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Will appliance warranty cover repairs? Customers left paying or fighting for refunds

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Warranties are supposed to help when an item you've invested in needs a repair, or if that's not possible a replacement. But we're learning dozens of people across the Valley are hitting roadblocks trying to get their items taken care of.

"They said they're gonna fix it. They were supposed to call me back, they didn't," said Cliff about waiting for his dryer to be repaired.

"He said, we may not even see him till next year. That's how long that would take," said Andrea, who was waiting on her washer to be fixed.

Dozens of you at home sharing a similar story, that appliance warranty you thought would protect you, did not.

"We have even gone to Lowe's to see if they could do anything. They said no," said Andrea.

That's because she and her husband didn't buy an extended warranty through Lowes when they bought their washer in January. So, when there was an immediate problem, they had to count on the Whirlpool warranty that came with it.

"A lot of things wrong with it. The agitator isn't agitating. It's probably a lemon. I mean, that was his assessment," said Andrea.

She says she was told it could be six months before parts were found and installed.

Meanwhile, Cliff says his dryer went out back in July and he thought it was covered under his Amazon Home Warranty.

He says weeks after a tech finally showed up, he didn't get a repair, but an offer for a check - a fraction of the cost it would take to replace the dryer. However, that check never arrived.

Sick of waiting, Cliff and Andrea contacted the Let Joe Know team.

After emailing Whirlpool, they contacted Andrea and are going to replace her washer in a week.

Cliff finally got his check for $400 from Amazon Home Warranty, but they didn't answer our questions about why the amount was so little or why the dryer couldn't be replaced.

When it comes to buying warranties, consider putting the money into savings instead. A typical repair runs about the cost of a policy.

Also, according to Consumer Reports, only 40% of refrigerators, 30% of dishwashers, and 20% of dryers will need repairs in the first five years.