- Nov 20, 2009
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When we bought our first home at the end of 2000, we saw this Whirlpool Conquest going for $1799. This was Home Depot's sale price with it regularly listed at $1999. A friend suggested we try Sears scratch and dent, but they actually wanted more. Surprisingly, though, was Sears retail offered to match the price and take another 10% off the difference. On top of that, Sears had a special Line Of Credit program for first time homeowners and the unit wound up costing us something like $1600 in the end. We've now had the unit, model GD25DIXHB02 for 19 years and 9 months. Somewhere around the 5th-7th year it developed a problem with the kickoff capacitor (IIRC) and the cost to repair was less than $125.
About four months ago the ice maker acted it and water entering the tray to freeze hadn't emptied from the last cycle causing it to overfill and freeze the unit. I chopped through the ice and a day and a half later it started working again. While waiting to see if the ice maker would come back to life again, I found many aftermarket ice makers supposedly that would work with this refrigerator, and most were about $100 or less. But the unit returned to working condition and now four months later it just stopped making ice. I found a couple of online appliance repair websites for the DIYer and based on the symptoms * it was the IR (infrared) system that determines the height level of available ice in the bin and turns the ice maker off. Links from those DIYer sites to parts dealers wanted between $285-375 just for the parts (two boards, connected to molex connectors on either side of the bin in the freezer walls.
I managed to find the same parts on amazon for $200 but I had to ask myself did I want to drop $200 for a true DIY repair attempt and potentially waste $200 if that wasn't the issue? I'm fat and lazy but the idea of opportunity costs (meaning what can I spend $200 on elsewhere) keeps me from trying this. So, on Thursday I notice the equivalent Whirlpool refrigerator on sale at Lowes for $1629.99 in the same color black. But, the back-order went from June 28th to August 18. Checking Home Depot and Best Buys, both sell it with the same back-order condition. The next day I notice the status changes at Lowes and the wife and I rush into the store to buy, but the store was wrong. There is the Black stainless steel version, but at $1799.
"I cannot believe I'm willing to spend $1600 and nobody has anything to take my money," i said in despair and then waited for five or six seconds--testing the Lowes employee--and he says "I can match the price to the black one since we can't even place an order on the black one that is on sale until tomorrow." Bingo, here's my money. He did the right customer service gesture. I know these appliances have a large markup on them from the days of my youth when I worked in Best Buys and looked at the employee prices.
OK, so what to do with the old Bessie? Wife says get rid of it. I say put it in the basement alongside the other frig that does a terrible job at making ice. Getting rid of it later would be a bitch because the state and county have certain requirements when homeowners dispose of frig's and that requires a professional refrigerant reclaimer to come in and get the R134 out and hand you a certificate saying you did the right thing just to pay someone else to come get the appliance itself. Lowes $30 charge is to remove the old frig or move it to a new location in your home. So, what would you do?
About four months ago the ice maker acted it and water entering the tray to freeze hadn't emptied from the last cycle causing it to overfill and freeze the unit. I chopped through the ice and a day and a half later it started working again. While waiting to see if the ice maker would come back to life again, I found many aftermarket ice makers supposedly that would work with this refrigerator, and most were about $100 or less. But the unit returned to working condition and now four months later it just stopped making ice. I found a couple of online appliance repair websites for the DIYer and based on the symptoms * it was the IR (infrared) system that determines the height level of available ice in the bin and turns the ice maker off. Links from those DIYer sites to parts dealers wanted between $285-375 just for the parts (two boards, connected to molex connectors on either side of the bin in the freezer walls.
I managed to find the same parts on amazon for $200 but I had to ask myself did I want to drop $200 for a true DIY repair attempt and potentially waste $200 if that wasn't the issue? I'm fat and lazy but the idea of opportunity costs (meaning what can I spend $200 on elsewhere) keeps me from trying this. So, on Thursday I notice the equivalent Whirlpool refrigerator on sale at Lowes for $1629.99 in the same color black. But, the back-order went from June 28th to August 18. Checking Home Depot and Best Buys, both sell it with the same back-order condition. The next day I notice the status changes at Lowes and the wife and I rush into the store to buy, but the store was wrong. There is the Black stainless steel version, but at $1799.
"I cannot believe I'm willing to spend $1600 and nobody has anything to take my money," i said in despair and then waited for five or six seconds--testing the Lowes employee--and he says "I can match the price to the black one since we can't even place an order on the black one that is on sale until tomorrow." Bingo, here's my money. He did the right customer service gesture. I know these appliances have a large markup on them from the days of my youth when I worked in Best Buys and looked at the employee prices.
OK, so what to do with the old Bessie? Wife says get rid of it. I say put it in the basement alongside the other frig that does a terrible job at making ice. Getting rid of it later would be a bitch because the state and county have certain requirements when homeowners dispose of frig's and that requires a professional refrigerant reclaimer to come in and get the R134 out and hand you a certificate saying you did the right thing just to pay someone else to come get the appliance itself. Lowes $30 charge is to remove the old frig or move it to a new location in your home. So, what would you do?
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