Class action lawsuit over refrigerator compressors
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Some consumers are reporting that their refrigerators are breaking down after just a few years, or even months. Carolyn Johnson reports for the NBC4 I-Team on Dec. 18, 2023.
With a $300 used refrigerator lasts longer than a $3000 new one, there's a problem.
Just like the EVs and LG cell phones. Never buy anything LG
With the $300 dollar used refrigerator, or any appliance. You are risking bringing in roaches, or bedbugs.
For all those people I know that make fun of my used fridge, it has lasted longer than most LA marriages....so who gets the last laugh? 😆
@@Jack_Russell_Brown Better than bringing home a human.
@@curlyhairdudeify Rule of thumb is to store your new used items in a garage that you can fumigate, or use good cleaners on for a few days to get you appliances critter free.
I had a repairman tell me to buy the model with the least amount of fancy features. He said if it has anything digital on it, don’t buy it! My experience has proven him to be 100% correct!!
He's 100% correct as he sees what those "bells and whistles" cost to repair. Even if you fix them yourself as I do, the parts costs tend to be more with all of those features. A fridge is a simple box that cools and freezes food. The less parts it has, the better off you are.
He is 💯 correct !! Less features.. less stress and a more happy life .
Well, that’s GREAT advice; but how long before you can’t buy ANYTHING that isn’t digital?? I’ve seen refurbishment places that have vintage gas stoves and fridges, and have resigned myself to these purchases rather than ANYTHING brand new.
That theory also applies to buying a vehicle too
But the least expensive without all the bells and whistle are the ones that are going to last longer
Im glad to see pushback against made to fail items. They are bad for our environment and our wallet.
It's not made to fail items, it's government regulation forcing energy efficient. What's worse for the environment? A fridge that uses a standard energy use long running good compressor? Or an energy efficient piece of crap that's going to fail early causing more fridges to be dumped in a landfill?? The energy saver nuts have caused yet another issue then complain about it at nauseum.
You can thank your greedy, corrupt, tax dodging corporate execs.
Can't sell new fridge if they last for lifetime.
@@cyberwarlord7363their goal isn’t to sell you multiple fridges, it’s to sell you everything else they make…
@@ericnewbold8101 That doesn’t explain why their compressors are failing. They changed the regulations on the gas they use.
They’ve known about this problem for a decade and they kept selling them? That’s criminal.
Agreed! They should be fined and shut down.
They didn't sell them on the cheap ether!
Same with Tesla and Elon the Con. It’s criminal.
@@BillyMartin68I bet you loved him before he started making waves. Why do you hate free speech yet love government tyranny? Are you a gubment employee?
No it's called GREED 😒
My old Kenmore lasted 23 years before it completely died. I did replace the defrost heater and timer, but it was mainly trouble free . When I went to replace it I was told by a salesman to avoid the LG brand. I ended up buying a GE. Seems like he was right.
My current Kenmore is running 20 years, had to replace a $95 main control board from eBay 14 years ago.
GE is trash. had an a/c break down brand new after 2 months used it twice.
Ex GE tech. GE is absolute garbage as is ever brand. GE sold out to the Chinese. On June 6, 2016, Haier and KKR acquired GE Appliances for $5.6 billion.
My General Electric made in the 1930s is running just fine - quieter and more efficient than today's fridges.
thats when it was made in china, now lg made their junk in Vietnam and east asian and are complete junk
We purchased a front load GE dryer in 1982. 2 belt replacements and it is still going strong. It moved with us 3 times. We loved this old school technology.
I bought a Maytag washing machine in 1991, and it's still working well. I did have to replace a few parts, but this is so much better than being forced to buy a new one every 5 years or so.
those dryers are inefficient. i bet you electricity bill is high.
I have not paid for electric in 5 years. I generate my own
To be fair, dryers are stupidly simple machines. It's incredibly hard for them to go really bad and usually a simple repair.
@@IAmTheGlovenor Older equipment was built to last. The new equipment has a shelf life. And it's a short life.
My neighbor's new fridge lasted only months before breaking! I remember the days when one refrigerator lasted a lifetime! Everything is built to fail IMO!
Okay you know we are over the hill and saying with confidence.....
They sure don't make them like they used to!!!
Maximize profit.
@@moniqueengleman873 lol
if it only lasted months it was still under warranty
@@moniqueengleman873 they don't let the same refrigeration gases to be used like they used to...they also have other government energy standards they need to meet. You also have corporate America getting so powerful they don't care about quality beyond the sale.
I bet most of the people reading these comments would buy a $1000 fridge vs a $5000 fridge that had a 20 year warranty.
People have been screaming “planned obsolescence” for years. Why has this taken so damn long!?
If you have older appliances, cars, anything that work well, do not replace them just because you want more bells and whistles.
The modern bells and whistles are stillborn, as in designed to fail.
I learned that with the new oval keurg coffee machine. The new oval one was snapped together, had a plastic cup poker instead of a metal and lasted 3months of daily use before it leaked internally and croaked.
Still have my 22 years old kenmore refrigerator, washer, and dryer! I decided to wait until it completely dies after doing research 5 years ago about things breaking down.
@@jackeroo75 I had my 40 yo dryer stop working last year. A 4 dollar part, and it works great.
@@jackeroo75I'm with you, 22 years old Kenmore fridge and dryer (I broke the washer over stuffing it). 32 years old Subie. I don't believe in new crap.
My SpeedQueen washer and dryer are 45yrs old., i paid $495 new for them! They run as well today as they did brand new!!
Blackstone was another good one!
