The Tale Of Lowe's And The Refrigerator From Hell
Reader Buddy has a lemon of a fridge that he purchased from Lowe's with an Extended Warranty. The store keeps sending people out to fix the appliance, but nothing seems to work.
Buddy says:
Back about three years ago we were buying a house and it needed a few appliance upgrades. At the time there was a Lowes store opening in our area, and the had some fabulous grand opening sales, so we did a little research on the brands they had, and ended up buying a Mid level Samsung unit in black along with the Lowes extended warranty. All was well, and we really like the fridge.
Fast forward last summer, and the fun began. We started noticing the refrigerator section wasn't cooling (freezer was fine) and so we called Lowes and call to get a repair scheduled. It took Lowes about three or four days to get someone out. Evidently they couldn't find anyone in our area to do repairs and had to do some research and locate someone. This is a new store, they probably hadn't had a lot of cause to contract for our region, so we wait patiently.
Eventually RepairGuy 1.0 comes out and says 'I've seen several of these have bad CPU boards, I'll order the part.' Part comes, and about one week later (two weeks total repair, approximately) my fridge is all happy and we are all happy, and the world is fine.Fast forward one year, almost exactly (Sept 2nd, the week before labor day) and the 'Sound of Milk Doom' returned over one long weekend when we were away. Ice in fan. Temp 54 Degrees F. So we call, and get repair scheduled with RepairGuy 2.0. After about two or three days (Sept 4 if I recall right), he comes out, We tell him of the previous experience with the CPU board, but he proclaims a 'glitch of some sort probably caused by all the rain we've had (it has been raining a lot — something like 10 inches one week)' and defrosts the fridge manually with a heat gun, changes some sort of 'sensor' and says 'call if this doesn't help'. This was a Friday.
Three or four days later (week 2), Tuesday or so,the temp in my refrigerator was 54 degrees and climbing, so call we did and left a message or two on his answering machine. De Nada. We call Lowes, and they can't get hold of him either, but eventually, one week later he comes out. He was on vacation for a week. Temp is sitting near 65F in my fridge at this point and the fan has stopped whining (the evaporator is frozen solid by this point, and no air circulation. Heck its cooler in my house that morning due to the cold snap — I joke with my wife that we should just put our food in the garage!) Eventually he gets out, defrosts it again, and changes a couple more 'sensors' .
By Thursday, back to Temp 54, and rising (go me!). We call. Answering Machine. No return call. Call Lowes 'we'll try to get hold of him' and eventually they do call, and he comes back out several days later, changes 'all the sensors out' and manually defrosts it again with the heat gun. By this time we've lost track of the gallons of milk and assorted other food items, and are getting quite annoyed, but ever hopeful. (Note: I have four kids, and two toddlers with a stay at home wife. This refrigerator stuff is pretty important not to mention loosing a couple hundred dollars of food every few weeks puts a crimp on our already limited budget) I just want my fridge operational again.
Eventually, two weeks ago, he orders the CPU board. One week later, last Monday, Lowes said it was delivered. He comes out last Thursday and replaces the board. 'This should do it hopefully'.
Maybe in some alternative reality it does, but not for us. By this last Saturday we're sitting on 55F again, and the growl of doom is emanating from the appliance again. I'm catering an event for some friends this weekend so lack of fridge puts a severe crimp on things, but oh well, we make do, and scale it down. We call Lowes this A.M. and they put in paperwork to get it replaced. It remains to be seen at this point what exactly will happen, but her remarks do not make me hopeful 'we'll try but it's no guarantee it will get replaced', and so here I sit, hoping to hear some good news, but at the rate I've been having it, I very much suspect otherwise. It is now Thursday, and we're getting 'it'l be three to five days before we know anything." In otherwords next week at a minimum, and my fridge is sitting on 65F again.
Buddy, make sure you read the paperwork that came with the extended warranty. If there is a clause that says a lemon unit is eligible to be replaced after a certain number of repairs, you'll want to know what that number is. Also, if the unit has a manufacturer's warranty and you bought it with a credit card that has extended warranty protection that doubles the manufacturer's warranty — you might find it more pleasant to deal with your credit card company than to continue with Lowe's.
