Oh Joy - our new refrigerator actually works!

[chief38]

After going through "Refrigerator Hell" for the last 8 years with our Samsung refrigerator, having it repaired under extended warranty 12 times in that time period, the Company that sold us the extended warranty told us they would refund our entire original purchase price (including sales tax), and take it back so we could use the refund towards a new one.

I did my research, found the model we wanted (the largest Whirlpool model made) and ordered it. It came in and was installed last week and guess what...... it actually works as it is supposed too! One would just assume a new refrigerator should work perfectly, but these days many do not - our old Samsung gave us problems from the very first day and was never working properly. No fault of the repairmen, the Samsung replacement parts were just garbage!

Not exactly a reason to throw a party, however after having our Kitchen flooded with water & ice and having daily problems with food being ruined, we are ecstatic with the new one! Yes, its only been a week but the new one is working perfectly and shows great promise. That said, I did spend the extra $400 for the extended 8 year warranty just in case.

So far it's like we won the refrigerator lottery.

 

[Onomea]

Hope it continues successfully for ya, BC38.

We bought a Samsung in 2016. Bought the extended warranty, and have extended it to the max. Expires next year, I believe.

So far, a half dozen repair visits. The last one.... I hope did the trick. I asked for a replacement, and they sent out a different repair company. So far — the last two months or so — so good.

We’ll see.

 

[murf205]

Does any manufacture make one in the USA now? I am sick of this. And just think, at one time we thought a Chinese Junk was a boat!

 

[anoblefox]

We went through oven hell 2 years ago after choosing a Sears Kenmore (gas) oven. Less than 3 weeks after we moved in to our new home we planned a thanksgiving dinner with, what else, turkey! But no, the pilot flame would come on but NEVER the main burner. Contacted Sears, and with no less than 3 separate service calls. It was our propane guy who actually properly diagnosed the problem. Guess what happened next year? Yep, at Thanksgiving, again, no heat. We do not use the big oven that often, as you might have guessed; we have two electric toaster type ovens that are more convenient for most meals. Oh now of course the warranty period is over. $1300 to replace it, so we live with it, some days it still will not heat at all. The wife now turns it on well ahead of any planned meal that needs a big oven, then IF it lights, goes ahead with that particular meal. So I would guess on average, the odds are about 95% that it will work properly .

 

[The Analyst]

I'm confident you'll be pleased with your new fridge. Whirlpool makes a decent product. Best of luck with it and hopefully you'll have many, many years of reliable, trouble free use.

 

[kraynky]

I should count myself fortunate I suppose. We also bought a Samsung refrigerator about 8 years ago. The only problem we've had with it so far is the ice maker randomly stops working. I buy a bag or two of ice to dump in the dispenser, and then in a day or two it starts back up again. That happens about twice a year I'd guess, so it's not a big deal to us anymore. I feel confident it will fix itself soon. LOL!

Now our Samsung Washing Machine,......... that's another story. I've had that puppy drained and on it's side once or twice a year since I bought it. We finally replaced it about a month ago. Darn thing had such weak springs in the tub mounts, it would "Tilt" like the old pinball machines and shut down. That was a frustrating piece of machinery.

I replaced it with a Whirlpool.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The biggest problem I had with the refrigerators was, of the 140 units the first 3 years we owned the complex 47 were defrosted with a knife or screw driver! If they bothered to tell you in the first day or so I could save them. But I would walk in to do a "Move Out" inspection. The 'fridge is running at a fast hum you open the door and smell the compressor oil, and there is red colored oil all over the freezer!

Eventually we bought self defrosting G.E.'s, but what a mess!


August 1984, I moved into the farm house. It had a brand new, O/U 22 cubic foot refrigerator. I moved out September 11, 2015. Same GE fridge, only repair was a fan motor (Knocked out by an ice storm on Christmas 2003)

That fridge stayed with the house, it needed a new set of gaskets, so it got thrown away. The truth is with a $40-50 set of gaskets it would have lasted at least a decade longer than one made today!

When we moved we left a 1961 NORGE 21 cf upright freezer. It would probably be running until 2061, but it wasn't new so out it went!

Both of these were 100% Made in America, by companies that charged a fair price for a product, that would last longer than the Federally mandated 5 year compressor warranty!

Ivan

 

[robrossk]

I am a loyal Whirlpool customer and former employee. Have always had good products.

 

[Oracle]

We bought a Samsung refrigerator as well. We had to put dry ice in it. The repairman was out almost weekly, we got on a first name basis, he knew my work hours and would show up after I got home. We went around and around with the extended warranty people. Eventually the extended warranty people refunded not only our purchase price they gave us the same amount to buy a new refrigerator. Our LG is 100% better. We won't buy anything Samsung.

 

[47knuckle]

I can identify with the "randomly not working ice maker". I've had that problem with my Kenmore refrigerator for a couple of months so last week decided to purchase and install a new ice maker. In searching inside the refrig for a model number I also found the manufacture date...FEB 1993. It's so old I'm having trouble finding the correct replacement.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could still buy quality made kitchen appliances?

 

[IronSkillet]

Kitchen appliances are a pain in the butt. Purchased a Kitchen-Aid french door in 2017 gaskets around the doors have ripped and need mold wiped off weekly, don't like the french doors. Purchased a Whirlpool Side/side from Costco we like it much better but have discovered the glass tempered shelves in the freezer are fragile having broken two already. Believe these appliances are built to be replaced every 5 years approximately.

