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Kenmore Refrigerators

Kenmore • Coffee Makers • Gas Grills • Ovens • Refrigerators • Washers --- • Sears Appliances -- • Frigidaire, Kenmore Smooth-Top Ranges Recalled

Pam of Missouri City, TX November 19, 2009

Refrigerator was purchased in Oct of 2006. Within warranty period an Error code showed up on the LED requiring service. I have never been able to get an exact explantation of the cause, but the information I've gathered from the various Technicians is that this is an error code for the Ice Maker, but that information is not readily available in the manual or online.

The error code shows up on the LED, temperatures cannot be adjusted when the Error Code appears, then I guess the water from the icemaker drips on the fan in the freezer causing it to sieze up, which results in cold air not being blown into the refrigerator and the food is no to stop cooling. Searching the Interenet I has revealed that a lot of people have this problem with this Refrigerator.

Each time someone has come out, there has been a different "reason" the mother board has been replaced, last time a sensor was replaced, now it needs a new fan motor because the continuous problems have caused it to fail and they want to charge us 350.00 to repair a problem that has been ongoing since we owned this piece of junk. Sears Kenmore Elite Trio (made by LG) Model # 795-77563600.

I believe we paid 2800 for this Refrigerator that is 3 years old and has never functioned properly I've lost hundreds of dollars in food and have stayed home waiting for repairmen Not to mentioned the frustration of having to deal with Sears customer service over and over again

James of Silver Spring, MD November 19, 2009

I have owned many Sears products but this is the first time I've experienced a serious issue with their product worthy enough to spread concern. I own a Kenmore Elite Series Refrigerator, model number 795.77549600. There was an odor noticed in the morning when preparing breakfast but it was slight and assumed to be food item related. At around noon, when opening the refrigerator, the odor was very pronounced which caused me to inspect the refrigerator further. It was noticed that the light assembly on the top of the refrigerator was extremely hot (could not touch) and melting the plastic housing around it. The smell was toxic odors emanating from the melting plastic. I checked both door switches at this time because both doors to the refrigerator were open. Depressing both switches made no change to turn off the interior light and the reason why the light had been on for 4+ hours. The refrigerator was unplugged and the melted light panel removed and disconnected.

The plastic on the top of the refrigerator interior where the light had been was also bubbled and suspect it would have been a matter of time before it would ignite. The bulb assembly is also browned from the excessive heat. The bulbs are the original bulbs which came with the unit therefore it is not an issue of over wattage bulbs. Research on the Internet surrounding this problem with the Kenmore product shows it to be a prominent problem and brought me here to this site. A brief search of the cpsc.gov site did not show any active or post recalls. There does not appear to be any recall action surrounding this issue and can only assume it to be a matter of time before injury or death to fire will result. I strongly recommend visiting cpsc.gov/talk.html and logging your own complaint. I will be calling Sears shortly but already assume to get the run-around from a non caring operator.

Jay of Oklahoma City , OK November 14, 2009

We purchased a 1,800 Kenmore 25 foot side-by-side refrigerator in 2007. One month prior to the warranty expiring, a plastic piece that keeps the ice maker door flap shut at the front of the refrigerator broke off which allows room temperature air into the ice maker thereby thawing the ice which refreezes in the bin, clogging it and leaking into the catch basin in the door which leaks on the floor.....Being busy, I thought I could get a replacement piece but no........A month after the warranty expired (1 year+), they say I need to get a NEW DOOR!!!!!! as the piece is irreparable... The door is 650!!! Sears through the highest levels was dismissive and offered no accomodation....they didn't use to be this way and stood behind their products ....I had also purchased at the same time a 450 dishwasher, a 160 de-humidifier (that had to be returned twice...) a 200 lawn mover, a 200 table saw and a 80 microwave..... and still they were no help whatsoever....I don't care what Consumer Reports says....I will pay more for less in the future and will never shop at Sears or K-Mart whomever they purport to be....EVER....and today...our oven went out and we are going to spend about 1,000 but I'll cook on the manifold of my car before I shop at Sears again.

Cindy of Phoenix, AZ November 9, 2009

I bought a Kenmore refigerator #4664812 for 439 on 3/30/09. The refigerator died in June. They had to replace the compressor (under warranty) for over 700. Well it died again last week. The repairman came out and said he will have to replace the compressor again. He said they will not replace the refrigerator unless it has been repaired at least four times. We went to the store yesterday and the manager said there is nothing he could do. His only comment was that we should have bought the extended warranty. I guesss their products are so bad now that they aren't expected to last even six months! We've called the 800 numbers and no one is willing to help us or admit to the absurdity of this lemon refrigerator. The most ironic part of this story is that we bought this to replace a 25 year old refrigerator that had no problems. We thought it was time to get an "energy efficient" refrigerator. Now I know how they are energy efficient, they don't work!!!!!!!!