If Lowe's gives you the runaround about replacing the fridge and you feel that your extended warranty isn't being honored, you can always take them to small claims court. It's fast and easy and cheap.
Good luck! In the meantime — don't get food poisoning! Anybody got any tips for keeping Buddy's food cold?
(Photo:Klaus M)
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Comments:
Why is he saying "you're welcome" after leaving 2 messages on the tech's machine?
Kids Rememeber putting a "o" after a word does not make it automatically Spanish
The repair guy is likely not contracted by Lowes but by Samsung. I remember shopping for refrigerators recently and the one thing that a salesman told me that stuck was that many of the Asian brands do not have a lot of authorized repair guys around and ordering parts will take longer. That's why I went with Kenmore over Samsung and LG. Because if the refrigerator is working, who cares who made it? If it breaks though, I want to know there will be many repair men and parts available.
I have a 25-year old Kenmore in my garage that's never needed service. Just sayin'.
When I shop for appliances, I go for the lowest-tech I can find. Good 'ol mechanical timers, dial thermostats, etc. Other than looking neat, there is no reason a refrigerator needs a CPU board, an LCD display, servomotors, etc. All that is really needed to control a fridge is one adjustable t-stat for the fridge, a manually operated baffle for the freezer, and a fixed t-stat and timer for the defrost.
It cheeses me off that they are putting fancy control boards in dishwashers, washing machines, etc. and the new parts add zero functionality; they just look neat. They then break (water + electricity = call to the repair shop) and you have gained nothing.
@edguitar: Perhaps he meant simply to say "Nada," to illustrate the fact that they heard nothing back after those messages, and then had to call Lowe's..
Otherwise, no, it doesn't make sense.
One thing you should look into is the wiring in your house. I say this because my parents house is wired like shit and it's fucked up our appliances to no end.
For some reason the fridge and the laundry machine AND the microwave plugs are all on the same circuit. So, if you have the washing machine on, and the fridge kicks in it sucks enough juice from the circuit not to trip the breaker, but it fried the cpu board in our washer THREE TIMES.
On the 3rd time, it flooded our house.
I'd suggest you ask an electrician friend if they can take a look at it, as that may be part of your problem.
@sirwired:
I'm with you. I need my fridge to keep crap cold. That's it. I don't want to surf the internet or shop on amazon while I'm looking for something to snack on.
As of this morning, I've EECB'd every lowes executive email address I could find (and some I couldn't by going through the Executive name directory and 'making them up' according to the format fname.mi.lname@lowes.com which seems to be their schema).
I also sent it here, and an email to Lowes Executive Customer service found here on the consumerist, posted @Lowes on twitter and on their facebook page. Thanks guys, every little bit helps, MAYBE!
Also, by that point, I'd have busted out with some coolers and regularly been changing out the ice until I was certain the fridge could go for a week.
Ice is cheaper then spoiled food.
It sounds like Lowes to doing everything they can, but the repair guy is unreliable when it comes to contact. My guess is that it will be replaced.... but I think this article would have been better with a conclusion from Lowes (Replace=yes/no).
My wife and I just went through Samsung Fridge hell. We ended up selling the Samsung while it was behaving, and replaced it with a GE. We were doing a kitchen remodel and ended up going with black appliances and the Samsung was white. When we first got it, we were like, this will be a great fridge. Got it from Best Buy. It was fine for a couple years, then the freezer door liner cracked for no apparent reason. Extended warranty covered it, but it took almost a year and a lot of phone calls and hounding to get the replacement liner. Then the thermostats started acting up. They would report normal temperatures, but the refrigerator section was not cooling. Reset the fridge with the computer panel or unplugging it, it would be ok for a while then mess up again. After a few months of that, and it being out of extended warranty, we gave up. I had done some searching and talked to some fridge repair guys and they said the same things, common problem with those fridges.