 

[Kurusu]

After going through "Refrigerator Hell" for the last 8 years with our Samsung refrigerator, having it repaired under extended warranty 12 times in that time period, the Company that sold us the extended warranty told us they would refund our entire original purchase price (including sales tax), and take it back so we could use the refund towards a new one.

I did my research, found the model we wanted (the largest Whirlpool model made) and ordered it. It came in and was installed last week and guess what...... it actually works as it is supposed too! One would just assume a new refrigerator should work perfectly, but these days many do not - our old Samsung gave us problems from the very first day and was never working properly. No fault of the repairmen, the Samsung replacement parts were just garbage!

Not exactly a reason to throw a party, however after having our Kitchen flooded with water & ice and having daily problems with food being ruined, we are ecstatic with the new one! Yes, its only been a week but the new one is working perfectly and shows great promise. That said, I did spend the extra $400 for the extended 8 year warranty just in case.

So far it's like we won the refrigerator lottery.

Funny. In my garage I keep an old Kelvinator bought by my parents in the early 60s and retired a long time ago. If/ when I plug it it still works.

 

[Rule3]

Not to burst you bubble, but give it time
We had a whole new Whirlpool kitchen installed. No problems other than the Fridge. Many problems with the damn ice maker, and once the whole "brain" went out. Took 3 days to get the part and someone to fix it. We did have extended warranty so they paid for all the lost food.


Remember when appliances used to last for 10-20 years?? Now they are all junk. That said I still like Whirlpool.


We had bought a brand new Samsung Washer, what a PITA that was!!(what a waste of money)
Finally had enough of it and just went a bought a new LG.

Which has been great

 

[challer61]

I hate to say it but current Sub Zeros are the best. The work well and are quite reliable. Check YT - all the samsung, LG, GE out there have known flaws and the vendors don't care. It's easier to make it hard for you to get service then for them to fit it. Sub Zero for years now and very happy.

 

[chief38]

Does any manufacture make one in the USA now? I am sick of this. And just think, at one time we thought a Chinese Junk was a boat!

Funny you should ask...... The Whirlpool we purchased was made in the USA.

QUOTE from their website: "In the US, Whirlpool has nine manufacturing facilities: Amana, Iowa; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Cleveland, Tennessee; Clyde, Ohio; Findlay, Ohio; Greenville, Ohio; Marion, Ohio; Ottawa, Ohio; and Fall River, Massachusetts".

That stated, I'd bet it is full of Chinese parts.

The reason I started looking into Whirlpool in the first place was that when the Repairmen came to our home to fix the Samsung, they ALL recommended Whirlpool as the best of the lot. We'll see.......

 

[chief38]

I hate to say it but current Sub Zeros are the best. The work well and are quite reliable. Check YT - all the samsung, LG, GE out there have known flaws and the vendors don't care. It's easier to make it hard for you to get service then for them to fit it. Sub Zero for years now and very happy.

For around $10,000 it aught to be! The new Whirlpool I bought was #3,000, fit into our existing space, is huge and if it craps out 10 years from now I can just move on without crying too much - LOL!! I hope you continue to have good luck with the Sub.

 

[H Richard]

Maybe I've been lucky. We bought an Amana when we build our condo 15 years ago, and we have had 1 service call to replace the ice maker at year two. Nothing since. We previously had a Frigidaire at our previous home for over 15 years, and it still sits in our basement keeping beer and soda cold and excess meat in the freezer. It has had no service calls ever.

I had looked on Consumer reports when we built, and selected Amana refrigerator, Maytag dishwasher, Frigidaire electric range and microwave. All the front designs were close enough to "blend" together for my decorator wife. So far the only appliance that has required a service call was the ice maker in the Amana. At 15 years I am now on borrowed time and expect some needs within the next 5 years.

 

[Onomea]

Ya know who makes (or designs) great refrigerators? The Japanese. I have no idea why they don’t market them over here. Maybe because they cost more? (~ $2,000?) Smaller footprint, designed to hold more stuff per cubic space, and don’t break down. Keeps stuff fresh a lot longer, too. They look sorta plain, compared to the wide and shiny stainless popular in the US, but are much higher quality.

Have a Panasonic in my house in Japan.

I wound up with a Samsung over here because it was the only one I could find small enough to fit into the space where I wanted to put it. (I think I did find a Sub Zero that would fit, but at $6K it was way more that I wanted to put into a fridge. And Bosch had one I could order, but it was gonna take months to get it.) The Samsung still has a bigger footprint, though it holds less, than our Panasonic.

I did not hook up the Samsung ice maker because I have had problems with ice makers in the past. The Panasonic ice maker has never been a problem. The way it works is that it is not connected to the water line: There is a water tank, with a handle, that you remove from the fridge, fill up in the sink and then reinsert into the refrigerator. Nothing to leak. When it stops making ice, refill the tank.

 

[Rule3]

Pretty much all the appliances are under the Whirlpool Corp name!


Whirlpool Corporation Brands | Whirlpool Corporation



I also would like to see Panasonic. They have always made good stuff.
Remember when we all whined about made in Japan!? Now it's made in China.


GE used to mean quality, now not so much

 

[chief38]

As it was said to me by the Salesman who helped me order the new fridge, "they are not true refrigerators any longer - they are computers that get cold". Basically telling me they are way too complicated to be reliable for long periods of time.

Couple that with many cheap junky Chinese parts being used in construction - they are not meant to last very long.