My father and I recently closed down our appliance repair business to move overseas. If you get more than 3 years out of something nowadays, consider yourself lucky.
I was extremely happy to service an elderly lady's 50 yr old fridge. Needed a new fan motor. Cheap and reliable. If you can keep your old stuff, keep it.
Alot of companies are doing this on purpose nowadays to force customers to spend more and more money. Its sad😢
Well, what will happen is people will buy the same fridge, pull the broken part from the new fridge, install it on the old fridge, return the now new broken one. Lol.
I took appliance repair years ago and many students were disillusioned by how this issues were already a reality back then
Planned obsolescence.
I remember what a basic fridge would last 20 years with minimal maint. Very sad.
It's called capitalism 😢
I remember working for a company that was LG certified. We replaced probably 10 compressors a week in my city, and then if labor wasn't covered... Let's just say that year made us a crap ton of money, just on LG refrigerators. The only limiting factors was the compressor being out of stock, so we'd order as much as we could store, even without having the jobs yet. Because we knew the jobs would eventually come quickly
As a central air HVAC technician I can tell you that we are in a bad spot. Only compressor manufacturers on our end are LG and Copeland. Most techs don't know what they're doing anymore. Good luck.
Sound like whats going on with the automotive side also
80s blue collar dad over here…
Embraco… Whirlpool
@@Arborpress good call. I had no idea Brazil was making them on that end. Would be nice if we could get reciprocating compressors in the central air systems. Everything is scroll or rotary now.
@jaracgos Rotary are trash, but I don't see issues with scroll compressors.
If you want advice on which fridge to buy, don't ask the guy at Home Depot, ask the local fridge repair tech.
My 88 year old dad has the original yellow side by side fridge that came in our new house 1978. That's a 45 year old fridge that is still working!!!! 😊❤
that's with good old ozone destroying freon that worked at much lower pressures . that's why.
We have 2 refrigerators from the 1950's that were originally my wife's grandparent's and both refrigerators STILL WORK TO THIS DAY. We use them as extra fridges in the basement and they work fine.
@@ronblack7870 R12 does not destroy the ozone, its molecules are heavier than air and impossible to reach the atmosphere. For it to "theoretically" destroy the ozone, it needs to leak out. If the fridge still works, it hasn't leaked out.
@@muziklvr7776 bloody right
@@muziklvr7776refrigerators never use R12 though, that was for automotive air conditioning.
You guys are geniuses.
That being said some people aren’t aware that some good and services take you to the bank. Kinda like cell phones. They know exactly what they’re doing.
Building long lasting appliances is overall better for the environment.
Agreed, but just wait until you find out what happens with any modern car that has refrigerant in it.
If you haven't noticed, majority of companies don't care about the environment.
Unfortunately it's also a good way to go broke. The vast majority of buyers will get whichever appliance has the most features for their set budget. Any higher quality option will cost more and most people will look at that, call it a rip-off, and buy the cheap one without hesitation.
We may have to buy used OLD models from back in the day when companies cared about quality!@@Tangent360
But it's bad for the companies that sell them. All the companies care about is money. The more unites they sell equates to more money. Companies like Apple are the worst at this, they solder their parts together to make it impossible for repairmen to fix them. All those electronics go straight to the land field. Companies will donate to some dumb environment programs to improve their image but what they are doing is the complete opposite. But there are so many dumb people out there who doesn't know and care to find the truth.
I have a GE fridge from the '70s. It has never had any repair or maintenance work of any kind and runs fine. Who cares if it use 50% more electricity than a new one which will cost thousands and last only a few years.
My electric bill is still the same after buying a new supposedly more energy saving refrigerator.
We have refrigerators and freezers built in the 60's and 70's that still run. I'm lucky to get 2 years out of a microwave anymore.
Yep, I have mini freezer (washing machine sized) from 1974 and is still running. That is quality unmatched by today's junk.
I have a fridge from 1952, still runs perfectly. This thing is 71 years old.
My made in Korea microwave oven outlasted two marriages.
I have an aunt still have a microwave from the 80s I was blown away it still works well. That thing is sturdy and probably old as I am (37yo)
They don’t want them to last anymore just like vehicles. My TVs that were led were all POS and it was different brands. My expensive LG G1 that I paid $1800 for was the shortest of all and only 4 months. My old panisonic plasma has outlasted half a dozen family TVs and that’s the one everyone said wouldn’t last it was purchased in 05 I believe and is still going with no issues.
They want these products to barely scrape by on the warranty then it if to tears up great because they want to nail you on repair cost. In automotive now it’s pretty common to pay $1500 for a headlight,taillight or even a side view mirror. It’s all driven by greed and there is no one to put them in check because people keep on buying them.
It is planned obsolescence. It makes them more money. It is why Maytag stopped advertising lifetime warranties on all their products, so they too could benefit from specific necessary parts failing on the unit and those parts being almost as costly as a brand-new appliance. Honestly, I feel like this class action lawsuit is coming far too late for most of us consumers that have purchased these fridges and other appliances that have the same planned obsolescence built into them.
Companies should know that planned obsolescence will not benefit them. Case in point is LG. My LG fridge failed this year. And what did I do? I bought a new one from a different manufacturer. So my new purchase didn't benefit LG at all.
You are the exception then because too many just replace with the newer or same version appliance. But if you read any of the other comments besides mine, if only 2 companies are making the replacement faulty asf parts, that are used in almost all of these appliances, then they have still benefited from your purchase thru the parent company buying that part for that appliance to be manufactured so you can then buy it. @@MountainMan.
