Lifesaver Appliance

You get what you pay for…
At this place I experienced:
1) Super low prices
2) Super low service level
I would summarize my experience at Lifesaver Appliance by saying that, by buying from this place, you are essentially accepting risk that if anything goes wrong, you are in for a long painful road to get a semi-​acceptable resolution. The service level of this place is analogous to service level of a third-​world-​country, not what we are used to in U.S. To be fair, prices are half of what you will find elsewhere, as such, you get what you pay for.
I bought a fridge and a dishwasher here.
1) Fridge: works great :)
2) Dishwasher: didn’t work, was replaced in ~3wks after much back and forth (similar to other post on Unilocal)
Would I buy from here again? Yes, only assuming that I could afford to sink $ into something and wait a month for either a refund or resolution if a problem arises.
Have fun time shopping!

Lifesaver has good appliances for a good value. Yes– especially the stainless products! Go check it out. If they don’t have it, they can find it.

I finally got hold of Mike and he promised me he would come last Thursday (this is after telling me he would come every day for a week). He never came and I never received a phone call. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY I WARN YOU. I’m contacting the BBB today –This is just ridiculous.

We’ve tried to give Mike the opportunity to fix this situation but he no longer responds to us. We pretty much have lost the money we paid him and now have a broken washer/​dryer on our hands. We’ve called other repairmen to fix it and they don’t want to work on it because it means replacing a major part which is about the same price as what we’ve paid for the machine.

OMG my stackable washer and dryer are still working. We use the heck out of them. and they look good too.

Saw the ad for this place on craigslist and my wife and I decided to take a look it because we wanted something cheap.
The location of this place is really ghetto, it’s in the middle of some industrial district. The office looked like it was abandoned and the owner (Mike) came out in his PJs. Once we walked in, Mike locked the door to the outside so that we couldn’t leave easily. It was a very creepy place but we did buy a fridge since it was the cheapest price we had seen and had the best warranty (about 6 months or so). He gave us his contact info and his «girlfriends» info.
He asked for cash only and we told him we didn’t have all the money in cash, so we just gave him a deposit ($ 50) and he asked that we call him for delivery. I called him a couple hours later and he didn’t pick up his phone, I had to email his GF and she replied a day later saying Mike was available now and that we could call for the delivery. Finally we got a delivery date after much hassle.
Everything seemed fine until we noticed that the food in our fridge was freezing! I called Mike immediately and he said he would get his guys to come fix it and that he would call me back when he found out what time his guys would be available. I waited about a day and didn’t hear anything back from Mike, and so the whole hassle begun. I would call Mike, he wouldn’t pick up about 90% of the time and when he did he would say the same thing «i’ll ask my guys, see when they can fix it, and give u a call back». This went on for about 3 weeks, until Mike gave me the number to the guy that would come fix the fridge. I contacted the repair guy and he finally came to fix my fridge about a couple of days later.
This place gets 1 star for a good price and fridge hasn’t failed (yet!) after 1 year but it was a very stressful purchase. I don’t think I’ll ever buy used appliances again, specially from Lifesaver Appliance. I rather play the waiting game and buy from Sears or Best Buy when a sale comes along and I can get a NEW appliance from a reputable seller and not a shady one.

We came across an ad Mike placed on Craigslist that sounded too good to be true — a nice new fridge, with a few dings, at a great, affordable price. Plus, Mike offered to come deliver the fridge, and helped wait around while we plugged it in to make sure it worked. Well, the fridge has been plugged in for a week and it’s working like a charm, and we’re extremely satisfied with our purchase. Thanks Mike!

