Warners Stellian any good?

[DrWebster]

So we're planning on getting a new refrigerator. We found the model we want at Best Buy, but I've heard/read a lot of bad about their delivery. I found that Warners Stellian sells the same fridge we want, for the same price as Best Buy, and they offer free delivery/recycling of the old fridge. I'm not finding much online for reviews of them, though. So, has anyone here dealt with Warners Stellian, and what did you think?

[dmention7]

Never dealt with W-S, but Best Buy delivered our TV and chest freezer, and I have no complaints.... our time slot was 7-9am and they were at our door at 7:20am. The only thing was they were apparently supposed to unpack our stuff and plug it in, but I honestly preferred to have the delivery guys stomping around our house as little as possible so it didn't bother me in the least--plus it was just a tv and a 7cu-ft freezer. For $60 it was well worth the hassle of not having rent a truck and load/unload it ourselves. AFAIK Best Buy will also haul away your old appliance for free.

[Jana]

I always get my appliances from Sears. They have great delivery times and have been awesome to work with.

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I bought all my appliances from Warners-Stellian when I bought my house, and I wouldn't go anywhere else if they have the product I want. Great service both in the store and at my home, all-inclusive pricing, and they had the best prices when I priced it out in my kitchen or laundry room.

Edit: Marcy has also bought from them based on my experience and she's completely happy with them too...

[mazdamn02]

From experience I know BBY delivery and install is sketchy, but prices and financing are typically really good, and they have free haul away for old appliances.

Warners Steillian is probably the best in the twin cities for service and quality, Sears is probably decent as well.

[Picklz]

If Warners is the same price as BB I would go with them, everything I've heard about them has been great.

[keke]

I work at Best Buy. If you have a problem (easier to help you out if it's my store), let me know and I'll help you out with it. We pricematch so you'll get it at the best price there.

Also, delivery problems happen very rarely. I never hear about those.

Keep in mind people are only going to tell you the bad, they won't tell you about the good experiences.

[MN6]

I have bought from both WS and BB. With a fridge, I do not know if it makes much of a difference. If you have a product that needs installation, WS is the way to go. There are very few places that offer free installation and removal of old appliances.

[mndsm]

I'd rather do WS myself, support the little guy.

[mazdamn02]

I work at Best Buy. If you have a problem (easier to help you out if it's my store), let me know and I'll help you out with it. We pricematch so you'll get it at the best price there.

Also, delivery problems happen very rarely. I never hear about those.

Keep in mind people are only going to tell you the bad, they won't tell you about the good experiences.

I'm not trying to deliberatley bad mouth them, I did work at BBY for ~7 yrs. Just going off what I've experienced personally from taking delivery and what I've seen in the store.

[DrWebster]

Thanks for all the responses. Considering that W-S is asking the exact same price as Best Buy, and offers free delivery and haul-away, I think we're gonna go with them. Now we just need to decide if it's worth the additional $250 to go stainless over the regular white.

[dmention7]

Carbon Fiber

/thread

[ZoomZoom Diva]

What is the finish on the rest of your appliances? Unless you're looking to go stainless everywhere, just a stainless fridge will look out of place. A black refrigerator also goes well with stainless steel appliances.

[mazdamn02]

Carbon Fiber

/thread


+eleventy billion.

[DrWebster]

What is the finish on the rest of your appliances? Unless you're looking to go stainless everywhere, just a stainless fridge will look out of place. A black refrigerator also goes well with stainless steel appliances.

The range and dishwasher are both white, but I plan on replacing them (or at least the range) with stainless. We're going to be painting our kitchen cabinets white, so I think we can get away with the white dishwasher while having a stainless fridge and range.

This is the fridge we're looking at:
http://us.lge.com/products/model/detail/home%20appliances_refrigerators_french%20door_LFC2 0760ST.jhtml

It's the only French door fridge I've found that comes in a 30" wide version, which is all the more room we have for a fridge.

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Then I would go stainless. A white refrigerator would look out of place.

On the width, most of the other makers offer a bottom freezer in the 30" width rather than a french door design.

[DrWebster]

Yeah, we've looked at the "normal" bottom-freezer fridges, but they wouldn't be much of an upgrade from what we have now (a 15-year-old plain white top-freezer Whirlpool). I want a bottom freezer drawer (not a big-ass door you have to swing out of the way first), ice maker, and French doors.

[ZoomZoom Diva]

The big improvement you will see no matter what you buy is a lower electric bill if you're moving from a 15 year old model.

[DrWebster]

So the wife and I went fridge shopping today. Unfortunately, it looks like Warners Stellian is probably off our list, as we were in the Roseville store for 20 minutes and nobody bothered to help us, and the lady we talked to at the Woodbury store was pretty snobby. Then we went to All Inc. and they were very nice there (and even had a better price on the fridge we want than W-S).

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Maybe I need to check them out to see if they offer a top-freezer refrigerator with through-the-door ice and water.

[AJ]

Yeah, in reality these days how many can say it's the store that sells them over the individual that's having an upbeat and good day. Our experience at WS was a very good one, and is why we bought from them. If the service would of been bad, then for sure we would of bought elsewhere.

[DrWebster]

I may try stopping into the Roseville W-S again, but dressed better. Maybe they just didn't think I was serious since I was wearing a T-shirt, shorts and running shoes. All Inc. does have a better price, but it looks like they charge for delivery/haul-away, which W-S does for free. In any event, we have our fridge picked out (the LG I linked to above), we just need to decide where to buy it.