I've come to understand that modern appliances are not made to last. I have a 2 year old GE refrigerator that has already crapped out twice, and apparently most GE refrigerators of this style are known to be pieces of crap with inherent design flaws causing premature failures.
I agree with the poster who said buying the simplest, least electronic device you can find is the best choice. Unfortunately, these units are getting harder and harder to find.
@halcyondays: Yeah, made 25 years ago and likely put together far better, using better parts, with better QC on units leaving the factory. Almost always when companies cut corners to save money it's you, not them, that get screwed in the end.
@Oranges w/ Cheese needs guidance: My house was the same way, repaired the wiring and no more lost microwaves and toasters. We had fridge, microwave, toaster, and all lighting for dining room and kitchen on one circuit.
I had almost the exact same problem with a black Samsung fridge purchased from Lowes. It was purchased back in 2007 and broke within the first 6 months. It was still under manufacturer's warranty so I called Samsung directly. I got the same run around with replacing CPU boards, fan sensors, etc -- in fact this sounds almost exactly like my experience.
However, after trying to repair the fridge 4 times, Samsung finally caved and authorized Lowes to bring me out a brand new fridge. The new fridge was a different model, with similar features and I haven't had a problem since that time.
Hopefully Lowes will take care of you and replace your fridge with a newer model. Good luck!
I agree with the advice given by Consumerist except going to small claims court is "fast, easy and cheap", suggesting it is a solution. Going to small claims is a joke. I have won a case against a roof company for shoddy work and never received a dime. I went back to court and tried again and the judge agreed with THE ROOFERS that they should pay me back in installments... I never got a dime! They really don't have anything to fear from the courts it seems. My friend went to small claims court over rent due him from a slob who moved out. The slob never showed up in court, a judgment was issued against him and my friend never got a cent. So the slob didn't have to prepare a case, get up to go to court or wait for the case to be heard and never paid a cent. My friend was punished in work, lost work, time and money for believing in the system.
I think this is true of almost ALL modern appliances. They have this feature called 'planned obsolescence'. As for the tech? Yea he's non responsive, but in the end, it IS lowes responsibility to make it right in a proper time frame. Six weeks with a response of 'ok now you have to wait three to five more days to see if you get a replacement' is nonsense.
Me three. I saw a fridge somewhere with a TV built into it. Who the hell needs that???
@StuckinLansing: I have had a GREAT experience with my GE Profile. SS fridge on top, freezer on bottom (Not the french door type)...
Does anyone honestly believe that "rain" could have caused a refrigerator to break? I mean, other than by taking it outside and letting it get rained on? Was this guy really serious when he came out with that?
Re: 'Rain' I think he was implying the humidity had been high and someone had left the fridge door open.
@sirwired: Those darn kids with their new fangeled technology. Who even needs electricity? You can do darn well with just a box full of ice.
Any chance I can get approved for commenting. I'm the one that sent in the tip ;-)
Stick to cheap ubiquitous models. They usually are more reliable than the more expensive models since the manufacture won't want to fix them too often. More expensive models may not be built to the same MTBF (mean time before failure) standards. They rely on a higher price to do warranty work. Also, it's easier to justify throwing away a cheap model and buy a new one with a new warranty.
@savdavid: Yes, now you have to go back to court and get an order to have the person served by a sheriff. When you get this, you can often get his truck, and cash on hand and other tangible valuables. I did this once and went all through the steps to actually collect. The guy was playing a game with me, so I simply went along and took it to it's conclusion. He paid when I started calling his suppliers and inquiring about his ability to pay. There is plenty of information online how to do. It's a pain and it will take over a year, but you can do it.
@Coksibum: We have had one for a year (Similar SS Top Fridge Bottom Freezer drawer). It works well but makes an awful clicking sound. At first I thought it was a relay but it sounds like gas, as if there was too much in the lines.
It's ridiculously intermittent (and not really annoying), but of course when the service man came out to work on it, it didn't click. Of course.
He did remark however, that the tile job on our counter (we rent) was lacking.
