7 replies to this topic

[mastertech011]

I am a master Ford technician and have been a member of this forum for years and can service a lot of stuff on my own. However I am also a consumer and look out for my personal interests warranty wise when possible. I just purchased a Jenn Air gas range, one with the fancy schmancy control panel but not uber expensive model. JGR8775RDW free standing. My greatest concern maintenance wise is the high cost of the control board and touch pad which together could run near 400 or more for the pair. They are however both covered for 5 years, which is one reason I purchased Jenn Air over Maytag plus a nicer control panel. Now we all know Maytag owns Jenn Air and Whirlpool owns them all.

 I have been offered an extended warranty from a company named Expert Protection out of Texas. It is a 5 year warranty for 130.00. Well that is quite inexpensive but also leaves me suspect on the quality of service. On the other hand it is cheap enough that if I never needed it no big deal.

I also have other options I can purchase out on my own. One I have seriously considered is Maytag themselves. I have purchased from them before and never used them. I know in prior years Maytag was a pretty good extended warranty primarily because they have parts and they have trained technicians on their products. I dont know how they rate now that Whirlpool owns them. You read so many people wailing on websites you dont know the whiners who would belly ache over anything from the really screwed over owners.

The price difference between Maytags website quote and this aftermarket company is only 40.00 and Maytag covers one year less. My only gripe about Maytag is when the renewal time comes they are like half the price of a new appliance to keep it another 3 years. I usually take over care after that.

My question is to the appliance repair techs out there. No sense complaining which brand I bought, that is already done. Is it a pretty safe bet that the control board will fail and my money is wisely spent (have friends who have replaced thiers on another brand 4 times in 5 years) or should I just save the bread and apply it to the labor later?

That of course only works if it only fails once. Should I go with the aftermarket for 5 years or Maytag for better service for 4?

What would you do?

[appl.tech.29501]

Trust me when I say go with the extended "Factory" warranty. You have no idea how many people I have seen get the "retailers" extended warranty and can never get help when they need it. Same with an independent warranty company. Normally that don't cover as much as well and almost always takes longer for service to be completed. Your boards will fail one day so its good to have that coverage. After 9 years just take over service for yourself as you said and plan on an average of 12 years of life (if the parts are available for that long) Generally Jenn air / Whirlpool parts are available for many years in comparison to say GE and some other brands begin discontinuing some of their parts after 5 years.

[mastertech011]

Great, thanks! Gonna get the Maytag Jenn Air policy then.

[appl.tech.29501]

Very wise decision

[Scottthewolf]

I second your decision to buy the extended warranty direct from Maytag.

[mastertech011]

Thanks Scott!

[harryf]

Or you could look at it this way; none of these extended warranty providers, be they Factory or private, pay anything near a professional rate. soooo, what kind of servicers do you think they attract?? if they're a young owner operator they don't have the expertise or the cust base so they sign up to learn on someone else' dime [read also -your appliance]. if they're a big co-AE, Sears, GE,etc. they are so pressured to make their #'s that any job requiring extra time or mutiple trips is going to get short shifted. witness the complaint blogs for all the manf. most are condemning the manf but in a preponderence of complaints one can see they just received bad service, either from a tech who didn't know or care or a provider that doesn't care. a really good tech today doesn't need to work for these co's unless he/she is just a poor business person and to keep from going under they do this work. if you're the type of consumer who doesn't mind staying home through myriad phone calls, missed appt, multiple service visits, trying to get an appl fixed-by all means buy a contract for the piece [?] of mind.. on the other hand you say you can fix this stuff yourself and just wish to protect your wallet due to the price of the parts..i submit there is no reason to think that this control will most definitely fail. these contract people know more than you of the probability of that happening and they are willing to bet ?$130. that you'll be fine..keep the money- IF it does break you'll fix it in a few days with little aggravation, which is like money in the bank.

[kdog]

Here's another aspect as well; Your owners documents may give some exceptional Parts Warranties (such as the 5yr electronic and membrane mentioned), however in order to make such a claim - the part must be relpaced by an authorized servicer at your expense, If you have factory Extended Warranty there isn't likely to be an issue having it them replaced. With a 3rd party involved, there may be some other agreements in place.
It's not like you can just call up JennAir after 3 years and say: "Oh my control and touchpad failed,send me out a new one" - instead you get to pay someone, like many of us on this site, to come out and cast some of our expertise your way.