Extended warranty on a dryer?
September 20, 2022 8:00 AM Subscribe
Dryer Extended Warranty from Home Depot - is it worth $170 (on a $750 dryer)? Have you ever made a claim on a Home Depot appliance warranty, and if so, how did it go?
Our old dryer has bricked, so we're looking for a replacement. Wirecutter says the basic tech of a dryer hasn't really changed all that much. We definitely don't need wifi, apps, or waffle iron option nonsense, so looking at decent brands' basic models - the kind with mechanical dials and no screen. Trying to decide whether the extended warranty is worth it.
The new model we're looking at is an electric Whirlpool for $750. It already comes with 1 year limited parts & labour warranty from the manufacturer.
Home Depot offers an extended warranty for 4 years after the manufacturer's warranty expires, which costs $170. In the past, a service call to diagnose a dryer issue has cost us $100 before any parts or labour, so maybe this is worth it?
Other factor to consider:
We do about 5-8 loads of laundry a week. We sometimes have short-term rental tenants, which would also increase wear and tear, since even though we have great luck with tenants, we know they're more likely to be rough with the machine.
Should we get the Home Depot extended warranty? Has anyone ever made a claim on a Home Depot appliance warranty? How did it go?
Thanks!
Our old dryer has bricked, so we're looking for a replacement. Wirecutter says the basic tech of a dryer hasn't really changed all that much. We definitely don't need wifi, apps, or waffle iron option nonsense, so looking at decent brands' basic models - the kind with mechanical dials and no screen. Trying to decide whether the extended warranty is worth it.
The new model we're looking at is an electric Whirlpool for $750. It already comes with 1 year limited parts & labour warranty from the manufacturer.
Home Depot offers an extended warranty for 4 years after the manufacturer's warranty expires, which costs $170. In the past, a service call to diagnose a dryer issue has cost us $100 before any parts or labour, so maybe this is worth it?
Other factor to consider:
We do about 5-8 loads of laundry a week. We sometimes have short-term rental tenants, which would also increase wear and tear, since even though we have great luck with tenants, we know they're more likely to be rough with the machine.
Should we get the Home Depot extended warranty? Has anyone ever made a claim on a Home Depot appliance warranty? How did it go?
Thanks!
Response by poster: Thanks! If anyone has a brand recco or a shop recco (Toronto, Canada) please share. I just figured Maytag/Whirlpool were seen as reliable. What brands are better?
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:09 AM on September 20, 2022
posted by nouvelle-personne at 8:09 AM on September 20, 2022
We bought a similar dryer from Home Depot and did not get the extended warranty. It has lasted more than a year now and is doing fine. If it has problems in the near term I will either try to DIY a fix or call the appliance repair people; if it has problems further into the future I will look seriously at replacing it with a more efficient type of dryer.
I'm personally of the opinion that it is virtually never a good idea to purchase an extended warranty (which are intended to make additional profit to the store) but obviously opinions vary on this. It's partly a financial decision (as in, how devastating would a broken dryer be to you vs your best guess on how likely you are to need to use the warranty) and partly just a question of how risk-averse someone is -- is paying for more certainty worth it to you vs the risk of maybe needing to figure out a repair strategy.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:12 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm personally of the opinion that it is virtually never a good idea to purchase an extended warranty (which are intended to make additional profit to the store) but obviously opinions vary on this. It's partly a financial decision (as in, how devastating would a broken dryer be to you vs your best guess on how likely you are to need to use the warranty) and partly just a question of how risk-averse someone is -- is paying for more certainty worth it to you vs the risk of maybe needing to figure out a repair strategy.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:12 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Not sure if your credit card offers it, but many Canadian credit cards offer "Extended protection" or something like that automatically. It will add a year to the manufacturers warranty automatically.
posted by MiG at 8:47 AM on September 20, 2022
posted by MiG at 8:47 AM on September 20, 2022
What does the extended warranty cover? Many times, any new parts are covered, but the service call itself isn’t. Or it’s a discounted service fee, but a fee nonetheless.
The traditional answer to an extended warranty has always been “oh, hells no” and that has worked for me over the years. I think the one time we got an extended warranty, we never used it. YMMV, of course.
FWIW, if you opt to get a traditional, bog-standard, non-computerized, square-white-box electric dryer, they are so dirt-simple to service yourself that an extended warranty is utterly unnecessary.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:03 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
The traditional answer to an extended warranty has always been “oh, hells no” and that has worked for me over the years. I think the one time we got an extended warranty, we never used it. YMMV, of course.
