Home'scool Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 (edited) Last week I went to Best Buy and bought a new refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and dryer. I have always shopped at Best Buy and have had no problem. This time, though, the fridge won't cool. The freezer is fine, but the top fridge is warm like it isn't even on. I went to Best Buy to schedule a repair man. No, they don't do that. Once you buy a product you are sent into Limbo and have to deal with the manufacturer. So, I call them. I have the SKU number and the model number, but they will not do anything without the serial number, which is on the back of the fridge. I cannot pull the fridge out - it took two men to install it! And you cannot call the store directly. They do not answer. There is no way to speak to someone at the actual store. You have a choice of calling Best Buy (in India) or the manufacturer (in India). Some of the more annoying interactions with the "manager" with the nametag of Rambo. 😑 Rambo: You need to call this 1-800 number Me: I did, it says it is no longer in service. Rambo: That is a perfectly good number. So then I have to dial the number on speaker phone to show him it is invalid. Me: I spent over $6,000 here last week and should be able to get some customer service from the company I bought it from! Rambo: We are not a repair business and it doesn't matter how much money you spend here. Me: Okay, fine. I want to return the fridge for another one. Forget the repair guy. Rambo: You can't. It is tax free weekend and the IRS will flag that. Me: But I didn't buy it during the tax free weekend! Rambo: The IRS is cracking down on people buying and returning things and I am not going to deal with that. So today I will have to begin a round of calls to try and get this resolved. Next time I am buying from a small Mom n Pop store! Edited August 12 by Home'scool 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 (edited) That is aweful. I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this. I'd return everything and shop elsewhere. If you bought the items using VISA, often there is additional support for customers. Edited August 12 by wintermom 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 (edited) So sorry!! Is your fridge a Samsung? They are a known defective product . Edited August 12 by KatieJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home'scool Posted August 12 Author Share Posted August 12 No, its a LG. It has good reviews. But the fact that it never worked from the beginning means I don't even want to try and repair it. I want a new one. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanier.1765 Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 I'd get a truck and haul it back anyways. You've got a receipt, so unless it says you can't return appliances, I'd stand my ground and take it back. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Home'scool said: No, its a LG. It has good reviews. But the fact that it never worked from the beginning means I don't even want to try and repair it. I want a new one. Absolutely it needs to be returned! The advice for Samsung owners is to threaten with small claims court if you can’t get resolution from the store. Filing a BBB claim jumpstarts the store to respond . We bought a model home with all Samsung appliances…we had no clue they were junk . We have been her 2.5 years and have replaced the microwave when it failed. The ice maker has now stopped working… Edited August 12 by KatieJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 I'm so sorry - can you return any of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 oh my gosh, what a mess. I'm sorry about all of that. That's terrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 I would return everything and go buy from Lowes. That is ridiculous. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 They might charge you a restocking ugh for the ones that aren’t defective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 I would go to the store. I would tell them to come back and pick up their defective and questionable appliances. I might be a little loud, not rudely or shouting but just a raised voice so others would hear. Them not standing behind what they sell would be high on my list of complaints, and that’s the part that others would definitely hear. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 17 minutes ago, Scarlett said: I would return everything and go buy from Lowes. That is ridiculous. FWIW, the last time we bought an appliance from Lowes we were told we had a three day window after delivery that it could be returned. After that we had to go through the manufacturer for any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martha in GA Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 2 hours ago, Home'scool said: Me: Okay, fine. I want to return the fridge for another one. Forget the repair guy. Rambo: You can't. It is tax free weekend and the IRS will flag that. Me: But I didn't buy it during the tax free weekend! Rambo: The IRS is cracking down on people buying and returning things and I am not going to deal with that. That's just BS. The receipt will show what you should get back on a return -- with or without taxes refunded accordingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfknitter.# Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 21 minutes ago, Pawz4me said: FWIW, the last time we bought an appliance from Lowes we were told we had a three day window after delivery that it could be returned. After that we had to go through the manufacturer for any problems. I believe Home Depot has a similar policy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 Tell Yelp. List all the details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home'scool Posted August 12 Author Share Posted August 12 I just spent over 2 hours on "chat" with Best Buy. I now have another fridge purchased - I had to go with another one as the one I have is now sold out - and the delivery is for Wednesday, which is great. BUT they cannot schedule to removal of the broken one yet for a bunch of silly procedural reasons. So I may have a fridge sitting in my family room for a few days. I will be stopping by the store again tonight after work to try to work out the removal of the broken one. Hopefully someone other than Rambo will be there. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 (edited) We had our absolute WORST appliance exprience ever with an LG fridge. The thing was a piece of trash, stuff started breaking on it almost immediately. Their customer service was negligent and awful. I would 100% return that thing and exchange it for a non-LG appliance. Edited August 12 by catz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 After a horrible experience buying from a mom and pop store, I now will only buy from big stores. So buying from mom and pop doesn’t least save you the hassle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 Sigh. I am hearing this so much from folks. All the appliances seem to be total crap from day one. Our last fridge only lasted 5 years. This scares the tarnation out of me because when we get the up north house built, we are going to have to buy appliances and honestly, the thought makes my head hurt. We have an Rtic cooler that is amazing. Maybe I will spend our golden years trying to live out of that instead of buying a fridge! Rambo can go suck eggs. What a jerk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSera Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 