I bought a refrigerator from Lifesaver when I moved to Burbank a few months ago. I thought «wow — what a find!» When the refrigerator was delivered, it was making a weird rattling noise. Mike assured me it would go away, but if it didn’t to call and they’d come to repair it. It didn’t stop, so I called Mike — multiple times over the course of all these months. I actually talked with Mike only once, I had to repeat my name and phone number three times, and he assured me he’d call right back to schedule a repair guy to come out. Never happened.
Meanwhile, the refrigerator was leaking inside, on the top shelf. A month or so later, I started finding big puddles of water on the floor, which both my daughter and I slipped on and almost fell. The water was so bad I thought it couldn’t have come from the refrigerator, so I called a plumber to check the pipes. No problems there. And then the tiles on the floor started rising and falling due to the water saturating the floor underneath. I had to get repairs done to the floor.
I’ve continued to call Lifesaver (the phone number on the Unilocal posting is disconnected btw). Sometimes I can’t even leave a message because the «mailbox is full». But I have left multiple messages. This week I even went down to their office and left a note on the door (after checking with a neighboring business whether Lifesaver was even still in business). No response, even though I told him multiple times about the damage being done to my house.
I also have to say that while Mike is «friendly and earnest» as some posters have said, he’s also at times pretty inappropriate. While I was looking at the refrigerator and while it was being delivered he frequently used crude language, gossiped about a client (and used crude language to describe her) and made a lewd comment indirectly toward my teenage daughter.
Mike, if you’re reading this, you need to come fix or replace my refrigerator or give me my money back.

Ok, I finally got him here after 3 months of calling and finally threatening with court. His guys came, replaced some circuit board with another used one and no change.
So we hired a REAL repair technician (Emins Air Conditioning and Heating… who I can’t give high enough praise) to come down. He replaced a couple sensors and the board with a NEW one.
He pointed out a lot of extremely poor work that had already been done, shoddy wiring and scratched off ID stickers. Also pointed out that the compressor is bad and we’ll be lucky to get a few more months out of it.
Sweet. That’s my experience with Lifesaver Appliance. Hopefully you read this BEFORE you buy something from them.

I bought a stackable washer/​dryer unit from these guys in April of 2010. Two guys showed up, one of whom spoke ZERO English and the other had to translate for him every step of the way. In getting the unit into my laundry room, they broke a lighting fixture, scraped the paint off the door in a gash, knocked the door frame to the laundry room (leaving a dent in the wood), and took over an hour to position it correctly.
Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the delivery method. I was frequently called spur-​of-​the-​moment with an «are you home right now so we can deliver this?» message. Not ONCE did this guy plan ahead. It wasn’t until I finally got fed up and told him «You’re going to deliver it on this day, at this time» that he finally got the hint.
Also, he required payment in cash, which always strikes me as shady in business dealings of this sort.
And if it hadn’t come with a six-​month guarantee, I would have been SOL since it broke within two months. And that was just the first time it broke. I had to call Michael (the «owner» of this refurbish company) several times within the six months that it was covered. Each time it was the same deal trying to get him to show up or plan ahead for a repair visit. It took multiple times and often days or WEEKS to get him to show up.
Nearly two months ago now, the dryer ate itself (AGAIN!) and I called Michael. He said he would find the part – because he somehow diagnosed my problem over the phone – and get back to me. I have occasionally called him several times since then to remind him, and it’s always the same delaying tactics. Mind you, this is after the guaranteed service contract, so this is a job that would be *paying* him.
I called SoCal Appliance Repair, and had a technician who specializes in the brand I have at my home within one hour of my phone call.
I am never, NEVER, calling Lifesaver Appliance again.

I hired another repair company to come fix the washer dryer I purchased from Lifesaver. The repair person showed up on time with all the proper equipment for the job in addition to new parts for the machine. I kept the parts from the machine that were supposedly repaired by Lifesaver. I was told that these parts looked so worn out that they were original parts (aka: never replaced).
It makes me wonder what Lifesaver claims to have fixed last time they «repaired» the unit?
I’m sure I will be speaking with Mike soon as I have reported the problem to the BBB.

Mike’s a really good, genuine guy. He stands by his warranties, and will be sure to fix the problems as soon as he can. You’re buying refurbished machines from Mike, and this is why he offers his warranty. If you want to spend 5 times the money, go to Sears. Our machine has been good to us, and Mike’s been here to do any repairs necessary. By far, the SAFEST and BEST person to buy appliances off of Craigslist from.

