Well done on the warranty for free replacement. You may find about the same number of people will work on a Samsung. Little bit better on parts availability, but still too many "fancy" parts that fail routinely. I imagine it was a Lowe's salesman that told you they never get returned. Our local/regional appliance store typically won't show you LG or Samsung unless you specifically ask for them and even then steer you away.
For what its worth we have had Samsung front load washer and dryer for at least 8 years and not one bit of trouble. Now you could not give me one of their refrigerators
In my experience todays Whirlpool lines are biggest pieces of crap out there (long story) so much so that we replaced a 13 month old washer and dryer. Now I do have an older fridge and dishwasher of theirs that are very good.Well, we don’t exactly choose them - the customers do their own selections, based on an allowance, at our supplier. To your question though - far and away the most reliable (and that’s not to say they are perfect by any means) is anything in the Whirlpool line. That manufacturer includes Maytag, which is basically equivalent to Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Jenn-Air as upgrades and Amana as a more price conscious option. All these brands are built with the same basic platforms and same basic parts, quite easily accessible because most of the manufacturing is done in the US.
When we reno’d our current place I went with a full set of Frigidaire (manufactured by Electrolux) because I needed a very specific size of fridge. They’re now 18 months old and we have needed service on the fridge more than once and the OTR microwave handle broke right off because the “bolts” are made of plastic. In our previous home 10 years ago, we fitted it with a full set of KitchenAid and on balance, they were better in every way.
And I will add here that in general, with any brand, most service issues are with fridges and washers, due to the various water lines and sensors they now have. All these new, fancy and often superfluous features now available, especially anything wifi enabled, are the road to heart ache. We now sell all our homes with a “SmartHome” package because the market demands it. It includes things like remote programmable thermostats, camera door bells, wifi and motion sensor light switches, motorized window blinds, garage door openers and appliances and a few other things. All of it relies on stable wifi connectivity and (very often glitchy) 3rd party apps to function. All of it is just problems waiting to happen. I can’t even describe how it has increased the burden of warranty calls and overall customer dissatisfaction because there is just no way to overcome some of the issues.
One of the drivers of our economy is consumer spending. An engine behind consumer spending is planned obsolescence.
Any theory as to why Lowes would want me to buy Samsung over other brands? Other than the sales lady directed us to it after we asked which brands they get the fewest returns on? Face it, no matter how well you educate yourself, it is a risk. A brand that built models that lasted 20 or 30 years .........20 to 30 years ago......may not be building the same quality equipment today.
Well, consumers are partly to blame because they put up with it. It is funny to me that I can get every part for my 1965 Mustang, but my daughter in laws dad can't get a front bumper for his 2024 Cadillac Lyriq. Backordered for 9 months. If there is a market for more durable, durable goods, SOMEONE will fill it eventually.
The reliability of anything produced today is a total crap-shoot. Whirlpools definitely do break down too, just less frequently than some other brands and if you had one of the unlucky ones, I can definitely see you hating it.
Yep but on top of product being crap the customer service aspect left a lot to be desired. Even after the certified repairmen agreed with me about product.The reliability of anything produced today is a total crap-shoot. Whirlpools definitely do break down too, just less frequently than some other brands and if you had one of the unlucky ones, I can definitely see you hating it.
I guess that’s a subjective experience, based on whatever the particular service model was. All the Whirlpool stuff we warranty is serviced through the in-house department of the supplier we use, as is a number of other brands. We coordinate the arrangements and have a bit of “pull” to expedite and escalate certain issues. LG and most European brands do all their own service and with those, the customer experience is entirely out of our hands.
I assume it is the millions they put into advertising and product information to the stores and employees. Parts are not as available for them so you have to buy another one. I fix most of my own stuff and the first person I talk to is the parts supply folks. There are some exceptions, but by and large I have been told LG, Samsung are harder to get parts, and they tend to be OEM and higher dollar when they can get it. They have spent a ton of money on incredible features, but does a fridge really need a tv and AI to tell me that I am out of milk, I dont, but someone will buy it. But the extra pretty comes at a cost of function sometimes, not always. I love their tvs, others hate them, but we have had good luck personally. Hopefully you will be the same on the washer and dryer and tell us all in 10 years that you have not even cleaned out the lint filter!
Oh Lord my wife is OCD with cleaning the lint filter after EVERY load, and the water filter once a month.,
Yeah, my wife puts "house cleaning" on the calendar for the day she wants to do a deep cleaning. I do the three bathrooms, and sweep/Bona all the laminate flooring, she dusts all the knick knack dust catchers she has around the house. We have a permanent HVAC filter that I wash on the first on the month. Shred all the bills from that month from the year before on the first too. I used to flush the hot water heater, but we have naturally soft water and an electric water heater. I stopped when I had it replaced in 1999, and when I replaced that water heater in 2020 and service guy drained the old one on the lawn and there was nothing visible. My mom had a natural gas water heater and hard water and she would drain it once every six months and get while blobs of jelly all over the lawn. Not even sure how you could flush an HVAC system.I check the link trap mid loads (if it's something that takes multiple runs). I've also got this great attachment for my vacuum hose that lets me get the lint that's out of reach. lint is SO flamable-we used to save it coffee cans to use as the BEST fire starter in our backyard fire pit.
your wife would love my OCD on this kind of stuff-the old school paper calendar on our fridge has dates marked every month to change the HVAC filter, every few months for the filters on the spa and water filtration/softner system, every 6 months to flush the hot water heater and annualy to do the vinegar flush of the HVAC
The condensate drain generally needs some sort of maintenance or it will clog.
I have a heat pump and everything is outside. And I have it serviced twice a year.
Heat pumps also have condensate drains, and the blower and coil are most definitely inside your house.
