Sorry to do this to you Gibby, but the Gibson brand is all but defunct. They are mainly made by Frigidaire if at all.
The over computerization of appliances has made this a very difficult question to answer. There is so little QC in the circuit boards, that a brand that builds a good gas stove can have a rash of boards fail 2 yrs in. Fridges are another prime example. There is a big push for energy star fridges, but this comes at a price to longevity. Most e star units use something called Adaptive Defrost (read : circuit board). It counts door openings, duration, temperature shifts and etc to only have the fridge defrost (heat up) the min amount of time required to do the job. May save you 5-10 dollars per year but the Adapt Def boards are a major failing point. If you save 5-10 per year, but your fridge only lasts 5 years instead of 10... You see where I am going with this.
I cannot stress how important it is to get
good extended warranties on some products. Would I buy one on a $449 fridge? No. But if I was buying a $2599 French Door unit, you bet your sweet bippy. Upper end product does not mean lower failure rate. When Electrolux Home first came on the market, they had all the promise of the second coming. Unfortunately they can't seem to even get their ice makers in their fridges right because of (get this) bad
software code. Not even spokesperson Kelly Rippa make them worth owning. We sold many Electrolux units and have had major repairs on every one. That's right, every one. Electrolux is the parent company of Frigidaire. Guess what brand of fridge is now using the Electrolux Ice Maker?
So the moral of the story is this: top of the line isn't the best, repairs will happen at every level of any brand. If you expect to get more than the warranty period out of a unit, weigh the costs of extended warranties for the product. Do NOT buy a warranty until you look it over.
Where I work, my employer got so fed up with the Ext Warranty companies trying to chimp, he started an escrow account and started selling his own. Independent from the business, this warranty is an extension of the coverage provided by the manufacturer. If it was one year parts and labor to cover operational defects, it is now 5. He sells them at 120 per unit, but a service call and one hour labor is 100. That's without any parts.
The odds that you will have a repair guy out on anything with a computer board within 5 years is pretty high. Control boards can run hundreds each, with several boards in some appliances.
I guess if anyone has a question, I will try to answer it, but model to model, year to year, the better product lines change. I tend to purchase the simplest unit that seems to be built well enough. I also go online and look up exploded views if possible and price a few expected fail parts and the computer boards. Should take you less than half an hour to do this ( unless it's LG or SAMSUNG, those two are harder to research) but I believe there is value to being an educated buyer.
One more thing, I really do think that independent service centers that sell appliances are at least a viable choice, if not the better choice. A good Service Manager can get more accomplished than a faceless voice at the 1 800 #.
OK, done... Whew!
Edited by MH81, July 25, 2011 - 09:39 PM.
