Joys of replacing a fridge, attempt #4

momopi

Well-known member
So my old fridge died and it wasn't worth the cost of repair, so I decided to buy a new one from Costco.

After getting over the sticker shock I decided to buy a Kenmore fridge.  It was a nice French door fridge except it leaked water inside from day #1.  Kenmore repair guy said they cannot open part in door to repair (leaky water line or something else) and must order replacement.  Turned out the Fridge was sourced from LG (rebadged by Kenmore), and LG sourced it from another manufacturer in Korea (triple re-badge).  Parts not avail and no date on avail.  Called Costco to replace with same model.  The fridge's ice maker trap door also did not function properly most of the time.

Fridge #2 came and leaked water outside by water dispenser from day #1.  Installer says wait a day and it should stop dripping.  Days later there was still a puddle of water in the morning.  Ice maker trap door worked most of the time at least.  Upon close inspection the fridge, despite arriving in pristine exterior condition, showed interior that resembled refurbished fridge with deep scratches, dirt, and worn areas.  Called Costco to replace with GE fridge (time to change brand).

Fridge #3 arrived today.  Opted for a fridge that did NOT have an in-door water/ice dispenser.  Nice looking fridge, good interior shelf arrangement to store more stuff than the Kenmore/LG.  Except when plugged in it started making loud noise from back.  Nope, not the drip pan rattling (would have been too easy).  Deliver guy suggested calling Costco immediately to request replacement.

Called Costco to request replacement and was told they must send this to appliance team and contact GE first.  Demanded that they send "new" replacement and not a remanufactured unit.  Was told that all they can do is "request" a new unit.  What?

Now waiting for Costco appliance team and fridge #4.  If this one turns out to be a dud I'm going to look for a vintage fridge.  ;p
 
had similar experience with washer and dryer delivered by Costco. always came damaged (dented)  and had to keep ordering replacement. they also did not bother to pick up one washer to be returned that I could have kept it and sell it for $$ (since it is new but only with cosmetic damage) but being a honest guy I had to call and beg them to take it away.

momopi said:
So my old fridge died and it wasn't worth the cost of repair, so I decided to buy a new one from Costco.

After getting over the sticker shock I decided to buy a Kenmore fridge.  It was a nice French door fridge except it leaked water inside from day #1.  Kenmore repair guy said they cannot open part in door to repair (leaky water line or something else) and must order replacement.  Turned out the Fridge was sourced from LG (rebadged by Kenmore), and LG sourced it from another manufacturer in Korea (triple re-badge).  Parts not avail and no date on avail.  Called Costco to replace with same model.  The fridge's ice maker trap door also did not function properly most of the time.

Fridge #2 came and leaked water outside by water dispenser from day #1.  Installer says wait a day and it should stop dripping.  Days later there was still a puddle of water in the morning.  Ice maker trap door worked most of the time at least.  Upon close inspection the fridge, despite arriving in pristine exterior condition, showed interior that resembled refurbished fridge with deep scratches, dirt, and worn areas.  Called Costco to replace with GE fridge (time to change brand).

Fridge #3 arrived today.  Opted for a fridge that did NOT have an in-door water/ice dispenser.  Nice looking fridge, good interior shelf arrangement to store more stuff than the Kenmore/LG.  Except when plugged in it started making loud noise from back.  Nope, not the drip pan rattling (would have been too easy).  Deliver guy suggested calling Costco immediately to request replacement.

Called Costco to request replacement and was told they must send this to appliance team and contact GE first.  Demanded that they send "new" replacement and not a remanufactured unit.  Was told that all they can do is "request" a new unit.  What?

Now waiting for Costco appliance team and fridge #4.  If this one turns out to be a dud I'm going to look for a vintage fridge.  ;p
 
Has anybody bought a car built during the pandemic?

QC on anything more complex than a plank of wood has seemingly gone into the toilet.

And probably the better question, how long do we need to wait to clear the manufactured backlog of things like Dishwashers, Refrigerators to clear for stuff built over the last two years.  Not sure it?s any better now since everybody seems to be chronically short staffed.
 
nosuchreality said:
Has anybody bought a car built during the pandemic?

QC on anything more complex than a plank of wood has seemingly gone into the toilet.