Are you people aware that Maytag sold out to Whirlpool which isn't NEARLY as good as Maytag? So now Whirlpool might be putting Maytags name on their products but by far, their products are inferior to ANYTHING originally made by Maytag!!
"Tested to last 20 years" So that means they LG tested it for 20 years, right? Nope. Just another company putting in cheaper parts to save a buck.
LG really means Life’s Garbage.
My early 90's GE fridge was still working up until the point that it was destroyed in a fire earlier this year, that's over 30 years in service. The sad part is, once the new house is up I'm going to be in the market for a new fridge. I'm definitely not buying an LG or Samsung though.
@@madmatt2024Get one with a digital inverter compressor. I'm not sure if any manufacturer other than Samsung uses those, though.
@@Welgeldiguniekalias Nope, I'm getting one with a normal reciprocating or scroll compressor and if I can, no dispenser on the door.
The simpler the refrigerator the better.
This is EXACTLY what happened to my Kenmore, it absolutely died at 5 years old. Except, we had added fun! After 2 years of owning the refrigerator, we had to literally remove the inside of the freezer's back panel and manually defrost it about every 4 to 8 weeks. And this was after a new fan and thermostat were installed! Would cost about the same to repair the Kenmore as it would to replace it, so we bought a Whirlpool, as it was one of the only units that would fit in our limited space. After 2 days, the bottom vegetable cracked. After 3 days, it was freezing our milk. A technician came out under the Whirlpool warranty, and told us we can't utilize that "place in the back by the freezer as it will freeze things." Seriously???? Gets worse: after a month, we woke up one morning to find almost everything in our refrigerator frozen. Pancake mix, blueberries, left over wet cat food, broccoli, etc. Ruined food. Technician comes out again, have to wait a week for parts to replace the thermostat and fan. ONE MONTH OLD REFRIGERATOR.
I cleaned out my aunt's house after she passed away. Her round top GE refrigerator was still working and I found the receipt for it ! It was Fifty Years Old!!!!!
I fixed one of those in the 60's. They were old then.
Those round tops are worth money.
This happened to me a few years ago with a Samsung fridge. It's very unfortunate for consumers because as mentioned appliances ARE NOT CHEAP. We as consumers expect quality for a fridge that cost 3,000 dollars.
Samsung USED to be good refrigerators.
Samsung is terrible. stop making ice and ice is block in the back.
@curlyandstrong6798 I have both an LG and a Samsung refrigerator, they have been working perfectly, since I purchased them over a decade ago.
@terrylejones1340 that's amazing. My Samsung only lasted 4 years.
Refrigerators used to last 20 years, now they are being used as a tool to get rich. The amount of appliance waste is out of control, I don’t understand how anyone can think this is ok.
*My dad has one in the garage that's been in use for over 60 years given to him by his father!* *And the one in the kitchen for over 30 years and still going strong.*
Time for you to open a fridge company and do a better job. Just think, you could be making $$$.
@@bobroberts2371 True, but to get even a guaranteed decade of service will cost dearly. It's like the $12 toasters that last for 2-3 years. If you want a 10-year toaster, it will cost $200. But if you move a lot chasing work, a disposable toaster might be way to go.
All the HE goverment mandates did this
@@derekheim8172 And that is the point, manufacturers walk a thin line of making stuff that lasts, is more $ but no one buys Vs something that lasts long enough at a price point people are willing to pay.
It’s not just refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners too!
I was born in Tanzania🇹🇿 Africa 1989 & there was a refrigerator my dad had 7 years before i was born. Today is 2023 and the refrigerator is still running. Though its legs are rusty but it runs like a clock and it has zero noises. Simple, no some digital switches, only one analog button. Now i get the concept why people used to say old is gold. Also it never broke.
Your dad must be a slow runner if he hasn’t caught that refrigerator running for 40 years 😂
That's kinda cute. That refrigerator is like your Big Brother who grew up with you.
@@buffystclair9042 he died in 1991 so he never lived to see how the world has turned to a planned obsolescence. The cause of his death was a road accident which was a hit & run where the bus hit him while he was riding his motorbike honda trail 110, which broke only its glass headlight. He died but the honda lived to see this day, we sold it to our family friend guy who rides it to date 2023.
@@jasonbourneistreadstone yeah🤣🤣
@@lyimoej7198 Wow what a story! Sorry to hear about your father's passing.
thanks for reporting this. I got an LG refrigerator from Costco for $2500 back in 2018 w/ linear motor compressor. Luckily the compressor went out 3 months before the 5-yr warranty expires this summer. Got it replaced under warranty and technician told me it only last at most 5 years. Next time the repair will be out of warranty and the bill will be at least $500 for compressor + $500 labor.
Luckily your rich so it doesnt matter
I am surprised a tech was willing to fix the compressor. I couldn't find anyone who would do the work because they can't guarantee the compressor will last even within their short guarantee period.
I took a appliance repair class years ago and it was horrible as every model was made different for the purposes of people depending on the companies while they eliminated independent businesses and it was still horrible for their technicians who constantly need to be learning every new stupid machine
Hardware manufacturers, companies that produce screws and bolts etc. Like hilti and milwaukee are literally making some screw sizes that other manufacturers wrenches and sockets don't quite fit. And next time you see a brand new 2 × 4 measure it. They are still shrinking year by year.
Word for word this is the auto mechanics rant. Car companies don't want to standardize ANYTHING.you spend your entire life in school.
I put my own compressor in back in 2020. My refrigerator died, and because of COVID, I couldn't even get a new one delivered. It cost me about $700, but only about $250 was parts. The rest was tools. I needed torches, an AC manifold set, vacuum pump, refrigeration flush kit, nitrogen tank, etc. Took about an hour.
