topic Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please. in Community Chat

Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

house_cat — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:12:00 GMT

I recently purchased a new GE fridge from Lowe's. It was quite expensive and since I've had some bad luck with refrigerators in the past, I thought it might be a good idea to purchase the $197 warranty, but before I do that I was wondering if there is something I'm missing.

Has anyone had good experience with this?

Thanks.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

RainCityWoman — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:20:13 GMT

I didn't purchase any appliance insurance on any of my new kitchen appliances. But then I never purchase additional warranties on new cars as well. Yes, things can go wrong within the limited time of policy, but the odds are they won't. I kind of view the extended warranties and the parts insurance as a way to gouge money. That is just my personal opinion, and so far I have been right.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

on the bay — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:28:43 GMT

I don't usually get it because things tend to go wrong after the insurance time is up.

You know you could get a home insurance-the kind that covers every appliance in the house. I know some are good and others not. My mother had one that was so worth it because so many of her old appliances needed repair. I forget the name of it.

I know this has been discussed before here.

I think my daughter got a Lowes insurance on a refrigerator once and the repairmen had to come back several times. Not sure they really knew how to repair it or just tried to put a bandaid on it.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

reviewer from sc — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:34:05 GMT

As for Lowe's, our family needed a riding lawn mower several years ago. We were offered the extended warranty, and we decided to take it. I think it was for 2 or 3 years--can't remember. I remember that something went wrong with it several months later. We called the phone number for the Lowe's warranty, and it took forever to get a representative. Then, it was going to be several weeks before they could come to our house. Even then, they said that there were certain things that weren't covered, and if those things were the problem, we would be charged for the call and the needed items. We thought that was outrageous. A warranty is supposed to cover the entire machine--as long as we didn't intentionally destroy the machine ourselves, it should cover everything.

Fortunately, there was a clause in the contract where we could cancel the contract and received a full refund of the warranty price. We didn't make the appointment. We went to the store the next day and cancelled the warranty. We had a neighbor come and figured out right away the problem and fixed it immediately.

Also, from what I understand, if they can't fix the machine for the same problem so many times, you only get a Lowe's gift card back. I don't think you ever receive a check or cash back. I would read my contract throughly. Also, most companies offer a 1 year warranty on their products, included in the purchase price. Might want to check that out.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

geezerette — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:38:44 GMT

I've purchased a few extended appliance warranties from Lowe's.

Instead of calling your own repairman, you call Lowe's repair number, which will be on your receipt. You give them your warranty number, also on the receipt, and they use their own repair people who call you to set up an appointment. These are regular appliance repair shops, who I assume, have a contract with Lowe's.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

RedTop — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 17:49:27 GMT

I do not purchase extended warranties on appliances.

It is my understanding that if I buy the extended warranty at the time of my purchase, I have automatically wiped out my one year replacement store warranty. If the appliance stops working, the store is no longer involved, and my warranty is thru a 3rd party company.

More than once I have explained to family and friends who purchased an extended warranty on appliances that their thinking of having the one year store warranty PLUS the additional years of the extended warranty is not correct.

I stick to buying appliances in a price range I can easily afford to replace when they stop working; no high dollar appliances for me.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

house_cat — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 18:02:24 GMT

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. Your feedback confirmed what I was already thinking. I've decided to pass on the insurance and take my chances.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

SilleeMee — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 18:04:23 GMT

Extended warranties have limitations. What they cover and who will fix the appliance is not always straight forward and many times it's not a good deal at all. For myself I'd rather take whatever money I'd spend on an extended warranty and put it into my emergency fund. Most importantly for me is to buy an appliance which I can afford to replace with a similar one and not break the bank with repairs for a broken expensive one. After all I'm not looking to own anything for a lifetime at this stage in my life...I'm too old for that.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

PickyPicky3 — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 18:11:55 GMT

This probably won't help you in your decision, but you never know.

Every three months I get a letter from Lowe's, addressed to the person who owned my house 20 years ago, seeking renewal of the refrigerator warranty. It drives me nuts, so 4 years ago I called Lowe's to get it deleted. They told me only the original purchaser could request that. I marked the envelope "moved 20 years ago" and gave it to my mailman, but that had no effect either.

I haven't had very good luck with warranties of any kind, so I never buy extended policies.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

Kachina624 — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 19:31:12 GMT

I've never bought an extended warranty on anything and have not regretted it. However, if I were to buy one, it would be on a fridge. The ones they're making now seem to be absolute garbage. We've heard numerous horror stories just here on the boards, not to mention from friends and relatives.

