Whirlpool "Service"

mossie

Hi.

Reading through some posts in this forum I see that some people have had problems with Whirlpool in the past and maybe if I'd read these six months ago I wouldn't have the problems I am currently experiencing. So if by relating my experiences I can help someone else I will do so.

Just to give some background, I moved to a new house a few months ago and bought several Whirlpool appliances - washer, dishwasher, oven, hob and American style Fridge Freezer. About a month ago the icemaker in the fridge started giving bother, dumping all the ice into the door, making a lot of noise, display panel flashing. I thought it was a once off but it happened againg and got worse. On Monday 6th July at 9am I phoned the Whirlpool service number and was given a number for MS Services in Cork who handle Whirlpool servicing in this part of the world. They took the details and said an engineer would call me "shortly". Later that day the fridge stopped working completely.

Anyway "shortly" turned out to be 5pm on Thursday 9th July. The engineer found that the fridge needed two replacement parts, a solenoid in the icemaker and the main circuit board at the rear. He said he would order those and they should be in after a couple of days. As I was going away until Weds 15th we arranged for him to call back on the following Thursday July 16th as he is in this area on Thursdays. Anyway the 16th came and went with no engineer and when I called them on Friday 17th I was told the parts had not come in, calling again on Monday was the same and I was told they hoped to have them "sometime this week". When I called today I was told the parts came in yesterday but the would not guarantee the engineer would call before next week.

So essentially I am still without a fridge 17 days on from reporting it and have no guarantee it will be repaired before 21 days pass on Monday or maybe even not until the engineer is in the area on Thursday next.

It seems ridiculous that Whirlpool / MS Service cannot keep a supply of spares in stock, and even more ridiculous that they cannot source spares in less that two weeks. Also emailing service_ireland@whirlpool.com is a waste of time. I think I had to send 3 or 4 before I got a reply.

Has anyone had similar experiences with Whirlpool, and is there anything I can do to ensure it's fixed tomorrow? Do I have any comeback against Whirlpool for inconvenience caused etc? Can I demand a refund so I can purchase from another manufacturer?

Thanks.
Mossie

Update: Voicemail stating fridge will be repaired "early next week" - 3 weeks!! Avoid whirlpool.

Payton

We bought a Whirlpool washing machine 3 yrs ago, within 6 months the pump went, then the rubber on the door, pump again, the heater became dislodged (nobody seems to know why). We dont over load the machine or use it a lot just the average probably 4 times a week. The issue I have with Whirlpool is that the parts that they replace free with their 8 yr warranty, they will only cover for 3 months!!!. We bought the machine for €385 and so far we have spent €280 on callouts for the service guy at €70 a pop.
Never, never, never again will I buy another Whilpool product, I'll buy cheap get the use out of it and then replace it. Strange that we had a Ariston washing machine and it lasted for 13 yrs with one breakdown.
Well thats my 2cents worth. (Deep deep breaths, nice and slow)

mossie

on the verge wrote: »

We bought a Whirlpool washing machine 3 yrs ago, within 6 months the pump went, then the rubber on the door, pump again, the heater became dislodged (nobody seems to know why). We dont over load the machine or use it a lot just the average probably 4 times a week. The issue I have with Whirlpool is that the parts that they replace free with their 8 yr warranty, they will only cover for 3 months!!!. We bought the machine for €385 and so far we have spent €280 on callouts for the service guy at €70 a pop.
Never, never, never again will I buy another Whilpool product, I'll buy cheap get the use out of it and then replace it. Strange that we had a Ariston washing machine and it lasted for 13 yrs with one breakdown.
Well thats my 2cents worth. (Deep deep breaths, nice and slow)

I will certianly never buy from Whirlpool again. It seems that the problem withe the fridge I have experienced is pretty common, I have spoken to a couple of people who had exactly the same experience but theirs didn't take 3 weeks and counting for repair.

crosstownk

I had quite the opposite experience. I have heard many horror stories about the poor level of Whirlpool service but my experience was a good one. It's starting to look like I was lucky.....

More here.

Alun

crosstownk wrote: »

I had quite the opposite experience. I have heard many horror stories about the poor level of Whirlpool service but my experience was a good one. It's starting to look like I was lucky.....

More here.

No it's just the "Internet effect". People rarely write about their positive experiences, only their negative ones. You can reinforce any deeply held bad opinion of any manufacturer by typing in "<insert manufacturer here> problems" into Google. If you went on those results you'd never buy anything ever again.

10-10-20

Yes, the great Whirlpool/ITW Ispracontrols control-board issue by the sounds of it.
I had similar issues where my side-by-side basically failed over a period of 1.5 years.
I repaired it after I found out that the capacitors on board become defective.
It's relatively easy to fix.

Here's how:
http://10-10-20.blogspot.com/2009/03/there-appears-to-be-common-defect-with.html

Two Stroke Mick

I have a Whirlpool intergrated dishwasher. It is 2 years old in that time it has worked approximatly 94% of the time and dropping. It has broken down 4 times in two years. I am three weeks waiting to have it repaired. I am writing this to let others know
1) how poor the whirlpool dishwasher is
2) how poor the after sales service is.

I could not recommend that anyone purchase a whirlpool product. I have other whirlpool products in the house and they have not given any problems to date (I hope they dont read this post)

Regards

TSM

Payton

For whats its worth put your complaint in writing and registar with an post. I got sick to the teeth with them. The guy who came to do the repairs was brillant we actually got to know him on a personal basis!!

3 weeks to get it repaired???? thats a long time, can I ask where you are located?

An option is the small claims court as the product is "Not fit for use"
Keep us posted on the outcome of this is you can.
Best of luck.

Two Stroke Mick

Based in Castlebar County mayo. If the machine is not fixed by Monday. It will get f**ked back to the shop where I purchased it.

UrbanSea

Two Stroke Mick wrote: »

Based in Castlebar County mayo. If the machine is not fixed by Monday. It will get f**ked back to the shop where I purchased it.

You know my sympathy lies with the shop in these cases. If they could they'd replace it straight away from you,but they can't take back the machine and then Whirlpool not give credit on them. The reason for the long delays are that the spare parts take ages to come in,they come from Italy a lot of the time as far as I'm aware. I can't reccommend Whirlpool since they moved their service to England.

mossie

Sorry to resurrect a long idle thread, but since I originally started it...

I had occasion to call whirlpool again regarding my oven which has become extremely noisy. I called them on 19/3/13, spoke to a very helpful girl, and was told I would be contacted shortly by the local repair agent. 18 days later no contact. Called whirlpool again today only to be told they had no record of my original call. The girl this time took all my details again, and she said she would have my call escalated to the complaints dept, given the fact that I was so unhappy with the service.

Anyway this is my second time contacting Whirlpool and my second time having problems. Once could be a genuine one off mistake, twice smacks of incompetence. Shocking level of service given the amounts of money spent. If I could turn back the clock I would not be buying whirlpool products again.