Released: April 25, 2007

Home appliance purchases demand homework

Source: Herb Weisbaum, MSNBC

You’ll probably spend a lot of time considering color and style when choosing a new home appliance. My wife and I did. Just don’t forget to find out about reliability. Trust me ... it’s important.

My under-the-counter oven, an expensive model made by a high-end manufacturer, broke a few weeks ago. A minor soup spill damaged the circuit boards. The repairman says it could cost us as much as $800 to replace them. That’s just crazy!

“The more bells and whistles you have, the more there is that could go wrong,” says Walt Dews, who owns an appliance repair service in Seattle. Dews tells me high-end appliances can cost a lot of money to fix because they use leading-edge technology — such as those circuit boards I need replaced — that you don’t find in less-expensive brands.

Read Full Article: Home appliance purchases demand homework