Does anyone have appliances fixed anymore?

[julieduyos]

Does anyone have their appliances fixed anymore or is it just cheaper to buy new ones? My whirlpool dishwasher (5years old) and my Sony large screen TV (at least 10 years old) have both broken. I'm wondering if anyone has these things fixed anymore and is it worth it? How much did yours cost to fix? I'm not sure how much a repairman (or woman) would charge just to come to the house.

 

[ferrytale]

Yes people still have things fixed! My BIL works in appliance repair for Sears and is constantly busy. I have not idea how much things cost to repair(mostly b/c he can fix most things if we need it), but I think people are fixing more rather than buying new depending on the issue with the appliance. I think they fix things even if you didn't get them at sears. I would look up appliance repair in your phonebook and call around. Good luck!

 

[badblackpug]

I had my Kenmore He washer (which I hate, by the way) fixed last year. The long story is I called Sears to schedule service. The fee to just come out and look at the washer was $75. I would have to pay the cost of parts and labor for any work that was done to it. Sears never showed up. When I complained about it to my friend, she told me her ex husband was an appliance repairman. He came out and fixed it for $75 total. Moral of the story: Don't call Sears.

 

[semo233]

My next door neighbor is an appliance repair man and owns his own business. He often advertises in those coupons that get mailed to your house in an envelope. He offers a $29 call to just take a look, as do a few others. Some will charge up to and over $100!!

He says that they don't make appliances to last anymore, but I would think that you should get more than 5 years out of an appliance. He does not fix TV's.

If you can find someone to come out and look at it for a decent price, it is worth finding out if your dishwasher is worth saving!

 

[PinkRhombus]

I replace things if it will cost less to do so than my hatred of the applicance

 

[Ephany]

We've been lucky, every time the dryer stopped working or there was a funny noise from the dishwasher I've googled it and found out how to repair it ourselves for the cost of parts. I think more people are turning back to having a handyman or shop repair an appliance. We're at 10 years or so with our washer, the dryer only lasted 8 but it got a lot of use. 5 years does seem like a short amount of time to have an appliance break down though.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

As I type this, our washing machine is in about 40 pieces. The bearings went out and it was making a horrible noise on the spin cycle and the belt was burning. We took it apart and are ordering parts tomorrow. $65 will replace the bad bearings, the ones that are okay for now (but might as well while we have it apart), and the belt. Hopefully we can get it up and running by early next week.

I went shopping for a new washer and the one I liked had awful reviews. People who just got it loved it and those who'd had it for a year hated it because the electronics (computer board) kept breaking. I decided we'd just keep going with our 10 year old washer and dryer and see how far we can get with the repaired one. Other than a broken belt, it hasn't given us much trouble in the past. I don't think they make things as well as they used to and simple things have become unnecessarily complicated with the addition of tons of electronics I can do without. Knobs are much cheaper to replace than touchpads!

 

[JennsBabySky]

I have had my appliances repaired, but not a television. I'd love to know if anyone has had their TV repaired, is there anyone left that still comes out to repair them?

For appliances, it depends on the age and quality, but I tend to repair them unless it seems like a major systemic issue or they were a cheaper quality to begin with.

 

[SandrA9810]

My mom had a TV repaired years ago, the power inside went out, and I want to say it cost little less than a 100$ to fix. it really depends on what is wrong with it. Although I'm sure TV repair guys are looking for some work as not many people have tube tv's anymore.

Our hand-me-down tv broke a couple years ago and we just replaced it with a new one. The digital transition was being made and we really wanted something that had a better picture. So we spent 200$ for a 24" tube flat screen tv, from Insignia (Best Buy brand). It's digital already se we just had to buy a better antena for it. I'm very happy with it and would fix it if it broke within the next 10 years.

 

[dawson5]

We just had our TV repaired in Nov I think. We have a flat screen. I guess the light and maybe the fan go, shoot I can't remember. Hubby bought a service plan for $250 that covered the light/fan for two replacements. If we had to buy them ourselves, it's a $200 part. This covered it and the guy ordered the part and came out and replaced it. The tv will be 5 yrs old in Dec. This is common from what I understand.

We believe in repairing things if it is feasible. We just fixed our dishwasher and our washer. Now are working on the microwave, the glass front broke. Just have to figure out how to take it apart, looks to be a cheap fix. We've always been this way, calling a repairman is a last resort unless it's covered by some kind of warranty where it won't cost us anything or it's beyond our capabilities.

