom they lose like 50% of their value.

Ive had good luck buying low used items from people moving and not wanting to take big things with them. Now Im not talking about buying junk here, like a 15 year old fridge for $150.

But Ive had good luck with spending say $500 on a stainless french door unit that someone payed 1200 for a year ago.

Great ideas!


There has got to be some margin on appliances if those guys can ship for free!

Had no clue that the big boxes were higher. Mainly b/c we have only 2 appliance stores left. One is a bunch of crooks for certain. I will check with the other and see what the deal is.

Kind of sketchy buying a used fridge with all the stuff that can go wrong with them these days. Partly why I am looking at this model. It does not have as many electronic controls as many others. Yeah, still a chip etc. in the controls Bd, but less than many others.

Thanks guys Pontiac people always have answers.

Got my last fridge at home depot. It was last years display model. 26 cu ft, over under. $420 bucks. Also look for the scratch & dent section. Usually 20-30% off because of a little dent in the side.

Is that really an issue? I dont claim to be an expert by any means, but I thought all the newer stuff was pretty reliable. I cant say I personally know anyone who has bought a new refrigerator unit recently and had problems with it. (At least ones that didnt include user install error)

Fridge, washer and dryer I have no issue being slightly used if it saves me 50-70%. Hot water heater, and AC units, I want the new top of the line with max warranty. Hot water heaters because Ive heard of them exploding, and AC units, because I dont like being hot and want to be able to call someone to fix it for free for as long as possible.

Scratch and dent section is a good idea btw

We bought a new frig 4 years ago and didn't take the extended warrenty (never do) and had a problem with it shortly after the warranty was done. Called a repair man and he came and inspected it, $60 flat rate to walk in the door. He said it was the circuit board, $200 and guess what, he had one on his truck. $40 labor (10 min to install) and he was on his way. I'm sure that circuit board is less than $20.
I guess I could have sent him on his way and called someone else but that would have been another $60 just for some other guy to walk in the door, then find out the same results.
What a racket.

Any chance your local electric company is offering any rebates or incentives? I've seen this on occasion in my area. They want you get a higher energy star rated appliance.

Worth a check. Or, at least ask at your retailer how to get a more competitive price.

Speaking of electric co's...how many here have surge protectors on their refrigerators, washers & dryers to protect from brown outs and voltage spikes? :eek: circuit boards, etc. ;)

Deadhead, one of our local retailers has it on-line at $854 today
http://www.abt.com/product/85846/Whi...%5E71389972236

Home Depot is suppose to match on-line retailer prices although they may argue it needs to be local to you. HD has matched ABT prices before.
http://www.homedepot.com/c/SF_MS_In-...rice_Guarantee

Rocktimuspryme, 1st off there is no such thing as a hot water heater. If the water is already hot why do you need to heat it. They are water heaters. Next the best time to buy a fridge is when the new ones come out. find out when new ones are listed they almost always come out when new cars do in the Aug.-sept. time frame & no mater where you go in BRING CASH. No credit cards, now store cards. Show the cash & you will see their eyes pop out & you can get money off when it's cash. When i bought the fridge I have right now I went in to Sears & while talking to the guy about it I said i was paying cash tonight & got $ 350.00 off of it. I paid $ 1100.00 for last years model that has ice water & a filter. It's a no frost unit to. But still Cash is king & it will make a difference when you shop.

So I suppose you would expect a mechanic to show up at your house and diagnose a problem with your car and tell you what part it needs and then send them away saying I don't want it repaired then buy the part yourself and install it. The $60 (or in my case $70) is for the trip and diagnosis. If you want to load up your frig and bring it over I could do the same job for $20. It's not a racket.

I'm not disagreeing with the service call fee. I understand how that works. What I am disagreeing with is the inflated parts charge. There is no way that circuit board was worth what I was charged.
The service charge and his labor to install the part were expected and fair.

Send me your frig model # and I can tell you what the cost is from either Dey distributing or sundberg out of Chicago. I agree that some guys super inflate parts. My sisters washer broke and the retail parts price was about $350 (LG basket and rear tub). Her local repair guy quoted her $1340. He said they get them "factory direct from LG"

Close to me is a Sears Outlet store. This outlet store deals only in scratch and dent. Some are horribly beat to death but others you have to look and see where the scratch or dent is. I bought a 275 dollar under cabinet mount microwave for 120 dollars. There was a scratch on the handle that I really had to look to find. I also bought a 400 dollar dish washer for 225, it was an open box sale, no scratches or dents.

Rexs73GTo is right about buying appliances at the end of the model year. August 2014 we were starting a kitchen remodel and lucked out on a GE package deal. Good stuff and saved a bunch cash plus 800 buck cash back card to boot. Refrigerator does it all but what burns my butt is the cost of the filter in that thing. 60 bucks, really. And it needs replacing twice a year. Saw a package deal for 149 for 3, but still

The only stuff thast's being "filtered" is your tap water, for the water and ice in the door. If your tap water is ok (and it is) I wouldn't worry about replacing the filter as often as they recommend. On ours, I hollowed out the filter and stuck it back in. No issues. Ignore the light.