Product review (1 stars): Not worth it!
I purchased this washer in January 2010 and was initially happy with the way it cleaned and I liked the top loader without an agitator so it could handle bulky items.  The first year was great and the high speed spin cycle got the clothes almost dry so that very little time was spent in the matching gas dryer.
January 2011 was my first service call, a week after the manufacturers warrantee expired.  Fortunately for me the day I purchased it the unit was on sale for $100 less than I was expecting to pay and I was talked into the extended 4 year warrantee for $79.  I don't usually purchase these warrantees but did this time because it was lower than my budgeted total cost.  Best money I have ever spent!  The January 2011 service call was a covered item, a control board part that cost around $250.  Since then we have had several service calls, another replaced control board, other misc. parts I don't know and several weeks ago it started getting the dreaded UL (unbalanced load) code on a regular basis, to the point a load would have to be rinsed at least 3 times before it would cycle thru to the end and finally it wouldn't do the final rinse with a constant UL code.  I ran the washer with nothing in it because the warrantee company said it wasn't a warrantee issue but I didn't know how to load the machine I've had for almost 4 years.  I still got the UL code so another call to the service center to schedule an appointment.  Based on this information they diagnosed the problem, ordered parts and scheduled an appointment a couple of weeks out.  Service tech comes and it's not the problem diagnosed over the phone but a major bearing, the motor and other expensive parts.  Again at least it's not costing me money, but I will be without a washing machine for almost a month before this worthless POS is working again.  It's less than 4 years old and it's been one of the worst appliances I have owned;  the service tech told me that major appliance like this have a 5 year life span these days, not what I would expect from a $1,000 item and I didn't even get close to that without major problems, in fact I made it only to 53 weeks.
We had constant problems with an oversudsings error code, using the HE detergent; LD - long drain issues where the unit would shut down and not drain properly and UL codes over the years.  Advice from service techs always seemed to be a problem other than the manufacturer design and quality, one tech said the LD issue and oversudsing was the HE detergent we were using (not a bargain no name brand but a leading company) the next tech said the current brand we switched to was the issue and recommended the original detergent we had been using.  Is someone kidding!  When we had LD - long drain issues - there would be a definite foul odor from the machine that didn't make you feel good about putting normal soiled clothes in a cleaning machine that smelled so foul.
I will not spend any of my money on servicing this machine and the next issue will be the last one I deal with.  Nor can I recommend anyone purchase it, at any price this washing machine is not worth the aggravation of a poor design, with a good concept, and obviously poor quality.  I'm not sure I'll buy another Whirlpool product.

Update - Jan 2014 - When the service tech came out with the replacement parts from Whirlpool the replacement part was broken and the machine couldn't be fixed again.  Another delay and reordering of the part, this time the service company promised me that they would inspect the part prior to having a tech come to my house.  They did and the second part from Whirlpool was broken also.  It's bad enough to have a broken appliance, but to have two defective replacement parts sent was the last straw. I have a new non-Whirlpool washing machine.  The first month has been good and I did purchase an extended warrantee.  Other brand names from the same parent company of Whirlpool include Maytag, KitchenAid, and I understand also they manufactures for the Sears Kenmore line so they were all excluded from being purchased.