*an
@@SwapPartLLC I like doing DIY projects like that. I just follow the YT videos and go at it.
There is no technical reason that appliances should not last 20 years under normal usage. The Energy Star rating or Eco-friendly score should not only include the power usage but should also include an estimate on how long the device is expected to function. High efficiency appliances that get tossed in the trash every few years are not great for the environment either.
They don't get tossed in the trash they are recycled for their scrap metal. Shredded and melted down and the metal is used to make something else.
That is true but if the item does not last long you are going through the recycle process more frequently which uses more energy and creates some amount of pollution and waste@@natew8882
It's the energy efficiency guidelines. Older compressors are built overkill for the task they have at hand and pull down an overkill amount of power. If the compressor gets stuck it can easily power through it. Newer compressors are much smaller and just barely able to handle the task at hand. They are pushed to their hardware limits and fail early. When a newer compressor gets stuck, within hours it will burns itself out and cause irreparable damage to the motor because it doesn't have that extra amount of leeway and power draw to get through it. I would much rather have a reliable appliance than an energy efficient one. My washer and dryer are both from the 1970s and the motors on them are massive and pull a lot of power but they won't get stuck and burn themselves out no matter how many wet towels and jeans you throw in the load or how much you overfill it. Instead of getting stuck they will just burn their power transfer belts off because the belt can't handle the load but the motors can and will power through it without getting stuck and burning out.. Using a much larger motor than needed for the task at hand is inherently power inefficient and doesn't meet the energy efficiency "guidelines".
sounds to me that a compressor fail is a fire hazard, too.
what is your point???
it's also the freon . old stuff worked at lower pressures.
Nice reply! 100% agree
I am so tired of the energy efficient excuse. I don't care if my refrigerator uses $50 more electricity in a year. Just the delivery charge for a new one is $150. A freezer full of spoiled food can easily be $300. It is a fools errand to compromise dependability for theoretical efficiency. A product that lasts an extra decade is FAR more environmentally superior.
My new fridge quit after six months. Luckily I’d saved the 30 year old one it replaced so I had somewhere to move my food while the Orange store, the manufacturer and the extended warranty company argued about who was responsible for fixing it.
In the early 70's. My parents had a fridge in the basement that was made in the early 50's. And it was still working. I bought a B&D drill in "85" and it still works. But these new high tech appliances, tools, gadgets, and cars are designed to keep you broke. And the corporation rich.
It’s Chinese made excrement. It’s why I laughed any time someone said that China was going to take over the world someday. Nah… 😂
@@VoteForBukele actually its made in mexico
So what you’re saying is every drill and refrigerator from the 70s is still working?
@@neilkurzman4907my moms fridge is still working great. Everything made today is crap compared to the fifties - eighties.
@@neilkurzman4907 They are
I have a refrigerator thats made in AMERICA was my grandparents is little over 50 yrs. And still going strong
This is why I prefer the basic fridge. Don't care if the fridge doesn't come with wi-fi, Tiktok and other useless bells and whistles.
Haaahaa, right.
The compressor is not a useless bell and whistle.
Same with washer n dryers.
the real problem is the government demanding more energy efficiency out of appliances instead of better warranties. if companies had to replace anything that breaks for ten years, we would have a whole lot less waste in broken refrigerators being thrown out and replaced with new ones. which would be much better for the environment.
Alleged energy efficiency at the expense of service life is a fools errand. If the unit used only ten percent of the power, it still would not offset the energy used to create and ship an new one and to dispose of the old one. Absolute insanity.
This is what happens when manufacturing goes overseas. Remember when "Built in America" used to mean quality?
Many have found out too late. China now own us.
@@user-hgkf5Could you just imagine if the UAW built your fridge? That thing would not work most of the time from day one all while complaining about doing it when it did work. 🤣🤣🤣
It’s about time. Now they need to extend this lawsuit to cover all brands, and include the lower priced units. My experience has been that they might last 2 - 2 1/2 years before breaking down, and I refuse to spend more than $800 +/- on something guaranteed to fail. With the previous fridge, my repairman told me the cost of repair was close to the cost of replacement…..also to avoid LG.
It's pretty obvious that buying a different brand is not going to matter. LG was exposed years ago for making a washer with a basket spider made of zinc, of all metals. Naturally the spider slowly corroded until the basket went out of balance and shut the machine down. Sure, zinc is cheap for a casting, but this application is completely wrong.
Unless they actually want the washer to fail after a few years. Which seems to be the case with a lot of consumer goods these days. While at the same time we have complaints about the mountains of trash we create. Well, look at who is actually designing, our trash.
Zinc is an anti-corrosive element, which is why it's often used to coat steel (via galvanization) as it lasts longer
My wife and I experienced this problem with our 1 year old Kenmore. The replacement linear compressor cost more than we paid for our refrigerator. Plus, we had to wait longer than a month for a replacement compressor. My aunt had the same Kenmore refrigerator for 40
years. When it finally quit after 40 years, there were no parts to repair it. Because she kept a service contract on it the whole time, Sears gave her a brand new refrigerator of her choice.
And what model did they gave her? I hope not an LG or Samsung one 😢
We need mandatory minimum quality and lifespan standards.
Yeah that couldn't possibly backfire
@@KC9UDX Statistical analysis can be done on submitted designs. And if the failure curve doesn't support a median or average lifespan according to the requirement, it wouldn't be able to be sold.
