
Leah of Greensboro, NC on Dec. 23, 2010
I am writing this letter to express not only my frustration, but my concern for Whirlpool consumers. We built a new home in May 2007. When shopping for appliances, we were told by several employees at various retail stores that Whirlpool Gold appliances were excellent, nearly top of the line. Naturally, this valuable information that my husband and I obtained, narrowed our appliance search down to price.
Once we found the best price in our area, we purchased our double oven, microwave, refrigerator, and dishwasher from Best Buy, all Whirlpool Gold brand name. Unfortunately, we are now extremely dissatisfied with our choice! Since our move, we have had to call on local companies, to fix all of the things that have gone wrong. Last year, our ice maker stopped dispensing ice through the door, and our microwave sparked fire several times. I am sure I can locate the receipts for exact totals of these work orders, but these cost us approximately $500.
Now, we are currently trying to operate a family home with no oven. At the end of October, I was using the oven and the lights which show the time, temperature, etc would fade out, while things were cooking, and miraculously return later on. This happened for about a week and finally the lights never appeared again. In the first week of November, my husband called a local company, that services appliances, to fix our oven. They came out and of course charged us a $60 service call to evaluate the problem.
They recommended that we contact Whirlpool for the replacement parts, since the oven was only 3 years old, and a very expensive appliance. We were told we needed a transformer and a control panel, and once we received the parts, they would return to replace them. I called Whirlpool who directed me to a distributor Marcone. I ordered the parts as instructed, which were $174.98, in addition to the service call we were responsible for. The transformer was delivered within a week, however, the control panel didn't arrive. I contacted Marcone who told me that it was on back order until the Monday after Thanksgiving. I waited on the part once again, and when I still didn't receive the control panel, I contacted Marcone again. They then told me that the part was on back order until December 18. Not only am I frustrated with having no oven, but I feel as if Marcone should be communicating with their customers when a back order date has changed via email, phone, US mail, etc.
I received an email that the order had shipped, but nothing about the control panel being on back order. I have contacted Marcone, and they say complain to Whirlpool. When I contacted Whirlpool, they offered me a 25% refund for the control panel I purchased through Marcone, if I faxed a receipt. Unfortunately, refunding me $31 doesn't fix my problem. Yesterday, I contacted Marcone to see if they could track my control panel, since I am having Christmas at my house and they said that the item now has an expected ship date of January 7, 2011.
Needless to say, frustrated is an understatement! After my conversation with Marcone yesterday, it was brought to my attention that over 1,000 people are waiting on this part, just from Marcone alone. How many people are waiting on this part nationally from all distributors? This should be a recalled. Whirlpool products and the consumers awaiting this part should be compensated. I have been waiting on my part for almost 2 months, and I can imagine how long others have been waiting. The Whirpool mission statement reads as follows:
Whirlpool, the flagship brand of the company, is dedicated to making a difference in people's lives every day. Whether it's making laundry a little less of a chore, doing our part to help you save water and energy, or donating ranges and refrigerators to Habitat for Humanity partner families, Whirlpool brand is focused on what's important in life.
They have definitely made a difference in my everyday life and I have to disagree that they are focused on what's important. If this many parts are in need, Whirlpool should be on the assembly line around the clock until all orders are satisfied! I am asking for your assistance in helping rectify this problem.