Not a repairman but we bought a set of the Affinity front load washer/dryer when they first came out for cheap and have never had a single problem in about 8 years of use. I realize this is a rather small segment but it's our personal experience. It looks like they've gone up in price quite a bit over the years since we got ours & I really didn't expect to get a decade of trouble-free use out of what we paid. For me, I wouldn't spend a lot of money. Every time we shop washers & dryers it seems that the entry level models have the same components with less features. We don't use features. We clean and dry our clothes so for us we've always had fantastic luck buying entry-level model washer & dryers.