Posted on 01/22/2024 2:46:25 PM PST by lowbridge
Betsy Anderson’s luck with refrigerators stinks as badly as the food she’s tried to keep cold.
“One morning I went to get milk out and it was sour,” said the Redwood City homeowner.
First, a $2,800 Kenmore Elite fridge — with an LG compressor inside — died in late 2019. “It was like 15 months old,” she said. “It basically stopped working. It wasn’t cold.”
Anderson filed for warranty service. But after two months of replacement parts failing, techs canceling service calls, and Thanksgiving approaching, she broke down and bought another fridge: a brand-new LG.
Groundhog day: $2K fridge edition
It only lived four years. “That just died, this year. Same thing. And I didn’t even bother calling them,” Anderson said.
If you’re keeping score, that’s one Redwood City home with two dead fridges in just five years.
“Yeah, two,” Anderson said. “Unfortunately, we bought another LG fridge. So, I guess that’s the definition of insanity, right?”
-snip
“It’s a nationwide issue,” said Los Angeles attorney Azar Mouzari. She represents plaintiffs who are now suing LG. She says her firm is focused on a critical part called the linear compressor inside LG and some Kenmore refrigerators. “Which is really the heart of the refrigerator," Mouzari said. "It’s what keeps the food cold.”
According to LG literature, the linear compressor uses less energy and makes less noise than other compressors. LG offers a 10-year warranty and, online, boasts “20-year durability.” But Mouzari argues in the lawsuit the linear compressor’s actual lifespan is nowhere near 10 years, let alone 20. Her suit claims they frequently break down far earlier — and LG knows it.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcbayarea.com ...
I use a guy who is firefighter but also services appliances. He says never buy an LG or Samsung.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
They are adding a lot of electronics to appliances that really don’t need them. When I see one of those fancy refrigerator or stove the only thing I can think of is just how expensive they would be to repair.
In attempting to achieve the government regulated efficiency, reliability has been sacrificed.
My guess here is that it’s comparable to HE heat pumps and AC units. They use these expensive alloys, that are also very thin in the heat exchangers. Unfortunately, those alloys, while excellent conductors, are more subject to metal fatigue from thermal contraction/expansion and fail much more quickly.
So you pay more for something that doesn’t last that long.
Our LG is doing great, after more years than they had.
LG did better than Samsung, in Consumer Reports testing.
It’s been the best of the refrigerators we’ve ever bought.
They warranty the condenser for a number of years I had one replaced just before the warranty ran out.
Can’t imagine why she’d buy a new fridge when they will continue to fix it free.
The reason the condensers burn out is no one has the accumulated dust removed.
It is true they tell you the refrigerator will probably only last 6 years, which is outrageous.
I have the original owner’s GE fridge in the basement, it is at least 35 years old and has never needed a repair.
Might sympathize with her lawsuit.
Always buy the lowest level of appliances that you can. They will last much longer.
I knew it involved forced 'green' regulations in some way. Probably making design compromises to comply with govt mandates.
LOL we’re on our 4th dishwasher in 20 years. My husband had to essentially rebuild the last two, piece by piece.
I’m clinging to my 25 yr old Whirlpool with both hands. The repairman, who has had to come out exactly twice, recommended I do this because “anything in the last 15 years is garbage.”
Oops, I meant to say “clinging to my 25 yr old Whirlpool clothes washer”
Newer fridges have smaller compressors that have to run more than older fridges do. They wear out. Further newer appliances have more sensors and computer boards that break down more than older mechanical appliances.
I have a 15 year old Samsung frontloader dryer (gas). I bought the washer and dryer at the same time, but just replaced the washing machine last year with an LG frontloader.
Hope your friend is wrong on the new LG!
Simpler and older is now better.
And planned obsolescence. Corporations prefer to sell products that fall apart in less than 5 years. So you have to buy new products to replace them. If they last for over 10 years, you won't be buying a new product so they won't make money off you.
If you have old appliances, you might as well as hold on to them as long as you can. If it's in good working order.
My girlfriend bought a new fridge in 2021. It has been replaced 3 times and now that it is out of ‘warrantee’ it needs a new control board. It was 1800 bucks and junk.
I have a 40 year old “beer fridge” in the shop that works just fine. Some of my friends have old ammonia “beer fridges” in their garage that must be 60 70 years old. The only reason my house refrigerator is new is because I wanted an ice maker. Crossing my fingers hoping it lasts.
My Samsung creates more ice below the dairy tray than the ice maker does. Ice maker died and they did replace it. Other than that I’ve installed the part that supposedly would be the fix. Nope, it wasn’t! I found a fix though, I put a towel at the back of the deli tray and it seems to have stopped making an ice skating rink.
Don’t buy Samsung!
Yup.. I’ve been hearing the new ones are all junk for some time and that by the way came from a parts supplier. Here is what I was told. …
My 12 year old Kenmore stopped working a while ago. A bit of troubleshooting identified that a new starter kit was needed. I contacted a parts supplier, but they had problems getting the right kit, and I ended up waiting for months ....fortunately I have another fridge. One day I called up the parts supplier to ask them what the deal was since I didn’t want to wait forever. What I was told was “you absolutely do not want to scrap that fridge....the new ones are such junk you will be very lucky to get 5 years out of one and it might be only 2 or 3.”
Well, I eventually got my parts and it’s working fine.
On a related note, bought a $500 GE inverter air conditioner 2 yrs ago. After a year it stopped working. Called for service and they sent a guy. He left in a few minutes saying he needed to order a part. Waited a month a called again, no answer this time to repeated calls. Called the GE service number. They told me the AC is not repairable because they cannot get parts. Offered me a $100 off coupon on the purchase of a new GE appliance. They can shove it.
LG coming out with new model that’s fail safe ice box note ice dealer in your location first.
In the meantime the old GE monitor top refrigerator, that was my great uncle’s, is still running after over 90 years.
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