- This topic has 62 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
raceboy wrote:Just wish it didn’t have the water/ice bit, but looking at a few more detailed pictures I’d be very surprised if it isn’t made in the same factory as the Whirlpool, the controls on the front panel are identical. :rolls:
The Whirlpool Corporation bought Maytag April 2006. 😉
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
So does that mean Whirlpool are now as good as Maytag, or Maytag are now as bad as Whirlpool…. 😯
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
raceboy wrote:So does that mean Whirlpool are now as good as Maytag, or Maytag are now as bad as Whirlpool…. 😯
Let’s be clear right now that Maytag and Admiral products are good….PERIOD. They are indeed owned by Whirlpool but currently are producing their own branded products from their own factory that happens to be funded by Whirlpool.
They are made in the USA to USA specifications and to a very high specification indeed. Tolerant to the extremes of the US weather be it 20 below or 40 above freezing, unlike the EU spec.
It doesn’t stop there either and I could go on as to their advantages but I’m not sure they make one to your requirements of limited size and price platform. So perhaps you’d best look at other more realistic alternatives? 🙂
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
Martin wrote: I’m not sure they make one to your requirements of limited size and price platform. So perhaps you’d best look at other more realistic alternatives? 🙂
A few posts earlier I found a local retailer selling these
Maytag MC2028HXKSI
for under £900 with a 5 year warrenty, I don’t want the ice/water bit but if the price/quality equation balanced I’d live with it. As usual the picture on their website was a small front view, a little more googling found some closer pictures and these show that most of the plastics ‘seem’ identical to the whirlpool items, the font and buttons on the front panel are the same, it just looks to the untrained eye like a badge engineering job, I’m more than happy to concede that the internals are different but to be honest it ‘looks’ like a Whirlpool and as they are the parent company and I’d rather not give them anymore money, this would make me steer clear. 🙁Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
It is a Whirlpool.
For the lower priced machines you’ll likely get a Whirlpool in a dress made in Italy, pretty much like the one you have. The pukka ones are made in the US or Mexico.
I think all the Admiral’s are now Whirlpool’s in disguise as that was always used as Maytag’s “value” line. This was great when it was Maytag as it meant you got a cheaper option for a pukka Maytag machine but now they appear to be Whirlpool.
Whirlpool make these units for a number of people including Hotpoint, Smeg and a few others.
It’s nuts as, for all the brands you see out there for under about £1000-1500 pretty much all you have is the choice of Beko, Samsung, LG or Whirlpool. That’s it regardless of what badge is on it.
Here’s a pointer though, look at the GE machines, they’re all American and they start at £1200 and rise from there. Want stainless, kiss goodbye to £2000 or more. That should give you an indication of what the real thing should cost and not an inferior copy.
HTH
K.
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
Pay a relatively sensible amount (£600-850), get a 5 year extension – providing this also costs a sensible amount (£200-275) and make sure that service contract is with a company likely to last the full 5 years – pay for the lot on credit card to get section 75 cover.
If the blighter breaks down in the warranty period you’re sorted anyway…..if it lasts the time and then breaks down in the extension-to-warranty period the service company will fix the problem.
Overall, the costs for a 5 year ownership period will be £800-1100 or £160 to £220 per year – with no worries, Any operation beyond that time and your laughing. When the 5 years are up prices will be relatively lower as that’s the nature of these domestic products so that seems to meto be a further argument against purchaing “the dog’s bollocks” of a machine.
Some of these expensive machines really ARE made on a Monday morning and could be prone to problems – with a warranty extension it’s somebody else’s problem.
My Samsung was “fixed” this morning under then 5 year warranty extension and it’s working a treat again now.
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
Mike-in-Horwich wrote:Some of these expensive machines really ARE made on a Monday morning and could be prone to problems – with a warranty extension it’s somebody else’s problem.
Lots and lots of them apparently if the amount of horrifically expensive PCBs for Whirlpool made units and evaporator covers on Samsung that we use are anything to go by. It’s got to the stage now where we don’t even bother to call without them as we pretty much know every one of them will need the bits.
People usually aren’t too happy either, loss of food, day off, inconvenience of sitting about waiting on an engineer for the umpteenth time… etc.
Mike-in-Horwich wrote:My Samsung was “fixed” this morning under then 5 year warranty extension and it’s working a treat again now.
Give it 4-18 months and you’ll need another. 😉
K.
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
Is M-in-H Adam Hornsby’s alter ego ??
He is as passionate about buying rubbish as AH is about Miele
😆
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
Superfix,
I don’t buy rubbish……….I buy the stuff that engineers design, that reputable companies manufacture and service engineers make their living repairing.
I am a realist however.
There are some things I can control…..a decent holiday for example and I’m happy to spend good money on such……but rarely buy a package, generally put the deal toegether myself (well, my wife does mainly).
But white goods are a minefield. Only you service engineers REALLY know which models are reliable and which aren’t. It is worth bearing in mind though that Samsung are a BIG, BIG seller in Europe. One million plus RS21 model fridge/freezers have been sold over the past 5-6 years so statistically, there’s a good chance that many models WILL break down.
As regards meeding another (fridge/freezer) kwatt, I managed to “fix” the current one for long enough to allow Samsung to catch-up with the design fault, so I guess any future problems can be fixed likewise.
Who the hell’s Andy Hornsby superfix ?
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
Mike-in-Horwich wrote:As regards meeding another (fridge/freezer) kwatt, I managed to “fix” the current one for long enough to allow Samsung to catch-up with the design fault, so I guess any future problems can be fixed likewise.
The point is, you shouldn’t have to.
K.
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
This just keeps getting better and better…..
Last night I popped into a local retailer who sells a wide range of units, and he had the Maytag in question in stock.
It quite clearly was the Whirlpool with a different badge, even though the front panel has now been redesigned.
The sales guy seemed to know his stuff and was happy to explain about all the badge enginerring and manufacture/assembly arrangements the companies had to get round various ‘made in xxxx’ issues.
The ones he pointed me to were an LG (although I didn’t want the ice/water bit) but this was by far the best ergonomicly designed unit, and surprise surprise the Samsung unit I originally quoted back in post number 1. 😆
He did have one nice ‘American’ unit I think it was a ZigZag or something like that but to be honest it just looked a little ‘industrial’
So thanks for all the assistance but sod it….the Whirlpool still freezes so I’m spending the money on a new big tele and going to look into the issue again when I look at redesigning my kitchen in a year or so, or when the Whirlpool goes up in a cloud of smoke. 😳Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
Hi raceboy
The “ZigZag” design is a Maytag appliance.
Good luck with the TV purchase, the market is just a fraught with danger as the refrigeration sector 😉
Don
Re: Recommend me an American Style Fridge/freezer
Already done the TV homework and a nice new Panasonic will soon be hanging from the wall. 😀
Funnily enough the advice on the TV front was avoid Samsung at all cost… 😆
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.