Update: In a final act of sheer desperation, I called the Lowe's here in town that we bought the frig from. I spoke with one of the managers (if not the store manager, I honestly can't remember). Anyway, he stopped me halfway through the story and told me to come down and pick out a new frig and they would have it delivered! He was most kind and, because they didn't have a comparable refrigerator of a different brand in stock, he upgraded (at no extra cost to us) to a different model Whirlpool. I so didn't want a Whirlpool, but didn't want to wait another week for a different brand and he said that Lowe's would stand behind it. So, we are going to give it another shot--hopefully with a much better outcome. Customer service at Lowe's gets a big thank you--I'm still not at all happy with Whirlpool's customer service. But, if everything goes smoothly, we will have a working frig in the house tomorrow!
In September, 2007, we bought a Whirlpool side by side refrigerator. Oh, how it sparkled and shined and how we loved having ice and water from the door!
Fast forward to Friday, January 18, 2008--the frig ceased working. We lost almost everything in both sides. We did what we were supposed to do--call the repair service listed in the owner's manual. They said they would come on Monday. I called Monday morning just to confirm that we were on the books. No, our request for service had been dropped (with no call to us) because they didn't service our area on Monday. Finally, on Tuesday, a repair came, spent about 10 minutes and said that the compressor was bad. He ordered another one to be shipped to our home on Friday.
Friday came and passed with no part on my doorstep. We did what we were supposed to do--called the repair service back. They didn't know where the part was. I did what I was supposed to do next--I called Whirlpool. After explaining the situation to them and being on the phone with various people over 2 hours, they agreed to next day ship a compressor to us, gave us the name of a local repair company (who has been great), issued us a $75 check to help defray some expenses and add 90 additional days to the warranty of the refrigerator.
The local repair man came and installed the compressor on Monday, January 29. Nearly 2 weeks had passed since this began. We had been living out of an ice chest (well, several). He spent nearly 3 hours installing, checking and rechecking everything. Everything was working fine.
We began to notice that the refrigerator had never made any ice and things weren't as cold. Sure enough on Friday, February 1 (4 days after compressor replacement), we lost what we had put in the freezer and refrigerator again.
We did what we were supposed to. We called Lowe's where we had purchased the frig and explained things to them. They gave us the toll free number for the Lowe's repair service. I called it and it was Whirlpool. So, I explained everything again. Also adding that since we had bought a new refrigerator, I wanted a new refrigerator--not one that was going to be completely rebuilt. We also called the local repair service again.
Now is where things began to really fall apart for me. Whirlpool won't replace the frig--even though it is obvious to anyone (even to someone as "un-mechanical as me) that the thing is defective. The warranty covers repairs. It won't be considered for replacement until 3 service calls have gone through with a fourth one pending. I can't tell you how long I have spent on the phone with Whirlpool trying to get someone to listen to reason!
So, the local guy comes again. The compressor is bad again but he doesn't think that we are dealing with a compressor issue. But, Whirlpool requires him to try everything and then call the Whirlpool tech support. His suggestion was to go ahead and put on another compressor and see if that may be the problem. He orders one and installs it on February 11 (for anyone keeping up, that's about 3 weeks after the original problem). It cooled while he was here, he tested for leaks and there were none. It stayed cool long enough for us to put drinks in. But, last night we noticed that it wasn't cool anymore.
I called Whirlpool this morning and practically begged to speak with someone who could help me, meaning someone who could make a decision. Well, I got to speak with Howard. Howard understood and was very sympathetic--so sympathetic that I had to tell him that I appreciated his sympathy but it didn't change the fact that I have a defective refrigerator in my house that Whirlpool won't stand behind.
In short, Howard told me that the local repair guy has to come to my house again, call tech support from here and go through the problem with them. Tech support will offer their advice and see if they can fix the problem. If they can't, then they will deem it unrepairable and we can then explore "replacement options". When asked what replacement options were, he told me that that would be finding a comparable model and beginning the red tape process, which from start to finish would take about 2 weeks at least. (That's going on 6 weeks without a working refrigerator in my home!)
So, the basic deal is this: we bought a new refrigerator but if tech support says it can be rebuilt and fixed, we have to accept a "rebuilt" refrigerator. Because, according to Howard, we bought a warranty--we didn't buy a refrigerator that was built to last more than six months obviously. If it is deemed unrepairable by tech support, then we (the ones who paid big bucks for a refrigerator) get to wait 2 more weeks at least while Whirlpool makes us jump through more hoops.
Oh, and as if that weren't enough...we had to buy a small frig to go in the garage to store things like milk and eggs ($135), ice to keep other things cool in the ice chest ($1.50 per bag--we're up past a dozen bags), numerous trips to the grocery store to buy "food for the day" because the little frig doesn't hold much (gas is $2.89/gallon here), plus the food that we lost (conservative guess $90). But, we got $75 from Whirlpool plus an extended warranty on a frig that doesn't work now, hasn't worked properly in a month, and may not ever work again.
After going through all this with Howard and having his full sympathy, I'm sure, I had to tell him that if I thought there was any way possible, I'd get my money back and buy a new refrigerator that wasn't a Whirlpool.
I'm truly not bitter--I'm tired. I've called everyone I can think of to call, done everything I was supposed to do and I'm still going to the garage to get milk!! I just want a refrigerator that works--and not a Whirlpool.