@@gregorymalchuk272 then just don't buy it. Mandatory anything is just wrong.
Pay someone to evaluate it before you buy it . Don't mandate it.
Moms Whirlpool lasted 53 years and it's still runnin today!
Local appliance tech said its his full time job replacing variable displacement compressor now. Its not just LG. Anything with computer control compressor is a red flag
that is why I miss low tech appliances. I don't need an appliance that has a computer and fancy features.
@@JohnS-er7jh unnecessary complexity
I had a Hotpoint refrigerator I purchased in 1961 and we had it until 2004 when my wife decided that she preferred to have one of those modern refrigerators with side by side doors and an ice maker. The Hotpoint was working perfectly and there was nothing wrong with it at the time. The new Kenmore refrigerator lasted 7 years and then the compressor burned out probably because the corrosive refrigerant used in it leaked out because it corroded a hole through the tubing.
If you bought it in 04, it was most likely a r-134a unit. That refrigerant is not corrosive. The oil is a different story however. Polyolester oil is a dehydrated acid, and failure to properly remove moisture from the system will result in it rehydrating over time. It only becomes acidic when rehydrated, so failure to properly vacuum the refrigerant circuit is the real issue.
As a side note, there’s only one major refrigerant that’s common in refrigeration that is itself corrosive, and that’s ammonia.
@@TheMinecraftACMan My old fridge was probably R22, but the new fridges use a variety of stuff, right to to--gasp!-- PROPANE!
@@basspig Not saying it's impossible, R-22 is/was used in some commercial applications for walk-in fridges and freezers, so it's not like the refrigerant is unsuitable for the application. I've just never personally heard of R-22 in a residential fridge before. My understanding was they pretty much went from R-12 to R-134a to R-600a.
But I'm a commercial air conditioning technician, not a home appliance technician. While I know how to repair the equipment, it's not something I work on daily so my personal experience with it is limited at best.
On a separate note about propane fridges, what's super neat is that there are fridges that BURN propane to move heat around. Look up ammonia absorption fridges if you're curious. Super common in RVs because they don't require much electricity, you can run them off a car battery for a long time without draining it as the the energy used to produce the cooling effect is actually from propane heat.
When you buy a fridge and transport it home in a horizontal position, you can cause damage by plugging it in too soon. Liquid refrigerant gets to where it should not ba, and since the compressor works on vapor, damage can happen when it tries to compress liquid.
Stand your fridge up ang wait a couple hours for that liquid to vaporize out before turning it on. The damage could be evident immediately, or take a while to fail.
Fact
very important tip
Um, I think you mean refrigerant oil. The refrigerant itself, is in the same state (liquid or gas) throughout the whole unit when it's been powered off and the pressures naturally equalize.
I'm speaking to an audience that doesnt know refrigeration. Trying to give people a tip to prolong their fridge. Not trying to be precise enough to pass the cert test. There's no need to "umm, actually" me.@@madmatt2024
@@madmatt2024 spot on
My parents bought a Kelvinator in 1959. It has been moved twice over 1000km and did not die. It still runs today.
THERE ARE MANY COMPANIES WHO PUT OUT BAD OR FAULTY PRODUCTS THAT KNOW ABOUT IT AND DON'T CARE.
Its because they perform a risk assessment and determine what the costs are to fix/upgrade vs paying out claims and many choose to let it ride and pay the claims.
very true, but also parts you can remove and replace with an american part. After all. A fridge is just a box with a controller that can be american quality for 20 dollars. An american made compressor for 150...
I had a whirlpool machine burn through two control boards in two years. When I inspected the parts that were burning out they had a voltage rating that barely covered the normal voltage range and left no room for start up/shut down transients on the compressor. Basically it was guaranteed to fail within a few years, and that's exactly what it was doing. I was able to replace them with higher voltage rating parts and it lasted until I moved out but that was a real eye opener.
Yeah I've done the same on a few devices a dryer with undersized resistors a dishwasher can't remember what component and a fridge dc controller that used cheap large capacitors $6 dollars to fix a $400 controller
I owned a top of the line Samsung digital french door refrigerator, at only three years old started having problems with electronics after just three years, then the compressor went out after five years. I bought a Frigidaire used 18 cu ft refrigerator to replace it, no problems, and the refrigerator is about 15 years old.
I had the same refrigerator and did not last 4 years.
yeah those and washer driers with all types buttons and displays are trouble
My Whirlpool fridge is 42 y.o. now and runs great.
We probably have that same Frigidaire 😊. I use it as a Kimchi fridge. The only thing I hate about it is I bump my head if I try to get something in the back, but can’t complain otherwise…..running strong many years now…..low electricity use.
@tenabarnes3269 Thank you, somebody with some sense to buy an old fridge instead of another brand new one and making corporations pockets bloated.
My parents bought their fridge when I was 8yrs old. I’m 43yrs old now and it still blows cold. They don’t make them like they use too.
Just bought a new KitchenAid refrigerator. My old one was a Frigidaire and still worked well, but it was rusting out in the back on the freezer side. I always like talking to the delivery guys, and they told me the one refrigerator they pick up more than any other are the Samsungs. They said most of them are only two and three years old, and they quit cooling.
Misleading. If something is the most popular, you’re probably gonna see most of them.
@@sdbszz706you got a point
@skmk88 Actually, Frigidaire is the top selling brand. Samsung is in the top five for the most popular refrigerators but is number 1 for failure after a couple of years of use. This is information coming from the delivery guys who service metro Atlanta.
@@agordianknot so is refridaire the best brand quality wise?
