Community Update

Appliance Hell! Two Dead Refrigerators - In A Row!


How difficult is it to buy a new refrigerator these days?  Once you have checked out all the models, new features, whistles and buzzers, it should be pretty simple, right?  Not so right. What happens when the model that you settle on arrives - but doesn't work?  What about when this takes place two times in a row?

In February we decided to replace our 10-year-old French Door model with a newer model.  We first browsed the Internet checking out varous brands, models and features, before settling on a Kitchenaid French Door model. It was unique compared to other refrigerators having two Evaporators, one for the fresh food compartment and the other for the freezer. This was to keep food fresh and temperatures were operated separately in each section.

We shopped online looking across the various brands and models.  We compared features, prices, and reviews online before finally settling on a Kitchenaid model.
The model wasn't available to look at in the showroom of a local appliance store, so we stopped in at Airport Appliance in Concord, a small retailer in the East Bay who said that they could deliver to our area with no problem.  They offered a great price, and we soon struck up a deal. The sales rep said it would be delivered in 7-10 days. Three weeks later, the beautiful new fridge -- big enough to house that missing Malaysian jetliner -- arrived at our house.

At first the refrigerator operated fine, although I noticed after a few days that the ice cream in the freezer never really hardened all the way. The texture was still fine, and it tasted good.  The ice from the ice maker seemed fine to me, but my wife, Robin,  thought that the cubes were not well-formed.  Having never had an ice-maker, I assumed this was picking nits. But this was also a sign of things to come.

About two months after delivery, Robin mentioned that the ice-maker had stopped making ice. A look into ice-maker compartment (inside left door of fresh food section) showed that some melting had occurred. I opened the door to the freezer to check the temperature there -- and it felt slightly cold, but not freezing, to me. A few days later, in the fresh food compartment, I discovered a gallon of milk that's date was not yet expired to be both sour and curdled.  Something was wrong with our new fridge.

I'll cut to the chase and just say that we contacted the store and were referred to Kitchenaid service to get an authorized repair person to come out. This is normal since major appliances are expected to first be serviced in the home at no charge to consumer.

The repair company came out and determined that there was no freon in the unit, and that they needed to check for a freon leak. They came back on a second visit and pumped it up with freon and dye, so they could come back the following week and determine where the leak was.  Within 24 hours, the freezer was cold again and the ice-maker was making ice. However, a week later when the repairman returned for the third time, he could find no sign of an external leak, meaning that whatever leak there was was inside the unit's "sealed system."  To go any further meant taking the entire refrigerator apart and cutting into every line to find a leak or stoppage.  He recommended having the appliance store take this model back and get us a new refrigerator.

It took some dickering with the staff at the store to get everyone on the same page that we needed a new refrigerator.  But ultimately, last Saturday, we went in and re-selected.  This time we chose a high-end GE model that was pretty similar to the Kitchenaid.  It had fancy interior lights and the same dual evaporators. The store gave us a good price, but we still paid $100 more for the privilege of having this new refrigerator -- only to have it delivered dead on arrival. 

The delivery drivers uncrated the brand new fridge, and carried it carefully with straps into our home. They put it in place, plugged it in, and hooked up the water lines. They said it would take 24 hours for the unit to cool, and that the freezer would cool down first.  Now, 23 hours later, the freezer is still at 68 degrees, and the fresh food compartment is at 64 degrees.  All of the food that we had in the old model has spoiled. We do not have half and half for our morning coffee. A GE repairman is already scheduled to be here tomorrow morning between 8 and noon.

But really, what is the problem here? We held off on buying the refrigerators that were rated higher in Consumer Reports (Samsung and LG) mainly because they were not made in the USA, and that getting parts could be problematic.  But buying two models that were made in America, and having them take a dump before we really got to know them, that's bad.

I am not optimistic about buying either Kitchenaid or GE products with this kind of result. If the repair person coming tomorrow cannot get the unit to start up right away, you can bet that we will be either ordering again for next-day delivery, or getting a refund and buying our refrigerator elsewhere.