Not only did I get a great fridge for an even better price, but Michael has a six month parts-​and-​labor guarantee which I had to use over a Saturday night and Sunday. Within 8 hours he had a guy at my place on a Saturday night and a replacement part installed and running by Monday. Service above and beyond. Thanks Mike. I have sent many people your way.

I just bought a house and needed everything from stove to dishwasher, fridge and so on.
I was on a budget and I named a price for all 5 things and wanted stainless steel and such-​well:
I got everything I hoped for and more. The Fridge was barely used, probably $ 3000 new and I got all 5 appliances for a little 1750!!! Installation as well as delivery was included and I got even a never used (yes, new!) stove!
I’m so happy and have saved a ton of money. Everything looks and works great!

Back in October my washing machine from Lifesaver Appliance had broken down. After calling Mike and explaining that the washing machine was broken, he had sent out one of his repair guys within the next few days to take a look at the washing machine. After his repair guy determined that the machine was broken and the part that had broke was hard to replace, Mike had decided to replace our washing machine with a new washing machine at no charge. He had followed through on his warranty promise.
The only downside I had with this situation was same thing Meredith B. had experienced her washing machine. Even though Mike was going to replace our washing machine, it took him two and half weeks later to get the new machine to us. He would contact me stating that he was going to bring out the washing machine that day and I would wait around my home waiting for his team to bring the new washing machine, but his guys would never show up. Both my wife and I had cleared our schedule waiting for him, but he had never showed up. Mike had explained to me he had to service fridges that were breaking down and that he had to take care of those problems first, before he can get to me and that he was short staffed. This event would happen numerous times, until the point where I told Mike that you need to commit to a day and time because his unpredictable schedule was interfering with our busy schedules. Finally, he was able to commit to day and had brought out the washing machine at the exact time he has promised. His new installer that brought the machine explained that Lifesaver Appliance was in the process of hiring new employees and apologized for not being able to get the new washing machine to us sooner. I hope that Lifesaver Appliance has now gotten there act together and was able to hire more employees. The only reason why I didn’t give 5 stars again was because of the delay in repairing our machine, but they did come through as promised.

This is a good place to deal with. They do their best to be on top of things but at the end they make sure their customers are happy, no matter what the circumstances are :).

Love this place. They went above and beyond to help me find the perfect Fridge at an unheard of price. Michael also delivered it and tucked it into the most impossible spot in my kitchen. Hurrah for Lifesaver!
I plan to buy all of my major appliances here. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Our experience with Lifesaver Appliance was great! We purchased a refrigerator and a washer/​dryer from Mike. The fridge had an issue with it when we first tried to use it and Mike had a repair guy out the next day to permanently fix the problem.
Mike told us about the bad review he’s got on Unilocal and seemed to take it very personally. He was open about what happened and said he tried to make it right, but was not successful. In our dealing with Mike he was very helpful and communicative, and the issue we had with the fridge was handled promptly and well. I would definitely buy from Mike again.
adam

Bought a used (Craigslist) Whirlpool Duet front load washer, including delivery, installation and six month warranty from Michael three months ago. We found him to be very personable and earnest – he said he was just starting out, but someday was going to have a major used appliance business. About two weeks later the drain pump failed. We called him and he sent someone out within two days to replace the pump. Last week the washer started failing to drain completely again. We called him yesterday, and he offered to replace it with another washer, which he did today.

Highly recommended! We bought a Kenmore HE3 washer and dryer from Mike about 8 months ago and we are extremely happy with them. Mike gave us an amazing deal on these high end units that were only about a year and a half old, looked brand new, and worked like brand new.
It was my first time shopping for a washer and dryer and was shocked to find out just how much these things are in the stores, so buying from Mike saved us about 50%. Also since most manufactures only give a one year warranty, Mike gave his own company warranty for another 6 months, which we luckily never had to use.
Also he was nice enough to bring the units over to our house just to take a look at them first before we agreed to purchase. Then he hooked everything up for us. They are really dedicated to customer service.
So if you’re thinking about buying a washer or dryer, call them and check out what they have and save yourself the headache of overpaying at a store.