KitchenAid Consumer Reviews - Page 2

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- My message speaks for itself

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- I have a KitchenAid stand mixer that broke. I find there is ONE place in all of Illinois that is an authorized service center - they are only open M-F 7AM - 10AM. This is Chicago - not some small town. KitchenAid couldn't care less about their customers. They have your money, you are on your own.

ORLAND PARK, ILLINOIS -- My 7-year old built in KitchenAid refrigerator cannot be repaired. The water and ice do not work and after at least 7 service visits, we are told that the entire door needs replacement but KitchenAid no longer makes the door so we have to buy a new fridge at the cost of $10,000.00. This is absolutely ridiculous.

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA -- This is a positive review of the Kitchen Aid Electric Cook-top. I could not be more pleased! There are five cooking areas. One for a very large cooking pot. Two for medium cooking pots and two more with rings that can accommodate large or small pots. I love this appliance and have had it for almost two years.

CENTERVILLE, OHIO -- I own several Kitchenaid products, including a Kitchenaid Architect series range. I own two stand mixers, one vintage (I'll never part with it) and a newer professional series model. I also love my KA hand mixer. Initially I had issues with the range regarding the oven racks. After purchasing and when it was delivered, I noticed the racks were poor quality. They bowed if you put a dutch oven in for baking. I was furious.

All that money and the racks bow in middle? Took 7 calls to KA customer service for them to finally send out a technician. What was troublesome was it took that many calls to get action and for them to admit there was a quality issue with those racks. We did get it resolved and they replaced the racks with commercial grade quality.

Still loyal to KA, I purchased a 15 cup food processor recently after chatting on line with a KA representative. This is from their website. They assured me this product was made in the USA. Wrong. When I got it, it felt light and cheap, flipped it over and said "made in China". I opted to return it. Took three calls to Customer service to get a return label.

Now after them having the Food processor back for almost 3 weeks I have yet to receive a refund. I found out after speaking with 5 reps now, each has a different story to tell about the refund and why I haven't gotten it. This last representative told me they only process refunds on Thursdays. My refund request went in a week and a half ago. I must have missed that Thursday's process. So, we'll see if mine made the cut this week.

KA management needs to take a hard look at their operations on the customer service side. While they make what I consider, good products and mostly made in the US which I appreciate, lowering standards will catch up with them. I want to remain loyal to them but I would be hard pressed to recommend buying their products, especially if there is a problem you have to go to them to resolve.

MANALAPAN, NEW JERSEY -- In January, 2007, I purchased a new home in an "Active Senior Development". The Kitchen appliances came with the home. I am living here 5 1/2 years and have had ongoing problems with the refrigerator, the gas range, the dishwasher and the microwave oven. I signed a maintenance insurance policy with Kitchen Aid. It turned out the policy is NOT with the manufacturer but a third party who sends sub-contractors as "repair Personnel".

Shortly after moving in the water connection from the supply shut off valve to the inside of the rear of the refrigerator "failed" inside of the unit. Water flooded from the kitchen into the dining room and hallway to two bedrooms, bathroom and laundry room. Of course the carpet was saturated and the sheetrock in the kitchen alcove required redoing. A part in the refrigerator failed.

After the manufacturers warranty period was over, the ice maker failed. Again sub contractors were sent out to fix my problems and the first one made believe he did something which held until he walked out of the door. The second technician that was sent to me spent almost an hour looking at the icemaker before he announced to me that he wasn't qualified by Kitchen Aid to make repairs but I was charged a second time for these visits.

Out of desperation I called in a company from the yellow pages who fixed the problem in less that a half hour. Now the entire ice maker failed, not just the motor. Water overflowed from the ice cube maker tray and proceeded to flow on the rear of the ice cube container on the door, down the front of the several shelves below the ice maker, which all froze.

I was able to shut the switch that controlled this gadget. After I was able to get the ice waterfall removed and expose the icemaker unit, I found that the plastic was completed deformed by the ice and the entire unit was destroyed. I spoke to several of my neighbors and lo and behold they had had similar problems. Some had maintenance insurance; the repairs cost was in the high two hundreds.

One that didn't have insurance paid slightly over three hundred dollars to get it replaced. The repair people said that the way the unit was manufactured failed parts could not be replaced and that the entire icemaker must be replaced. I will never again buy a Whirlpool-Kitchen Aid product and warn anyone else that will be thinking of buying these brands that they are better off buying anything else!

It was down to Viking, Wolf and KitchenAid for our high end remodel. We chose KitchenAid (price - performance seemed comparable). The $6500 dual-fuel range has NEVER heated properly. KitchenAid repair can't figure it out. They told me live with it. Then a light went out in the hood. The manual says to unscrew two screws to replace it. But the screws are improperly manufactured and even service repair couldn't get them out.

I called KitchenAid to complain that I can't even replace a lightbulb in my hood and that it is a latent defect. They told me too bad - out of warranty. So I wrote to KitchenAid and got a total blow-off, they said in essence "parts fail", too bad. If you are buying high end products, don't even waste your time on KitchenAid. I've had Wolf equipment and they never treated me as poorly as KitchenAid. AVOID KITCHENAID TOP END PRODUCTS

Update 3/10/2011: I wrote a letter to the Consumer Affairs department and cc'd the CEO and Chairman of the Board or Whirlpool. They called me back and said they'd pass my issue on to engineering. That was 2 weeks ago. Still waiting. It's very unfortunate that I have to take the time out of my day to write to the CEO to get attention to an obvious design flaw and failure on the part of the company to respond in a responsible way. I'm understand that products fail. But that's what customer service is supposed to be for. Trying to work with KitchenAid customer service is like dealing with the DMV - a very discouraging experience.