Kermit of Bethlehem, PA November 6, 2009

I purchased a Kenmore refregerator model 795.77314600 and the entire light assembly overheated and melted and fell down. Its obvious there is a design problem with the light assembly building up too much heat.

Douglas of Fernandina Beach, FL November 1, 2009

We bought a Kenmore elite side by side refrigerator six years ago (model# 106.54602300) from Sears. Two weeks ago the door on the refrigerator side just fell off striking our sitter who was just walking past the unit. It would appear that at the bottom of this unit it is put together some some plastic and when this gets old it starts to fail earlier than what would be expected. The sears people wanted to send out a tech and charge me 100 to tell me that the door needs to be replaced. The replacement for the door is 500 and another 100 to9 install. In speaking with others it would appear this unit has a design flaw and this is a common problem with the Kenmore Elite.

Sears says they have no liability, while the express warranty is over the implied warranty associated with the uniform commercial code still applys. It is not reasonable that a product failure should include the door falling off the unit through normal use. It would be like the door falling off an automobile or a roof falling off a house, it is expected that the builder of the product meet certain product safety standards and herein lies the implied warranty. I believe that this product is unsafe and could cause serious harm if left in the homes of unsuspecting consumers. The repair man knows there is a design issue as he has heard this same complaint before.

Lisa of Oceanside, CA October 28, 2009

Model 79577542600. Burning smell. Woke up next morning to find light had burned and melted to the point of hanging down. I removed light bulbs and called Sears to report the problem. Even though I said "something was burning," they can't get someone out until 5 days from now. This is my second refrigerator with major issues in 6 years. First one was a Maytag (thermostat and something else went out 3 days after warranty did) so we replaced it and thought we'd be okay for several years to come! Not a chance! Nothing is built to last anymore. This could have caused a fire. Only saving grace is that it is under warranty. There should be a recall on this product. There are certainly enough serious complaints to warrant one. Last week we received an automated phone call reporting a recall on the Maytag refrigerator we no longer have. It came 3 years too late for us. I feel like I'm in appliance hell!

Carol of Long Beach, CA October 20, 2009

I purchased the Kenmore Elite Bottom Freezer Refrigerator Model #795 77556600 Febuary 2007. On October 10th morning, I opened the refrigerator to get breakfast and the whole light fixture was hanging down from the top of the refrigerator. Also, everything in the refrigerator was hot. The butter was liquified and the seal at the top of the refrigerator was also warm. The lights would not turn off even when the refrigerator doors were closed. The light bulbs were so hot I could not unscrew them with an oven mitt. The light fixture was black and the seal and plastic screws were melted.

I was alone at the time and had to get my neighbors to help me pull the refrigerator out and unplug. After it cooled down we were able to remove the light from the plug. The top of the refrigerator is bubbled where the light was. I hate to think what could of happened if I was not home.

My main concern is to pass on this information to the correct person or department to look into. To me it is a very important safety issue. I talked to several people that Saturday morning from Sears and all they could tell me is I should of bought the extended warranty and this is not covered under the 5 year limited warranty. This did not make me happy. Somehow there should be a better way of reporting a safety issue. I am very concerned that it could happen again or to someone else.

I contacted Sears Feedback pretty much saying they were glad for my feedback but no offer of paying for the light fixture or service.

Dennis of North Huntingdon, PA October 19, 2009

Bought a new Kenmore French door bottom freezer made by LG the beginning of August. The ice maker has leaked twice since then. The first time was repaired and the damage minimal. The second time caused extensive damage in my game room. The ceiling tile calasped, 5 gallons of water on my carpet, and a one of a kind oil painting was damaged. It is 10/19/09 now still nothing has been done to rectify this. Sears turned me over to LG and they are now giving me a hard time about taking care of the damage. I guess I will have to get a attorney. Don't buy LG or Kenmore made by LG you will regret it.

mary of marietta, GA October 18, 2009

Wednesday, oct. 14, 2009 we opened our kenmore-elite three door refrigerator and found the inside hot. the interior refrigerator light would not go off, the cover had melted and the sockets where the lights were, were brown, the rest of the fixture for the lights was hanging down. i called 1 800 619 4663, the man that answered the phone could not speek good english, he did not understand my phone number when he was told, i asked where he was and he hung up on me.

i called a local repair number for sears (770 919 8034) they told me i had to call the 800 number. i have since found they are recalling some 3 door appliances but mine is not on the list. sears is no longer the quality store of the past years. i have bought my last product from sears. i happen to be in the market for a dishwasher, oven, cook top and micro wave, they will be bought elsewhere. they don't even want to hear what happened in case someone would be hurt in a fire caused by this defect.

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