About 18 months ago, we purchased a Frigidaire Professional Double Convection Oven, a matching Microwave/Hoodfan and a matching Warming Drawer from Sears. Total cost was about $6000 as I recall. All four of the (no name) bulbs in the ovens failed within three months of very limited use, suggesting to me that Frigidaire/Electrolux were using cheap and nasty bulbs of unspecified make which were not fit for the intended purpose. I replaced them all with bulbs from Noma and not one of the four Noma ones has failed since.
About 10 months ago, we carried out the recommended self-clean cycle, following which the top oven would not come up to temperature. Sears service was called, took up my time removing the oven from its cabinet and replaced the thermal trip/breaker which is located in an absurdly inaccessible place at the back and behind the oven for a (resettable!) trip. Sears wisely decided to fit a new trip rather than just resetting the original one.
Then, about three weeks ago, we noticed that the enamel is failing on the bottom of the top oven casing, clearly the result of faulty manufacturing. It has fallen off in several places. I contacted Sears and they claimed that this was "cosmetic" and not covered by the extended warranty which I had purchased. At my insistence, their service man came out and inspected it and clearly told me that me his view is that this was not "cosmetic" but is a manufacturing fault. I was party to his end of the telecon he then had with his supervisor, and it was clear that his supervisor was telling him (from 2000 miles away, never having seen the problem at first hand) that as far as Sears was concerned, it was "cosmetic" and not covered by warranty. Sears made no reference to Frigidaire on the issue.
It was clear that the dishonest Sears supervisor was telling his service technician that he was to tell me that the issue was "cosmetic", and appeared to be instructing him that that was what he was to write in his report. I spoke to Sears customer Service (a misnomer if ever there was one) and they told me that the service guy had stated in his report that is was a "cosmetic" issue, not covered. They then told me that they had ordered a replacement casing (in effect recognizing that it needed replacing) and that I would be charged for it. Well, at some point, they'll be asking me for my credit card Number and no way will I ever be giving them that!
We carried out another self-cleaning cycle a couple of weeks ago and the top oven once again will not reach the set temperature. Looks like the issue is not the trip at all, but a more fundamental problem. So, but for the fact that we have the second oven, we'd have been ovenless again for some weeks. This week, I phoned Sears and told them that after all these issues over 18 months of very limited and very careful usage, I wanted a replacement oven, as I was unprepared to tolerate such an unreliable and poorly-manufactured product and could not devote yet more of my valuable time to dealing with yet more service calls. They have declined to agree to that.
Today, I contacted Frigidaire/Electrolux in Misssauga and spoke to some creature whose English was barely understandable and who basically told me that the whole matter was one for Sears, not Electrolux. I found him obstructive, unhelpful and unworthy of a customer service position. There was no recognition that any of these issues were in any way the responsibility of Frigidaire/Electrolux as the manufacturer of the appliance! So, both Sears and Electrolux will now find that they are having to deal with a Scotsman who doesn't tolerate fools gladly, doesn't tolerate so-called customer service as appalling and unreasonable as this and doesn't tolerate being *** to.
I am truly appalled at the obstructive, dishonest and unreasonable attitudes of both Sears and Electrolux and currently await a visit from a senior Sears technician, which is being arranged at my insistence. Neither Sears nor Electrolux give a *** for the fact that a customer has spent several thousand dollars on a major name product branded "professional" (suggesting superior quality and reliability) which is of unmerchantable and unsatisfactory quality. I wouldn't touch another Frigidaire/Electrolux appliance with a bargepole but this issue is far from over. Watch this space!
