I’ll give you the TL:DR right now. You can save $1,650 (or way more) on major appliances by doing one thing: Do not buy an LG product. I’m talking specifically about the LG LDF7932ST Steam Direct Drive dishwasher, which is apparently a disposable product. Avoid it, and all LG appliances all costs.
Why you should say no to LG Appliances
I could just fill this article with recounting some second and third hand horror stories I’ve heard regarding LG products (appliances, TVs, other electronic equipment), or even tell you direct experiences my own relatives and friends have had with LG major appliances like dishwashers, washer and dryers, and stoves. I’ve heard so many of them, first hand through third hand, over the years, it can make your head spin. If you’re interested in other people’s experiences with LG products – or even just LG dishwashers, the Internet is there to help you.
I’m just going to tell you my experience with our LG Dishwasher.
When we redesigned our kitchen 4.5 years ago, we wanted the best appliances we could afford and set a $5,000 budget for stove, refrigerator and dishwasher. We expected, by paying a premium price, to get premium products that would last decades, if needed. For our dishwasher, we ended up choosing an LG Steam Dishwasher, model LDF7932ST, which in Canada in 2010 had a retail price of around $1,200. We bought it at Home Depot and the sales person really pushed the unit on us. We were sold on the dishwasher as being from “the biggest innovator in home appliances”, that it was one of the most energy efficient dishwashers on the market (partially because of the steam clean feature), and it was also one of the quietest models in that price range. We bought the unit for around $1,000, but with installation and taxes, it came to around $1,300.
In Canada, major appliances only have to have a 1 year full warranty. They can have longer warranties (like in Europe, where they are mandated), but in North America, warranties are longer only if the manufacturer wants a longer one. LG’s warranty is 1 year full, then 2 years on some parts, 5 years on others. There’s a caveat: the parts are free if you use LG’s own designated repair services, which charge a premium repair rate.
Our dishwasher worked great for the first year. Not a problem at all. Noise was low, dishes got clean, running it about once every 2 days. Then 4 months after our full 1 year warranty expired, the motor on the dishwasher died, and died rather suddenly and loudly. The motor was still covered by LG’s warranty, but not the labour, which added up to over $200. So our $1,300 dishwasher was now a $1,500 dishwasher. I wasn’t too pleased to have to spend that money on a relatively new appliance.
The dishwasher ran okay to good for the next 15 months or so (now just under 3 years into ownership). During that time, it got louder, and didn’t seem to be cleaning as well as it used to. Then we got a bunch of error messages one day that LG couldn’t diagnose via service phone calls, and wanted us to spend several hundred dollars to have their technicians visit us to diagnose the new problem. On a < 3 year old dishwasher.
We opted to get a third party repair service to look at it and fix it. Problem was internal related to draining, and they fixed it, presenting a bill for $225. So now our < 3 year old LG dishwasher now had a pricetag $1,725.
For the next 12–14 months (see a pattern here?) The LG dishwasher ran… okay. Then not too great. It got progressively louder as the months went on. I should mention, we’re a household of two people, and wash dishes for two. We run a load in the dishwasher sometimes every two or three days. Not a lot of use – maybe 150 loads a year. At this point, our dishwasher was 4.5 years old, and had run approximately 675 loads in its lifetime. Compare that to my parents’ time with their Bosch, which would be run at least once a day (sometimes twice), every day, every year, for well over a decade without any major failure. That’s about 4,250 loads over 10 years. Our LG? Approximately 675 loads when the next thing happened.
In the LG’s last month in our home, it got progressively louder. A repair tech diagnosed it as a possible impeller issue or something more serious, and the repair could cost us up to $250 including parts. We were considering it when only a few days later, our 4.5 year old LG Steam Direct Drive Dishwasher, model LDF7932ST just died. Stopped working entirely. Panel wouldn’t light up. The initial diagnosis was the entire electronics package (all one piece in these models, not parts you can replace piecemeal) was fried, and would cost about $300 for the part, and $150 for the repair. Not covered by warranty, of course.
So we had a choice – do we turn our (now) $1,725 LG dishwasher, one that has had a major problem every 14–18 months of its life, costing us money, into a $2,400 dishwasher (with the two new repairs), or just get the thing ripped out and buy a new dishwasher.
That’s what we did. Had the thing ripped out and thrown away. And this time, we went with a dishwasher we should have gone with in 2010. One from a company that doesn’t treat its appliances as disposable items you should replace every 3–5 years.
We bought a Bosch 5 series model, made in Germany. Same brand my parents had that lasted decades. Same brand my friends have that runs strong, repair free for over 15 years. We didn’t buy a Bosch in 2010 because it was $75 more than the LG model – they both had a similar list price, but Home Depot gave us a better deal on the LG and to be honest, pushed the LG on us hard.
A couple of weeks ago, we spent $1350 (taxes and installation included) on the Bosch dishwasher. In the past five years, we’ve spent $3,025 on dishwashers in total. If we’d bought the Bosch instead of the horrible LG model back then, we would have saved $1,650, in 5 years.
Please, take my advice. Never, ever buy a LG product. I’ve owned three LG products in my life, and all three have been lemons (a smartphone, a tv, and a dishwasher).
