Jenn-Air Built In Refrigerator Complaint - The refrigerator is not worth the $5,000 price tag

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-09-27:

Somewhere along the line, appliances turned into pieces of furniture instead of reliable, functioning machines. Consumers started making appearance a priority over quality. So now we have appliances that fit into the decor but don't function as they should or last as long as they used to. The question is, why we can't have both?

Posted by spiderman2 on 2011-09-27:

My parents bought a Jenn-air built in refrigerator many years ago (like 30) and it was a piece of crap. I guess nothing has changed. They had the same experience, leaking, warm fridge, no one could fix it. Finally it was replaced with a much cheaper model that worked fine.

Posted by virgina_tide on 2011-09-27:

Reading stories like this one, and there are so many, scare me as there doesn't seem to be one appliance or company that is reliable any more - everything new from dishwashers to refrigerators to washing machines seems to all be junk, and so many people have stories of older equipment that lasted 10-20 years. I dread having to replace any of my appliances.

Posted by Nohandle on 2011-09-27:

Virginia, I don't look forward to replacing appliances either. I'm pretty much satisfied with what I have now and just work around the problems, thinking the next appliance will be worse. I have a chest freezer in my storage room given to me by a family member that has to be 30+ years old. All I do is manually defrost when needed, it takes no time, and I'm good to go. I've been told the old appliances are energy hogs but what's best? Buying a new appliance every 4-5 years or keeping the old one. I vote on keeping the old one.

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-09-27:

Perfectly said, virginia.

My appliances are all living on borrowed time, and I also dread having to replace them. Saying old appliances are energy hogs is a misconception. The energy star ratings are very misleading. Overloading landfills with hunks of junk is far worse, not to mention the unnecessary cost and inconvenience of having to prematurely replace appliances.

Posted by At Your Service on 2011-09-28:

All of these are very good and interesting perspectives. It's interesting that you'll have this review tout Whirlpool, but another will be just the opposite. It's also interesting that Spiderman2 is saying his/her parents bought a Jenn-Air refrigerator some 30 years ago and it turned out to be "crap". My parents had a similar issue with a completely different brand. I guess that means appliances broke years ago too.

You're right that buying anything, including appliances, is somewhat of a crap shoot. You try to study what brands are good, but any of the brands have their fair share of complaints -- that's the nature of this website and the internet. In this case, if a reader browses this review and becomes more persuaded by Whirlpool. But wait, there's complaints out there about that brand too. Didn't someone say they liked Kenmore? Not if you mean a good brand can't have complaints; they're all over this site. What if you're not researching appliances, but electronics? Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, etc... There isn't one without it's fair share of complaints. Maybe automobiles are different. No. Unfortunately, they're complained about daily on this site and, not one brand seems to be immune.

Things have evolved within the appliance industry, just as in electronics and automotive design. Some things that have changed I like, other things don't seem to as much as an advantage. One thing that has changed is the consumer. 30 years ago, if you were to make a major purchased and be told your product was only warrantied for a single year, the option to buy would be disregarded. But somehow people have got to accept that a shorter warranty period is okay. In one of our discussions last week, someone actually seemed okay with just enough warranty coverage to get the merchandise home. To me, that is completely bizarre. I want a product guaranteed to run well within an acceptable amount of time. Yeah, it may cost a little more. It may mean I only buy from a place I trust to protect the purchase to the level I feel acceptable, but it can sure be worth it.

Oh. Ironically, Whirlpool owns the Jenn-Air brand.

Posted by lexophiliac on 2011-09-28:

I don't find that ironic at all. Many companies have "married" and "divorced" and some flirt briefly with the idea of bedding down together before rejecting the idea as a bad match or hold out for a more prospective "suitor".

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-09-28:

This review touts a 10-year old Whirlpool refrigerator, which was probably a basic model. That refrigerator stood a better chance of survival than the "high-tech" junk being offered now. If these high end Jenn-Air refrigerators are too complicated to work on now, technicians didn't stand a chance of fixing them back then. Thirty years later and they still can't fix their own designs.

Buying appliances did not used to be a crap shot. Brand names meant something. They were a sign of quality and confidence. That is no longer the case. By your own admission, no brand is reliable anymore. I wouldn't call that evolution. I'd call it deterioration.

The consumer has not changed. Consumers have always expected appliances to be dependable, and that's what they received. That's why warranties and extended warranties were not a priority. Now consumers have no choice but to accept short warranty periods on merchandise that is designed and built to break just outside that time period. Then they are intimidated into buying expensive extended warranties that usually end up being worthless, forcing them to ultimately replace the broken product.

You call that evolution. I call it a racket.

Posted by Venice09 on 2011-09-28:

"In one of our discussions last week, someone actually seemed okay with just enough warranty coverage to get the merchandise home."

Please direct me to the source of that statement.

Posted by ConsumersavvyUSA on 2011-09-28:

Great review. very concise! AYS +100. Excellent comment so there's no need to back it up with aatatement.