The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least around Meathenge Labs. It’s only today I’ve come to a place where my chakras would allow me to semi-coherently write this without just spending 10 minutes swearing, gesticulating and planning public demonsrations. You see, the compressor on our 3.5 year old, 1200 dollar refrigerator went out, 13 days ago. Where’s the repair person? We may see them by June 9th.
While this post isn’t necessarily about food, it is about something that nearly everyone has and it holds food. It keeps all your favorite condiments, beverages, icey creams & meat safe. If I were you, I’d sit up and pay attention. Come along for a few minutes, this involves everyone.
I’m going to start at the beginning and give you the juicy details because that’s what everyone likes anyways. Hang on tight.
Sometime during the Friday night of May 19th, the compressor on our newish fridge went out. It was making funny noises and the freezer goodies were clearly defrosting. Aw CRAP. Okay, I’m a man, time to snap in to action and save the family from grief! TA DA !!! Nope, Sears is 4 days out on appointments and my fridge is freshly full of food. Remember, this is Meathenge Labs and trust me when I say it was full of fresh food. Cause brother or sister, my life was flashing in front of me. “To hell with Sears, I’ll call someone local.” says Biggles. I called a local guy, he picked up the phone and said, “Hello.” Brilliant! I gave him the lowdown and he was at my door in 1.5 hours. I’d done it! Nope. Turns out it was the compressor and those cost about 500 to 600 dollars to replace. Not entirely bad news though, it’s under warranty. A factory technician warranty deal. So I called Amana and told them I’d paid someone to diagnose the problem, just come fix it.
May 23rd arrived and no word for an appointment or anything. I called back and “the computer” had lost my call tag. And the soonest they could come out was May 30th, 10 days past my first call. May 30th was a few days ago and some guy did come out. But you know what his job was? To diagnose the problem I’d already paid to diagnose, the compressor. They wouldn’t be able to get someone to actually repair the fridge until June 9th, 3 weeks out it is. And as you all know, it’s June 1st.
What does one do during all this? Well, the first day we had a very very very very very large BBQ. Hadn’t planned on it, but there it is. Then you pull out your coolers from your camping gear pile and probably buy a few more, you’ll need about 5 or 6 of them. Keep in mind, our house is 860 square feet total. This will give you an idea as to the size of our kitchen. Now it’s smaller because of 5 coolers on the floor. Each day you’ll spend about 4 dollars on ice and spend about 45 minutes buying and installing said ice. Why so long? Because you can’t just dump raw ice on veggies and jars. The jars will lose their labels and the veggies will ‘die’. No ice cream! You have to put the ice in ziplock baggies, keeps things cool yet dry. This went on for about 6 days. Mama gave up and bought a teeny tiny square fridge and we put it in our teeny tiny living room. It’s for the cheese, milk, eggs & butter. You were right CB!
It was a few days after that I gave up and went to Taylor’s Used Appliances in El Cerrito. Wonderful people to deal with. I’ve purchased used stuff from them for over 10 years, always a joy. I made a point of talking to the old man about my situation, he’s really cool. Apparently most of the reason these newish fridges are so darned efficient is because the compressors are so small. And no matter how big your fridge is (ours is huge), the compressor is the same size. Apartment size or bohemoth size, same compressor. I’m boned. Years ago he used to pull the compressors out of older models, the big juicy compressors, and put them in the newer fridges. But they’ve made that area of the fridge so damned small they don’t fit anymore. I’m double boned.
So, at the moment we do have some fridge space. The unit I bought from Taylors is a little apartment rig, only about 5 feet tall. It’s located 75 feet from the kitchen, in the garage. Mama is cool about it though. When she needs something from the fridge, she pretends she lives in a large mansion and has to walk through all the house to the fridge (the 2 car detached garage is on the back of the property).
I’m about 400 dollars down, not including the broken 1200 dollar rig, between the food and replacement fridges. So, all I can offer you is to do some research before you buy. I recently googled "amana maytag" and was flooded with horror stories exactly like mine. I may go out and get another just because I don’t trust this one anymore. I refuse to go through this again.
Biggles
UPDATE June 6th 3:28pm:
Last week Big D called up and complained to Amana, at their headquarters. He talked to someone in the executive offices. They called me and left a message. No apology and wasn’t interested in talking to me at all. But they got my repair date bumped from June 9th to June 6th. Weeeeee.
Their window was from 10am to 2pm, it’s now 3:30pm. Oh sure, they called at 2:15 or so to say they would be right there. Nope.
Hey Man,
U needs someone to “contact” Maytag!?
Just give me the info ~ and ~ I’ll give d’em a call.
Big D
I must say that the elk meat from our emergency bbq was especially good. I’m nearly willing to hunt down one of those creatures just for another juicy tidbit.
