I was scrambling to find a replacement for my broken Bosch dishwasher but all major retailers were telling me I had to wait at least 2 weeks to get one delivered.
We tried handwashing dishes like the “olden days” but both of us were working full time so the dishes were getting piled up too quickly.
Feeling desperate, I looked around Craigslist and found a company called LQD Deals who dealt with selling new but with scratches and dents at drastically reduced prices out of 3 warehouses located in California, Illinois and East Rutherford, NJ (they also have an eBay store here).
We were little bit leery at first but after confirming with a salesperson they only sold new appliances with cosmetic flaw(s) only so we ultimately decided on buying the advertised Bosch Dishwasher 800 Series SHPM78Z54N for $429+tax. Mind you, as of this writing on December 30, 2019, all major retailers were selling the same identical unit for over $1,100+ so the price was excellent
For the price we paid, we did not mind couple of dents on the bottom door but few issues were discovered when I started installing the unit:
- Two metal locking tabs (one on each side) that binds the dishwasher to side cabinets were cut, bent and installed already (I don’t think a factory tester would do this);
- Left rubber piece (that hides the gap between the dishwasher and cabinet) was broken as if someone forced it off;
- Dent on the lower bottom left corner caused the black stainless steel cover to separate about 3mm from the inner door’s stainless steel cover; this gap would allow water to seep through during loading;
- The inside looked bit dirtier than factory water-pressure testing with what appeared to be couple of bits of food;
- The brass water supply elbow and braided hose was already installed (elbow comes with the dishwasher; hose does not)
I ran a test cycle before installing into the slot so that I can observe any problems or leaks but thankfully no issues were detected
Finally, I had to turn the water supply elbow 180 degrees to the right to connect to my shutoff so after doing that, I ran another cycle (this time with dirty dishes) to make sure there were no leaks
NOTE: Male-threaded inlet valve assembly is made of PLASTIC, so make sure to HAND-THREAD it as far as you can then use a pair of pliers to make a 1/2 turn. DO NOT over-tighten as it will be easy to cross-thread or break this piece!
Overall, dishes were coming out clean and the unit was much quieter than my previous Bosch dishwasher so I was happy.
Conclusion
I am certainly not too happy about the unit possibly being a customer-return that was sold as new but if it holds up, I think it was a good bargain.
LQD Deals have a 30 day return policy with no restocking fee so I plan on using it as often as I can to shake out any potential issues.
If the dent ends up bothering us too much, we plan on purchasing a replacement panel for around $100 (I doubt we will do this).
If you plan on buying an appliance from a dealer from Craigslist, make sure to get the following in writing (i.e.email):
- New with full manufacturer warranty
- Scratches and dents are cosmetic only and that they do not impact the functionality
- 30 day return policy with no restocking fee
You should also capture the listing itself (do a screen print) so if there is a problem down the road, you have a supporting document.
One last thing. Before be sure to bring a checklist of the items that should be included in a new diswasher so that you don’t forget anything.
I will do a follow up post after using it for about 3 weeks so stay tuned.
Kevin
