We have a brand new KitchenAid Refrigerator beep beep beep that has been beeping since it was first plugged in. beep beep beep A call to Sears, resulted in a 3rd party repair man beep beep beep showing up. He, over the course of 3+ weeks replaced every computer board in the unit and this beep beep beep still did not solve the problem. Following their torturous policies meant a replacement could not be ordered until he had been out to repair the unit at least 3 times. beep beep beep The new unit is on order and won’t be shipped until October 30th. At that point we will have been listening to the beep beep beep ing for well over 2 months. KitchenAid says they are only human and they make mistakes but there is nothing more they can do. beep beep beep If they are acknowledging that they are human and make mistakes; shouldn’t they keep a few units around as replacements for the ones that are faulty? beep beep beep The beep sounds just like our security alarm. Not a pleasant way to live. I don’t recommend beep beep beep KitchenAid or their customer service to anyone. Well, maybe the Defense Department would like to use our refrigerator beep beep beep as an instrument of torture, but, wait, that is illegal. beep beep beep.

Maybe a smoke detector is stuck in the fridge and the batteries are running low?

We wouldn't expect anything from Sears, but KitchenAid is known for their excellent customer service. Call their executive office and explain that constant beeping drives people to lose their minds and their brand loyalty. If they don't have a replacement unit on hand, considering the suffering you've clearly experienced, it's not unreasonable to request a free upgrade to something—anything—that is in stock.

(Photo: Meggito)

Consumer Reports' Happy Refrigerating Tips:

1. Clean the compressor coils every few months or so. (The coils typically are at the bottom of the appliance, though on some older models they are behind the box and on some built-ins they are behind a grille at the top of the unit.)
2. Keep gaskets on the refrigerator and freezer doors clean with mild detergent and water, not bleach. This will ensure a good seal and prevent wasted energy.
3. Check the gasket seal by closing the doors on a dollar bill; replace the gasket if the bill falls out or can be easily removed without opening the door.
4. Be sure the refrigerator is level; if not, the door might not close properly. Most refrigerators have adjustable feet or casters.
5. Before you open the door to retrieve items, decide what you want. Every time you open the door, up to 30 percent of the cooled air can escape.
6. To maximize the storage life of your food and use the least energy, keep the refrigerator temperature at 36º to 38º F and the freezer at no colder than 0º to 5º F.
7. Try to keep the refrigerator compartments full to limit temperature fluctuations.
8. If you have a choice of location when remodeling your kitchen, keep the refrigerator away from direct sunlight and heat sources.

For more information and tips about your fridge, check out this blog post.

Protecting your investment: Refrigerators [Consumer Reports]
(Photo: Meggito )

How to take care of your parents $6000 refrigerator using an Executive Email Carpet Bomb [Ron in Israel]

William sent a letter to Aylwin Lewis, CEO of Sears:

Dear Mr. Lewis,

In the summer of 2003 I purchased a Kenmore Refrigerator from the Sears store in Brooklyn, New York. Since that time this refrigerator has needed to be repaired three times the last time being August 23, 2007. I have a service contract with Sears. I called to have the refrigerator repaired and on August 28th a repairman came to my apartment. After examining the refrigerator he determined the part that was needed had to be ordered. He said that it was Sears's policy for the delivery of the part to take ten business days. At that point I informed the repairman that my wife and daughter are insulin dependent and their insulin requires refrigeration. The repairman then replied that it was Sears' policy that the delivery of the part to take ten business days. I asked the repairman to use my phone to call his office to inform his superiors that my wife and daughter are diabetic and their medicine requires refrigeration at all times. The repairman refused to call his office on my phone. He repeated that it was Sears' policy that it would take ten days and picked up his bag and left my apartment. I followed the repairman to the elevator and asked him to give me his name. He refused. The repairman said I should call the office and state that a repairman had been to my apartment. While demanding that he at least tell me his name I held the elevator door open to prevent the repairman from leaving. The repairman exited the elevator and walked towards our staircase. I asked him again in the hallway what is your name. He finally muttered Brian. I said what is your full name and he replied "JESUS CHRIST!"

I called the service center on August 28th at about 3:30pm to inform your office what had transpired during this repair visit. I spoke to a representative named Manuel who took all of my information about this unpleasant repair visit. Manuel stated he would investigate and try to expedite the shipping of the part that was needed to repair my refrigerator and he would call me on August 29th. When I received no call on August 29th , I called Sears on August 30th to find out how soon the repair of my refrigerator will be completed. I spoke to representatives Gloria, Liz, Abel and Vicky. Each time I called I had to give the information all over again. No one ever called me back with an update on how long it would take to repair my Kenmore refrigerator

Today at 2:39pm August 31st I spoke to Judy. I explained the situation to Judy and she put my call on hold for over five minutes. She returned to the phone and stated that she was trying to contact the service office and could not reach them. Judy stated that she would send the service office an email in order to get a faster reply. I informed Judy that each of the reps I had spoken with during the week had each told me the same thing but none had kept their promise.

