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| Tuesday, May 27, 2008 |
| Buying the Bosch |
 I purchased my new dishwasher this weekend thanks in large part to the holiday weekend sales. My almost 30 year old KitchenAid dishwasher has been high on my list of energy hog appliances that needs to be replaced, but since it still works fine, the timing of the replacement was up to me.
Since I am focused on reducing the energy consumption of my household, purchasing the most energy efficient dishwasher I could afford was very important to me. A dishwasher uses both electricity and water, so going highly efficient saves you on two utility bills in the long term. After reviewing the U.S. Department of Energy Energy Star qualified dishwasher list and checking which brands are sold at my local retailers, the Bosch dishwashers quickly became my focus. The most energy efficient models are also the most expensive - so finding the right balance between energy savings and price lead me to focus on the Bosch 500 Series - Evolution Dishwasher - SHE45M02UC which is rated at 259 kWh.
In my area both Sears and Lowes sell the SHE45M02UC, so I was able to price shop. Sears lost the price war with Lowes in just about every way it could. Both Sears and Lowes had appliance Memorial Day sales happening. Sears offered the dishwasher, on sale, for $637.49. Lowes sale price was $628.20. Sears delivery, installation, and removal of old appliance price was $240. Lowes was $170 plus if you use Lowes to install the dishwasher you don't have to pay Massachusetts sales tax (you do if you install it yourself) so that was an additional $30 savings. Lowes weekend sale also included Free After Rebate installation of appliances priced over $400.
The ultimate cost of purchasing the dishwasher, having it delivered and installed and the old KitchenAid machine carted away would have cost me $909.36 at Sears or only $628.20 at Lowes. I ended up purchasing this from Lowes.
I might have ended up saving even more at Lowes if I could have used the 10% off LowesMoving coupon. However, that did not work out for me. While they say they can email you the coupon - you have to request it days in advance. I requested mine on Friday and as of today it still has not appeared in my inbox. I did mention it when I made my purchase at Lowes and the customer service folks indicated that even if I had it, I likely could not have used it since Lowes does not allow you to "stack" deals.
Now I am in wait mode for the Bosch. I ended up going for the white model since my refrigerator is white and that is the newest appliance in my kitchen (my gas stove is almond). Plus my ultimate plan for the kitchen is to install new white cabinets - so a white dishwasher made sense. Little did I know that white is now the least popular color. They had the black in stock, but have to order the white which could take up to 22 days.Labels: Smart Spending |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 10:10 AM *
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| 7 Comments: |
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Too bad about the LowesMoving coupon. Just FYI, it may sometimes be worth it to go to your local post office and pick up a change of address form. There you'll find the physical variants of those coupons. But in this case, it sounded like it doesn't matter since they don't stack.
Anyway, it sounds like you got a great deal. I never knew how much old dishwashers stunk until I moved in to my current place in 2004, where the landlord had just installed a brand-new dishwasher. It's quieter and more energy-efficient than any I've ever seen...and it's not as nice as the one you just bought. I don't think you'll regret your new purchase. :)
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Hi Erica,
Yes, one of the drawbacks of renting is not having control over your appliances. When I first started looking into a more efficient dishwasher, I wondered if the "greenest" option would be to just not have one at all. Surprisingly, using a dishwasher is consider a greener way of cleaning than hand washing. Of course you should only run the dishwasher on full loads or have a dishwasher that can sense and adjust to half loads (or get the drawer dishwashers - which are still too expensive in my opinion).
Anyway, yes, I am looking forward to getting that dishwasher installed and in use.
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How did you get around teh sales tax in Mass?
Regardless of who installs the unit you still have to pay MA sales tax.
How exactly did that work?
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Hi Chris in Boston,
The way it was explained to me, Lowes has a contract with a union who does the installations. It has something to do with this union - perhaps they are exempt from paying Massachusetts sales tax? I am not 100% sure - I have not had my dishwasher installed yet. But the Lowes employee was very clear that if I purchased my dishwasher AND the installation I would not be charged sales tax. If I purchased just the dishwasher and decided to install it myself - I would have to pay sales tax.
My Lowes receipt for the dishwasher shows that I am not being charged for sales tax. I am lucky that I was able to purchase the installation when a promotion was running for the rebate. Another installation promotion started today - but now instead of giving you a rebate check you get a pre-paid Visa card. You still get your installation money back (and still avoid sales tax) but now that money is on a credit card which encourages you to spend more...
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Hello Boston Gal,
If you have a Discover credit card and had signed up for the extra 5% bonus for this quarter, you could have potentially saved an additional 5% on your purchase. The 5% bonus on Discover card changes every quarter and this quarter includes "Department Stores, Clothing Stores, Home Improvement Centers, and Lawn & Garden Centers." If you didn't use the Discover card and wanted to use it instead, I wonder if Lowe's would allow you to change the credit card to get the additional savings?
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That is a great tip MY. Unfortunately I am not a Discover Card holder. While I think that is a great promotion, it is not worth it for me to apply to the card just to try to get this particular discount. But hopefully it will work for someone else :)
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The LowesMoving 10% coupon finally arrived today - 5 days after requesting it.
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Too bad about the LowesMoving coupon. Just FYI, it may sometimes be worth it to go to your local post office and pick up a change of address form. There you'll find the physical variants of those coupons. But in this case, it sounded like it doesn't matter since they don't stack.
Anyway, it sounds like you got a great deal. I never knew how much old dishwashers stunk until I moved in to my current place in 2004, where the landlord had just installed a brand-new dishwasher. It's quieter and more energy-efficient than any I've ever seen...and it's not as nice as the one you just bought. I don't think you'll regret your new purchase. :)