Singers
To each his own I guess! I have never had bad luck with Singers. Nor has anyone else I know that believes in these machines.
It's like any other company once in a while there is a "lemon" and reason there are "lemon laws" to protect the consumer.
I have also had Brothers and those did not hold up as good as Singers. I have had Janome and used it no more than a dozen times in a year and right now having problems with feeders g ooing up.
Every company has it's good points and bad points and we as consumers really must learn what it is we want out of a machine no matter if a car, sewing machine or computer and buy accordingly and we should all be smart enough to test drive them before buying however that is not to say we still might not get a lemon.
All these machines come with warranties, extended warranties and more so if we have a problem simply take it back or send it back where you got it from to be fixed and/or get a replacement one.
As for "refurbished" there again one must read what it really means and although on the top of our heads we think it means a machine had something wrong and they fixed it and selling it at a lower price isn't necessarily so. Many company often get overstocked with an item and because of the rules of being able to take a loss they sell it to secondary markets as refurbished so that retailer can sell it at a much lower price and still make money, and the company can take a loss on it tax wise. Also going that route you can end up as a consumer with a brand spanking new product at a much lower price and it be identical in all manners as the high priced one being sold elsewhere.
I finally made my decision late last night after researching this machine for 3 days, reading reviews, checking out retailers who sell it high end, checking out retailers who get these machines under the umbrella "refurbished" which are actually refurbished or brand spanking new being sold in that category.
After doing much research I decided with InternetSalesUSA and got it for an even cheaper price of $738 instead of the $769, $798, $999, $1400 on up price.
The company has super great feedback as to how they deal with customers and type customer service they give and they absolutely stand by there products besides the company like Singer and such and there guarantees with them as well.
For the price and the high recommendations and high ratio of customer satisfaction I felt it was worth the risk of $738. They also stand behind working with you to learn your machines and/or products and teach you what you need to know to get you up and running.
IMHO because of the laws protecting consumers regarding any product and my researching a retailer out before purchasing and the warranties and guarantees that come with it I feel quite comfortable in dealing with them.
Like I said I've never bought a Singer that I couldn't start using right out of the box with little problems of setting it up and if I did just as with any other product I purchased weather a car, a computer, etc. if something would go wrong that is what the warranty is for and lemon laws that protect us as consumers.
My paying the $738 sure beats taking the risk than paying $999 or $1200 or as much as $1700 for that machine.
If you feel you have a lemon with a product simply take it back to where you purchased it or contact the company whose brand it is.