<p>“Give me a darn machine without the fancy electronics. Please.”</p>
<p>Bosch has minimal electronics on their appliances. Only on my oven is there a touch pad. None on my washer, dryer or dishwasher. They have real buttons and knobs. </p>
<p>I never buy extended warranties and when my Samsung TV went on the fritz after 3 years I did some research online which showed I wasn’t the only one with the type of problem I was having with my set. I then called Samsung who denied they knew there was a problem with this particular type of set (plasma.) I put up such a fuss (took days of calling, etc.) but they eventually caved and extended the regular warranty for another year, then sent a repairman who replaced every part. So I have a brand new set.</p>
<p>I have had to repair 2 Bosch dishwashers. All dishwasher control panels look pretty much the same; I don’t understand how they would use less electronics. Bosch dishwashers tend to burn out the heater control. It can be soldered, but taking apart the panel correctly is a pain. In one case, I bought a replacement panel over the net and put it in. The mechanical parts on dishwashers rarely break on any decent brink, except maybe for the plastic moving arms and those are pretty cheap.</p>
<p>All these appliances use basic electronic control panels. The problem with a front loading washer is the drum and the way it hooks up to the direct drive mechanism. The bearings can go, the drum can leak and both require 2 people to get the thing apart. That is one repair the pros tell me is a pain. Pulling out a pump and sticking in a new one is easy, taking apart the structure is a wrestling match.</p>
<p>The internet has been a huge help for self-repair. I can - eventually - find the information I need and getting parts is almost always easy, though sometimes identifying exactly the right one is often a pain. A control panel for a Bosch is about $115. A new dishwasher is 10x that. </p>
<p>The warranties that make no sense to me are on little things like microwaves. You can buy a new one for $30. I have trouble believing how many are built in: a disposable item built in? I’ve been seeing more built in coffee machines too. What if the form factor changes? You have to redo the cabinetry.</p>
<p>“I have had to repair 2 Bosch dishwashers. All dishwasher control panels look pretty much the same; I don’t understand how they would use less electronics.”</p>
<p>There is a difference between touch pad electronics and non touch pad (mechanical.) Neither my dishwasher, washer or dryer have a touch pad, and from what I have read/heard - more can go wrong with the appliances which use touch pad electronics.</p>
cnp55:
What brand computer was that - it sounds like one I’d like to avoid. Also, what was wrong with it?</p>
<p>Some of you seem to have bad luck. My items, especially electronics don’t break very often. Modern electronics typically don’t break very often. I also tend to fix things myself so the warranties are of less value to me than to some others. For example, my washing machine is a Whirlpool whose design hasn’t changed significantly in 40 years, parts are readily and cheaply available, and is simple to fix almost anything that can go wrong with it. I also haven’t had issues with major electronics like my 6-7 y/o Hitachi plasma TV, and a variety of other electronics.</p>
<p>I decline extended warranties on the theory that it’s cheaper to self insure for the occassional malfunction. I’ve only purchased one, for a $4000 off brand large flat screen television from Sam’s Club. I’d forgotten I’d purchased the warranty, so when the TV failed, the manufacturer was bankrupt, and parts were unavailable, we were pretty sad. A couple of weeks later DW was going through old receipts for some reason and came across the Sam’s Club TV receipt and noticed the warranty. Then we were pretty happy.</p>
<p>Sam’s Club was great about it. They paid the invoice for the failed diagnosis and repair attempt and refunded our full purchase price. We were able to purchase a bigger, better, name brand TV and pocketed $ in the process.</p>
<p>In the future I’ll still self insure on most purchases.</p>
<p>GladGradDad … a well known, very well known, brand of computer. All I’ve ever owned since 1980. This is at least my fifth or sixth. Using the same brand and model at home as at the other house. My kids have the laptop versions. I allso have the tablet and the phone from the same company. Have never ever ever had a problem. And have never ever ever bought their extended warranty.</p>
<p>In this case, I had a defective machine – it needed a new power supply and (yikes) a new logic board. </p>
<p>So while in this specific instance I had an expensive problem, and I spent a few hours on the phone (on the cell phone in an area with poor signal … no fun!) and the machine was in their shop for a week … I can’t fault them too badly so I didn’t want to name them.</p>