An alleged Best Buy employee tells us that the company has stopped including inlet water hoses in some Inglis, Whirlpool and Maytag top-loading washers it sells. According to the blurry photos he sent us, employees are now supposed to push this $27 accessory hose product on customers who buy the washers. Update: we don’t know if the decision originated with the manufacturers or Best Buy.
Anonymous writes:
I work at a Best Buy store and I discovered this bit of information while going through employee news. Whirlpool and Maytag top-loading washers will no longer come with the inlet water hoses (the hot and cold water hoses), but they will be sold separately. The loss of our free delivery, combined with the previous price hike for range and dryer power cords (from 19.99 to 27.99) a short while ago, irritated me enough to pass this along to you folks.
These two images are from the printout I made of the employee news item. I had to take them with my phone because my scanner is not working and I apologize for the bad quality but everything should be readable.
As far as I know, washer hoses will still come with Whirlpool and Maytag front loading washers.
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Chances are Best Buy told the vendors to stop throwing them in the box. The vendor doesn’t care as best buy is paying the same for it without the cables. Now best buy gets to add some extra profit into the sale by selling the cables seperatly.
@anatak: It’s kinda like ranges (and garbage disposals, and dishwashers) not coming with a cord. Rather inevitable.
I was thinking of that too, but the deal with ranges is that there are at least two different sockets to plug into, and they are NOT interchangeable.
Washer hoses, on the other hand, are completely interchangeable with a universal connector.
And on the topic of crummy hoses: I have some friends who have a tall skinny house, with garage on the bottom, living area one flight up and bedrooms another flight up. Laundry at the top (convenient!). They went away for a long weekend to the cabin, and coming home on Sunday, found warm water leaking out of their garage door. The washer hose had sprung a leak, spraying hot water for 48 hrs — and the water heater was able to keep up, so it was HOT or warm water for the whole weekend. House was a steam bath from top to bottom.
Had to rip it down to the studs, all new everything. They were in temp housing for nearly a year.
Now… would you like to get the stainless jacketed hoses for a slight upcharge, or risk the cheap factory hoses?
@cosby: best buy doesn’t have the pull to do that. and you know who makes most of the appliance accessories that BBY sells? Frigidaire. Everyone knows that the profit margins are in accessories, not the main unit.
@BlondeGrlz: yeah…they didn’t mention the dryer vent (which we didn’t need). it was strictly the water hose.
Whirlpool (Maytag, Whirlpool, Amana) has made the decision to remove the hoses from their lower end washers these are mostly the top mount washer. All front loads and the Cabrio and Bravos top loads will still have hoses. They are jumping on the grenade for the rest of the manufactures this is almost like the fee hikes on the airlines side. Look for the other manufactures to follow suit after 90 days. I read the post someone was talking about a company not installing a gas appliance without a new gas line, unfortunately this is a good move by the selling company, mainly because this is something you and the selling store want to make sure is good. This is especially true in the litigious society today from the stores standpoint.
The package splitting being referred to as illegal refers to breaking out a single package marked for sale as a whole package. I knew of a couple of computer places that got in trouble (AFAIK) for doing stuff like opening the Sound Blaster sound cards and pulling out the extra software and selling it separate from the sound card. The candy bar packs from the warehouse clubs are meant to be sold individually and are marked for it.
It really sounds like it’s the manufacturer that’s pulling the hoses to save money.
I’ve noticed that my PVRs and DVD players always seem to come with a 6 to 8 foot AV cable. Most of the time I only need 3-4 feet. Between Altex and Radio Shack, I set up my home theater with more appropriately sized (and priced) cables.
@jswilson64: You could show’em off by having a plumber relocate your spigots. Put an accent light in the recess, digital water thermometer display, paint a tsunami on the washer, flames on the dryer…
I worked for Best Buy a number of years ago. Accessory cabling on computers and printers is the biggest item in terms of sheer profit in the entire computer department (except for the warranties, of course). Manufacturers send Best Buy retail boxes that lack basic cabling (USB, for instance) and have half-filled cartridges (for printers) specifically so Best Buy can sell more of these items in-store.
The Maytag Washer I bought to replace my Kenmore that is older than I am came with rubber hoses. The Stainless steel braided lines I had on the Kenmore were still in good shape. I don’t know what I did with the hoses that came with the Maytag.