My niece had one quit after about 2 months of use, a big, fancy one. I suppose it was under factory warranty but they couldn't get parts. So every time she needed an item, this pregnant lady with a toddler had to run down to the basement fridge. This went on for many weeks.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

SharkE — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 19:36:29 GMT

Be aware with Loew's their policy STARTS ON THE DAY YOU PURCHASE IT NOT WHEN THE MANUFACTURERS ONE YR. POLICY ENDS.

Right there you lose a yr. I found out the hard way. We thought that if you purchase something say 6-25-2022, take out the extended policy

after the first yr of manufacturer policy lets say Whirlpool then since you know you took out a 3 yr policy with Loew's it's already been in force for the same yr that you were covered by Whirlpool.

I was told your better off to buy a policy thru the manufacturer not the place that sold it. Best thing to do is to contact Whirlpool, or what ever brand your thinking of buying from and see how theirs run.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

Trailrun23 — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 22:35:21 GMT

I have bought several appliances from Lowes over the years, but never bought the extended warranty. I had trouble with my fridge and learned the extended warranty wouldn't have covered it anyway, so I declined on future purchases. If you decide to get it, make sure to read all the fine print and find out what is and isn't actually covered. How long is the warranty for? Am told new fridges are built to last a max of ten years now, so I prob would decline again if I were buying one today.
FYI: Home warranties are a scam...we had a terrible experience with one and would never even consider getting another one.

JRe: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

patbz — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 01:56:58 GMT

Funny that you asked this question this week! I bought a Whirlpool washer 18 mths ago (it was over $800 plus cost of five year warranty). I didn't use to buy extended warranties on anything but major appliances are garbage these days so I do buy warranties on them. My Whirlpool lasted nine mths and then didn't work, even after two service calls back to back that took a total of 3 weeks to schedule. I sat down with my Lowes manager who said Whirlpool/Maytag agreed to replace it. I selected a comparable Maytag. It worked for 8 months and then broke down. Two back to back service calls ( including a new motherboard) and it only intermittently worked. Two days ago I once again sat down with Lowes manager. This time Whirlpool refused to replace it until I'd had three service calls! Lowes stepped up and they bought me my third new washer in under two years. The new one, delivered yesterday is a GE. Its not digital like the last two and has knobs rather than buttons but it reminds me of my old time Kenmore that lasted a very long time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but Lowes did the right thing several times.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

Elodie2 — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 10:49:23 GMT

I just googled Clark Howard on this matter because I heard him say on his radio show once that he never bought extended warranties on appliances or electronics. In reading about it, he says that he only buys warranties on cars because they are investments. He doesn't consider appliances investments. There's a little more if you're interested and want to google it.

ETA, @house_cat , sorry, just saw your post about not taking the insurance. I think you made the right decision.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

gardenman — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 12:10:29 GMT

There's what's called a "bathtub curve" that's used by reliability engineers that reflect the failure rate of items. If you cut an old-school bathtub in half lengthwise you get a cross-section that's very steep near the drain, then largely flat along the bottom then tapering up again where the person sits in the tub. That largely reflects the expected failure rate of devices/appliances. There will be a lot of failures early on (typically during the warranty period.) Then relatively few random failures for a long time, then a gradual increase in failures over the end life of the product. (You can Google "bathtub curve" to find out more.)

As a rule, the manufacturer's warranty should cover the early failures and any extended warranty is designed for just the rare, random failures in the long flat section of the bathtub curve when breakdowns are least likely.

With an extended warranty, the fine print is very important to read and understand. (And there's always fine print.) Certain very expensive components may not be covered. Some service calls may not be covered. There are typically lots of exceptions included in the fine print. As a rule, I don't buy an extended warranty. They're just not worth the investment most of the time.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

haddon9 — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 12:47:45 GMT

@house_cat I've been wondering the same thing. We purchased a refrigerator last summer from Lowes. It wasn't expensive and it's a basic fridge designed to withstand the extreme temps in the garage which is where we put it. It's full size and very nice to have the extra storage space.

Previously we had our old side by side kitchen fridge in the garage but it finally died. So lately I have been getting emails from Lowes stating that our warranty is about to expire....should I get additional coverage?....we usually never do. It has made me think about it.

ETA: After reading all of the responses I will not bother to go for the extended warranty!

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

deb5555 — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 13:03:39 GMT

@house_cat If you paid with a credit card,sometimes they have benefits that match a manufacturers warranty, check and see if it applies. I don't buy extended warranties.

Re: Lowe's appliance insurance - feedback please.

house_cat — Sun, 26 Jun 2022 14:52:49 GMT

I just have to say that I am never disappointed by the advice I get on this forum. It's gotten so that I rarely make a big decision without checking the boards to see if it has already been discussed.

Thank you!