If you're a long time reader, you may recall that my microwave broke back in November. It was the week that my husband had his ACL reconstruction surgery, so we weren't in the position to pull the over-the-range microwave out to bring it to a repair center. Plus, I had purchased it online (for store pickup so I could earn UPromise money) about 5 years ago, and I couldn't find the receipt. In the meantime, I just used my stove and oven to heat things up. Luckily, when it broke, I wrote a post about it, and one kind reader told me she thought it was the magnetron that was broken.
Fast forward to last week... The magnetron was covered on a 5 year warranty, so I finally called to schedule a repair person to come out and look at it (the week before it expired, no less). Before the person came, my husband and I debated as to how much we'd be willing to spend to get it fixed. The person on the phone told me that we'd have to pay $65 for the repair person to take a look at it, and if it was the magnetron, we'd have to pay the labor for replacement (but not the part). I finally pinned the person down to admitting that it would probably cost about $100 for labor.
The night before, my husband and I looked at the prices for new microwaves online. We didn't want to spend $200 to fix our current microwave, if a new one was cheaper. But, we would have to pay the $65 regardless for the repair person to come out. How high were we willing to spend for repairs before we said it wasn't worth it...and we'll just buy a new one?
The cheapest new microwave was about $187 (we needed an over-the-range one), so we decided we were willing to spend up to $150 for repairs (since it would really be $187 plus the $65 service charge that we'd pay regardless). We even debated whether we should cancel our appointment the next day and just buy new. Pros...it's new and ours had already broken once. Cons...my husband would have to pull this one out and install a new one, plus we'd be adding to the landfill with a 5 year old microwave, and at $100 for labor (if it was the magnetron), it was cheaper than new.
Moral of the story...the repair guy came out, and my kind reader was correct. It was the magnetron. Even better, he put in the entire order (parts, labor, $65 service fee) as part of the warranty claim, so our OOP is ZERO! We received the part in the mail this week, and 2 men are coming out on Saturday to install it! I looked at the claim, and the parts and labor came out to about $225 (more than a new replacement microwave!).
Have you had an experience similar to ours where things turned out better than you were expecting? For more frugal ideas, visit Frugal Friday's new home at Life as Mom.
HappyHermit
it is wonderful when things turn out better than expected !!