@superduperboyx I have always gotten good service from Whirlpool products, and their prices are usually very affordable, especially around holidays when most all appliances go on sale. If I could afford it, I would buy a Sub-Zero fridge, but those refrigerators start out at ten to twelve thousand dollars. Too much cake for me.
I learned this a decade ago. All that fancy crap never lasts. I went with Maytag with mechanical controls; top load washer and front load dryer like I had when I was a kid. Bulletproof.
I bought a Speed Queen commercial, dials only, washer, 18 years ago……still running strong, no repair bills yet. 😂
Just like most things these days they aren't made to last, companies found out they can make more money by making you having to replace them after the warranty is over. Samsung has the same problem with their refrigerators and other appliances. My mom has a refrigerator that's at least 40 years old and it's still going strong.
These same companies will tell you how much they care about the environment but then make products that break in a few years forcing you to throw away all of that material.
This type of planned obsolescence needs to be made illegal.
I have two fridges in my house, one is around 20 years old and the other is about 15 years old. Both are running strong and their energy usage is about what a new fridge does today.
Mine didn’t last 3 years. The compressor has a 5 year warranty. LG replaced it but I had to pay for labor.
My compressor went after five years. They had hide already a class action lawsuit. I stayed on the phone with their office for 3 to 4 hours on a daily basis and got the runaround. I lost groceries as you can imagine a very, very expensive. I got the runaround when they tried to have a repairman come. One actually didn’t show up. The repairman told me himself that this was a common faulty problem. They came across with the LG refrigerators. I paid $2500 for a refrigerator to fail less than five years.
Class action means only lawyers make the money...
True.
Same with ranges. I gave up and bought a 1947 O'Keefe and Merritt. It works beautifully. I'll keep my old appliances, thanks.
Those are fantastic ranges!
My Kenmore refrigerator is still working after 15 years.❤❤❤❤
Yeah, I miss the old Kenmore. Too bad it will never be made again since Kenmore was Sears’ flagship brand. No Sears, no Kenmore. The Kenmore now is complete BS and uses LG garbage parts.
The old Kenmore were made by Whirlpool and ran forever.
Ours stopped in less than a year. It began building up ice, even behind the back wall unit, and screwed up the electrical board where our fridge thinks it needs to make ice, even though the setting for ice making is OFF.
Kenmore doesn't care.
We had to jumo through hoops to get someone out here. We had to take everything out of our fridge, buy bags of ice from store. Use all our 4 coolers (1 large), take out the shelves, take off the filter, take off back panel in the fridge, and use a steam jet thing to melt the hard ice build up.
We still can't afford to buy another fridge, and we were barely able to get our fridge inside because our doorway is too narrow for modern fridges!
So, to this day, we have to remove ice EVERY MONTH!!
And I have to keep a thing in there to keep check on the temps because sometimes in the morning I'll find that it had reached 50 degrees in the back of the fridge, and I gotta pitch the milks (2% and oat milk) along with other items that go bad. So there's been several mornings the past 7 years now, where we've had nothing to eat because of having to pitch the milks and other items. Taking care of a fridge is back breaking, quite literally! 1-1½hrs gets spent to mantain the fridge and my back is out for rest of that day, stuck in bed. We keep on hand 4 coolers, 1 extra large cooler, and 2 insulated cooler bags, when we gotta do a clean out because temps got to high.
FYI, it's LG's 'FLB' compressors that are failing. The 'LC', 'FLA', 'FLS' and 'FLE' compressors seem to be just as reliable as the competitions'. The bad compressors may be in fridges branded as LG, Kenmore (model # beginning with 795), or even some GE branded fridges were made by LG (very briefly).
Kenmore fridges made by Daewoo (model # beginning with 111) are worthy of their own class action for evap fans seizing-up.
Samsung ice makers and frozen defrost drain tubes could be another class action.
My refrigerator at home lasted 45 years. We got it back in 1978. When Jimmy Carter was president.
I wonder how many people aren’t doing any maintenance on their fridges. If you have a pet you can bet fur is accumulating in places it shouldn’t be and you need to clear it out of the coils, back, etc.
I mean LG should be sued for saying it would last 20yrs but didn't even test it for 20yrs. It should be illegal for any company to make any claim it hasn't tested
The government needs to make planned obsolescence illegal.
Then expect to pay MUCH more products. Only so much is spent on R&D. Pretty much every product you buy has an expected lifespan. Why? Because it costs money to develop longer lasting products. And when a customer sees a $10k fridge with an expected lifespan of 20 years vs a $2k fridge with an expected lifespan of 5, the consumer is going to go for the cheaper one because of the upfront cost.
or just make political lobbying illegal. because guilty companies are paying the politicians off to allow thid. as they say...follow the money
@@84jdgregoryWe have 2 refrigerators from the 1950's that were originally my wife's grandparent's and both refrigerators STILL WORK TO THIS DAY. We use them as extra fridges in the basement and they work fine.
@@Dash323MJ my parents gave me a Sunbeam mini fridge in 2005 when I moved out. I gave it away earlier this year solely because I didn't need it anymore. I'm assuming it still works like a champ. Im personally tired of "smart" devices. I just want my TV to turn on and my oven to cook.
I'm only 39 and sound Old as F#ck.
My Kenmore Elite compressor made by LG went out after 6 years. The compressor had a 10 year warranty, so it was replaced for free, but I had to pay the technician over 700 dollars to install it still was cheaper than a new frig in the same size and style by over 1000.
