I've Made 17 Expensive Mistakes Buying Appliances—Here's My Checklist So You Don't Repeat Them

Conclusion first: check repairability before you check the price tag

The most expensive mistake I've made as the person buying appliances for a 12-building property company wasn't choosing a bad brand. It was choosing a model before I knew what its spare parts cost and how hard they are to install. That one failure cost me about $3,800 in wasted budget between 2020 and 2023. If you're buying commercial or rental-property appliances, start with the service manual and the part price list, not the rebate.

I'm not here to tell you LG is perfect. I'm here to tell you what I wish someone had told me before I ordered four LG dryers that wouldn't turn on, a ThinQ refrigerator that fought me over Wi-Fi, and a batch of Rheem electric water heater parts that didn't fit. The pattern behind all three was the same: I treated the upfront spec as the whole story.

Who I am, and why this reads like a confession

I'm the procurement coordinator handling appliance purchases and repair orders for a 12-building property management company. I've been doing this for nine years. In that time, I've personally made (and documented) 17 significant mistakes, totaling roughly $14,000 in wasted budget. Now I maintain our team's pre-buy checklist to prevent others from repeating my errors.

My first year (2017) was the worst. I assumed the lowest quote was always the best choice. Three budget overruns later, I learned about total cost of ownership. I still order LG appliances, including the Inverter Direct Drive washers, but I've stopped assuming familiarity makes me immune to setup mistakes.

Mistake #1: The LG dryer that wouldn't turn on wasn't the control board

In August 2022, I ordered four LG electric dryers for our mid-size apartments. The spec sheet looked fine. The price was fine. Then, within the first three weeks, two tenants reported the same thing: an LG dryer not turning on.

My first assumption: control board. I had already budgeted for a service call and maybe a new board. I'm not 100% sure why I jumped there—maybe because "electronics" sounds more common than "safety device." The tech who came out found the real issue in about 15 minutes: a blown thermal fuse, not a board failure. On an LG dryer, the thermal fuse is a small, cheap safety part that sits near the blower housing. It pops when the dryer overheats, usually due to airflow restriction. The board was fine. The venting in that unit was partially blocked.

That was a $12 fuse, plus a $180 service call, plus two tenant complaints. The bigger cost was the lesson: I now check every installed dryer's vent path before I assume an expensive component died. If the thermal fuse blows again after replacement, you have an airflow problem, not an electronics problem.

Full disclosure: LG's service documentation is actually decent. I just didn't read it until after the invoice. Don't be me. I also validate that the local LG service center stocks parts before I order a new model. The warranty isn't useful if the part takes two weeks to arrive.

Mistake #2: LG ThinQ refrigerator features only help if you plan the network

I love the idea of the LG ThinQ refrigerator. Temperature alerts, water filter notifications, energy tracking—those are genuinely useful for property managers. But "smart" doesn't mean "self-sufficient." The ThinQ app setup assumes a network that doesn't block device communication. In a building with guest Wi-Fi, captive portals, or aggressive router security, the refrigerator will pair and then drop.

In January 2023, I spent three hours on the phone with a frustrated tenant because the ThinQ app showed "offline" even though the refrigerator was cooling fine. I had assumed the app failure meant the refrigerator was failing. It wasn't. The Wi-Fi network just didn't allow the refrigerator to maintain a connection. We fixed it by putting the fridge on a dedicated IoT VLAN. That's not an LG-specific problem, but it's an LG-specific setup reality.

What I tell other buyers: if you're purchasing LG ThinQ refrigerators for a commercial or multifamily property, include the network requirements in your installation plan before installation. Also, write down the model number and the app version when you set it up. Future-you will need it.

Mistake #3: Rheem electric water heater parts are not all interchangeable

This one still stings. In September 2022, I ordered replacement thermostats and heating elements for three Rheem electric water heaters in one building. I used the same part number that was on the old parts. The parts arrived and didn't fit my units.

I said "Rheem 240V thermostat." The supplier heard "standard version." Discovered the mismatch when the electrician called from the mechanical room and asked why the mounting holes didn't line up. The issue was a manufacturing revision that made the new parts incompatible with the older tank's control panel. We had to order again and pay return shipping on the first order—$450 wasted, plus a 3-day delay.

Today, I look up Rheem electric water heater parts by the full model number and serial number, not just a part number from the old part. The part number is a starting point, not a promise. I still kick myself for not photographing the nameplate before I called my supplier. If I had, I'd have caught the revision issue immediately.

What small orders taught me (and why I refuse to treat them as unimportant)

Not every order in our portfolio is a bank of LG dryers. Sometimes a tenant asks for a Dyson home air purifier, or a team member wants help picking a smaller item for a model unit. Early on, I treated those as distractions. That was wrong.

Here's the thing: the supplier who takes a $300 Dyson home air purifier order seriously is usually the same supplier who takes a $3,000 LG refrigerator order seriously. Small doesn't mean unimportant—it means potential. When I was starting out, the vendors who treated my $200 orders seriously are the ones I still use for $20,000 orders. I now apply the same diligence to every purchase, regardless of size, because the process is the same: verify the model, check the parts availability, confirm the return policy.

If you're a small business owner or a one-property landlord, I want to be direct: you deserve clear answers and fair pricing. Don't let anyone make you feel like your order is too small for service. You're not "just a small account"—you're the person who's going to remember how they treated you.

And when a vendor makes a claim about energy savings or "low maintenance," I ask for the proof. Per FTC guidelines (ftc.gov), product claims in advertising have to be substantiated. In my world, that means a spec sheet, not a slogan.

A quick sidebar: the electric toothbrush question

This sounds off-topic, but it's not. "What to look for in electric toothbrush" is one of the questions I get whenever I mention I buy things for a living. My answer is the same as for any appliance: think about the consumables and the battery.

• Replacement brush head cost. A toothbrush that's $50 can cost $80 a year in heads.
• Battery replacement. If the battery is sealed and non-replaceable, the toothbrush's lifespan is the battery's lifespan.
• Charging standard. Proprietary chargers are a pain if you're buying for multiple units or guests.
• Customer service. Search for "X brand toothbrush not charging" before you buy, not after.

Take this with a grain of salt: I'm not a dentist. I'm a guy who buys appliances and replacement parts for a living. But the pattern is the same as my LG and Rheem mistakes—the cheapest upfront option is not the cheapest option when you include parts, labor, and downtime.

Boundary conditions: when this checklist doesn't apply

This checklist assumes you're buying appliances for a property, small business, or rental portfolio where downtime has a real cost. If you're a homeowner replacing one appliance every 10 years, some of this is overkill. You probably don't need a dedicated IoT VLAN for one refrigerator, and you don't need to keep a spare thermal fuse in a drawer.

Also, I'm not saying every LG, Rheem, or Dyson product has these problems. The issues I've described were the result of my assumptions, bad planning, or part revisions—not necessarily design failures. And my experience is limited to my own buildings and my own documented mistakes. Your mileage may vary.

One more honest note: I don't have a perfect record. I still make mistakes. The difference is that I now write them down and check the list before I order. That's the part I think is worth copying.