Home Appliance Shopping: Washing Machine Blues and Reviews

By brwood (view all posts by brwood)
at 10:57AM Tuesday May 3, 2011
under Shop Smarter

When our tax refund came this year, after much discussion me and the missus decided to buy a new front load washing machine. There were many large purchases considered, but the washer was the most logical choice. Now if only choosing the best front load washer was as simple!

There are many things on our household big ticket wish list. Every major appliance, except the dryer, is on it. We sure would like a new stylish and comfy sofa. Our TV is so small that watching subtitled foreign films means a night of reading out-loud to my wife in funny accents. And lastly, our pillow top mattress was about as flat and smooth as the top of a lemon meringue pie.

It came down to a choice between the bed or the washing machine. Although you can't put a price on a good night's sleep, it was doubtful that being better rested was going to be result in my wife or I getting a raise at work. The washing machine should save a lot of water and electricity, compared to our current top load, and over the course of the year mean lower bills and more money in the bank. On top of that, in many states, there are efficiency improvement rebates you can get from the government for switching.

So it fell to me, as someone who shops for deals online all day every day, to stalk and capture the wily washer. Unfortunately, this was not as easy as finding cheap transportation as with last week's blog post.

For one thing we had $600 to spend, including delivery and sales tax, and that meant bottom of the barrel entry level washers. It's the equivalent to eating out, but sticking to the value menu.

Scouring the top chains gave me a good idea of my choices. When I started shopping last Thursday, Home Depot was the cheapest by $10 for machines in my price range. But I had received a 10% off coupon from Lowe's in the mail, and that would make it the cheapest by $40. (I don't know why Lowe's sent me this, but people who have recently moved can register online to get a one time discount from them.)

Here's the price breakdown for the GE GFWN1100LWW, a popular low-priced machine:

Sears - $599.99 with free delivery

Home Depot - $498 with free delivery

Lowe's - $509 with free delivery

AJ Madison - $544.72 + $79 delivery and no tax

HomeEverything - $571.99 with free delivery and no tax

Warehouse Discount Center - $539.79 plus tax with free delivery

There are other options as well, and many big appliance retailers offer free or flat rate freight shipping nationwide. Of course, the prices have changed in the past 72 hours, so it pays to watch for a few weeks once you are ready to buy.

Retailers you have never heard of consistently beat the big chains on price, but based on reviews of units being bad right out of the box I didn't want to take a chance with a retailer based out of Oshkosh, or Moose Jaw. If you start reading online consumer reviews they fall into two categories:

1) Best machine ever!!!
2) Run away as fast as possible and warn your friends as well.

This is the big problems with the commentariat and crowd sourcing; no one goes online to tell you just how average something is. For every two glowing reviews, there would be a horror story about broken mother boards and leaking tubs. This was for every model I looked at and unlike cars, there is no enthusiast magazine called "Washer & Dryer" that puts them through their paces and gives you the scoop. Would you really want to read it if there was?

You start reading these review and it starts to seem like the switch from traditional top load machines to High Efficiency front loaders is the new fluoride in the water among the tinfoil hat crowd.

Consumer Reports is about the only source of unbiased info on appliances. But it's available by subscription only. To add insult to injury, the minimum subscription is $5.95 and it's a recurring fee until you cancel. I bet they could get a lot more customers with a $5 two week non-recurring offer!

So, I had money in the bank, the need for a new washer, but could not come to a decision which one to buy. They all seemed like a crap shoot at this price range. It was like choosing between a Yugo or a Hyundai in 1986.

Then I discovered the Sears Outlet. They sell floor models, returns, and scratch and dent appliances tested and repaired if needed with full factory warranty at 40-60% off MSRP. There seemed to be fewer negative reviews on the $800-1,200 washers, which with that discount I could now afford. So I browsed their selection. With so many stores nationwide, Sears gets a lot of not so perfect items that can't be sold at full price. It is just awesome that now they put them all on one site and offer them nationwide.

Unfortunately, the Sears Outlet has a not quite a real time inventory. The discontinued Kenmore I ordered (MSRP $999.99 for less than $500 with tax and delivery) was not in stock in the local outlet, despite what their site said. The next day I got a call breaking the bad news. It was like the game piece saying "Sorry, try again." I don't blame them: each outlet warehouse/store has but a few examples of any one item and updates their online inventory only so often. They tried to find me another unit, but the next nearest was over 300 miles away and would have added $200 to the shipping cost.

Tomorrow the hunt starts all over again, but I'm a little bit wiser now then when I started. At least I found this fun online washing machine emulator. If you've got a suggestion of a washer you love, I'm all ears, leave it in the comments.