7 hours ago, KatieJ said: Is your fridge a Samsung? They are a known defective product Do you mean just the refrigerator? We’re looking at a different Samsung appliance and have read good reliability ratings for them. What I did read is that they have become a top selling appliance manufacturer so quickly that their service department hasn’t grown sufficiently to keep up and service times are long. I have to weigh how I feel about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 8 minutes ago, KSera said: Do you mean just the refrigerator? We’re looking at a different Samsung appliance and have read good reliability ratings for them. What I did read is that they have become a top selling appliance manufacturer so quickly that their service department hasn’t grown sufficiently to keep up and service times are long. I have to weigh how I feel about that. FWIW, we bought this house about 8.5 years ago and it had a Samsung microwave that I think was probably a couple of years old then. It's been completely trouble free and still works fine. And a couple of years ago we bought a Samsung induction range. I knew at the time they didn't have a great reputation for reliability (Samsung in general, not the specific range we got) but we were severely limited in our choices due to both supply chain issues and especially space constraints. But like the microwave it has performed flawlessly. I can't opine on the service issue because we haven't needed any. And now I'm crossing my fingers that I haven't jinxed myself. 😉 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 3 hours ago, KSera said: Do you mean just the refrigerator? We’re looking at a different Samsung appliance and have read good reliability ratings for them. What I did read is that they have become a top selling appliance manufacturer so quickly that their service department hasn’t grown sufficiently to keep up and service times are long. I have to weigh how I feel about that. There was a class action lawsuit against SS regarding their fridges. SS settled by agreeing to do repairs or replace. However it’s a fight to get them to honor that. There is a Facebook page with info on their fridges. there is now a recall on SS electric ranges. I don’t know of any other known issues with their appliances but there is definitely lots of grumbling as we all wait for the next appliance to have issues because SS has been very difficult to work with. It is mind boggling that they are still selling fridges that they have admitted are defective. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Frog Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 4 hours ago, KSera said: What I did read is that they have become a top selling appliance manufacturer so quickly that their service department hasn’t grown sufficiently to keep up and service times are long. I have to weigh how I feel about that. I think that might either be very old info or info Samsung put out with a spin on it. We bought a Samsung fridge about 12 years ago. We replaced the ice maker once and tried to replace it again a couple of years ago. The problem with Samsung repairs is that in our metro of 2.6 million people, they had only one company authorized to do repairs, so no one else would touch them. One would think of they were trying to improve their service dept, they would allow other companies to repair their fridges. We replaced the fridge with a Bosch 2 years ago and haven't looked back. @Home'scool,I have also heard LG is a brand to stay away from because they break down easily. We looked at Lowe's for a fridge and noticed that pieces of shelves were missing. When I asked about it, I was told that frequently not all pieces of the shelves are delivered with the fridges, so customers are allowed to take the missing parts from the displays. It's so hard to know what's reputable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanier.1765 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 We bought a Samsung refrigerator several years ago and my parents bought the exact same one a couple of years later. They had no idea at the time that it was the exact same fridge. Both appliances have had the exact same issues with the ice maker so we all just go without rather than trying to get them to fix it. That's probably what Samsung hopes people do. We'll never buy another that's for sure. My parents have had even more issues than just the ice maker and have had a repairman out several times. They definitely won't be buying another either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 (edited) 4 minutes ago, stephanier.1765 said: We bought a Samsung refrigerator several years ago and my parents bought the exact same one a couple of years later. They had no idea at the time that it was the exact same fridge. Both appliances have had the exact same issues with the ice maker so we all just go without rather than trying to get them to fix it. That's probably what Samsung hopes people do. We'll never buy another that's for sure. My parents have had even more issues than just the ice maker and have had a repairman out several times. They definitely won't be buying another either. I am following a FB page for info about SS fridge issues. My understanding is after 3 repairs, their purchase falls under the lemon law and they are entitled to a refund. Likely it will be prorated 10% per year they have owned it. There is no known fix for the ice issues and often the repairs create even worse issues. Edited August 13 by KatieJ 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanier.1765 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 3 minutes ago, KatieJ said: I am following a FB page for info about SS fridge issues. My understanding is after 3 repairs, their purchase falls under the lemon law and they are entitled to a refund. Likely it will be prorated 10% per year they have owned it. There is no known fix for the ice issues and often the repairs create even worse issues. Thank you, I'll let them know. I can't recall just how many years we've had these fridges but hopefully they can at least get some money they can use towards a new one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 11 minutes ago, stephanier.1765 said: Thank you, I'll let them know. I can't recall just how many years we've had these fridges but hopefully they can at least get some money they can use towards a new one. Are you on FB? There is valuable info on how to get results from SS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanier.1765 Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 31 minutes ago, KatieJ said: Are you on FB? There is valuable info on how to get results from SS. That's a great idea to gain info through FB. We'll look for that. Thank you so much! As a retired librarian, my mother is a queen of research and this is just the kind of thing she would enjoying looking into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 6 hours ago, stephanier.1765 said: That's a great idea to gain info through FB. We'll look for that. Thank you so much! As a retired librarian, my mother is a queen of research and this is just the kind of thing she would enjoying looking into. This the group you should join. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 I hope they resolve this soon. I hate that you have to deal with this. I also hate 3rd party "not my issue, call the company" stuff. Although we did buy a washer/dryer directly from Samsung, so there is that option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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