While we've not had any problem with the sealing strip, I'm fed up (no pun intended) with the way the bags lose their vacuum in the freezer. We've had our unit for several years, and the bags seem to lose vacuum much more than they used to. We've tried put the sealed bags into grocery bags and then into the freezer to cut down on abrasion. Helps a little. As far as the price of the bags, we wait until Fleet Farm has them on sale. The only rationale I can come up with, is the cost of food is increasing all the time, and saving the food in vacuum bags cuts down on losing taste due to the freezer environment.
As far as dealing with appliance people, stay clear of Rival, especially their "Deep Fryer" . Called the company because it didn't fry very well. I gave them the results of using a candy thermometer to show that at a setting on the Rival of 300F yielded (after waiting for the green light to come on and checking the temperature 3 times over the next 15 minutes) of about 210F. The Rival setting of 375 yielded a candy thermometer reading of 230F. No amount of waiting could get the oil up to 300, let alone 350 or 375!
They were happy to replace it FREE! Yeah, except I would have to pay shipping to ship the bad unit (brand new) and shipping for the replacement unit. A total greater than going to the store (including tax) and buying another one. With no promise that it would work any better. An internet search yielded a whole 17 pages of dissatisfied Rival deep fryer customers with the same complaint, including paying more to replace it through the company's warranty than just going out and buying a new one.
Watch out for Subzero refrigerator/freezers too! Especially since Wolf now owns them.
And the list grows longer every day!
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