A most entertaining thread. Some parts of it sort of reminded me of 2 old tomcats (literally, felines) that resided in 2 different houses across the street from the house I had at that time. Both yards were fenced. I would sometimes observe these toms glaring and spitting/hissing/growling at each other through the fence for what seemed like hours at a time. I'm sure either cat could have scaled the fence and "lit into" the other cat if it truly wanted to. My next door neighbor used to laugh at the cats and say, "Yep, one of them is scared to death and the other one is glad of it." BTW, kandykane, early in this thread you cited the fact that Cub and Simplicity weren't averse to declaring the thickness of their respective frames "Cub has 9 gauge and Simplicity has 10 gauge." I hope you understand that 9 gauge is thicker than 10 gauge, but, thickness isn't all that counts. The alloy and extent of heat treatment, and bracing all play a part in the ultimate durability of anything.

to jerod6 yes and no! let me say my husband has been selling high end appliances for 30 years, in his showroom and on line. this is my biggest pet peeve, the quality of stainless on products and what gauge of stainless they use.i am not involved in his business, but we talked about this all the time. when i picked out my appliances (i could get whatever i wanted) i have different vendors in my kithcen and selected by who had the richest and best brush stainless. the best quality stainless is expensive. i have owned franke stainless sinks in 2 houses now and believe they are the best, and do not show wear due to their high gauge of stainless used, same with grohe faucets, they are amazing. i believe appliances are like cars, it depends what trim package your willing to pay for, and the exra conrols (bells and whistles) are the options.the box stores hmmmm do have some vendors make product lines just for them. even though sears has a vendor make sears products for them with the sears name, the same vendor with the same product, gets lower ratings in a favorite consumer guide? why? it is the same product. most box stores have some of these products created for them due to their target customer, who is not spending 12,000- 25,000 for kitchen appliances. stainless has been the look for 10 years now, with colored stainless coming on strong. but, to make a mainstream product you must cut back somewhere, and finish will be that area. the box store now can offer there customers that look. 5 years ago low to med end appliances were hard to find in stainless.some vendors,like viking, dacor, wolfe,and monogram will not budge and sell to box stores their current products, or create scaled down lines, but i guess eventualy they may, but hope they stick to their guns. even mercedes is bringing to the us the smart car used in great britain. they have a whole line of buget cars over there.i read here once a week. you are the first to comment on exterior appliance quality. i think most comparable appliances on the inside are made the same. outsides vary slightly.higher end is higher quality on the outside. most vendors have this in their upper lines, and these appliances come with all the bells and whistles. you were probably looking at a lower line in bosch at sears. the higher end my husband sells is very nice and good quality.he also carries the same vendors lower lines. the old saying you get what you pay for. sears still sells 55 percent of all home appliances. some vendors wil make them what ever they want to sell.

Junkmailhold, It is correct what the dealer told you. Bryant and Carrier changed their extended labor warranties to be only 90 days after purchase. This was changed I believe in March. They did this because the 10 year part warranty has to be submitted with in 90 days also. I guess they decided to require extended labor to have the same time of 90 days to make it easier on the processing. I have no idea why they cut the time for submitting extended labor warranties down to 90 days but it is no way the contractor dealer/installers fault. Now for how it works for a dealer in my state, a dealer has 3 or 4 levels. But first a dealer must register with the state to even sell extended labor warranties on behalf of Bryant. This may be why a dealer does not mention an extended labor warranty because they are not registered to sell them. Every state is different so I don't know. For me, It starts with $75 labor rate and goes up to I believe $140 what ever labor rate the dealer has with bryant can effect the cost of the labor warranty. Most of us go with the minimum $75 labor rate to reduce the cost of the labor warranty. In my state we can not over charge for the policy and the policy is governed by the state of Florida and Bryant. 10yr labor warranty on a system in Fl is $525. Accessories are extra, like purifiers, UV lighting ect... Your installer should not take months or even days to return your call. That to me is very upsetting! On the positive side, Bryant is quality, and I haven't had too many issues with the equipment. Next if you happened to get a good bryant dealer who cares about their customers, Like with my company I always give my customer a price break with an extremely reduced labor for the life of the systems I install so maybe your installer will do the same.

Some people look for the absolute lowest cost. A warranty whether extended labor or just base part warranty may never be used. An Extended Labor warranty costs money and some manufacturer's and or third party Warranty Providers require annual maintenance contracts to remain valid which further increase your cost of ownership. So if you spend up to $1200 (complete system extended warranty coverage) + more annual maintenance money. Maintenance is always a wild card, some AC's will require more maintenance than some. It varies widely. So people say 'look at all that money you threw away.' If who you are using for HVAC service & install know what not to do, often times the warranty is not needed. The risk, from my own experience is in the realm of 2% to 3% annually. (I can't prevent all failures, but I can cut your risk.) I can't tell you how many AC units that I've installed over the years that I haven't been to since the install. Not even for a maintenance check. I've repaired far more, including those not installed by me. But the ploy most companies find themselves in is to hire the unskilled or low skilled to do the service work and or installation work. Then dangle an extended warranty carrot in front of someone. It's nothing new. In my experience the money you spend on a extended warranty is often times best used on your terms, rather than a third party insurer. Read the fine print. These kinds of policies vary in what they require and what they will pay for.