The ONLY people who make money in a worthless class action lawsuit are the lawyers. If you bought one of these refrigerators, you should OPT-OUT of the class action. Then, let them fight it out in court and see who wins. If the class action loses, do nothing, you'd have probably lost anyway. If the class action WINS, then you should bring your own separate action against the company, write your own briefs, cite the class action in court, and recover 100% of the per-affected-person payout of the class action without paying the class action attorneys that 90% they manage to keep. My family's been in 4 class actions over the years and we've learned this the hard way. The last time was Levaquin, where they only paid my dad a couple hundred dollars. They had billable time and incidentals and all other kinds of fees they took out to where his supposedly-$5,000-ish payout was whittled down to $200. ALWAYS OPT-OUT OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS.
Mine failed after 4 yrs…luckily it was still under warranty…but it took 2 weeks for the parts to get here…had my newborn son at 4 days old…so we had no fridge…the warranty team at PC Richards told me its time compressor after I read him the serial number…and then said yea LG is fully aware of this issue, they actually sell the fridges knowing that they will fail rather quickly…to just fix it on them them. How could they be allowed to sell something coming from their factories with a faulty anything on it from the production line and two how are they able to charge the money they ask knowing this? Shame on LG!
Caroline should look into Honeywells circuit boards supplied in gas furnaces . These circuit boards have copper foil contacts which fail quite frequently . Mine failed in only a few months of use . I fixed it myself by resoldering the foil contact but many of my neighbors have already replaced their entire unit because the service men are not allowed to fix the circuit board only replace it for $800.00 dollars !
Cold solder contacts have become common. Manufacturers cut corners and consumers suffer.
Thanks to God that I watch this video on time, because I was going to replace my refrigerator this coming year. And now I know LG is not a good brand. Thanks for posting this video.
Regulation made all compressors weaker and short lived.
This is not limited to refrigerators or certain brands. Barely used Kenmore stove went out, and after some research, lost of complaints about the control board burning up. Replacement board lasted about a year. Now the microwave is tripping the breaker. Different house, GE dishwasher wouldn’t start wash cycle without some work. Researched and lots of people leave it unplugged when not in use. We wondered why it was unplugged when we moved in. 8 months later it has not had an issue as long as we unplug it when not in use.
They’re worried about us throwing these Apple wall chargers in the landfill, as if anyone just throws them away, but nobody is saying anything about the cheap electronics in these appliances. I just gave away a fridge. And microwave that last 20yrs. Probably a mistake.
Surprised by the brand in this issue: I own an LG fridge I bought in 2000 in Australia. I brought it with me to Europe in 2004 and it is still working perfectly. I also own other LG appliances (2 TV sets and washing machine bought in 2012) and never had an issue with them. Interesting, will watch it as it develops.
@Alarix246 I agree with you. All my appliances are either an LG or a Samsung. All of them have been working perfectly for well over a decade. I love them.
Not surprised at all. Samsung and LG appliances have been notoriously bad for years. LG got pretty bad with their phones too. It was absolutely no surprise when they pulled out of the market on that altogether. It's kind of sad but at the same time it may not 100% be the companies just getting worse. Things like refrigerant regulations have lead to systems that just don't last as long.
Samsung is one of the worst..in our neighborhood of 6 year old house, on junk day, there will be any number of junk samsung refrigerators, washer and dryers or dishwashers sitting out to be picked up...even our neighbor's samsung refrigerator quit making ice...they come to us, we have a Frigidaire gallery that makes so much ice we have to shut off the ice maker.@@Rainmotorsports
I was a service agent from 1998 through to 2012 and LG part would always fail in the exact same time. What was of washing machine motors by adding a plastic part on motor shaft. HVAC compressor by using a bypass spring once reached a certain motor temperature causing failure, the same as on domestic refrigeration. They would make us send the all the old motors back and then say they weren't faulty and void customer warranty or not pay the service company.
There's a refrigerator engineer who has a TH-cam channel. He says to avoid any fridge with ice-maker units or whatnots located in the door (in the front) because the internal working of most fridges can't handle this extra technology. He thinks that most fridges are not built to last. Built-in obsolescence. Particularly ironic these days when big companies are preaching at us to save energy while they're using huge amounts of energy and materials to make products which have to be scrapped within a few years. Remember how long the old fridges used to last?
Ive been a tech for years. Ive watch appliances go down the tubes in the name of technology.
It's called Planned Absolescence.
Obsolescence
@@natew8882 LOL I did not proofread was using the talk feature.
20 years?!? My late Grandmother's fridge from the late 50's is still working...
My Amana fridge is just shy of 30 years old and it's still going strong; few if any microchips, a steel mechanical defrost timer and a traditional compressor. Those traditional compressors worked just fine and are very durable and reliable. Sounds like those new linear compressors were a solution in search of a problem; and instead of fixing anything, created new problems of poor reliability and durability.
Im using a 30 year old whirlpool fridge. Probably paid $300-$500 brand new, I don’t remember. It’s not pretty, no ice maker or water dispenser but it works. Everyone I know that has a $2500 fridge has either had it fixed or replaced.
This is a technology that has existed for over a century. I find it hard to believe that it’s impossible to build a compressor that’s inexpensive and reliable.
The technology hasn't existed for a century. R134a got banned due to global warming, new refrigerants like R600a operate at 5x the pressure. New refrigerants are also flammable, so everything electric has to be sealed to prevent sparks. Energy efficiency regulations, combined with the new less efficient refrigerants, made a lot of manufacturers switch from the classic AC motors to DC brushless (inverter) motors, which require complex high-voltage electronics to run.
