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Customer Reviews: Average Rating:  Rating : - Pretty good unit for me
I have had many toster ovens in my 50 years of life. Toaster ovens are kind of like Easy Bake ovens, only better. I've had other brands too and I can honestly say, they are all about the same. All of them have lasted about 3-7 years each, before they gave out for one reason or another. One thing I've learned about all toaster ovens is it's not worth paying to repair them. It costs almost as much to pay someone else to repair one (plus shipping them) than it does to replace it, no matter what broke on it. I like fixing things myself, so I always try to do this first because I really hate to throw away things, and I'm a pretty handy woman with tools.
My last DeLonghi toaster oven, which was 3 years old when it needed its first repair, had a timer knob that cracked. They sent me a new one. A year later, the temperature knob paint had finally worn off to the point where we couldn't tell what temp we were setting it at anymore. That time, when I called DeLonghi, they said they didn't have replacement knobs for that model anymore. We kept using it though and just guessed at the temperature. Then, when it was 5 years old, the light bulb quit working and then one of the heating elements began to spark and stopped working. I decided it wasn't safe to use it anymore. I called DeLonghi again to see if I could repair it myself, but they said, "No. There are no consumer repairable parts on the toaster ovens, other than the knobs. Do you want to send it to the nearest factory authorized repair shop?" I said to give me the location and phone number so I could speak to them myself. When I called the shop and got the estimate to fix it, I decided it wasn't worth it. So, I bought a new one.
I've had this one for 3.5 years. It's the DeLonghi Model XR640. I bought it at my local Bed, Bath and Beyond store. I paid $80 for it, before sales tax, using a 20% off coupon (original price was $99.99). After the discount, it was less expensive than anywhere on the web or any other local store. I bought this one because I know the brand, I liked the style of it, it had the most room for the least money, it came with a broiling pan, has the utensil to pull out the rack, and I've got other pans that fit in it. Also, it was rated pretty good on Consumer Repots website at the time. It's interior dimensions were important to me as my family uses it far more than our regular oven. Sure, it takes longer to toast bread than a pop-up toaster does, but we knew that already. All toaster ovens are slower to toast bread. But that isn't really an issue for us.
I've had no real problems with it, until now. I just noticed the lower back heating element is warping and it isn't toasting as evenly as it used to. But so far, that's just more of an annoyance. What I'm more concerned about is if the element is warping, is it going to quit on me soon? Probably.
Nothing, it seems, that has been built in the last 25 years is built to last more than 5 years. Everything seems to have built in obsolescence.
I'll add this too: DeLonghi is not known for good customer service. To repair one of these is as expensive as getting a new one, and they know it. This is probably why they are at this price point. When it dies, I'll just take it to the metal recycling shop where I sell my aluminum cans and see what I can get for it as scrape metal.
The following link is for a factory reconditioned unit. it's the only one that matched closely with the oven I have. However, I bought mine new. I'd never buy a reconditioned toaster oven and expect it to last more than a year. Factory-Reconditioned DeLonghi XR640SRB Retro Toaster Oven + See Full Customer Review |  |