 

[2manypets]

Fortunately and unfortunately my DH knows how to fix most things. We'll be living with my stupid washer and dryer for years to come.

 

[brekin67]

We had our dryer fixed yesterday. He came to our home and replaced a fuse and cleaned the vents. It cost $55. He said he no longer works on dishwashers because the prices have came down so low to just replace the whole thing compared to repairing. We called Sears and they were going to charge $70 just to come to the house.

 

[JamesMom]

This post is EVIL!!! LOL

I read this during breakfast, started a load of laundry and just now went to put wet clothes in dryer. And the DRYER KONKED OUT!

I have a neighbor who is a parttime handyman and get him to take a look at it tomorrow. Sigh. It's about 12 years old and is used almost daily.

Fortunately, all our laundry is clean so we could go for a week without doing laundry (though i will miss not having clean towels everytime we shower ) but ugh - we really can't afford a new dryer. Well, we could, but that means no money for something else. Ugh.
Thanks for this post and bringing Mr Murphy (as in murphy law) into my house

 

[minnie1012]

I think it depends on the cost of the repair and what the appliance is. Our range went. The stove worked but the oven was digital and the electric board went. We had to pay the guy $100 just to come out and it was going to cost another $200-300 for the part and labor to fix. A friend of my husband's said since the range was almost 10 years old to not fix it since their life is only about 10 years and something else could have went soon. So we bought another one. I'm out of work so we didn't want to spend the money but we put it on the Disney Visa : )

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

Time for a new TV anyway with all the advances in the last few years.

Dishwasher not sure ours was 30 years old and DH replaced it last year and I hate the new one looks good but nothing is ever dry on the top shelf when you go to put it up so you dry it all by hand


Washer and dryer bought at Sams for next to nothing washer broke after 3 years and DH repaired it, seems the parts that come on it are plastic and wear out the part he bought to replace it was metal and should last a lot longer.

I feel you pain, seems things come at you in threes!

 

[erincon23]

We had one TV repaired twice, but I probably wouldn't do it again -- as long as you don't need anything fancy, you can get a new one for not much more than the cost of the repair.

We had our dryer repaired twice, and the third time it went out, it was really gone. I don't like our new dryer, but what can you do. We've had the washer repaired, and it's now 12 years old, but seems to be doing well.

The dishwasher we replaced -- there was a recall on it, but the company wasn't giving enough of a credit to make it worth purchasing their brand (hated that dishwasher anyway), so we bought a different brand with no credit.

And now the stove needs to be either repaired or replaced -- when the guy came out to look at the dryer the last time, he said it would cost about $200 to repair (the starter is going, takes up to 30 minutes to get up to temperature), but as it's 8 years old, and I've never liked it at all, if I can scrape up the money, I'll buy a new one instead.

You really have to look at the cost of the repair, the cost of a replacement, and the age of the appliance. There are a lot of considerations to look at! Good luck.

 

[tinkermom23]

My washing machine went on the fritz a few weeks ago. I immediately started shopping around for a new front load. Unfortunately, I realized they are way out of my price range and I also heard some bad reviews.

So, I called our neighborhood repairman and he fixed my washer... total bill was $70 incl. service call, and he said I have at least a few more years left in that old thing! darn......

 

[TheRatPack]

My husband usually fixes our appliances. I'm thankful....it's expensive for just a service call with most repair companies. He does repairs on commercial grade restaurant equipment, so he's more than qualified but even so....you can usually google repairs and find out a LOT online and do it yourself if you're pretty handy. Some things are dangerous to repair though, like garage doors, water heaters...etc

 

[PinkRhombus]

Some things are dangerous to repair though, like garage doors, water heaters...etc

Especially if you're having to fiddle with a gas line.

We're pretty handy with fixing things, but if we might damage something else while fixing whatever it is...we scribble the check.

Our spring blew in our garage door...I guess last night as it went down. Couldn't get the door up this morning, even using the release...$200 to fix that. Wasn't as bad as I thought. Good thing is the guy tightened up and adjusted some things...and it's so nice and smooth now. We were planning on getting a new opener soon, but now we're not. So we actually saved some money.

 

[ssawka]

Here's what I usually do:

1. Assess the problem to determine if I can see what's wrong.
2. Determine if it is something I can fix, if it is, try to fix it.
3. If I can't fix it, ask how old the appliance is?
4. If the appliance is at least as old as half of its life expectantcy, replace it.
5. If appliance is newer than half its life expectancy, call the repair person.

Update: For electronics, unless it is less than a couple years old, replace it.