House Refrigerator/Freezer Combo

I have a Kenmore refrigerator/freezer combo and it's been dying on me for the past couple of weeks, not getting cold to where the freezer side is not freezing the food, the ice cream bars all melted in a box that I hadn't opened yet. Then the ice hasn't been making ice cubes like it used to.

I called up the Sears Service people since we bought it from there almost 10 years ago and they said that it requires replacing the defroster, which is 300+ dollars, and that doesn't solve the ice cubes issue which is a separate cost.

Then they inspected some more when they're about to leave and noticed the water pipe connecting from the wall to the refrig was leaking.

It's terrible. I have a Whirlpool refrigerator/freezer combo that is nearly 30 years old in the garage, and although it doesn't produce ice anymore, it still keeps the food frozen cold.

Currently I had to shut the water from the kitchen to stop the leaking and in the meantime, am shopping around the stores near me to buy a replacement. It looks like I'm not going to be able to wait until Memorial Day sales for this kind of problem.

I don't know what stores locally to look at besides Sears and Costco. Costco said they only have 2 models, a Sanyo and a Whirlpool, but I heard they have a 2 year warranty and do include in the price the delivery and install. Because I got this Kenmore from Sears, I have a bad mindset about them and don't know if it would be wise to shop there again. Plus, I don't think they offer free shipping, install, and warranty included in the price tag. I don't see any sales from Frys Electronics either.

I'm based in San Jose in the Bay Area, so if anyone knows what models are currently good for a budget of $1000 and what stores to shop around at, please let me know asap. I'm looking to purchase within a few days from now, if not sooner.

Sounds odd that they want to replace the defroster to fix a cooling problem. Unless you have a build up of ice that's stopping the fan from turning, the defroster isn't the problem. Read this link.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8734548_...ezing.html


As far as buying a new fridge, go to Lowes. Get a moving coupon for 10% off and ask if they have any scratch and dent models on clearance. They don't always have them out on the floor due to limited space. Avoid GE (bad products) and Kenmore due to poor service. If you get one with a built in ice maker, avoid models that have the actual ice maker built into the door as they are more expensive to repair.

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Lowes+Mov...509684072_

Quote from Zoe Moon : Sounds odd that they want to replace the defroster to fix a cooling problem. Unless you have a build up of ice that's stopping the fan from turning, the defroster isn't the problem. Read this link. http://www.ehow.com/info_8734548_...ezing.html As far as buying a new fridge, go to Lowes. Get a moving coupon for 10% off and ask if they have any scratch and dent models on clearance. They don't always have them out on the floor due to limited space. Avoid GE (bad products) and Kenmore due to poor service. If you get one with a built in ice maker, avoid models that have the actual ice maker built into the door as they are more expensive to repair. http://www.lowes.com/cd_Lowes+Mov...509684072_

Well, I went by what those repairmen said since there were two of them inspecting the refrig/freezer combo and are supposed to know about this stuff. I don't know anything about these things to argue otherwise.

Thanks for the eHow link. I will read that later.

Last couple of days, I have gone to Best Buy, Lowes, Frys Electronics, and Sears.

At Fry's Electronics, there's a good selection to look at, but all priced 2k to 3k+ dollars and doesn't appear to have any sales on them.

At Best Buy and Lowes, I had the same problem. All their refrig/freezer combo selections were all 2k to 3k+ dollars, and most of the brands were GE (like you mentioned to avoid), SamSung, LG, and some WhirlPool. I talked to them and they couldn't bargain any more than their price tag.

At Sears, it was a little more interesting, where the lady told me that if I find a refrig/freezer combo that's a better price outside of Sears, then they would issue a 10% credit. I'm not sure if that includes Price Matching as well. However, what bothered me is that most of what they had for selections was Kenmore (which was the brand that's broken right now in my home), as if all Kenmore goes to Sears or something. Their prices were more in line to my budget of $1k, and they also had what you described as scratch and dent or floor models that were close to 40% off. But those floor models, I don't know how long they would last and people mess around with them all the time. I don't know if they run them all day long or not. I was considering one of those, but I'm trying to ask around to think about it because I've never bought a floor model of anything before.

Last time I bought a refurbished cell phone from AT&T and after a month, it gave me problems to where I had to go to the Service Center, which was quite a distance away, and argue with them enough to get a brand new replacement phone of the same model. Since then, I've been eerie about anything that's not brand new out of the box.

So what do you think? Go with a floor model or scratch and dent from Sears? Should the brand name really affect the decision?

Quote from mikenmike0001 : Well, I went by what those repairmen said since there were two of them inspecting the refrig/freezer combo and are supposed to know about this stuff. I don't know anything about these things to argue otherwise. Thanks for the eHow link. I will read that later. Last couple of days, I have gone to Best Buy, Lowes, Frys Electronics, and Sears. At Fry's Electronics, there's a good selection to look at, but all priced 2k to 3k+ dollars and doesn't appear to have any sales on them. At Best Buy and Lowes, I had the same problem. All their refrig/freezer combo selections were all 2k to 3k+ dollars, and most of the brands were GE (like you mentioned to avoid), SamSung, LG, and some WhirlPool. I talked to them and they couldn't bargain any more than their price tag. At Sears, it was a little more interesting, where the lady told me that if I find a refrig/freezer combo that's a better price outside of Sears, then they would issue a 10% credit. I'm not sure if that includes Price Matching as well. However, what bothered me is that most of what they had for selections was Kenmore (which was the brand that's broken right now in my home), as if all Kenmore goes to Sears or something. Their prices were more in line to my budget of $1k, and they also had what you described as scratch and dent or floor models that were close to 40% off. But those floor models, I don't know how long they would last and people mess around with them all the time. I don't know if they run them all day long or not. I was considering one of those, but I'm trying to ask around to think about it because I've never bought a floor model of anything before. Last time I bought a refurbished cell phone from AT&T and after a month, it gave me problems to where I had to go to the Service Center, which was quite a distance away, and argue with them enough to get a brand new replacement phone of the same model. Since then, I've been eerie about anything that's not brand new out of the box. So what do you think? Go with a floor model or scratch and dent from Sears? Should the brand name really affect the decision?

I'm not an expert on any of this, I'm just going by past experiences. I did replace a defroster unit in a fridge with a top freezer years ago back when fridges were more basic than they are now. The defrost unit had died so ice was building up and stopping the fan from turning. No fan = no cold air pulled up to the freezer unit.

I've had two bad experiences in the past with the Sears repair service and I've seen others on SD complain about their service over the last few years, that's why when it comes time to replace our appliances, I'm not going with Kenmore.

As far as Lowes, I just went to their website to see what they had in your price range and there are a lot of fridge's in your price range, plus they are offering 10% off major appliances now through April 30. There are lots of models to chose from in the $800-$1,000 range.

Click here [lowes.com]