I have an LG fridge that is about 3 years old and has died. LG sent out a tech who confirmed that it's the compressor and that it's still under warranty.
The fridge cost about $1200 new which makes me wonder how LG can justify paying for parts and repairs.
I'm hoping they just replace the fridge.
Has anyone been in a similar situation and had a fridge replaced?
Might be wishful thinking but it would make sense if a new fridge is cheaper than a repair.
Refer to the @Hybroid comment, the new unit is more profitable for them to sell to someone else than the costs of parts and labour for fixing your unit.
I bought hisense fridge a few years ago. It developed a problem when it was about 18 months old where it was getting too cold and freezing the food. They replaced a heap of internals which temporarily fixed it. The problem came back a year later. I emailed hisense once about the recurring issue, they refunded the purchase price without fuss.
I was satisfied with that outcome that I then purchased a new hisense fridge. good aftersales support will see me return as a customer.
I emailed hisense once about the recurring issue
If the problem repeats, then you can ask for a full refund or replacement, which is covered by our consumer law.
Part of that $1,200 price tag has a calculated portion factored in for warranty and consumer guarantee costs. Possibly via a Monte Carlo risk assessment that will determine an expected percentage of failure.
Say it's $100 reserved for that, with a 5% assumed failure-rate and 10,000 fridges sold. That's $1,000,000 in the kitty to cover the repairs for 500 defective fridges. Even at a total loss, that's only a $600,000 cost.
Parts costs are negligible for them. If it can be repaired, it probably will be.
Parts might be cheap, but labour costs (often multiple times) for repairs and the unreliable nature of repaired goods make me think repair is not always the best option, especially for appliances on the cheaper side.
Replacing a product would be a known cost, while repair is always going to be variable. If its as simple as 'parts being negligible', you might as well just call the fridge a part and provide a new one.
If it's an LG technician, they're on fixed payroll anyway. If it's a contracted third-party then there's a commercial agreement in place, and they're not paying retail per job/hour rates like you and I would getting a tradie in.
Replacing a compressor would be much cheaper than replacing the entire fridge. For most cases, that's problem solved. For others where it doesn't and repeat repairs required, they've hedged their bets already by offering cheap fixes elsewhere so can absorb added cost.
I get your wishful thinking though, and hope you get a replacement anyway. But you may not even if 100 others did.
The fact that LG is honoring anything is jaw dropping , that's a lot more than I got .
Did you say 'please' ?
JV , "you've done it again".
yeah i has a shocking experience, circuit that controls water dispenser fried (its at the top of the fridge so cant get wet). was a back and forth for weeks to get a tech out to replace. Then when I asked for that circuit board to have a renewed warranty period (as the original died just before warranty finished) their customer support just laughed.
Then when I asked for that circuit board to have a renewed warranty
Why would they give you additional warranty to what was given to you upon purchase?
Some companies will. LG is not one of those companies.
I've made a few blunders in my life, but none quite as severe as buying an LG and a Samsung fridge 🥴
My condolences
LG will be paying for normal labour but their parts will be at their cost price, not retail.
Problem here is you own a LG fridge
Sam goes for all their white goods.
Stupid Sam.
Yes! Our LG Fridge died early too. It took the technician multiple visits to work out the linear compressor was nearly dead. It still cooled but nowhere near enough. The freezer was barely working, the ice maker couldn't get cool enough to work, and the compressor was slightly noisy.
I assumed they would just replace the compressor but they delivered an entire new fridge, but the delivery people weren't prepared to take the old one. I had to call LG multiple times to get the old one taken away.
The fridge was around $2k and we made the first service call 8 months later. The replacement fridge has been fine for 5 years though.
Thank you! That's good to hear someone with an actual experience. It would actually surprise me if they were willing to pay for a fridgie to chase the issue around rather than just replace. With replace they know the cost but with repair the sky is the limit.
It doesn't matter what brand it is, they not going to replace it with a new fridge.