Kitchen Appliances - where to purchase, where to avoid?

[Earlybird]

Am hoping the experience of Mumsnet members can direct me away from places that offer poor pricing/service/etc and direct me toward the places that give good service at competitive prices. Anyplace that offers good guarantees and/or 'aftercare' would be appreciated too.

I am assuming the obvious:

Good - John Lewis, Peter Jones
Bad - Curry's

But, would love to hear your personal experiences as there are clearly many other places to consider. Where would you look for appliances, and where would you avoid?

Thanks. Here's hoping all of you can help me avoid making a mistake.

Hopeful bump for evening crowd.......

And as an aside - can anyone share thoughts/advice on purchasing appliances from Debenham's? An acquaintance has suggested that i look there.

I have bought appliances from O'Gormans online shop several times and never had any issues with their products or services.

John Lewis were an utter nightmare when we bought a new fridge freezer recently. First they told us delivery would be 2 weeks, then 6, then after 6 weeks we chased them (all the while we had no fridge as ours had broken) and they loaned us a fridge freezer which would have been brilliant except that they wouldn't bloody collect it again!! Three times they promised to collect it and not once did anyone turn up. I gave it to my mum in the end. Grrrr!

Oh, to finish the story, it took three MONTHS to get the fridge freezer we had ordered. It is fab tho!

I thought John Lewis was supposed to set the standard for customer service - am a bit stunned to hear your terrible experience. Glad it is now sorted.

Must admit to having never heard of O'Gormans.

Anyone else?

Comet delivered my Hotpoint washer within a few days and all plumbed in etc for £30 quid-they even did it at the w/end superb service and quiet machine v Pleased

I tend to buy these things on line and needed a new cooker in a hurry last year when my old one was condemned. I bought it from these people after reading excellent reviews. I ordered my cooker on the Saturday evening and it was delivered the following Wednesday. He even took the old cooker away for me. I couldn't have asked for better service.

John Lewis are not all they make themselves out to be. We had our wedding list with them and service was awful. I wrote to complain twice and never received a reply so don't think they are as caring about their customers experience as they say.

I think you need to be wary of reviews. Have you noticed how companies seem to come and go on them? One minute it is this co versus this co? Then another two come into play : Ikea and John Lewis or whatever? Until someone independent asks say 200 people about their experiences , over a long period of time, you will never kmow. What is missing on this site ( as with many others)is recommendations of local independents. Do you agree?

I would recommend John Lewis, we brought our fridge freezer and washing machine from them for the extended warranty, delivered on time and was cheaper than buying from curry's!

Celibin - agree about being wary regarding reviews.

I think many reviews are written by those who have had an unsatisfactory experience and thus feel motivated to vent. Those who have had good service simply aren't galvanised in the same way because everything went 'as it should'.

Appliances online were good. I ordered all of my kitchen appliances from there.

Trouble is when you've had a bad experience you don't go back so you don't know if they've improved.A few years back (6 or 7) I bought washing Machine from Comet.Ran through on first hot wash to clean as directed in manual.Cue horrendous banging noise,LCD display not working and the side looked like it had been caved in.Delivery guys reckoned it had been dropped in transit.New machine sent,fine and dandy.About six months later bought a tumble drier from Comet (different brand).Didn't work.Replacement arranged,I asked delivery men to wait while I checked it.Didn't work.They tried everything they could,still nothing.I refused a 3rd machine then had the hassell of trying to get my money back.So I wouldn't recommend Comet myself.When got new kitchen 2007 I bought fridge/freezer and behemoth Bosch washing machine from Sainsburys.Excellant delivery,kept up to date of progress,Nectar points,and they brought them right through into the kitchen(not an easy task).Sure they gave themselves a hernia with the Bosch

Earlybird- valid point. I also found the opp. A friend had a nightmare with a co who were highly rated on a review site. When she tried to put a less fav review they blocked her: turned out the review co had a strong relationship with the co complained of and that is why!! Suspect all the fav reviews were forgeries. You may as well come on here. If you see what I mean..