I purchased a Whirlpool Duet HT set - washer and dryer with pedestals - a little over $2200 in March of 2006. The washer ALONE without the pedestal base cost $1100 back then. Soon after I bought it, I noticed when I put bleach in the bleach dispenser, it leaked directly onto the clothes. I never got around to calling about that because I was so busy and just started using sanitize cycle instead. Very shortly after it was past the 1 yr warranty, the machine started stopping mid-cycle in one of the wash settings ("Active Wear"). It happened intermittently. I stopped using that cycle. Then it started happening in another setting (Heavy Duty), again, intermittently. I called for service, and when I discovered I had to pay a minimum of $60 for a service call, and they told me at very least another $100 for a timer (can't recall if that was what they called it), possibly more, I decided I'd live without those two cycles. I was so irritated that I spent $1100 on washer that was going to cost me another couple hundred to fix about 15 months after I bought it and I had no recourse. Call it stubborn, but I refused to spend more and just used the cycles that worked. Then I started having intermittent problems finding clothes sitting in 3 inches of water at the end of the cycle - finished, machine off, but standing water in the drum. I would have to rinse/Spin clothes again. Then one day opened the door and thought the storm drain opened backwards flow - "finished" clothes sitting in very smelly water. Called the store I bought it from, said the machine was only 2and a half years old (at that point) and they told me how to take it the front off and check the drain inside - a full man's sock was stuck in the drain INSIDE the machine - how did that happen? We never overload it. Then it started getting noisier and noisier when it spun even though it was leveled and legs all touching the ground, plus still with ALL the problems happening above - can't use bleach dispenser, finding clothes sitting in water at end of cycle every once in a while (usually when I needed something in a hurry, of course), finding cycles stopping mid-way (clothes sopping wet/soapy), and once or twice more finding a piece of clothing in the drain when it was never overloaded. Along the way, the door with the oddly contoured plastic front that jutted out (by design) was bumped my one of my kids - not insanely hard, but they sort of fell into it- and it cracked right down the middle. Cosmetic damage since it was the outside only, but looked pretty tacky. Should those doors break THAT easy? Now the latest episode is that entire gasket around the drum has ripped out after the machine made a God awful rattling noise like the drum was off-balance (yes, it was leveled, and only a half load of clothes) and it is finally unusable. Clearly I can't just live with the problems anymore and am looking for a new machine. The store salesman suggested I call Whirlpool to see if they'd at least give me a break towards a new machine when I told him why I didn't want a Whirlpool front loader again and asked if any other manufactured washer would fit on that $200 pedestal. So I called Whirlpool - the answer from "Moses" was "you should have bought an extended warranty"...hmm, an $1100.00 product, and should have spent even more because why?? The supervisor Aaron told me, essentially, not their problem, the washer is 4 yrs old and I didn't have "extensive service calls" registered. When I explained I wasn't willing to pay hundreds more on service calls on an already outrageously priced machine that started with real problems after the 1 yr warranty and choose to live with it, AND the problems were pretty much all different issues so would have needed multiple service calls, again...not their problem. They weren't even willing to give me a discount coupon or something towards the purchase of another outrageously priced washer. I'm not complaining about how much I spent upfront for this machine because I wanted a really good washer and was willing to pay for it, but I'd expect it would last longer than a few years without so many issues, and at very least, a customer service department that could understand I shouldn't have had to pay hundreds of dollars for several different fixes for a quality product when I'd already spent $1100. So, live and learn. Either don't drop so much money on a washer (buy a cheap on that will probably last longer than 4 yrs or at least won't sting so much to repair or replace) or go to a company which cares enough about the quality of a product to back it up with at least "something" when there are this many problems. I clearly got a lemon (or am cursed?) and see that the company doesn't care once they've sold it. Out of warranty, out of luck.