Your company, Sears, prides itself on excellent customer service. Other than the representatives apologizing for the behavior of the repairman named Brian I have not received excellent customer service. The bottom line is I bought a refrigerator from your company because I thought Sears would stand behind their product. Instead I spent good American dollars to purchase a product that broke down even before the basic warranty period had expired. It continues to breakdown almost yearly. Something is wrong with this refrigerator. I worked for over thirty years as a customer service rep and trainer. I worked for a nationally known insurance company and that company would not have stayed in business for over thirty years if we had treated our customers like I've been treated in the last eight days.

I'm living with a box of ice sitting in front of my refrigerator. Have you ever spent a warm August day with no refrigeration? Do you know what its like to buy bag after bag of ice to keep milk fresh, eggs cold and insulin safe? I don't think anyone with whom I've spoken has grasped the magnitude of the suffering that my family is experiencing. If you're really serious about providing excellent customer service your company, Sears, should provide a small refrigeration unit in which I could keep essential items until my refrigerator could be repaired or replaced. I do think the refrigerator needs to be replaced at this time since it has failed three times since July 2003. My last Kenmore purchased in 1988 only had one minor repair in nearly 15 years. Please do something immediately so that my and my family's' life can return to normal.

Thank you

Sincerely

William

After 10 business days, as Brian had predicted and in spite of my pleas Sears sent two repair people to my home at about 9:00 AM on 9/11/2007. On September 4th I had told Sears that this was not a good day for me because i had a doctor's appointment in the morning. On September 10th Sears called and i explained that I still had a doctor's appointment. Amanda from Sears assured me that the visit would be quick and fast . And that i would be able to keep my10:30 AM appointment.

The only good thing was that after 10:30 they had found the problem & repaired the leak in the copper tubing of my refrigerator. When i asked the technical manager why the first repairman stated that it would take 10 days to order a part that was never needed to repair my refrigerator; he had no answer. The bad thing was that i was very late for the doctor visit. So the bottom line is that I was without a refrigerator from August 23rd, the day my refrigerator stopped working until September 11, 2007 , when Sears finally did something right.

Eighteen days, why? This is a big company, supposedly with lots of money & they treat customers like DIRT. I have not received any type of compensation for their behavior or delays. No letter from Mr. Lewis, the CEO of Sears or his assistant. This situation was treated as if it were a broken sewing machine not like an appliance needed to keep insulin safe.

This letter is to let the consumerist readers know that they will not be offered food reimbursement when their refrigerators fail. They must demand it. And always stick it out and get something for your wasted time and efforts. You deserve it.

Up with consumers, after the jump...

Nikki writes:

"First, thank you for posting my complaint on your website. Although Best Buy didn't seem to be concerned with the negative publicity, I was grateful that you were able to post my piece. With that said, I have an update.

After getting my refrigerator fixed the first time, it went out again 10 days later. (Remember, this unit is less than one year old.) It took a call to Best Buy and Frigidaire to get the unit fixed. I was without refrigeration for 6 days. I lost all of my food. During this ordeal, the Best Buy supervisor gave me the address and all of the information I was to send in to receive a food loss reimbursement. The Frigidaire people did the same thing. I was supposed to get up to $200 from Best Buy for my loss and up to $150 from Frigidaire.

Frigidaire called me yesterday (probably because I forwarded my complaint letter to my state's Attorney General's office). When I asked about food loss reimbursement, I was told specifically, "Frigidaire does not offer a food loss reimbursement." However, the CSR would offer me a "courtesy payment" of $100. After I explained to her again that Brenda the CSR told me to send in my food loss, the new CSR explained that Brenda should have never done that and that Frigidaire does not offer food loss reimbursement. I was able to convince the new CSR to send me a check for $150. I was appeased so I called Best Buy to see how they were coming along with my food loss reimbursement.

Best Buy let me know that I was not eligible for food loss reimbursement because I did not purchase a service plan. I explained to them that supervisor Chad was the one who gave me the exact address and materials to send it to claim my loss. If I wasn't eligible, why would he give me all that information? I was told "I'm sorry" many times. I probably would have let this go, but if you see what I had to deal with in my previous letter, I felt I needed some type of contribution from Best Buy. I was on the phone with this CSR for 45 minutes going back and forth before she finally caved and offered me a gift card. Although Best Buy offers up to $200 for food loss to those with a service plan, this CSR offered me a $50 gift card. I had $259 worth of loss! Before the 4th of July! Imagine all that meat wasted! I tried for another 20 minutes with her supervisor to get that gift card to magically change to $100 with no avail. Now I am forced to spend $50 at Best Buy.

This letter is to let the consumerist readers know that they will not be offered food reimbursement when their refrigerators fail. They must demand it. And always stick it out and get something for your wasted time and efforts. You deserve it."

