A warning about LG Appliances in regards to warranty service

[Oaktree]

This one is only 2 years old so prob wouldn't fit that program anyway working or not. I have a local appliance repair that is going to pick it up for parts. At least all of it may not end up on a landfill.

Yeah, it did have to be working. The agreement stated that it had to be plugged in & operating when the crew picked it up. They did verify that it was cold inside, so I guess you wouldn't have qualified on that.

Do you have to pay to get rid of it? Here it costs to dispose of anything containing freon, not sure how much.

 

[BigBlue1]

Reading the OP I can say that I've experienced things very similar with other brands too. It seems intentional to me because there are just too many "are you f-in kidding me???" situations that come up. I will say though that that brands that 'contract' with local repair places instead of having their own are at the mercy of those places and I've seen them be very, let's say 'resistant' to taking on those repairs. Probably because of them viewing the reimbursement as inadequate. I fault everyone in the mix... The manufacturers who build crap and have crap warranty processing and the repair places who take on a contract but won't give it priority because they can make more money with other types of repairs. Either honor the contract or don't be a part of it.

 

[Professor Marvel]

I'm sure they all have their issues with both reliability and service but my experience trying to get LG to cover a compressor failure that is still under warranty has been pretty unbelievable. I've been posting about it on my facebook page and has finally reached a point where I thought I would share a warning with others here. They had a class action lawsuit a few years back about the same lack of service and compressor issues. If you look at their facebook page and scroll through some of the comments you will see quite a few others with the same lack of service I am getting. The other frustration is that every phone call or chat request takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. In the end I will get this resolved but wanted to post a warning to others on here as this seems to be a common business practice with LG.
Jeremy


Day 1 - called LG. Fridge is out of warranty other than compressor. Explained it has lost all cooling and is likely the compressor which is covered for 5 years. No luck - since I purchased an extended warranty through Nebraska Furniture Mart I have to call them first, otherwise if they come out and it's not the compressor I will be charged for the service call.
I call Assurant extended warranty on Friday the 14th. They are great. Send a tech from A&E factory repair on Monday the 17th.

Day 4 - Monday Jan 17th. A&E shows up, diagnosed a bad compressor. Because the compressor is still covered under LG factory warranty Assurant will not cover it. I have to call LG back to schedule with them. A&E tells me they are LG certified and have a compressor on the truck but can't do the repair until they get a ticket from LG. (I understand that, no complaints) Call LG and they agree to schedule a service call with A&E but can't authorize the tech on site. It will take 3 business days for the request to show in A&E system. I watch the tech who is going to do the repair leave along with the compressor we need.

Day 8 - Call LG for an Update. They provide me with a service ticket number and phone number to call A&E to setup the appointment. Because it is Friday and after 5 have to wait until Monday.

Day 10 - Call A&E on Monday. They have no record of a service request from LG. Call LG and am told A&E rejected the service request. They will send out a new service request for a different repair company.

Day 11 - Call LG. Am told A&E actually did accept the service request. They are scheduled to fix our fridge today between 9 and 5pm. 5pm rolls and round with no one here. Call A&E, they do not have us scheduled, never rejected a service request because they never received one.

Day 12 - Call LG. Explain to them that A&E does not have the service ticket. I request that they delete the request and submit a new service ticket otherwise we will never get a service confirmed. I am told they will contact A&E directly on my behalf and resolve the issue. Will call back the next day.

Day 13 - LG did call me back. Explained to me that the service ticket in their system for A&E actually shows complete and resolved so they cannot issue a new service ticket. They apologize for the problems we are having and explain that our issue will now be sent to their expedited department so they can fix the issue in their system and then send a new request for service out to a repair company. This will take 1 to 2 business days.

Day 14 - Called LG once again and tried to get them to authorize a reimbursement if I send them a repair estimate myself from A&E and had the fridge repaired myself. I was told no. They issued a new service request for Service Power Inc located in................Louisville KY. I am located north of Kansas City, MO 9 hours away.
After confirming they do not have a local center and asking what the next step was when they refused to drive 9 hours and book a hotel to service our fridge. We apparently have to wait 7 days for them to respond. After that our request will be sent to to the claims department for approval of a replacement fridge or refund of our original purchase price.

Day 15
My service request that was sent to a Louisville KY repair company has not been accepted. Big surprise. This request has 5 more business days before it can be escalated to the next step.
In the mean time I seem to have caught enough attention on the social media side to get things moving in another department. John with LG on facebook seemed to understand as I did that the service provider in Kentucky is not going to accept the repair request. He has submitted a request for an "alternative resolution" which typically involves either a new replacement unit or a refund of the purchase price. I also received a text message after talking to John offering to mail a check for $150 as part of our inconvenience. The "alternative resolution" case will be reviewed within 5 business days for approval or denial. Hopefully a positive update by end of next week. It still baffles me that it looks like they are going to refund the fridge or provide a new one as opposed to accepting a repair estimate from me through the same authorized LG service provider they claim to use for our area. A&E would have fixed it within a day of me calling them for around $1,100.

