01.22.07

Shaky Times in Appliance Land

Posted in Editorials at 10:00 pm by Administrator

Hello all you happy little Consumers!

It’s time to do a reality check on your appliance know-how. For example, how do you know that the foreign-made machines that you see on the sales floors will perform and be dependable like your older machines were?  Do you base your appliance knowledge on past history, such as the machine your mama had for 30 years which never gave out? Maybe it was a washer that was handed down to you when you got your own place, or one you found second-hand at a discount outlet.  Whatever the motive for selecting a new appliance, take heed on what I have to say about the new products that have been tossed out there for your perusal.

In days gone by, manufacturers would try to make the product as solid as possible. They did not want any early breakdowns to tarnish the reputation of their brand name, mainly because they wanted you back again after several years when it finally wore out, or at least you would recommend their machines to your family & friends. In the appliance market, only 4 brands stood out as popular 20 years ago. They were, in order of preference:  Maytag, Whirlpool (Kenmore), GE, and Frigidaire .  Each company had a top-end product and a low-end product, and everybody was happy. Service technicians did not have to know a lot of tricky electronics stuff, mainly because there was none. Parts for these machines were easy to get, and did not cost an arm & a leg. 

 Now, let’s jump to 1998. All of a sudden, there’s a huge influx of Asian and European machines brought into the mix, mainly thanks to Bill Clinton and the NAFTA Free Trade Agreement he sponsored.  Also, there was a major increase in appliance sales from places you never imagined…Home Depot, Lowes, Frys, Circuit City, etc., etc., etc. Hey, what happened to the Mom & Pop outfits who used to sell appliances? They began to disappear. Retailers saw the surge coming and before you can blink, all of the big-box chains were in the appliance business. The only thing they forgot was how they were going to support their customers if an appliance broke. Oops.

To make matters even worse, brands began appearing, such as LG, Miele, Bosch, Sanyo and Samsung, just to name a few. That made the service technicians cringe. (Oh, God, how are we ever going to learn all this crap?) So what we have here is a new learning curve, mainly directed at you, the consumer. You will have to learn who you can call to fix your new foreign product, who can supply the parts if you wanted to fix it yourself, and why does the machine break after only 7 months?

It’s a manufacturer’s nightmare…being bombarded by foreign products so forcefully that they have no time to field-test any new inventions, but instead putting them out there for sale and letting the buyer be the “guinea-pig”. And yes, the new stuff has lots of pretty lights and colorful wrappings to make even the fussiest consumer squeal with glee.  They are touted as ‘energy-efficient’ and ‘cost-effective’ for the average homeowner, and many of us are tempted to buy them just on appearance and brand-reputation alone. But this is where the party ends….  If a machine breaks the first year of ownership, great…it’s covered by warranty service. Of course, when the technician arrives and fixes the problem, your first logical statement will be, “I owned a Kenmore (or whatever) for 20 years and never had a breakdown, what’s up?”.  If the guy is honest, he will tell you that none of the things you were accustomed to in the past hold true any more regarding appliances. A few of them may say that the problem you are having is rare and will likely not occur again. Even more so, they might outright state that they did not make the product, they just fix them. This is a cop-out of sorts, mainly beause some of the non-factory entities have never been formally trained on the latest developments in the field. And why is this so?

It happens because we have become complacent with progress. We allow others to decide what is “dependable” and what is “efficient”, instead of insisting on durability, quality and customer service. After all, we are the ones who are spending our hard-earned money to buy products which must serve us in our daily lives, not worrying about when the thing will break or who we will call when it does. Gone are the days when an appliance dealer will come out to fix the washer he sold you. They will refer you to the manufacturer’s chosen service-provider and wash their hands of you and your problems. This places all of us in jeopardy when we buy something. They will never disclose any facts regarding service call ratios or recalls on a bad batch of models, you will simply be at the mercy of the seller.

 Fortunately for all of us, we are in a time where information flows freely and fluently online in blogs such as this one. With a little perseverance, we can weed out which products have been a blight on society and which have proven to be trustworthy and trouble-free. My recommendation is to do your homework before you commit your hard-earned money to a product which might be a big disappointment later on. Check out the brand or model in question on the Internet to learn of specific issues that others have experienced after buying a particular brand. We still have the right of free speech and unless that changes in the near future, you should be able to get a fairly un-biased opinion or two from your fellow consumers who have already been there & done that.

Now for those of you who have not had much experience dealing with the big box chains, let me present an item I received from a friend recently regarding FRY’S ELECTRONICS:

“My father Ed worked at Fry’s Electronics in Webster, TX for the last year.  About two months before my wedding (11/25/2006) my father told his supervisor he would like to get off work at 5 PM the night before my wedding (11/24) so he could attend the rehearsal, and he would like to have the 25th off so he could make it to the wedding.  His immediate supervisor simply responded with “We’ll see.”In addition to requesting that time off from his supervisor, my dad also sent a registered letter to the store manager, Adrian Ortiz, explaining the circumstance and requesting the time off.  He did get his receipt in the mail, but he was never contacted about the days off he requested.  When my dad received his schedule for that week, he was scheduled to work the Friday night and all day Saturday (14 hours), and he was given Sunday off instead of Saturday.
My fiancé and I went to the store to talk to Adrian Ortiz, the store manager, and ask him if he would consider changing the schedule so my dad could attend our wedding.  Mr. Ortiz was very disrespectful, condescending, and unsympathetic towards us from the beginning.  He informed us that no one at the store, including himself, could make changes to the schedule, and that those changes had to come from the store owner.  When we questioned that, he told us, “You can believe what you want to believe, this conversation is over!”  He did refuse to discuss my dad’s schedule with anyone but my dad, which is understandable, however I did question whether or not Mr. Ortiz had read my dad’s letter and if he did anything with it.  He told me he forwarded it on to the store owner, but there was no way to check on the status of the request.  Since nothing came back from the owner, my dad was not given those days off to see his oldest son get married.  Mr. Ortiz repeated again, “This conversation is over!”, and turned around and walked away.  
My dad chose to quit so he could attend my wedding, and he is no longer employed at Fry’s.  I’ve never been spoken to in the manner that Mr. Ortiz did, and I can’t imagine how he treats his employees considering how poorly he treats his customers.  It’s sad to think he is the store manager of a customer based business.  From now on when you have an electronics purchase to make, I urge you to consider NOT giving Fry’s your business.  If you feel the same way that I do, please feel free to send this article to your friends and family.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.”
 Sincerely, Michael Marici

I, for one, might take my business to Best Buy, as they will meet Fry’s prices most of the time.

VR

Permalink Comments