BUYER BEWARE - Very bad experience with this product through Home Depot
Written: Mar 20 '06
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Pros: The design is good: french door, bottom freezer, ice/water through the door is awesome.
Cons: Unfortunately, despite it's great design, it doesn't work! It failed completely after 13 days.
The Bottom Line: Form vs. function: great design, but doesn't operate. Customer service completely unresponsive.
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| ppfqp's Full Review: Maytag MFI2568AES Stainless Steel (25 cu. ft.) Bot... |
In hunting for a refrigerator, we were thrilled to find that Home Depot offered exactly the product we were looking for -- the only french door/bottom freezer model with ice and water through the door. When we bought it in February 2006, it was only available at Home Depot. We were so excited, we couldn't even wait for the store to open in the morning; my husband put it in a order through HomeDepot.com.
The refrigerator was delivered on March 1, 2006. It was great -- lovely to look at in a sleek stainless steel finish, easy to access with french doors on the top and a roomy freezer on the bottom. There were lots of thoughtful details that you'd expect from a leading manufacturer like Maytag: slide out shelves, an elevator shelf, chiller section for cold drinks, and lots of programming options. And, of course, a dispenser in the door so that we could easily get ice and water, something we can't live without. We were very happy with our purchase.
Less than two weeks later, we found ourselves in a nightmare. Overnight, the refrigerator stopped working completely. The compressor didn't run; the panel on the front was dead. The appliance was completely shut down and inoperable.
We called for service through Maytag, per our product manual. A service visit was scheduled for the next day. Maytag's service policy is that a repairman will visit anytime between 7 am and 6 pm, but will call 30 minutes prior to the visit. Fortunately, he called us early -- 6:45 am -- and came first thing in the morning, so we didn't waste the day waiting around.
The diagnosis? The mother board - the computer panel that controls the refrigerator's operations - had failed. The part was not in stock and would have to be ordered. At our insistence, they agreed to expedite the shipping so that we would receive it later that week.
We scheduled another service call. The repairman showed up about 1:00 pm. After two hours -- which was spent mostly using OUR phone line to call in to tech service -- the repairman determined that the replacement mother board was "bad" and the unit could not be repaired that day. He ordered another part and scheduled a return visit for the following Friday.
So, we spent $2500 on a refrigerator that worked for less than 2 weeks, and now had to wait 2 weeks for a repair. We assumed that Maytag and Home Depot would find that as ridiculous as we did. Unfortunately, they did not agree. After hours on the telephone with customer service at both companies, the bottom line was that Maytag would agree to expedite the shipment of the 2nd replacement and send out a repairman as soon as it arrived. We asked Home Depot if we could exchange or return the defective refrigerator - and got nothing but a big runaround. Since we purchased it through HomeDepot.com, the store management would not deal with the problem. The customer service representatives we contacted at HomeDepot.com insisted that it had to be addressed through our local store.
On Monday, March 20th, the replacement part was delivered at 9:30 am. We called Maytag to arrange for a service visit. Their repairman was not working that day, and no one would be able to come until the next day. We went back and forth with Maytag to try and expedite the repair -- remember, we've now been a week without a refrigerator!!! -- and got nowhere. We also have no faith that the replacement part -- the 3rd one! -- will function any better than the first 2.
So we called Home Depot and insisted that they exchange the refrigerator for a working unit. We were told that they could not accept the return if the refrigerator was not working. HUH? We can't return a defective, $2500 appliance?
So, bottom line: we have a lovely, stainless steel box in our kitchen that is absolutely useless. We have spent hours on the phone trying with Home Depot and Maytag. Both my husband and I have lost work time waiting for repair calls.
I still think this is a good product, and that we just got a lemon. But I would warn any consumer: do not buy this product through Home Depot, especially online. It is now readily available at other stores. Buy it from a company that is more responsive to consumer needs, and more willing to exchange or replace a defective item.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2499.00
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Epinions.com ID:
ppfqp
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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