Last year, George purchased an Electrolux refrigerator from HH Gregg. Just barely a year after the first anniversary of his purchase, the fridge broke down. After he contacted four separate repair shops trying to find someone to fix it, the search came up empty. No repair tech, no working fridge. But wait! Electrolux contacted him, offering to buy back the fridge for the same price he paid for it. Hooray! But he’s still not satisfied, since the refund doesn’t cover the full cost of getting a new appliance.

We purchased an Electrolux refrigerator from HH Gregg on 5-5-11. The refrigerator was guaranteed for 12 months. (The cost of the refrigerator was $1799)

on [April 25, 2012] I noticed that the refrigerator was not cooling properly. I had also purchased an extended warranty from Electrolux so I called [Repair Shop #1] (obtained number by calling Electrolux) [Shop #1] sent a tech to diagnose the problem- problem was compressor and control panel were bad. BUT [Shop #1] did not work on sealed systems. (What exactly is a sealed system?)

[Shop #1] referred the problem to [Repair Shop #2] on 5-2-12. Please note- all of these calls were place PRIOR to 5-5-12

I made several calls to [#2] leaving messages as did [#1].

After 2 weeks [#2] told me they had a death in the family and would not be working for a ‘while’.

I then called Electrolux back, they gave me 2 more names and numbers-[Repair Shop #3] and [Repair Shop #4]

[Repair Shop #3]- They do not do warranty work in our area….cash only.

[Repair Shop #4]- repairman had bad back and could not do the work.

Called Electrolux back- They would turn the issue over to Admin. (??)

I received a call on May 21 from [C] stating that they wanted to purchase the refrigerator back for what we paid for it ($1799.) and then we would be free to purchase another refrigerator of our choice.

Here is where it really gets interesting…….to purchase the same refrig that we paid for AND purchased an extended warranty for would now cost $2199 NOT including delivery and installation OR an extended warranty on the new one. (We purchased an extended warranty….why?) Electrolux did not want the ‘broken’ refrig back so we were also responsible for disposal.

This is where we are at this point. We have a refrigerator that does not work….has not worked in almost a month. (Ice chests are old at this point) and a company that we purchased an extended warranty from that will not honor it. They want to buy the item back at a price that we cannot purchase a new one for.

Is it just me or is there something very wrong here?

Yes and no. You shouldn’t expect Electrolux to cover the full replacement cost of the fridge, or to cover the cost of a new extended warranty. “Buying back” the refrigerator fulfills their end of the warranty. This experience would lead most people to not bother with an extended warranty next time, anyway.

Even so, it would be nice if they paid for disposal of the refrigerator that they don’t want back, and covered the delivery expense. But should they?

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