And to those who commented that I should have done research before buying - I did, but you miss the point of my review. All the high end products have complaints. My issue is not with the products per se but rather with customer disservice. When you buy a top of the line product, it should come with top of the line support.

Purchased the disposal in November after looking at many others. The moment it was installed by the plumber, I knew it was a problem. There is a flange that the waste products must pass down before the disposal will work. The food will NOT go down into the disposal and customer service told me today, after sending out a "service person" that I am required to either push the food waste down manually or use a tool.

It is supposed to work this way. No where in the literature or in the demonstrations at the showrooms does anyone indicate that this is the way to operate this machine. This is unheard of and inappropriate. Not to mention it is ridiculous. I have had four garbage disposals before and never had this issue.

I absolutely cannot stand this machine. I also find that the "customer service" is non existent. The person dealing with the issue in the executive office has never had a garbage disposal or has never used one, nor has she saw a Kitchenaid disposal at anytime in her company experience, yet she is telling the consumer HOW TO USE THE MACHINE and that this is the correct way and that this machine is working properly.

Has anyone else had this issue with the disposal? The service man came to check the machine and he also indicated to me that this is unheard of and inappropriate, yet went back to the office and stated to the company that it was running perfectly. Did he tell them what they wanted to hear? It was only 5 days before I reported my disappointment with the product, yet once it is installed, there is no recourse for the consumer other than to deal with a machine that is HORRIBLE. Also, the service man stated that the engine was not working properly, yet they reported that he stated it was fine!!

What is my next step? Other than to tell anyone who is looking for a disposal to MOST DEFINITELY NOT PURCHASE THIS MODEL. Perhaps if people stop buying the product, they will do something about the poor performance and workmanship. Also, I thought customer service was supposed to help the consumer? Did they forget that without the consumer, they would NOT have a job??

TURLOCK, CALIFORNIA -- "Thank you for visiting the KitchenAid website. We appreciate hearing from you. We're sorry to hear that you've had 4 units delivered to your home and they were damaged upon arrival. Our records indicate that you called and spoke with a supervisor, Carolyn. Unfortunately, we can only suggest the same thing of having the delivery company inspecting the unit before delivery. We apologize that there is nothing else we can do at this time."

This is the response I received regarding the slide-in range I ordered that has showed up damaged 4 times. "Nothing else we can do.." HA, what it should say is.. nothing else we are "willing" to do.. Big business steps on little customer again.

I thought I was purchasing quality products when I ordered KitchenAid, after all I paid quality prices. I wish I had investigated further and came upon your website before purchasing 3 major appliances in the last 2 months; a dishwasher, a range, and a micro-hood. All of which are KitchenAid. I wanted all the appliances in my kitchen to match. I can only hope that when or should I say if the range arrives undamaged I don't have any problems after it is installed. I would refuse the range, but I've already installed the dishwasher and the micro-hood is waiting to be installed.

Unfortunately for me, I can not afford the restocking, shipping, and removal of the dishwasher and other appliances or I would buy another brand completely. The suggestion of the KitchenAid Rep. having the delivery company inspect the unit before delivery is a good one, although not original. I requested this after the arrival of the 2nd damaged unit. However, their own delivery company "Quality Whirlpool Express" refused to do this. On the upside, they did offer to do this before the 5th delivery attempt. I would think they would do this before the 1st delivery attempt. After all, the cost of gas is over $3.00 a gallon now. But, like I said, nothing else they are "willing" to do.

PORTLAND, OREGON -- We purchased a new Side-by-Side Kitchenaid fridge from Standard Appliances in Portland Oregon on Mar 17,2003. Standard delivered and hooked up the fridge. Within 2 days there was a very strong hot plastic smell in the unit. We called Kitchenaid about the smell. The rep. told us that it was normal and that it will eventually go away. We scrubbed the fridge with baking soda and kept a large box open to help with the odor. It took 3 months to go away. Just about the same time our freezer would not defrost. We called KitchenAid and had to wait approx. 1 week for service.

The service man told us our problem was because a small wooden ice cream spoon had fallen into a slot on the back of the freezer. He "fixed" it and it started to defrost. 4 months later our freezer would not defrost and our fridge was warm. We called and had to wait 1 week again for anyone to service it. The service man had to order a part. Another week went by and the part had not come. When we spoke with Kitchenaid we were advised that the part was ordered 5 days after the service call!!! We had to wait another week for the part to come. We were without a fridge for 3 weeks in the summer!!!

Yesterday a service man installed the new part. Last night our fridge smelled like burning plastic just like when it was new! Today it is overwhelming. We called Kitchenaid and they told us we would have to wait again for a serviceman to squeeze us in! We have had to throw out food 3 times since the purchase of this piece of junk for 1300.00! I have had to leave work or stay home 3 times to wait for service men! I think this fridge was defective from the beginning. Why is it doing the same thing as when we bought it! You should see the old part. It is literally burned!

Kitchenaid is leading us to believe that it is going to be our problem not theirs! I will NEVER buy another Kitchenaid product and I will tell everyone I know about the customer service and service man runaround! I want them to replace the refrigerator or give us a credit for a new one because I anticipate an ongoing problem with this.