Best and worst appliance stores in 2024

Best: Appliances Online and Amazon Australia

We had some glowing recommendations for both these online retailers when it comes to returns, with very few negative comments.

Worst: eBay

We didn’t receive enough survey responses to cover most of the competitors, but those we did cover were always quite a few percentage points behind Appliances Online. eBay, however, was notably lower.

Best: Appliances Online

The value for money emphasis was reflected in the commentary for Appliances Online, with survey respondents commonly mentioning the company’s willingness to price match, or to have competitive prices online.

Worst: Harvey Norman and Officeworks

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Harvey Norman and Officeworks. Commentary about prices seldom being discounted reflected the retailer’s score in this criteria.

Best online shop payment options: Appliances Online

No store did poorly in payment options, which you’d expect for ecommerce platforms in 2024.

Best online shop for delivery: Appliances Online

Commentary about Appliances Online’s delivery was almost always favourable, with some glowing recommendations and bouquets for delivery drivers, as well as being able to select a delivery window online.

Worst online shop for delivery: Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, Officeworks, Kogan and eBay

The problems our survey respondents reported in relation to deliveries from Harvey Norman and The Good Guys seemed endless. There were complaints about delivery time and cost, delivery windows of a whole day rather than hours, problems with breakages in deliveries (if products arrived at all), and installation issues. We think these stores need to take a long hard look at this aspect of their logistics. If other companies can get it right, there’s definitely a skills gap at their franchises.

Officeworks, Kogan and eBay deliveries were sometimes slow, according to respondents.

Best: Appliances Online

Appliances Online had great feedback on its chat assistance, ease of navigating its website, and the fact that you can select the delivery time. 

While there were no terrible websites according to our respondents, Kogan scored 17 percentage points below Appliances Online, just behind Harvey Norman and Officeworks.

Best: Appliances Online and Amazon

Both Appliances Online and Amazon have a great range of products and brands available, according to our survey respondents.

Worst: Myer

When it comes to product range, there’s a stark disparity of some 17 percentage points between the top rated and lowest rated electronics stores. Myer has been known for having a big range of diverse products, but this seems to be changing over time.

Best: E&S Trading

E&S Trading was by far the best performer when it comes to after-sales service. Though there were no respondent comments, we can assume these results are based on staff efforts to continue to deliver even after customers have made a purchase.

Other

Commentary about the after-sales service from some retailers mentioned products failing after a short period of time, and sometimes people just didn’t feel the need to return them as they were so cheap. 

Best: E&S Trading

We had some glowing recommendations for the delivery service offered by E&S Trading. A few people acknowledged that even though they had issues with delivery, they still gave the store a good rating because of the way customer service resolved the issue.

Best: E&S Trading, Retravision and Winnings

These three clearly come out on top in this area, coming in three percentage points ahead of Betta, which earned fourth place. Comments in our survey often referred to the staff being very helpful and knowledgeable, and if there were any problems with the products, staff members were quick to resolve them.

Worst: Aldi, Kmart and Big W

Our survey respondents complained about not being able to find staff in these stores, and when they did, the staff didn’t have knowledge about the products they were selling. Some people considered these ‘self-help stores’, while others complained about store layout.

Best: E&S Trading and Retravision

In our survey, the smaller retailers E&S Trading and Retravision beat out the big-box stores such as Kmart, Big W and Myer when it came to offering value for money and more deals, specials and discounts.

Worst: Bunnings, Harvey Norman, Big W, Officeworks and Myer

People may decide to buy products at higher prices from some stores, such as Myer, based on service they’ve received in the past (even though their customer service scores in our survey are average). Some survey respondents commented that they usually only shop at Myer during sales time to get better prices.

Best: E&S Trading, Winning Appliances

Almost all the major electronics stores had good scores for product and range availability, but E&S Trading and Winnings topped the list. 

Worst: Aldi, Kmart and Big W

While their prices are cheap, survey respondents reported that the range of products and brands at Aldi, Kmart and Big W is limited. It’s also difficult to compare prices across retailers, since the products in budget department stores are often own-brand and not sold elsewhere.

When you’re in the market for a new washing machine or TV, do you like the ease that comes with buying online from the comfort of your own home? Or do you prefer the experience of shopping instore and sizing up the products first-hand before you commit?

With the rising cost of living, good value for money is a major selling point. But which stores have the widest range of products? And which ones can you count on for good customer service?

We asked more than 3500 CHOICE supporters about their experiences buying appliances in the past 12 months, and whether they were satisfied with the stores they visited, in person or online. 

For physical stores, we asked participants to rate the range of products and brands, value for money, customer service, delivery, after-sales service, deals and discounts offered and also store appearance.

For online stores, we asked much the same, but added ease of using the website, payment options, the returns process and level of product details. We included results for stores that had over 50 responses.

Best and worst brick-and-mortar stores

Best instore shop for overall satisfaction: E&S Trading

E&S Trading took out our coveted top spot for instore shopping, with many people praising its after-sales service, range of products and brands available, and delivery service. E&S Trading’s after-sales service was the retailer’s stand-out criteria.

A downside is that E&S Trading is not nationally available, with showrooms primarily in Victoria, and just one in the ACT.

Retravision, Winnings Appliances and Betta also scored well overall. Retravision’s value for money and customer service ranked high, though its range of products and brands didn’t rate quite as well as E&S Trading and Winnings.

Worst instore shop for overall satisfaction: Big W, Kmart and Myer

Department stores Big W, Kmart and Myer consistently rated lower than other stores in almost all categories in our survey. Big W had low scores for its range of products and brands and value for money, and many of our survey respondents said it was difficult to find customer service instore. Myer shoppers were not impressed with the value for money. Kmart respondents rated the range of products, customer service and layout of the store lower.

Pressure to buy extended warranties

We received more than a few comments around extended warranties and how salespeople push them, particularly at Harvey Norman. We’ve researched terms and conditions on extended warranties and in many circumstances found they were useless, so take a look at the T&Cs before you commit to anything. 

Our free consumer rights guides are helpful resources for learning more about extended warranties, along with what to do when you have problems with a product or service.

If you feel you’ve been unduly pressured into accepting an extended warranty, you can lodge a complaint with the ACCC.

Best and worst online stores

Despite some pandemic-fuelled growth in the past two years, online shopping is yet to eclipse shopping instore as our preferred way to buy, with over 60% of us still making the trek to physical shops to buy our new appliances and electronic goods. 

But for those who do prefer the online shopping experience, our survey uncovered some strong feelings about which stores deserve your business.

Best online shop for overall satisfaction: Appliances Online

Appliances Online topped every online category in our survey. We’ve had plenty of good feedback for Appliances Online anecdotally in recent years, and for a relatively young company (it was founded in 2005) to have gained so much ground over the past decade is an impressive thing. Though it no doubt helps that its parent company, Winning Group, has been an appliances fixture in Australia for over a century.

Worst online shop for overall satisfaction: Kogan

At the other end of the spectrum, Kogan scored 27 percentage points lower than Appliances Online. While there were a few comments around a good experience, mostly the feedback was negative.

Best: Appliances Online

The only retailer to score in the 70s for this criteria, Appliances Online rated well for after-sales service (though we didn’t get enough survey responses to cover several of its competitors).

Worst: Kogan, The Good Guys and eBay

Kogan scored the lowest in the after-sales service category, followed by The Good Guys and eBay.