@í•œêµì–´/ì¡°ì„ ë§: Best Buy, Walmart, etc. are to blame there. They put major pressure on their suppliers to leave out “accessory items” like USB cables, specifically so they can sell overpriced aftermarket cables. And, if the supplier won’t do it, they’ll drop the product like a hot potato, which costs the manufacturer tons of business.
Some manufacturers will make 2 SKU’s: one with all the needed cables for outlets like Newegg, and one without for Wal-Mart and its brethren. Sounds like Brother felt it wasn’t worth the hassle to do this, and just decided to remove the cables from all its printers.
Being a former best buyer myself – THE HOSES COME IN THE BOX!!!! So unless you are buying a floor model the hoses are coming with the delivery. The salesmen never come close to being able to “remove” the hoses.
This is either a case of someone dying to badmouth BB or a case of an overzealous (local) supervisor pushing his folks to sell accessories or die – now that I can bekieve.
Dryers are a different story – powercords are separate and ALWAYS have been due to different electrical codes across the US
@rushevents: I am the employee who sent this story to Consumerist, and it seems that people are getting confused as to what is happening. This was an item on Best Buy’s employee news, which they can access from their ETK kiosks. The Article ID is 7432, published on 08/19/08, and it states:
“Effective immediately the water inlet hoses are being removed from the Inglis top load washer. This was a change in manufacturing that happened Aug. 1. Within the next four days the Model ITW4300SQ (SKU 7822216) you’ll sell in your store won’t include the inlet hose. This isn’t the only model that will be affected.
All of the Whirlpool and Maytag traditional top load washers will be transitioning Oct. 19. After this transition, these washers won’t include water inlet hoses either (there aren’t any changes to other laundry brands at this time.)
Offer customers the stainless (burst-resistant) washer hoses as a necessary attachment to these models (Smart Choice – 6′ Stainless-Steel Washing Machine Fill Hose).
In the future Best Buy is looking to add new rubber hoses as an alternative attachment option.
What do you need to do?
Remove the rubber hoses from the current Inglis and Thin Twins displays as to not confuse staff or customers.
Let customers know they will need to purchase a hose since it is not included with these models.”
Best buy is not opening up boxes and removing hoses, the new Inglis washers (and Whirlpool and Maytag washers after October 19th) will not be coming with water hoses. I wanted to pass this along to everyone because it seems that more and more items are being sold incomplete and I think that’s a shame.
Whirlpool the manufactuer is no longer including the hoses in any of their brands which includes maytag, frigidaire, and of course whirlpool itself. It was effective August 18.
Don’t be surprised if GE follows suit…
Has nothing to do with BestBuy; ALL retailers will now have to sell them seperately.
huh…I’ve never bought a new washer that came with hoses.
I bought a dishwasher from Best Buy; they promised free installation, but tried to make me buy a hose. I said “nope, just use the hose that is already connected (to the old dishwasher.)”
When the installer showed up, he refused to use the (perfectly good) old hose, and insisted on charging me for a new hose. So this is their version of a “free installation.”
Anyone want a car without a gas tank? Same principle really. They should sell the power cord separate too! Then they can really stick it to you!
The staff price at future shop where I used to work for a printer cable is like 2.90 whereas the customer pays like 20 bucks.
Batteries are also are marked up insanely.
Back in June I received a Maytag washer with 4 foot long rubber hoses. They were too short to reach the connection point and looked cheap. Just buy some stainless steel braided hoses for $20 at Lowe’s or Home Depot. A word of warning: If you buy the hoses that detect a leak and shut off, expect your washer to fill very slowly.
Inglis is like Kenmore. It is a product that Whirlpool makes for Best Buy. It isn’t like Best Buy is opening the boxes and removing the cables. This is no different than your PS3 not coming with HDMI, your printer not coming with USB, or your Camera not coming with a memory card. If the Manufacture wants to include something like that it is up to them.
This is just a way for them to cut costs and give the consumer a better price. If you have a Washing Machine already you could use your existing water lines. I wouldn’t recommend it, but then again I wouldn’t buy Inglis unless you are buying the BOTTOM PRICE POINT. The reason most people even look at Inglis is PRICE.
I suggest going into your local Best Buy and finding an Inglis set. Compare it in price and quailty to any other washing machine on the floor. You will see an obvious difference.