Welcome to the Theatre of the Absurd…There’s gotta be a joke in there somewhere about the Lonely Maytag Repairman. Condolences…
Hey Celeste,
No joke, this is how they do business. I put an update at the end of the post, just now. And if you read a bit of the link I provided within the post, there are literally hundreds of cases over the last 3 to 4 years. Surely far more before that. Pathetic.
I have more elk meat.Let me know when you have the fridge repaired. I was going to use elk meat at the cookoff,but they do not allow game. The bacon turned out great.
Hey Paul,
MMmmm, bacon. Shoulder?
The fridge is supposed to be repaired some day next week, either Tuesday or Thursday. We’ll see, I’m not holding my breath.
Biggles
Doc,
I feel for you, buddy.
Hey Kevin,
Thanks hey. Ya know, I was thinking I would start a food blog meme. Everyone had to unplug their fridge for 7 days and see how they deal with it. But I didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to play along. heh.
Biggles
Man, too bad you’re half a country away. I had to say “No” to a 1950s era fridge that chugged along like a hero in the basement of the lady friend’s grandma’s house. No vehicle to transport it from Illinois, and no garage in my new pad, anyway. Woulda been nice to know it was going to Meathenge Lab’s double-wide garage. I tear up to think it might be being abused (sob!). Now you got me all paranoid about the occasional knock-knock from my ol’ kitchen fridge.
Hey Lewis,
Well, if you do actually have an OLD fridge, KEEP IT. Repair it.
Sorry to hear about the 50’s rig. I had a pristine one for years. It died and I didn’t have the cash to fix it, so I gave it to someone who could. At least it didn’t get tossed.
Biggles
xOMG – I have the same fridge and the same problem and it’s the 2nd time. I’ve lost 2 full loads of food, eating out for 2 weeks and all I get is customer service (HAHA) who don’t give a rats ass and are rude. After an hour a half on the phone my husband finally got through to a Solutions Manager – she’s sending us $75.00 and moved our appointment up a whole day. She also fixed the call tag so that they show up with parts. Big freaking deal – mine was $1100 and is only 2 1/2 years old. This company should be ashamed – Do you know that they own Whirlpool and Jennair also? Had issues with a washer and dishwasher too. Both of those went while still under 1 year warranty but how sure do I feel about them lasting. BUY NOTHING PUT OUT BY MAYTAG/AMANA/WHIRLPOOL AND JENN-AIR.
Hey Maryann,
Thanks for stopping by! I’m kinda surprised nobody else has since I posted this. Especially considering the net and how lousy Amana’s products are. In any case, I’m glad you spoke up.
And I have to say I was kinda disapointed in myself because http://www.consumerreports.org made it pretty clear that my fridge didn’t make the grade.
What you need to do is chalk this up to bad luck, then a learning experience and sell it in a local newspaper or CraigsList. Give a full disclosure (don’t want to screw someone else) and offer it up for 25 dollars. If not, find a local fridge recycler and have them pick it up for their 15 or so dollars. This is what I’m going to do in another year or so, or if it breaks sooner.
Our food and peace of mind is worth more than a grand.
Biggles
I’ve read your story and am a little scared. I need to buy a new oven and was looking at the double ovens. The only options I’ve been able to find that have the double oven I want and fit into the 30inches of space I have are a Maytag gemini and a Jennair. Do you think the experience you’ve had with the fridge would also be applicable to the ovens?
Hi Angela,
Ya know, it’s a tough call. I wrote this post over 3 years ago and haven’t followed major appliance manufacturers since then. I can’t imagine that Maytag and/or Amana Corporate have changed their wily ways though. They care so little about the customer it will bring you to tears.
That being said, after the fridge broke, I went to consumer reports and took a look at other Amana and Maytag fridges and some rated quite well over the years. So, to answer your question directly, I don’t think so. The ovens could very well be just fine. Just make darned sure you do as much research as you can, scour the net. Pay for a subscription to consumer reports . org. If your new ovens ever break under warranty, just know it’ll take weeks to get repairs affected.
Be thoughtful in your decision.
Biggles
I wish I had read this 4 years ago. My 4 yr old Maytag refrigerator, identical to the one displayed, quit a week ago. Needless to say, I am mad as __.
Hi Emma,
Oh, I know the feeling, I can still remember the horror even 4 years ago. They finally came out and replaced the compressor and it’s still working 4 years later. But I expect it to die any time now. When it does, am going to go buy one that has a decent review. I wish you luck!
Biggles
I agree with this article…I have an Amana that’s 5 years old and I have replaced the motor…condencer, drip pan that was burned by the coil that laid on it due to the design…and now the ice maker doesn’t work. It’s a piece of garbage!!!
If I stop getting kicked off this site I can enlighten you! Amana sucks. They don’t back their products. I have a refridgerater less than a year old and it is acting 50. Rust spots from the phillips screws inside and they are calling it cosmetic. I am am going to sue for a new one instead of replacements of the doors. How dare they!