I have a Kenmore fridge from 1999, Maytag washee and dryer from 2005. All still work perfectly. Garage has an Amana from the 1960s. Keeps beer ice cold. No way I'm replacing these anytime soon.
Don't even know what appliances are good these days, but the consensus is stay away from Samsung and LG.
This happening with washers and dryers too
I’ve had my compressor replaced twice now and it just hint three years old. LG did extend the warranty out to I think 10 years but it only covers the part and not the labor.
This is why like Louis Rossman said we have to get “Right to Repair” to pass world wide to allow us to “owners” of these devices we buy.
Two years ago our kenmore failed, due to compressor failed. no one would even come to look at it, we had to buy new and the fridge was only 4 years old!
Never beta test someone's product for them.
My refrigerator came with my house, and it's a newer Samsung fridge. It's constantly messing up monthly. The old school one we have outside in the garage hasn't messed up once and has saved us countless times so far
There are USA built Copeland and Tecumseh compressors that are still running 40 years later. I am tired of being forced to buy substandard asian crap when I am paying a premium price for products that are supposed to be quality. CEO's that make those decisions need to be punished.
It’s not China that is the problem. We only make a product based on the company’s specs, so don’t blame us. Our Chinese companies make perfectly fine products for us. This problem is the result of capitalism…..does no one actually go to school in your country to learn critical thinking? Blame your greedy CEO’s and a system derived entirely to make money for shareholders.
I have been a tech for 40 years. All new compressors are garbage compared to the ones from the beginning of my career. You can thank the good old Federal Government and the EPA specifically for this. They keep making the energy requirements less and less so the manufacturers have to keep coming up with new and more expensive ways to do the same job. The more complicated you make things the more likely they are to break down. I have no love for LG, in fact I call them Low Grade or Lousy Garbage because they are horrible appliances and their customer service is THE WORST in the US market but nothing is built to last twenty years anymore. The only ones getting rich are the Lawyers.
Thank you for letting the public know about this situation, which has clearly become a scam by LG. Too bad, they had a pretty good reputation, but now I know to ask about the compressor before buying a new fridge, which I think I'll soon be doing, as mine is 16 years old.
GOOD!! Someone is finally suing LG!!!! Bought my black side by side Samsung fridge, dam "linear compressor of LG's went out like 19 months after!! Lost all food, took over a week to get repaired. This was 4 years ago.
LG settled a class action lawsuit several years ago over their junk compressors
The apartment complex that I live in (with about 150 units) has been having issues with their new fridges for several years now. About once every week there will be another barely used fridge out by the dumpster because it stopped working (usually the compressor died). I talked with the maintenance guys and they said that these units are built like crap, and sometimes will even be DOA. When I asked why they don't return them under warranty, they said that it takes months for the company (in this case Whirlpool) to fix defective units, and often they will make you jump through hoops just to get them to pick up the unit. They said that since the management company buy these in bulk, they get them at a discount, so it's still cheaper / faster to just keep throwing the bad ones away. On the bright side, they let me take the bad units to a nearby recycling facility for cash. This year I hauled away 38 of them and made about $550.
Found out about this 5 years ago. I purchased a Kenmore in 2014. 5 years later the compressor died. Sears replaced the compressor. Fortunately i had my receipt and had been covered by a 10 year warranty. They have since dropped the warranty to 1 year. It died 2 years later. Now no one will touch it because it will just continue to stop working. Googled this issue. My fridge is a LG with a Kenmore badge. LG was sued twice on this. First time they extended the warranty. Second time, oh well. And now they are going after them again. Good luck.
I just had my compressor replaced by LG under warranty. I was 2 months away from the warranty expiring. Same inverter linear compressor. Fortunately, my illustrious wife registered the product online so LG had a record of the purchase. Still had to provide a receipt which I was able to retrieve from some very helpful associates at Home Depot. Bought this fridge 4 years ago on sale for $1895. A repair company that is authorized to work on LG products, gave me an estimate to replace the compressor for $2300. They were somewhat helpful contacting LG, but as you might imagine, they'd rather not perform warranty work. It some cajoling, and 3 weeks later the fridge was fixed at no cost. Luckily, we have a 30 year old GE refrigerator in the basement that has never failed. I think I bought it new for $199.
I have been trying to get a LG technician to fix my refrigerator for the last 11 days. Inverter linear compressor started to make weird noises for more than month. A non LG technician checked it and said the compressor is causing the trouble. Ice maker stopped making ice for more than 3 months ago. The local LG authorized repair service told me it will cost 1200 Dollars to fix the evaporators and has no guarantee that any other parts are required to change.
25 years ago a company from Belarus bought aging compressor factory in Denmark from restructuring Danfoss. Some of their Minsk (Atlant) fridges still work after 15-20 years like at day 1.
Danfoss compressor branch went bankrupt 5 years ago, because no one needs new compressor while their 15 year old one is working, was sold to some Italian holding.
These still can't beat working 1954 ZIL, produced the same year Stalin died.
I acquired a $1000 Haier from someone several months after they bought it brand new. It wasn't keeping the cabinet cold. The techs couldn't fix it. They just replaced the whole fridge. I diagnosed it and replaced the compressor power relay on the control board. Soldered it on and off myself for a total of $12. The control side was okay. It was the switched side of the relay that failed.
My buddy is an appliance repair guy, and he told me to keep my 1993 Whirlpool fridge. I'm going to remodel my kitchen and I'm going to look into cabinet panel kits for it. Meanwhile, I have a post war GE refrigerator in my shop that's been working every day for over 70 years. There just aren't any American made consumer fridges left unless you buy a Sub Z, and I'm not sure who makes those...