Whirlpool fridge: dead after 16 months

[soupcxan]

Whirlpool = junk

Purchased new last year, never moved or abused. A year and a half later - stops working. So all the food has to be tossed (what a waste) and we have to haul the thing back to Costco (what's more fun than moving a fridge?). At least they gave us our money back thanks to their 2 year warranty. Are there any brands of refridgerators that aren't complete trash? Everything out there seems to have a 1 year warranty, makes me nervous.

 

[Cruisinthru]

We had a similar experience.

Bought a new top of the line Whirlpool refregerator and 18 months later it died. That would have been bad on any occasion, but in our case we were in Europe for three weeks when it chose to give up the ghost. Thank goodness our neighbor was checking the house and found it prior to the food going (how do I put this) really bad..... She had the task of cleaning up the mess for us. But we came home to no frig and no food.

After three service calls it was determined that the people who delivered it damaged the fan and that the fan had never worked on it. That caused the compressor to over heat and burn out. We were told at that time that our model is considered very reliable but that other Whirlpools are junk. I know there is at least one class action suit going against whirlpool right now.

On the other hand Conn's where we purchased it and the yahoo's that delivered it could have cared less about our loss. We lost a good $200 worth of food and went without a refrigerator for three weeks. It was their service guy who told us it was their delivery guys who messed it up.

Conn's will never get a penny of my money again.

You might check the net for class action suits against whirlpool. Your situation may be your ticket to enter the drawing. Good luck.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Heh. I know someone else with a bad Conns experience.

My experience with whirlpool and their appliances has been very good.

I had a GE fridge that just wouldnt get cold enough and after 12 service calls GE refused to replace it unless I paid them a service fee of $100 to bring out the new one to replace the defective unit they couldnt fix.

Our most recent buy was a Samsung fridge and we like it. Good innards and they separate the cooling of the fridge from the freezer, so if you put something stinky in the fridge you dont end up with garlic ice.

I did make a point of buying the 5 year extended warranty for it, which also extended the compressor warranty to 10 years.

Appliance quality is no longer what it once was. You cant count on 12-15 year life spans from your appliances anymore.

 

[REWahoo]

On the other hand Conn's where we purchased it and the yahoo's that delivered it could have cared less about our loss. We lost a good $200 worth of food and went without a refrigerator for three weeks. It was their service guy who told us it was their delivery guys who messed it up.

Conn's will never get a penny of my money again.

Heh. I know someone else with a bad Conns experience.

"Conn's" - Never has a company been so appropriately named...

 

[Nords]

We bought a GE Arctica that's still plugging away happily, although technically only for 16 months. We've also been generally happy with Kenmore... when we've shopped for major appliances, our selections (for other reasons) seem to end up in that brand.

Home Depot & Lowes are really cutting into the appliance stores, especially with EnergyStar products and holiday-weekend 10% discounts.

But nobody can design an appliance that can stand up to a delivery gorilla...

 

[Khan]

I got Whirlpool Fridge, range and dishwasher in April 2000; everything still working okay.

 

[growing_older]

Kenmore. 16 years old and no problems. Fridge seems to show no signs of aging.
Kenmore dryer now 25 years old. Works fine although it's an 80's color no one makes anymore.
Kenmore washer went 10 years then had a whole slew of problems with motors, belts, clutches. Finally gave up on repairing it and get a new Kenmore 5 years ago. Newer models have much larger capacity then the old "extra large" size but the overall appliance takes up the same space. No problems so far.

I believe Kenmore is made by whoever Sears has a contract with that year, but they seem to be pretty good with defining the specs for what they want and controlling quality if they aren't getting it.

 

[Walt34]

I believe Kenmore is made by whoever Sears has a contract with that year, but they seem to be pretty good with defining the specs for what they want and controlling quality if they aren't getting it.

Hmmm.... Couldn't tell that by me. We bought Sears' washer & dryer five years ago, the dryer lasted 18 months before a circuit board that costs half the price of a new dryer went.

Kenmore=never again.

Replaced it with a Maytag that (knock on wood) is still running fine.

 

[Sue J]

We have an Amana that is holding up very well after about 9 years. Part of me wishes that I had a reason to replace it. When I went shopping for a new refrigerator I wanted a frig on top with bottom freezer and they were all too tall for our cupboards, so I had to get one with a freezer on the top. This one has great features, glass shelves, some that slide out. Easy to rearrange and clean. But it's very deep with a lot of capacity in the doors. That makes it very hard to see inside from a standing or bending position. In order to see anything on the top shelf, especially at the back, you need to crouch down low.

Soon after we got this refrigerator, we both moved to bifocals and trifocals. That only made the view inside worse! Between the bending/crouching/neck craning this is a back pull waiting to happen.

