Whirlpool Sidekick Refrigerator / Freon Leak

A&E Factory Service - Glen Burnie, MD

Bray & Scarff - Beltsville, MD

Whirlpool

Superbowl weekend, Feb 2, 2007, we realized our Whirlpool Sidekick

wasn't cooling properly. I waited a day to see if I'd just overworked it

with our party, but it didn't seem to be recovering. I called our

regular appliance repairman, who came out promptly and said, after

looking at it, that it was a Sealed System issue, and he couldn't repair

it. He suggested I call Whirlpool to get service. I opted to call Bray &

Scarff, since that's where we purchased the unit from. They scheduled a

technician to come out, but I wasn't allowed to tell the technician that

someone else had already looked at it (per my salesman at Bray & Scarff)

or else he wouldn't touch it. He looked at it, said it was a sealed

system issue, that he wasn't qualified to repair it, and would have a

qualified technician scheduled to come out. About a week and a half

later, the "more skilled" technician came out, said it was a freon leak,

and that he couldn't handle the repair. He told me that Bray & Scarff

would call Whirlpool and set up service with someone who could do the

job. Several days passed without word. I called Bray & Scarff to find

out status, and they told me that they weren't going to call Whirlpool,

I had to, so they gave me a phone number. The phone number, after going

through several prompts, finally told me that the Maytag branch I was

trying to reach wasn't an active connection. So I called Bray & Scarff

again, and this time, they called Whirlpool themselves, and Whirlpool

contacted A&E to come out here. Everyone had my cell and home phone

number. I had to take my kids to school on the morning they were

scheduled so left a note on the door that I'd be right back and to call

my cell. When I got home, there was another note on the door saying that

they were sorry they had missed me and I had to reschedule. I called A&E

to reschedule, and got a date 10 days out. Mind you, I have four kids 7

and under to feed, and they (and I) are getting mighty tired of eating

prepared foods from restaurants and the freezer, plus it's so costly. So

the next guy comes out, pulls my refrigerator out, denting my hardwood

floor because he put nothing protective underneath. He says, "You need a

new compressor. I'll order it right now, and when you get it, open the

box to make sure there aren't any leaks." The box arrives, and I open

it...no leaks. Fine. When the next guy comes out, another 10 days later,

he takes one look at my refrigerator and tells me my compressor is fine,

but that I have freon leak. DUH! Then he looks at my compressor that

came in the mail, and says it was shipped improperly and is damaged. He

will have to order me a new one, plus the equipment to fix the freon

leak. He said due to the freon leak, the compressor is now damaged and

needs to be replaced. By this time, I was absolutely steaming mad. I

called A&E to complain and demand the previous technician be held

accountable for this. I also called Whirlpool to complain about how

nobody can seem to fix my refrigerator. It was only put into service in

Feb 2005. Whirlpool told me that in no uncertain terms should I open the

boxes of equipment, b/c if they are damaged, A&E can put the culpability

on us. So I have four boxes of equipment sitting in my house, and A&E

was supposed to have someone out here today between 8-12. It's now 3:51

and we've called A&E 4 times. Still no technician. It's also April 4,

and I haven't had a working refrigerator for more than 2 months.

We are being so abused and I don't know how to proceed. Please share

your input/experiences.

Comment On This

We've gotten a Whirlpool Side-kick freezer and refrigerator installed in August. The Fridge seems OK - but the freezer never got any colder than 40 degrees. They replaced it today (about a month later) and the new one has been running for 10 hours and is showing a temp of about 80 degrees: hotter than the pantry it is in. It appears to be a second DOA unit. Now they promise us a third one in two weeks.

I'm wondering if we should try to get our $$ back and look for something else.

Comment On This

My family is going through the same thing! Our sidekick refrigerator has been repaired 5 times in the past 12 months. In May, we were told that an internal freon leak existed and that the unit is not repairable. So, Whirlpool shipped us a new unit. It arrived yesterday. The door style has changed, and the technician was able to use the original door on the new unit. But....an hour or so after he left we noticed the unit is producing HOT air. After placing a thermometer inside we realized the unit is now up to 85 degrees. Our home air conditioner is set at 74. So, back to the original problem, but on a brand new unit. Our family of 6 has had it. We too designed the kitchen around this large unit, and have lived out of an ice chest and garage dorm fridge for 2 months. Now it's another holiday weekend, the people who I've been speaking with are on vacation. I'll be facing another Monday morning with Whirlpool hotline numbers on the top of my "to do" list. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Comment On This

Don't bother buying another set of dual units from a different manufacturer. We purchased the stand alone refrigerator and freezer from Electrolux/Frigidare. The refrigerator would never stay cold. The manufacturer replaced my refrigerator 3 times. I am now on my 4th refrigerator in a 1 year period and it also is failing. They are giving us our money back but not compensation for the cabinets that will need to be redone. We just got back from the appliance store where we purchased the stand alone refrigerator and freezer by Whirlpool because these are the only units available that will fit in the cabinets. Now after reading these complaints I guess I had better cancel the Whirlpool units. I really think that all of these all refrigerator units do not cool properly. Would love to hear how your situation turned out.

Comment On This

Linda wrote:

I feel your pain. Our refrigerator had the same problem 2 years ago. we live on an Island in B C and our one teck will not deal with Whirlpool as they are slow to pay. We shipped our fridge off island which cost us $100.oo it was gone for 3 months in the summer . we were using a beer fridge sitting beside our fancy freezer another 100.00 to bring it back now two years later we have the same problem I called Whirlpool and they are not sure what to do. We designed our kitchen to hold the Side Kicks and the new one they have does not match . I am totally frustrated. We thaught we were buying top of the line What a joke. Now we just sit and wait.

My response:

Do you by chance frequent GardenWeb? It was there that I heard about the Sidekicks and fell in love with them. We continue to have less than optimal performance from both units. If I have to replace them, I will choose another brand that has dual units, as our kitchen was also designed around these things. My technician has applauded the fact that I've done what I can to learn to repair the minor things myself. In fact, he said that most appliance companies have free online training manuals that I could study and learn from. Maybe that would work for you. *sigh* I'm sorry you had to got through all that. I know that Canadian customers have a much more difficult time with appliance servicing than U.S. customers.

Comment On This

you may have to go to court to get this matter resolved I am not big on suing people but sometimes it is the only way to get upper management to notice how their staff is handling business When faced with a lawsuit they tend to get involved and hold people accountable