The Sweethome is my first stop for recommendations for household items, and their sister site the Wirecutter for tech and electronic items. Their reviews are very detailed and they clearly explain their testing methodology. In this case, they don't have the facilities to actually test large appliances, so they aggregated and analyzed data from Consumer Reports, Reviewed.com, and other sources to narrow the field down.
On 22 Jul 2016, Dave Garrett wrote in alt.home.repair:
I'll come back to that page when I can read it more closely, but I skimmed it and it looks like it's got a lot of great information and is well-written. The whole site looks really good. Thanks for the pointer!
I'm getting fed up with on-line reviews. It's often hard to tell whether or not they are original or just regurgitated marketing spiel. Many of the user reviews are little more than just unqualified, uninformed, unspecific rants or raves. It's hard to draw a conclusion when half the reviews are 1-star and the other half 5-, with nothing in between.
First off, I hate buying anything these days because of the shoddy workmanship, cheap materials and lousy off-short customer/tech support.
Be sure you get the return policy you want in writing. There should be a money-back guarantee for returns within a certain period. Try to get
60-90 days. This should be $$ back from the dealer - not the factory and no "credit toward another purchase." Have to read the contract fine print.Also be sure that if you return it, shipping will be paid by the dealer after both purchase and return. If they don't stand behind the product, you will know what kind of company or machine this is before you buy it.
You might call some local appliance repair shops and ask them. Some mfrs like LG make it difficult for customers and independent shops to get service info, which means expensive repairs or no replacement parts. Others sell service manuals and have good phone tech support. Others have service techs in India you can't understand and don't know $hit from shinola.
Thanks for the informative url! I'll be sure to checkout the sister site too.
I second the Speed Queen. Still made in the US (in Wisconsin). My sister gave me a GE washer to replace my 30+ yrs Maytag; the GE lasted a year and a half. Classic electronic panel failure, too expensive to justify replacing it, since it would eventually fail again. I replaced it with a Speed Queen with mechanical controls. I'm very satisfied with the Speed Queen.
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