I saw an ad on this board yesterday from Overstock.com regarding refurbished sewing machines. Has anyone ever purchased a refurbished or reconditioned machine? Am skeptical due to the price, but wonder if it would be worth it.

my daughter has a refurbished singer...my mother bought the machine the year i was born. the year i turned 21 she took it in and had it all cleaned/serviced and gave it to me...it went through some rough times; including a house fire...and didnt' work anymore. i took it to a place where they refurbish machines, they fixed it all up and i gave it to my daughter for her 21st birthday...she is now 34 and the machine is still working just fine. most refurbished machines do have a warranty on them for at least 6 months- to a year. if i had the need i would not hesitate to pick up another refurbished machine. i even have a refurbished (mother-board) on my long-arm machine...has held up for over a year now.

As of yet, the answer is NO. However, a friend of mine was telling me that her local dealer sold used machines with guarantees of 1 year.

After pricing the Janome 6600P and finding out that at one of my dealers they wanted $1495.00 and he sold the same exact machine for $6??.??. I definitely am going to buy my machine there. That is a huge difference.

Her machine is almost a year old and she wanted to learn some of the features on it that she hadn't used or wasn't comfortable with doing. When she called, they set up an appointment and she had a one-on-one instruction session.

My dealer, which is different from the one above, wouldn't even check on a part that broke on my machine. I would never recommend or buy anything from her again. I would much rather take the 2 1/2 hour trip to someone who has good customer service and great prices.

The only problem that I can see of buying from O is that you don't have access to a dealer. Personally I'd go to a reputable dealer and buy a refurbished from them. If you were closer to Illinois I'd tell you to go to Threads of Time in Danville---EXCELLENT service. Bill will even work on machines that he hasn't sold and when we have retreats there if someone's machine is acting up he'll try to see if he can diagnose and or fix the problem at no charge. He even helped me out once with a Singer purchased from Hancocks. He couldn't fix it(it was something that wasn't fixable at all) but he was able to tell me what was wrong with it. That's the type of dealer that you want to find. But since he's the best you'll have to settle for finding the second best! LOL

We don't have many service centers in this remote area, but Overstock.com does have a warranty (i believe for 2 years). Am looking at a computerized Brother with 70 stitches. I have 3 Brother machines now but wanted to upgrade, and thought since money is tight this might be a route.

I bought my Juki refurbished and it is wonderful. I've had it five years now and it still is working great. It looked like a brand new machine when I got it.

Refurbished mechanical machines I would NOT have a problem buying.
How ever refurbished computerized machines? I am very leery of, you may end up spending way more later, than what you saved today JMHO :D:D:D

I tend to agree with you on this one.

I have a friend who works for a company that refurbishes Apple products. Not all have anything wrong with them. If someone buys one and opens the box and sends it back, it goes thru refurbishment and must be sold as that. Sometime they have a board that has a problem. In other words they are checked out MUCH more carefully than one coming out of a store. I purchased a Mac Air, saved 450.00 refurbished and it is fantastic. I almost prefer to buy refurbished as I know they have been carefully gone over and checked out totally.

That's what I've been told too. bought a brother 6000i refurbished several years ago. have not had any problems.