It might seem like real ‘first world problems’, but when an appliance breaks down in your home, it can cause a significant amount of stress and worry. It’s not like you can easily live without a fridge freezer, a vacuum cleaner or a washing machine when you have a family or a busy household. But as they’re expensive items, it’s not just like you can run out and replace them at the drop of a hat either. So what should you do, exactly, when an appliance you rely on breaks down?
Call the manufacturer
If the appliance is still in warranty, or you’ve purchased an extended warranty then you’re in luck. Most of the time this will be a relatively stress free procedure, the manufacturer will send someone out to see if it can be repaired, and if it can’t you’ll be given a new one. However, if it’s out of warranty it can still be worth calling them up. Often, these companies have repair schemes in place. You can either pay a fixed fee for one of their engineers to come out and repair it for you, or you can pay a little more and take out a post- breakdown warranty which will cover this repair (as well as any more that occur within the new warranty period). The best thing about this is that you have the option to spread the cost, so even if you don’t have a lump sum, you can get it repaired, spread the cost and have peace of mind in case anything else happens too.
Look for cheap or second hand deals
Thanks to the internet, it’s easy to find just about anything these days- and there’s often no shortage of second hand deals and even freebies you can find in your local area. Check classified sites as well as Facebook marketplace to see if someone has a cheap or free replacement you can get your hands on. If you want to buy new, search the sales. Type in ‘best price fridge freezer’ or ‘washing machine sale’ and you might get lucky and snag a bargain.
Claim on your home insurance
If you have home insurance, it’s worth checking your policy and seeing if the broken appliance is something they will cover. Your premium will go up, but it still enables you to replace the item without having you cough up a load of cash in one go.
Take out a loan
If none of the above are an option, your only choice might be to take out a loan or use credit to purchase the item. This isn’t ideal if your credit score is poor as you’ll be charged a lot of interest, but if there’s no alternative and you need the item right away then it’s something to consider. If you have a kind friend or family member, you could look into lending money from them instead of a bank and paying them back in installments.
Frustratingly our washing machine is starting to fail, I keep getting errors. I think we will be replacing that very soon!