Soon after we bought this the appliance companies started making the fridge on top models in a shorter size, but we already own this one. But I did get a good deal on it. I got about $150 off and free delivery in a price match. On delivery day I got a call from Sears, they had checked it on the truck and found a scratch on the lower left side, was I still willing to accept delivery? They offered compensation if I would still take it. We were lucky in that the left side of the refrigerator is next to a cupboard and would never be seen, so after I saw the very minor scratch, they gave me another $100 off.

It's really too bad that I hate the thing.

 

[Khan]

When I went shopping for a new refrigerator I wanted a frig on top with bottom freezer

I have one of those. I'll never again drop a frozen chicken on my foot.

Washing machine GE ~15 years, starting to make funny sounds.

 

[Moemg]

My Ge frig is twelve years old and is still in great shape . My maytag stove , dishwasher and microwave well that's another story . Let's just say I know where the Maytag repairman is a lot of the time .

 

[USK Coastie]

Funny you should mention refrigerators. Our Maytag side by side whent nuts Friday night and started cycling the ice dispenser all on its own. CREEPY!!!! to watch the ice door cycle when you're not touching anything. Finally got it to (now the whole dispenser is dead).

Trouble shooting and looking on the web says its the control board for $100.00 unless I can get Maytag to fix for free as has happened to some on the web.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Hmmm.... Couldn't tell that by me. We bought Sears' washer & dryer five years ago, the dryer lasted 18 months before a circuit board that costs half the price of a new dryer went.

Kenmore=never again.

Replaced it with a Maytag that (knock on wood) is still running fine.

Heres the bad news. Most kenmore refrigerators, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers are manufactured by whirlpool.

Whirlpool bought maytag about a year and a half ago and all the maytag stuff is now also rebadged whirlpools.

But man, can you get some sweet deals on the whirlpool made maytags. Maytag has been throwing out some big rebates trying to get buyers since their brand got thoroughly hosed as a result of horrid product quality and bad customer service as they careened towards bankruptcy several years ago.

 

[bright eyed]

Our most recent buy was a Samsung fridge and we like it. Good innards and they separate the cooling of the fridge from the freezer, so if you put something stinky in the fridge you dont end up with garlic ice.

that's funny, the koreans are very fridge-stink conscience - although most hip/modern koreans have a separate fridge for the kimchee (with the precise perfect temp for keeping it nice and ripe/fresh)... you can store your mushy roasted garlic!

 

[mn54]

I've had the same Whirlpool fridge since 1985. Have never had a service problem with it. Guess they don't make 'em like they used to.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yeah I was debating the newness of the samsung brand, but I liked the features. Pretty happy with it through 14 months. It has excellent uniformity of coolness, which our year old el cheapo kenmore (whirlpool) lacked. The shelves and whatnot are pretty solid....I tend to stuff a lot of food at odd angles and frequently break shelves. I've put a crack in the front plastic cosmetic piece on one of the samsungs door shelve plastic front pieces, but I've totally blown out one of the crisper drawers on the GE fridge which has been relegated to garage/contractor drinks duty. Sucker wont even hang anymore, just lays there. Go on and insert ex-wife/husband jokes here, adding further comments about 'sweating' to go with the 'just laying there' aspects. No suggestions on the 'hanging' portions of the program.

Back to the actual data portion of the program, Lowes (as much as they suck) offered me a 5 year warranty on the Bosch washer and dryer and the samsung fridge for $199, with the compressor warranty extending from 5 to 10 years. I considered that a good deal given that one service call on any of the three over the next 5 years would well exceed the cost.

 

[2good]

We bought a Whirlpool fridge 10 years ago (freezer abover fridge; no icemaker). About 3 years ago we wanted to have a side-by-side with ice maker and access to ice and filtered water from the outside. We moved the Whirlpool into the garage. It now serves as my beer and wine cooler. The Whirlpool still works well.

We bought a Maytag about 3 years ago. The unit worked for about 18 months and then stopped working. We did not have to pay for the repair although it was out of warranty. Something about Maytag being sold to another company who cared somewhat about customer satisfaction.

 

[calmloki]

Well, we're getting rid of one of our fridges - a Coronado - check it out so you can spot a goodun if you're fridge shopping: 1940s Coronado Refrigerator

 

[Poundkey]

We've got a 20 year old Whirlpool side by side fridge. I've had to replace the fan motor once and the water inlet valve for the ice maker twice. Neither are a bad job....just pull the thing away from the wall, take the bottom cover panel off and both are right there. We've got an appliance parts house nearby that stocks the usual stuff.

I've also replaced the water inlet valve once and the impeller shaft bearings and seals twice on a 20 year old Maytag dishwasher. The dishwasher has to come all the way out and on it's back to do the seals/bearings.

Same thing with the 20 year old Kenmore washing machine.....it needs to be laid on it's back or side to get to most things. I've replaced the pump twice, drive belt three times, and water outlet hose from the pump once.

The only thing I haven't had to wrench on is the Kenmore dryer.....yep, 20 years and still going.