And probably the better question, how long do we need to wait to clear the manufactured backlog of things like Dishwashers, Refrigerators to clear for stuff built over the last two years.  Not sure it?s any better now since everybody seems to be chronically short staffed.

I bought a car Aug 2020. No problems. Couldn't find the fridge I wanted (still back ordered now till mid Sept) so I bought the cheapest ugliest old style kenmore fridge from costco (moving again and plan on putting it in my garage and getting another one). Even went with white, lol! No problems with it.
 
I forgot to mention Fridge #3 was a GE.  I called GE to discuss the loud fan noise from the back and was told that it's normal for first couple of days.  After 2 days it did quiet down, but the fridge would take a long time to kick in after the door was left open (for loading groceries) while it was getting warm to 40-50F.  Again, was told by GE support that this was "normal", and I shouldn't obsess over temperature readings or request return.

We decided to replace fridge #3 with another GE of the same model.  Lo and behold the 4th fridge arrived, ran quiet from day one, and the compressor (?) kicked in quickly after leaving the fridge door open for too long.  4th time was the charm.

Lesson of the story, Costco return policy is A+, avoid fridges with in-door water/ice dispenser, avoid fridges with hard to source replacement parts, and don't blindly trust what the manufacture support line tells you.
 
momopi said:
I forgot to mention Fridge #3 was a GE.  I called GE to discuss the loud fan noise from the back and was told that it's normal for first couple of days.  After 2 days it did quiet down, but the fridge would take a long time to kick in after the door was left open (for loading groceries) while it was getting warm to 40-50F.  Again, was told by GE support that this was "normal", and I shouldn't obsess over temperature readings or request return.

We decided to replace fridge #3 with another GE of the same model.  Lo and behold the 4th fridge arrived, ran quiet from day one, and the compressor (?) kicked in quickly after leaving the fridge door open for too long.  4th time was the charm.

Lesson of the story, Costco return policy is A+, avoid fridges with in-door water/ice dispenser, avoid fridges with hard to source replacement parts, and don't blindly trust what the manufacture support line tells you.

Good advice, I'll throw in another one....DO NOT BUY ANY WHIRLPOOL REFRIGERATORS!
 
The French Door LG refrig we have at home is a POS as well.

This thing looks new, but the bottom of the fridge will have frozen condensate that need to be break open and cleared out once ever 2 weeks.

The fridge fan coil will also freeze and get stuck once every month or two and need to be defrosted.

Still not sure what brand to get.

Looked everywhere, each brand seem to have turned to shit lately.

but so far the least offensive one seem to be Bosch, Kitchenaid, and friend just bought a GE that has no issue.
 
Innosint said:
The French Door LG refrig we have at home is a POS as well.

This thing looks new, but the bottom of the fridge will have frozen condensate that need to be break open and cleared out once ever 2 weeks.

The fridge fan coil will also freeze and get stuck once every month or two and need to be defrosted.

Still not sure what brand to get.

Looked everywhere, each brand seem to have turned to shit lately.

but so far the least offensive one seem to be Bosch, Kitchenaid, and friend just bought a GE that has no issue.

The GE fridge that I bought for my West Irvine home in 2012 is still going strong.  GE may be the least dirty shirt of the refrigerator bunch. My Samsung fridge is Vegas isn't cooling well and the ice maker stopped working a few years ago.
 
I've had a built in since 1998 so I had to get another for this house and won't be getting a built in on the next house either because it only fits a 36" wide which I know won't nearly hold enough even for two people.

Before the subzero we just had, we have only had two refrigerators which were both GE. First was bought in 1981 and was going strong when we moved in 1998 and the other was a built in GE bought in 1998 which was also going strong when we sold our irvine house in 2015.

GE has the best reliability for just regular fridges so I wanted a counter depth GE but unfortunately the one I wanted is back ordered (STILL!) so I got a cheap old style top freezer kenmore from costco which we will put in the garage eventually.

We were going to get french door but the bottom drawer on GE seemed hard to pull out without heavy food in it, so we decided side by side is good for us.

Note that GE has sold appliance division to some chinese company so I have no idea if their reliability will continue to be as good as in the past.

For all fridges, ice maker and in door options are responsible for the most service calls, no matter the manufacturer.
 
