Generally an extended warranty is not a good deal but on a Maytag fridge you might get your money's worth - their repairmen aren't lonely anymore :-)

I totally disagree. Unless you buy a refrigerator for under a thousand dollars, an extended warranty, which covers the whole unit minus the incidentals you mention, is very much worth the piece of mind. Buy anything cheaper and you should be going into the purchase thinking it's disposable anyway.

The Maytag man, lol. I wonder how many people were actually influenced by that advertising?

I don't feel that the manufacturers reputation regarding mean time between failures of the appliance should come into play when considering the extended warranty. It should come into play well BEFORE you plunk down your good money in the first place. Buy good appliances, like you did, then protect them.

What should come into mind when deciding to purchase an extended warranty is the ratio between what you paid for the appliance and what the warranty costs. In other words, is the unit disposable? Additionally, you need to consider how much a typical repair for that specific appliance could cost, how long the model has been in production and how many things can break down. I know readers in these forums grumble when you use a car analogy, but even the best car manufacturers take a few years to iron out bugs in new models. The same holds true for appliances.

If you decide to go with a warranty, contact Maytag first. You'll probably get a better deal through them and it makes things easier if you do need a repair. The third party warranty company must go through them anyway. You might even be able to get a full replacement warranty. If you do go through that insurance company, make sure they don't have complaints against them.

BTW, thats a nice refrigerator.

My ice2o is certainly not disposable. It was $2500 new (SS) model, but I got 20% off after price matches and sales, which stills makes it expensive. So $200 for 4 more years of protection isn't bad IMO. I have heard Maytag quality hasn't been all that great in recent years, but this is their top of the line fridge. In fact, I think the SS model is the most expensive one in the standard size (the narrow model is pricier due to supply/demand).

As far as cost of repair, my original fridge, a 4 year old Kenmoore side-by-side has had to have parts in the ice maker replaced twice now (by me). I purchased the parts online and over the 2 repairs, that was $200 alone. I imagine the ice maker is probably one of the cheapest parts to repair.

I will check with Maytag first, didn't think they would offer their own extended warranties.

"Unless you buy a refrigerator for under a thousand dollars, an extended warranty, which covers the whole unit minus the incidentals you mention, is very much worth the piece of mind."

Peace of mind is not easily quantified.
You need to factor in what manufacturerÂs warranty is already included.
Most big $$ repairs are to compressors, and most are pretty well covered.

You are NOT buying a "warranty" but a service contract.
You are at the whim of the contract provider.

If it is a cheap contract that should tell you that the company is NOT spending a lot on repairs.
Either the product does not break very often, or the company avoids making repairs.
And you will not find out which until the manufacturerÂs warranty expires.
Most are not worth the $$.

Why do you think I like it so much? I too have an Ice2O. ;-)

Do yourself a favor and get the extended warranty. It's well worth it. A $200 warranty, service contract, whatever you want to call it (my paperwork says 'Warranty'), comes to about $4.15 a month for 48 months. I paid the same as you, with the extended warranty included. It's like term life insurance; you buy it hoping to never use it. So far after 1 year, it's as good as new.

Contact Maytag and see what you can get from them. When my original warranty was almost up, I got an offer in the mail from Maytag directly and went with it.

Here's a coincidence. Just yesterday we received a letter from Maytag with an offer for Puricell II replacement filters for our Ice2O. The replace filter light on the door has not come on yet. The offer seems expensive, one for $38.95, two for $79.19 or three for $117.15. No shipping charges. I'm wondering if I can get these cheaper at Lowes or Home Depot..

I buy ALL my replacement filters on eBay, and have for years. Be it filters for my A/C unit, Honeywell room sized filters, refrigerator, etc. Best deal you can get.

Prices vary every day though, but I just purchased from ebay seller "appliancecarestore1" in July. I got 4 filters for $99.99 and $8.50 shipping. It was cheaper to do a buy it now on 2 of their 2 pack filters, then to buy a 4 pack auction from other sellers. Ended up saving almost $10 that way.

Filters are brand new and genuine PuriClean II 750's, which are the longer life ones.

Here is their e-bay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Appliance-Care-Store

And here are the filters, it looks like price went up $6/set, and shipping is a few dollars more expensive, so it may not be the cheapest deal now, but they are a trusted source.
http://cgi.ebay.com/2PAK-Maytag-filter-UKF8001AXX-fits-9005-9006-4396935_W0QQitemZ160173133586QQihZ006QQcategoryZ71259QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Because we got a 10% discount and a $500 rebate, we purchased 4 K/A appliances from Lowes. After reading on this board about all the trials and tribulations, and adding in the fact that almost all of the new appliances are loaded with very touchy, and expensive electronic controls, are not the same "last forever" stuff our parents had, and that K/A dropped their warranty down to just one year; we decided to get the extended warranty. For about $150, we got 5 year, 3 appliance coverage. We didn't have to name which of the four appliances it covered until we needed to. There is insurance for $250 worth of food spoilage, and a "lemon" clause: If, after 3 tries for the same problem, it couldn't be fixed, they would replace the appliance.

As far as repairs go, no matter who you buy from, or what brand you bought, for better or worse, you'll likely have A&E respond to your complaint. So far we have had them out 4 times on the refer. We almost invoked the lemon clause after the third try, but they did get it fixed, and all seems well now. The other K/A appliances have been no trouble...so far...we hope!

This is the only time I've ever purchased an extended warranty on anything. With today's appliances, I would recommend it.

svwillow1: who was that particular warranty offered through?

My 3 major kitchen appliances are 3 different brands from 3 different places

Dishwasher - LG - BestBuy. Got the 5 year/$130 plan on this because there was little info on LG dishwashers quality on this forum, but the stuff I found, in general, said LG was spotty. BestBuy's warranty covers damage from normal wear/tear as well, has a lemon law, etc. It pretty much covers it all. So it was worth the safety net. The 10% off I got covered the warranty

Fridge - MayTag - Lowes - As we aer dicussing now

Range - Jenn-Air - HD - Haven't heard anything that leads me to believe I'd really need an extended warranty on a Jenn-Air product, but if price is right, why not?

I'm wondering if there is a way to get 1 plan to cover the Fridge and Range, even though they are different brands from different stores.

We purchased it from Lowes. It was offered by them at the time we bought the appliances. It only covered those items purchased from Lowes, but I don't think they all had to be the same brand. For service, we call an 800 number provided by Lowes, but end up being transfered to K/A and eventually to A&E.

Thanks for the info hdclown.