Previously: Best Buy Repair Melts Meat, Not Hearts

The deterioration of the GE WR30X10061 starts with little pieces of translucent plastic breaking off the liner and being distributed into the drinks. These immediately enter your blood stream upon ingestion and cause urinary tract dysfunction as well as mini-strokes. If you don't replace the ice liner at this point, the GE refrigerator will then kindly up the ante, thoughtfully distributing razor blades to clink and tinkle in your gin & tonics.

GE is fully aware of the problem; they don't really care. "Again, instances of metal shavings dispensed from ice makers are rare and this is probably related to the same problem that causes plastic to break — when the ice maker is trying to dispense ice that has frozen together," said one rep.

That sounds like a rare problem, alright: the ice dispenser only dispenses razor-sharp metal shards when it tries to dispense frozen ice. Certainly not a problem worthy of a recall.

GE Ice Dispensers Serve Up More Than Ice [Consumer Affairs]

For some strange reason, the customer service people couldn't get it in their hand to make sure to tell the techs that Nikki could not be reached at home, only on her cell. Not only that, she was hung up on repeatedly mid-call and thinks even one supervisor was pretending to not be able to hear her. All this to get a repairman out for a simple fridge fix.

Although I am a Rewards Card member, a Best Buy Credit Card holder, and last year, I purchased an entire house full of appliances from your store, after the bad service I received in the past three days, I will now make my purchases at Circuit City.

Read the rest of the tragic tale, after the jump...

To Whom It May Concern:

On Monday, June 12, 2006, I came home to find my entire freezer defrosted. All of my ice cream was completely melted and my meat products were on their way to being totally defrosted. That evening, I called the electric company and my electrician. The electric company informed me there were no power outages in my area on that day, and my electrician told me to flick the breakers in my basement. I told him that the light in the refrigerator was operating, however, neither the fan nor the refrigerator itself was not operating. He concluded that there was no wiring problem.

I called Best Buy that same evening. The lady I spoke to told me she would put me on emergency status and that a technician would call me within four business hours to schedule an appointment to check out my refrigerator. I asked her to make a note in my file to have the technician call me on my cell phone as I work all day and would not be at home to answer the call. She told me that she made the notation.

On Tuesday, June 13, 2006 when I had not heard from a Best Buy representative, I called Best Buy again. I informed the customer service agent of my problem and she informed me that she would put my account on emergency status so that a technician could come to my home that afternoon. I again asked her to have someone call me on my cell phone as I would not be at home to answer my phone.

Later on that same afternoon, I called Best Buy again where I spoke to yet another representative. I let him know that I still had not heard from a technician and I wanted to know what the problem was. This representative changed my cell phone number to my primary phone number so that everyone would know to call me on my cell phone and not my home phone. When I returned home from work, there was a message on my home answering machine from a technician trying to schedule a time for him to come out and look at my refrigerator.

On Wednesday, June 14, 2006 I called Best Buy again at 8:30 a.m. I informed the representative that I had not received a phone call to schedule service of my refrigerator and my food was continuing to defrost. This representative hung up on me.

I called back again when I arrived at work. I spoke to yet another representative. After being on the phone with her for twenty minutes, I was transferred to her supervisor. Apparently the supervisor was unable to hear me on my cell phone (even though I had not changed locations and was talking to a representative with no problems before I was transferred to him) and after several minutes, he informed me that he could not hear me and he was hanging up the phone.

I then called Best Buy back on my work phone. I spoke to supervisor Chad (156225) and he told me that he would see if could get a technician out to my house this afternoon. If the technician was booked, he GUARANTEED that a technician would see my refrigerator tomorrow. I asked Chad which phone number he gave the technician to call me. Chad indicated that he gave the technician my home phone number even though I expressly asked him to only use my cell phone number.

Having little faith in Chad's guarantee (and with my food getting more and more thawed) I called Best Buy again at noon. Christie (156141) was the most helpful person I spoke to. She let me know that the Best Buy technician would not be able to come to my house until Monday, but since my refrigerator was still under manufacturer warranty, she provided me with the phone numbers of three certified repair companies in my area. I let her know that I had previously been hung up on and that Best Buy had constantly used a number I asked them not to use, and she was very sympathetic and helpful to the situation.

This afternoon, I placed a call to G&W Repair in my town. The repair technician came to my house and diagnosed and fixed the problem in less than one hour.

At 5:00 p.m. representative Haven (156046) called me on my cell phone to tell me that there was no Best Buy technician that could come to my house and she needed to make an appointment for me through an independent contractor. I informed her that I had my refrigerator fixed about three hours before she called.

I am writing this letter to inform you of the hassle I have had to endure to ensure my food does not spoil. I am disappointed that it has taken three days for a technician to come to my house for a problem that is very critical. And, it is not a Best Buy technician who is now working on my problem. Instead, it is a Frigidaire technician. I have told co-workers about my plight and I am also forwarding a copy of this letter to www.consumerist.com by email. Although I am a Rewards Card member, a Best Buy Credit Card holder, and last year, I purchased an entire house full of appliances from your store, after the bad service I received in the past three days, I will now make my purchases at Circuit City.