K
kdolan
Guest
What is the name of your state? California
In March of last year we purchased a new refrigerator from a national retail chain for about $700.
In October of that year (about 7 months after purchase) a small fan motor that blows cold air from the freezer comartment into the main refrigerator stopped working and we lost quite a lot of food. The merchant dispatched a company repairman who replaced the fan motor under the express one year warranty.
It has been about 13 months since the fan motor was replaced and the replacement fan motor has now failed as well! Again quite a lot of food was spoiled.
This time we were told that the express warranty was up and we would have to pay $65 to have a repairman come out to "diagnose" the problem even though I told them that the problem was the same as last year, the fan motor wasn't running. They did have a record of the previous repair.
Upon arrival the repairman removed the frozen food in the freezer compartment, removed about 7 small screws to access the fan motor, another four screws to remove the fan motor in its plastic housing and proclaimed "the fan motor needs to be replaced", well "duh".
At this point, replacement of the fan motor involved removing two additional screws which freed the fan motor from its housing and then fastening in the new fan motor with the same two screws. Additional time, about 3 minutes...
However, before he would replace the fan motor the repairman insisted we agree to pay $149 labor and $43 for the new fan motor. In my view this $149 labor was for about three minutes work.
In discussing all this with the repairman I asked whether this fan motor was a "problem part". He told me it certainly was, in fact, the particular fan motor was a standard item of inventory on his company truck as they had so many calls to replace it. The repairman became quite embarrased about the problem and the outrageous labor charge and told us that he didn't set the amount, it was all in the laptop computer he carried in.
So now the same fan motor has failed twice in about 18 months. If this continues it would appear that I must pay nearly a third of the original price of the refrigerator. about $200 each year, to keep this thing running and my food cold!
It seems to me that this refrigerator is not fit for the purpose for which I purchased it and for which it was sold to me. That is, TO KEEP MY FOOD COLD!
I am also coming to the conclusion that this whole thing is very nearly a SCAM! It appears that this large nationwide retailer knows full well that the fan motor they designed into this refrigerator is not up to the job. After all, they get so many service calls to replace it that they actually make sure that one is available on the repairman's truck every day. But it would appear that it is in their best interest NOT to really fix the problem by replacing the fan motor with one that will last a reasonable time but to continue charging nearly $200 each time the fan motor fails.
What are my rights here? Shouldn't they have to refund the purchase price to me and take this thing away?
In March of last year we purchased a new refrigerator from a national retail chain for about $700.
In October of that year (about 7 months after purchase) a small fan motor that blows cold air from the freezer comartment into the main refrigerator stopped working and we lost quite a lot of food. The merchant dispatched a company repairman who replaced the fan motor under the express one year warranty.
It has been about 13 months since the fan motor was replaced and the replacement fan motor has now failed as well! Again quite a lot of food was spoiled.
This time we were told that the express warranty was up and we would have to pay $65 to have a repairman come out to "diagnose" the problem even though I told them that the problem was the same as last year, the fan motor wasn't running. They did have a record of the previous repair.
Upon arrival the repairman removed the frozen food in the freezer compartment, removed about 7 small screws to access the fan motor, another four screws to remove the fan motor in its plastic housing and proclaimed "the fan motor needs to be replaced", well "duh".
At this point, replacement of the fan motor involved removing two additional screws which freed the fan motor from its housing and then fastening in the new fan motor with the same two screws. Additional time, about 3 minutes...
However, before he would replace the fan motor the repairman insisted we agree to pay $149 labor and $43 for the new fan motor. In my view this $149 labor was for about three minutes work.
In discussing all this with the repairman I asked whether this fan motor was a "problem part". He told me it certainly was, in fact, the particular fan motor was a standard item of inventory on his company truck as they had so many calls to replace it. The repairman became quite embarrased about the problem and the outrageous labor charge and told us that he didn't set the amount, it was all in the laptop computer he carried in.
So now the same fan motor has failed twice in about 18 months. If this continues it would appear that I must pay nearly a third of the original price of the refrigerator. about $200 each year, to keep this thing running and my food cold!
It seems to me that this refrigerator is not fit for the purpose for which I purchased it and for which it was sold to me. That is, TO KEEP MY FOOD COLD!
I am also coming to the conclusion that this whole thing is very nearly a SCAM! It appears that this large nationwide retailer knows full well that the fan motor they designed into this refrigerator is not up to the job. After all, they get so many service calls to replace it that they actually make sure that one is available on the repairman's truck every day. But it would appear that it is in their best interest NOT to really fix the problem by replacing the fan motor with one that will last a reasonable time but to continue charging nearly $200 each time the fan motor fails.
What are my rights here? Shouldn't they have to refund the purchase price to me and take this thing away?