We bought an LG fridge back in 2005 with in-door water/ice dispenser and it was working great for over 10 years. Maybe 5-6 years ago, ice started building up at the ice dispenser part of the ice container. I had to take out the container and knock off the ice every 3-4 weeks or so.

Other than that, the fridge is still working well. When we moved, my mom took it as spare fridge and put it in their garage, not using the water line.
 
Got the GNE29GYNFS over July 4th sale.

So far so good. the Fridge is a bit louder than the last one, and operation doesn't feel as nice as the old LG one. (self close hinge is a bit too sudden) but at the the price, meh?

This also has the older ice maker machine. ones that's horizontal and drops into a ice tray, not built into the door. hopefully this reduces the amount of service required as well.


I'll just save up and upgrade to a sub zero stand alone eventually so don't' have to deal with the repair guessing game in 5-10 years down the line.
 
Costco's return policy might be A+, but their use of 3rd parties can warrant a solid F(uckoff), partly because they contract with some of the lowest appliance scum on the planet.

We bought a dishwasher from Costco and the "installer" failed to perform. Flat out refused to install it, citing the home not having a shut off valve for the water behind the dishwasher. HUH? I pointed out how useless that would be, having it in an inaccessible place behind the appliance it's guarding. I then pointed out there was a main shutoff valve in the upright-walkable crawlspace under the kitchen. He kept refusing, citing "we have a contract". Kept repeating those words, like a kid saying "not it!". Oddly, he could not show me this contract or tell me who it was with. He even pretended to go call his manager, by leaving for a few minutes and then returning, claiming to actually have called his manager (who I apparently wasn't qualified to speak to). I called Costco, but all they could do was try to ring the ding-dong's home office, which of course didn't answer the phone. I really wanted to make this dimwit load it back on the truck just to make his day a bit more unpleasant, but I didn't want to have to take off from work to deal with any more idiots, so I sent them on their way and had it installed in 30 minutes by myself.

The worst was our washing machine. We had lots of warning our washing machine was failing and this model was prone to a series of failures that made complete repair not make financial sense, so we decided to preemptively replace it. Being stellar people, the wife and I unhooked our still-working unit and wrestled it outside on the day of the delivery. Well, the "crew" delivered the unit all right (without calling in advance like the delivery service said they would), and left it out in our driveway because it was 1 guy without a partner and he couldn't install it himself, but he was able to somehow carry our old washer around the house and up the inclined driveway and get it loaded by himself, promising another crew would arrange to install the new one. 2 days later it stormed here (1 of 2-3 days per year?), soaking the box, and a crew didn't make it out for a week (again not calling in advance, as promised), leaving us to resort to the not-so-local laundromat for our needs. The crew did show up and install it and demonstrated the unit was working before they left, but of course didn't wait for the spin cycle, which elicited the most horrible of screeches (rusted bearings from being left out in the rain?). At this point Costco would not commit to any sort of timeframe for replacement for this now-backordered model, only saying it would be at least a month. You can imagine how I might have been a bit cheesed at this point.

The wife and I, then feeling a bit less than stellar, unhooked and rolled the defective unit out the door (I admit not being all that careful with it). We left it in the gravel strip next to the house and told Costco they could come get it at their leisure, but that a refund needed to happen now. We then went to the nearest Best Buy and bought a clearance model on sale and, with desperation and rage fueling our strength, were somehow able to Archimedes it into the house on our own and were using it that day.

Understandably, I have completely fucking had it with shithead appliance outfits.

Our fridge came from Lowes, and though I've had issues with Lowes' warranty service, the installers they hired to get the fridge installed were absolute pros.
 
My experience was very different than daedalus. Bought a LG fridge from Costco. Delivery was very professional and the unit has been running perfectly (knock on wood). I haven't had to use the repair warranty, so I can't comment.
 
We bought a dishwasher from Costco and the installer was this older Vietnamese guy. The guy measured, balance, remeasured. You could tell the guy took pride in what he did. That was probably the best installation experience we have had.
 
We bought a dishwasher from Costco and the installer was this older Vietnamese guy. The guy measured, balance, remeasured. You could tell the guy took pride in what he did. That was probably the best installation experience we have had.
Did you happen to get his contact info?
 
Back
Top