Appliance questions

3 words
Warranty, warranty, warranty*-)

If you buy on island you get a warranty. If you ship from off island most likely you won't. Or it is voided.
Can you imagine costs of shipping a fridge or stove back to Fl?? Yikes. Let the appliance store worry about that....
Warranties differ too. For example, Best Furniture on STX has a repairman on island. Sears/Kmart Appliance Store dispatches from Puerto Rico. No thanks!

We've shipped and bought on island. some depends on the particular appliance, and the price. I've gotten reluctant to buy refrigerators off island, again because of warranty issues. I've bought things like washers and dryers and even dishwashers off island, and not had any issues wtih needing repairs done during the warranty period, but you never know. Best Buy claims their extended warranty covers on stx, and I did check it out at the time of my purchase, but the machine has not had any issues so I really don't know. I've found that places like Best Furniture will often sell for the stateside list price, which considering is not always bad..save sales tax, or the fight to get it reimbursed, and shipping an individual appliance has become more expensive too. If I want someting special and can wait he'll order for me too.

That's why I like Appliance Plus.(tu)(tu) They service what they sell, deliver and install and the electric cords and connections come with the appliance where many charge you extra for the cord, etc. they'll haul away your old unit for a small fee. If there are problems, they take care of it.
Years ago I purchased a washer & a dryer from Western Auto.
They delivered the appliances but had to go back the next day to purchase the electric cords and then have someone come back to hook them up. I never have understood how anyone can sell anything electrical and not include that! And charge you extra for it!(td)(td)*-)
Appliance Plus are more expensive but when all is said and done, well worth it.

K-Mart has someone come from PR, once a month. It could take awhile for him to get around to you.
Western Auto has a service person (and he is always busy) but charge for the cords and delivery, etc.
This is STT.

Thank you all! Can you tell me what questions I should ask when I shop around on islands besides the important warranty? Thanks again.

Do they have service personnel that are on island and how long does it take for them to appear to honor any repair under your warranty.
Do they have to order parts or do they usually have in stock? Is delivery free? Do they provide? Does your appliance come with it's electric cord or is that additional cost? Can they take away your old appliance? Is it in stock? If not, how long will it take to get it?

Thanks Alana33. I will be asking those questions!

We just bought a Samsung 4 door refrigerator. Exactly what we wanted. We priced them in the states including the shipping and then we got online to Sears, wrote down the make/model #, called the Big Kmart on STT, custom ordered and paid for it over the phone, About 3 weeks later, we picked up the refrigerator (they would have delivered it but we're on Water Island so.....there are different challenges) and installed it. Sears warrenty covers it. The pricing we paid Big Kmart was just slightly higher than what we would have paid for refrigerator in the States (slightly cheaper in the States but not signficantly cheaper) plus the shipping. ....just another idea.

I forgot to say........we purchased our last batch of appliances from Home Depot/STT. Getting HD to respect the warranty took a lot of chasing and pushing and ultimately calling HD HDQ in Atlanta. Appliance Plus is reliable, has good customer service from what I've heard. We found AP pricing signficantly higher (though they will negotiate some). If they don't have the model you're looking for, they will order it. We were looking for a different brand/make than they carry.

Regarding the warranty work for the Kmart/Sears refrigerator, Sears has a guy on STT who is authorized to do warranty work. We don't call Kmart to arrange the repair. We call Sears 800# to report the trouble. Then call the authorized warranty guy on STT who does the fix.

Kmart/Sears doesn't seem to be doing well financially. I wonder what the impact would be if they went bankrupt.

I just priced some appliances through Home Depot on STT and they quoted me better prices than on their website.
Worth looking into, but they also said 6-8 week (standard) for special orders. I know from experience that 6-8 weeks shipping time is totally valid.