buying appliances

Either Best Furniture (across from plaza sion farm), Carlos, or Royal Furniture (next to Carlos). They usually have the best prices, always always bargin, ask for a better price and get free delivery and take away. And you can play them off of each other for the best price.

If you are on St. Thomas or St. John do NOT GO TO WESTERN AUTO!!!! If you want to hear my friend's story - I will be glad to elaborate. Do not trust WESTERN AUTO!!!

I'm assuming Stcmike is on STX. I've bought all my appliances at Western Auto & never had a problem. What happened with your friend?

The least expensive fridge on STX is at Carlos furniture @ $459. (I'm talking about full-size.) I don't remember the brand. Right now, Sears/Kmart is offering 15% off all appliances over $399, with deferred payment if you use a Sears card. The 15% is in addition to any sale price. Yesterday the least expensive was on sale for $579, minus 15%. (might have been 589)

No free delivery at Sears/Kmart.

if stc mike lives at st c, he might want to get a frig that was built for tropical. they have a little sticker with a T on it. from what i have been told, they use galvanized sheet metal in the case. i bought one a couple of years ago, and the case hasn't rusted yet, the screws and the hinges, but not the sheet metal. not all brands or stores offer the "T" model.
i bought mine at "airs r us" at sion farm. i think some of the furniture stores might have them too.

But is it energy efficient? I'd rather have a little rust then a big energy bill. 🙂 Like other have said you can always wax it twice a year if you're worried about cosmetics. Honestly you may get a little rust but as long as you don't live on the beach you're not going to have to worry about hinges and screws rusting out. 🙂 When we lived up in the hills center isle we used to get a strong sea breeze and it killed our tvs but didn't really see any rust from it.

Also you get a 20% rebate back from the VI energy department on Energy Star refrigerators. We just got a fantastic Fridgidaire side by side with in door water/ice dispenser and water filter from Carlos for $1099. It was energy star so we will be getting $220 back from the VI energy department, Carlos gave us the forms etc. That price included delivery. That was the best deal we coudl find, the Fridge is fantastic and we are very happy with our purchase. Now we'll see when/if this rebate shows up (sent it certified return receipt).

The Sears/Kmart/Kenmore store was really appealing until we saw their prices. If you go to the Kenmore store online you can see what the prices are stateside. I was willing to pay a reasonable markup here, but they were ridiculous. They wanted $2600 for a $1700 fridge which is a 35% markup. That is insane and there is no need to pay that kind of Markup with Carlos/Best and the other guys around. I was so excited when that place opened up, thought it would be like having the "harder" side of Sears on island but their prices are way out of line when compared to other island vendors and when compared to buying stateside and shipping something here. There may be some deals to be had there but I couldn't find them.

Sean

you are lucky you are a resident. no rebates for part timers, only official usvi residents. thats for appliances and any kind of solar assist.

we're looking for a new refrigerator as well. Found prices on island to be about $50.00 over the mfg. suggested list on their websites, and haven't started bargaining on stx yet. They will order us the model we want. When you figure in the sales tax in the states, plus a delivery charge, taking off a stateside rebate, but then adding customs for one mfg out of US (it's Mexico, so I don't know if there's customs or if Nafta eliminates), plus the hassle of our shipping it down, even in our own container, and not having any sort of warranty, the price is not that much more when you take out the VI rebate. The store is making more of a profit, but not much net difference in our pocket. Our last refrig ( the newest thing at the time) was lousy, and needed a new compressor 10 months into ownership, but since we bought it on island the retailer had to repair it. But we buy our other appliances off island, even when we have to get VI Cargo to transport them...You have to be a VI resident to get the appliance rebate though.

We purchased a fridge at Gallow's Bay appliance. Paid too much and after a few months it was not staying cold. Temps would fluctuate and stopped making ice. After several visits from the repair guys it was apparent they could not fix it. They actually replaced about 7 parts to get the ice maker working but it still could not stay cold. They replaced the ice maker unit, circuit board, fill valve, wiring harness etc...... Once it started making ice they handed me a bill for about $600. I refused to pay it saying not all those parts were bad and they were just throwing parts at it until it worked. As for it not staying cold they drilled a 2 inch hole in the center wall to help get the air moving. WTF??? We talked to Phil the owner/manager and worked out a trade since this fridge was obviously a lemon. We traded for the exact same model and sure enough...6 months later started acting the same. This was a Kenmore and not a cheap model.
This time we traded up (paid more) for the Frigidaire side by side with freezer drawer. Loved it!! Had it a week and had to go off island. Our house sitter called and told us the fridge was 90 degrees and the freezer was staying frozen which had to have been the circ fan gone bad. When I called the store I was told someone would come look at it. They actually came and got it. No loaner, no explanation. We were furious!
In the end we were told we were getting a refund and they would not sell us another because they were losing money on the deal.
Whatever! We shopped around and found Sears/KMart to be a bit high and the service dept. is a 1-800 # and dispatched from PR.
We ended up buying the Amana (which is identical to the Frigidaire and both made by Whirlpool I believe) from Best in Sion Farm. Got a great deal, free delivery, local service guys (they say) have had no problems, "knock on wood".
I would NOT buy an appliance from Gallow's Bay Appliance!!! They must be selling seconds and rejects for top dollar. Buyer beware!

GBH- contrary to their advertisements, we had them take 2 weeks to come to service a refrig that we had bought at GBH..and then when they came, they told us to just buy a new one---it was only a couple years old, $2000+! Then they decided they could do whatever to repair, but would cost almost a thousand dollars, and no guarantee on the repair. We called someone else (who previously had been the repairman for GBH) and he repaired the fridge for about $150...2 years later it's still fine. Phil's comment was 'guess we got it wrong'. We know lots of folks who've had issues with the appliances from there....One of their former appl salesmen told me he figured that when they ordered something for st croix, the warehouse would yell...'another order for st croix, get out that problem unit from the back room...'

Would not buy another appliance from Gallow's Bay. Bought a washing machine from them a few years ago. The man in the appliance dept. said it was the greatest machine etc. After 1 1/2 yrs it literally fell apart. Went back to them and was advised it could not be repaired. They said it was the worst washer they had. No. 1 why if it was so bad did they even carry it and 2. why did the man say at the time it was the best washer they carried.

Bought refrig from them. it lasted 2 years at most. Can go on and on about their bad appliances.

And they do not warranty them.

I would suggest trying the new Sear/Kenmore store in sunny isle. We need to support that store. And quite buying inferior, overpriced
items from gallows bay hardware.

Thanks to all of you, your suggestions were very helpful. I hope all of you have a safe and happy Easter weekend.

Mike

My friend bought a washer and dryer from western auto. The dryer they delivered but was missing parts- it seems that they had taken them off to fix someone else's dryer. The washer worked for a day. They kept promising to come fix them but after 3 weeks still no one showed. They asked for their money back - they were told that they would not come pick up the washer and dryer so my friends had pay some one to take it back to the store. When they returned them to the store they were told they couldn't refund their money yet- they would need to credit the credit card and it would take a couple of days. My friends called every day- and were told that it had been credited and it would show up on their account "one of these days." After two weeks, still no credit so my friends went through their credit card company for help. The credit card company said that the manager at Western Auto said he was just waiting to see their receipt so he could credit the card. Finally, after 3 months- they credited the card. All the time the manager at Western Auto was assuring my friends he was taking care of it and was an honest man who stood by his products. Yeah right.

What a shame. I bought mine when the previous manager was still here & had great service. Thanks for the heads up, Polly.