[DrWebster]

Maybe I need to check them out to see if they offer a top-freezer refrigerator with through-the-door ice and water.

Why a top-freezer? I saw a Fisher & Paykel bottom-freezer (but not French door) unit today that did water in the door and ice in the freezer.

[Jana]

I may try stopping into the Roseville W-S again, but dressed better. Maybe they just didn't think I was serious since I was wearing a T-shirt, shorts and running shoes. All Inc. does have a better price, but it looks like they charge for delivery/haul-away, which W-S does for free. In any event, we have our fridge picked out (the LG I linked to above), we just need to decide where to buy it.

It shouldn't matter what you are dressed in. We were just in jeans & t-shirts & were helped the second we walked in.

[DrWebster]

It shouldn't matter what you are dressed in. We were just in jeans & t-shirts & were helped the second we walked in.

Yeah, we went back in today and were helped immediately. The sales guy was very nice and pretty knowledgeable about the product. Much better service than yesterday. We ended up buying the fridge from them, and delivery is next Saturday.

[Jana]

Glad to hear it went better! I know we were very impressed with how helpful & knowledgeable they were...and non-pushy.

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Why a top-freezer? I saw a Fisher & Paykel bottom-freezer (but not French door) unit today that did water in the door and ice in the freezer.

Perhaps it is because I have only lived with top-freezers, but to me, the bottom freezer is a major pain in the ass. Just me...

[YSOSLO]

We had a bottom freezer in our townhome and we loved it. We had the drawer on the bottom, so there were no door issues there, and it was really nice to have the refrigerated stuff at eye-level rather than trying to duck down to find whatever might be lurking on the bottom shelf. I think that's why a lot of people are so happy with the french door fridges, because everything is right at eye level.

[DrWebster]

We had a bottom freezer in our townhome and we loved it. We had the drawer on the bottom, so there were no door issues there, and it was really nice to have the refrigerated stuff at eye-level rather than trying to duck down to find whatever might be lurking on the bottom shelf. I think that's why a lot of people are so happy with the french door fridges, because everything is right at eye level.

That's exactly why we're buying one. We use the fridge part about 10x more than the freezer, and it'll be great to not have to get on my hands and knees to find something in the back of the fridge on the bottom shelves.

[mazdamn02]

I love the idea of a bottom freezer... Why put the most used stuff on the damn ground?

[Jana]

Actually, bottom freezers are supposed to keep the frozen items colder, and be more efficient. Back in the day, that's the way they were made. I remember my grandparents had a fridge with the freezer drawer, and that was probably 30 + years old.

[mazdamn02]

I love the idea of a bottom freezer... Why put the most used stuff on the damn ground?


Actually, bottom freezers are supposed to keep the frozen items colder, and be more efficient. Back in the day, that's the way they were made. I remember my grandparents had a fridge with the freezer drawer, and that was probably 30 + years old.

I was agreeing with bottom freezer is an awesome idea by saying putting the fridge below makes no sense when you always are in the fridge portion... :)

[ZoomZoom Diva]

I must use my freezer a lot more than some people here, because that is exactly what I don't like about bottom freezers, piling stuff I use often in a basket on the ground. It makes even simple items like getting ice (something I do at least a few times a day) a hassle and the refrigerator mounted ice makers are very slow at making ice from everything I've read. I avoid the bottom shelf issues by not really putting anything there, as my 21 cubic foot model holds more than I need it to.

Also, while bottom freezers might be theoretically more efficient, it took years for their actual energy usage per usable cubic foot to approach that of top freezers, and are both now currently comparable.

What pisses me off is GE used to make a top freezer with through the door ice and water through the freezer door and I put off buying it until I was more settled and could afford a $1800+ refrigerator (in stainless)... and they discontinued it. Never fails, nobody ever makes anything I like, and if I do find something I like, they stop making it.

[DrWebster]

I forgot to post a follow-up. We got the fridge on Saturday, and the delivery guys were fast and not assholes. However, I had gone back into W-S a few days prior because I noticed Best Buy had the fridge on sale, and wanted W-S to pricematch. Our sales rep said a pricematch would be no problem, and that he'd get the difference refunded to our credit card that night. It's been a week and that hasn't happened, and probably won't (why would he want to cut into his commission?). So while W-S's delivery doesn't suck, you still need to do your homework ahead of time and be prepared to negotiate.

Oh, and while the fridge itself seems to be pretty well built, LG's customer support sucks ass. The manual for the fridge says the water connection for the icemaker is a hose coming out of the back of the fridge; I didn't have such a hose or any place where it looked like one should be. I called LG's customer support to find out what the deal is, and ended up in an argument with them. I told them my fridge doesn't match what the diagram in the manual said, and that I thought the manual was incorrect. They were adamant that the manual wasn't wrong (it's obvious they copied and pasted sections of it from other fridge models that they sell, which explains why the diagram was wrong) and told me to call someone to "properly install the fridge." I ended up having to take some of the panels off the back of the fridge, and managed to find the connection...behind a cover you have to remove to get access to. Assholes.

[dmention7]

I'd keep on your salesman about that price-matching. That kind of thing is just par for the course and there's no reason they shouldn't match BB's price.