Gee, thanks!
@PsiCop: The only thing I can think of is that much rain would probably severely push up the general humidity. More water in the air = quicker icing on the condenser coils. That being said, if the OP was running an AC, that would've taken care of most of the problem.
@PsiCop: It sounds like the immediate problem was ice forming in the heat exchanger, which blocks airflow through the exchanger, which prevents chilling the air inside the fridge. High humidity would contribute to the ice formation.
The deal with the CPU board is presumably that the fridge is supposed to defrost its heat exchanger to prevent this from happening, but it's not doing an adequate job.
Ah, yet another casualty in the endless stream of Cheap Chinese Crap. :|
"Three or four days later (week 2), Tuesday or so,the temp in my refrigerator was 54 degrees and climbing, so call we did and left a message or two on his answering machine. De Nada."
WTF? That doesn't make sense.
@cabjf: careful there... some of the "domestic" brands have their top-line fridges made by LG or Samsung. I recently went on a research spree when my 7-year-old Kenmore Elite was ill, but managed to get it repaired+12-month warranty for about $350 net... not bad when the cheapest replacement that interested me was $1600+tax.
I am not a refrigerator repair person, and obviously it is difficult to diagnose a repair problem over the internets, but the "Growl of Doom" sounds like a similar problem I had with my refrigerator this summer. It turned out I had a refrigerant leak that was causing all sorts of seemingly unrelared problems and noises. I would suspect that the controller board is probably NOT the problem. If the repair company is A&E Factory service get a second opinion, as these guys in my experience tend to cause more problems than they fix.
@kjherron: Defrost timers are usually mechanical timers, and are not controlled by the CPU. The CPU is probably only for digital temperature displays inside the refrigerator and to control the valves for in toor ice and water dispensers.
My 2 year old Kenmore Elite is now on its 3rd ice maker.
@savdavid: There's a little bit of a difference between taking Lowe's to small claims court and taking either some small roofing company and/or some "slob" former tenant.
If a judge ruled against Lowe's I'm pretty sure they would pay promptly.
Happy ending! The EECB got me a check to be issued for the value of a replacement, FedEx Overnight. It should be here Friday.
@Oranges w/ Cheese needs guidance:
"the fridge and the laundry machine AND the microwave plugs are all on the same circuit."
This is patently usafe and would cause your home to fail an electrical inspection. The electrical code requires that the refrigerator should be on a dedicated circuit as should be the washing machine. The reason is that at peak load ,these appliances will come close to the capacity of the circuit breaker assigned to them. Together,they are almost certain to cause an overload.That is what is tripping your breaker.
Look , you consumerist readers are like family to me. Get the circuit fixed by a real electrician.
@Smashville_not taking it seriously: It makes as much sense as the way most mouth-breathers abuse the phrase "mano a mano." I have learned that if one thinks too much about the language abuses of others, one gets unnecessary headaches.
So, I have a lot of headaches.
FYI- my cousin is a refrigerator tech. I have had this problem too. He claims that the problem is linked to leaving food uncovered inside the refrigerator, because y'all know a refrigerator/air conditioner/dehumidifier work basically on the same principle. The cooling unit is generally located in the freezer compartment which distributes cold air into the refrigerator side/compartment through a blend door. When food is left uncovered in the fridge, he claims that it sucks moisture out of the food which condenses and freezes on this fan inside the freezer and breaks the fridge.
I'm not claiming that the CPU is not bad, but there may be something that you as a consumer can do to mitigate the problem.
Anyone have anything good to say about any refrigerators?
I've been looking for a new one but think a box with dry ice might be the way to go. Australia
made a compressor for fridges that was recommended but I heard that company now has them made in Thailand.
All other compressors, guess where they are made...of course. China.
In the old days "whooping cowboys and all"... there was a standard three year warranty on compressors. Now there is only a one year.
Here is a great website to research consumer issues, recalls etc..
consumeraffairs.com
This link talks about complaints - refrigertors
[www.consumeraffairs.com]