FWIW, if you opt to get a traditional, bog-standard, non-computerized, square-white-box electric dryer, they are so dirt-simple to service yourself that an extended warranty is utterly unnecessary.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:03 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm personally of the opinion that it is virtually never a good idea to purchase an extended warranty (which are intended to make additional profit to the store) but obviously opinions vary on this.
I agree with this, especially if the warranty costs almost 1/4 the price of a new machine.
I know that the idea exists that Home Depot sells cheaper stuff, but I've never really had any issues with the appliances I've bought there that were specific to Home Depot (I've had issues, but they have been design flaws generic across product lines).
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:04 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I agree with this, especially if the warranty costs almost 1/4 the price of a new machine.
I know that the idea exists that Home Depot sells cheaper stuff, but I've never really had any issues with the appliances I've bought there that were specific to Home Depot (I've had issues, but they have been design flaws generic across product lines).
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:04 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don't think the warranty is worth it, but I have fixed my basic washer and my basic dryer several times after watching YouTube videos. Really pretty simple. Parts were less than $40US.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:41 AM on September 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:41 AM on September 20, 2022 [3 favorites]
Most items either have manufacturing defects that cause them to break while still under original warranty, or are built well enough to last for a while.
Extended warranties prey on your concerns, but offer coverage only for that "sweet spot" that is exceedingly unlikely to trigger. You can expect 10+ years out of the appliance, but HD covers the first 5.
Spend more on a better appliance as others have suggested.
posted by explosion at 11:02 AM on September 20, 2022
Extended warranties prey on your concerns, but offer coverage only for that "sweet spot" that is exceedingly unlikely to trigger. You can expect 10+ years out of the appliance, but HD covers the first 5.
Spend more on a better appliance as others have suggested.
posted by explosion at 11:02 AM on September 20, 2022
Spend more on a better appliance as others have suggested.
That's bad advice. 'Spend more' is far too generic, as has been said in this thread, the technology of a dryer has changed very little in the past ~30 years, so the extra expense of them is in new added features, some of which provide value, and some of which don't, but that's an individual decision.
If none of those new features provide value to you, then feel free to buy a really basic model, and because again the tech hasn't changed in a long time, the cost of basic models is falling and fairly reliable.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:15 PM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
That's bad advice. 'Spend more' is far too generic, as has been said in this thread, the technology of a dryer has changed very little in the past ~30 years, so the extra expense of them is in new added features, some of which provide value, and some of which don't, but that's an individual decision.
If none of those new features provide value to you, then feel free to buy a really basic model, and because again the tech hasn't changed in a long time, the cost of basic models is falling and fairly reliable.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:15 PM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have heard good things about warranties through (U.S.) CostCo.
posted by oceano at 12:41 PM on September 20, 2022
posted by oceano at 12:41 PM on September 20, 2022
I never buy extended warranties. These warranty packages are like printing money for the people that sell them. They are specifically created to cover repairs in the period of time that the product is statistically least likely to fail.
posted by TrialByMedia at 7:15 PM on September 20, 2022
posted by TrialByMedia at 7:15 PM on September 20, 2022
My father recently went through a lengthy extended warranty repair process with his samsung stove/oven bought from homedepot, after a few months, the techs gave up and passed it up to corporate to start the full refund process. He had to jump through so many hoops and silly application processes it was really unrealistic for him to have accomplished without my help, pull out oven, take a pic of labels on the bottom back of the oven, he must have had to send in several emails AND scanned/printed images though regular mail for them to eventually indicate the process was complete for him to receive his full extended warranty refund. They even told him to keep his stove/oven, even though only 2 of his 4 burners weren't operational, oven was fine.
posted by edman at 10:47 PM on September 20, 2022
posted by edman at 10:47 PM on September 20, 2022
Generally, I say "no", as most dryer failures are along the lines of "the knob cracked and can't turn the dial" or "the lint trap is clogged inside too and needs a thorough cleaning". Been through this with my own cheapo dryer.
posted by kschang at 3:06 AM on September 21, 2022
posted by kschang at 3:06 AM on September 21, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
I think you'd do better to budget $870 and go to an actual appliance center, explaining your need for a reliable machine.
posted by humbug at 8:06 AM on September 20, 2022 [2 favorites]