Day 18
You really couldn't make this stuff up. I received a phone call from LG service department this morning. They wanted to inform me that they have received my request for service and would like my serial number from the refrigerator to verify warranty and will need me to upload my purchase receipt for proof of ownership. Upon telling them this was already done almost 3 weeks ago the rep informed me they have no record of it or past request for service but will be glad to expedite my issue. lmao. Thanks LG rep.
In going to my email I see they have now issued not 1 but 4 different service requests back to the original service provider requested A&E Factory service. Last week they couldn't issue a new request when asked because of an existing request, this week they are able to issue 4 at once. Maybe A&E will get one of the 4 this time.
I still have the service request for a refund or replacement going as well. Looks like our 5 days for LG to respond on service has now been reset to today.

Sounds like it will be OUT of warranty by the time it is finally authorized.

 

[jk96]

Sounds like it will be OUT of warranty by the time it is finally authorized.

See post #60.

 

[jk96]

Do you have to pay to get rid of it? Here it costs to dispose of anythDo you have to pay to get rid of it? Here it costs to dispose of anything containing freon, not sure how much.

Local repair company I know wants it for the control board and icemaker so he is going to pick it up for parts free to me.

 

[etpm]

Well the frustration with LG is finally over. Yesterday afternoon I received the official settlement agreement. It stated that if I accepted the settlement for $1700 they required me to remove the serial/model tag and cut it then mail it and a signed affidavit stating I would dispose of and not repair the fridge as well as waive all of my rights to any future warranty, litigation, etc. I'm not sure how they would know if I disposed of the fridge or not. I replied yesterday evening to my contact along with the LG Chief exec and two other execs that I had contacted earlier that the agreement was not acceptable. In the email I stated that I wished to proceed with arbitration and would then take the case to small claims court if the arbitration was not acceptable. I outlined all of my documented conversations with LG, screen shots I saved of all chats dialogs, receipts showing the purchase price of the fridge, extended warranty, food loss expense, cost of purchasing a mini fridge, as well as time lost for the day of my 8 to 5 repair window that LG gave me but was actually never scheduled.

This afternoon around 3 I received an updated settlement offer of $2671.01. They ended up covering the full purchase price of the refrigerator along with the prorated amount of my extended warranty that was remaining.

We purchased a whirlpool fridge this afternoon from our local mom & pop appliance store. First and only questions was if there was an issue under warranty, would they take care of it or if I had to get approval through whirlpool first. They assured me they would handle all warranty claims and repairs in house on my behalf. Sold.

I hope no one has to go through this much work getting a company to honor their warranty.

Good for you for not taking less. You were completely in the right and were substantially harmed. For them to lowball you was morally corrupt. The fact that you kept records of everything was very good and is something everybody should do in similar situations.
Eric

 

[jk96]

Good for you for not taking less. You were completely in the right and were substantially harmed. For them to lowball you was morally corrupt. The fact that you kept records of everything was very good and is something everybody should do in similar situations.
Eric

Unfortunately this is an ongoing issue with LG. Here are screenshots of just a few customer comments on one of their recent Facebook posts.

 

[ponytug]

@jk96 Thanks for sharing this, and I am thankful that you kept such great records. It is a lesson to all of us.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Diggin It]

I am trying to buy appliances and especially an electric range.

Reading reviews, there were an awful lot of angry LG customers. They have a stove I really like but it is crap.

I talked to several stores and asked how do I find a good appliance when they are all junk? Can you tell me one that gets few warranty complaints?
There answer was always that they don't warranty, the manufacturer does.

I'm still looking and afraid to buy!

Within the past week, I received and installed a Whirlpool gas range. Didn't worry too much about reviews. Hopefully it will last a while.

We purchased a whirlpool fridge this afternoon from our local mom & pop appliance store. First and only questions was if there was an issue under warranty, would they take care of it or if I had to get approval through whirlpool first. They assured me they would handle all warranty claims and repairs in house on my behalf.

I have a Whirlpool refrigerator that has given me a lot of trouble. Bought it from Lowes. Failed to cool well. Local service company worked on it a few times during the warranty period and after during an extended service contract period. Eventually the local service company wrote it off and the extended warranty company sent me a check for replacement cost. They did not require proof of disposal. Funny thing is that it's still working after the last 'repair' about 3 years ago.

That local service company has now gone out of business, so I'm not sure what will happen with this stove or the next refrigerator.

Not sure if anything similar exists in your state, but here in N.H. there's a program that gives you a payment if you turn in a qualifying appliance with proof that it was replaced with a more energy efficient model. I think I got a total of $150 (2 separate checks) when I replaced a 20 year old fridge with a new one (an LG, not that it matters) last summer. They came and picked it up.

Not sure where the money came from, but it was administered thru the electric co.

Yeah, I got that on the 'Fridge above when I replaced the previous one. Program expired though. On that one, I had to show proof of turning the old one in.

 

[ddbackhoe]

Two things you missed from my original post.

I am sorry. I did not know you were the one responsible for interpreting my responses.