Faulty appliances: Repairmen reveal industry secrets (CBC Marketplace)

hey how you doing I'm Jeff and I'm so and where'd the appliance guys and we've seen it all we're calling in appliance repairman because well you say it's an emergency help my French stop cooling and almost started burning one day it just stopped working all the food maker edge spoiled and it ended up on my curb every three or four weeks this freezing compartment freezes up as a matter of fact it is frozen solid right now and we can't open it in birds early and more freezer burn awesome I would expect my machine to last me at least 10 years I really miss my old washer my donut appliances last the way they used to these old pros are about to tell all five industry secrets no holds barred tonight repairman unplugged bill Tom Berenger for market plates meet you me Jeff Jeff thanks for coming into our our fake kitchen Phil and Jeff are going public where other repair men we talked to wooden risking an industry backlash you guys have come on to tell us your stories why let's face it things aren't mean made the way they were we're all a part of it and while stuck with it so what do you do go on TV and try and wake somebody up and they've each spent more than 35 years in the business seeing a landsliding quality and a flood of customer anger when you go into a house and you have somebody with a relatively new machine and it has a major problem what's the reaction you get you don't want to hear Reese we got to keep it clean so they get upset okay you're damn straight yeah they're not just her for sure these ain't your mother's appliances today's fridges stoves and dishwashers are fancy high-tech and often pricey we spend four billion dollars on them every year my crisper yet they seem to be breaking down starts getting filled up with water as fast as they can make them and that keeps Steve Brennen on the road every day I hope to medium dark roast please I have had up to 70 calls in one day Steve's our marketplace repairman and says he's busier than ever we should be making these things to last a lot longer today we're asking him to help solve a mystery yeah I'm not a happy whirlpool customer mark Weitz appliance battles have worn him down he wants to know why his fridge stove and dishwasher all needed fixing I expected them to work like new for at least five years instead it's been barely two years I take care of my plants as they weren't abused this isn't my fault let's see what the problem is shall we very good who's to blame for what happened that's why Steve's here hey Mark morning Tony region for marketplace how are you pleased to meet you I'm sustained Brandon hi Dave need some help ah deal yes all right thank you that's great it's cold coming by first up marks fridge this is it complete with icemaker and freezer in the bottom uh fridge gave me a quite a scare um I come down in the morning and there'd be water pool down here in front of the fridge and I thought hmm mark was stumped so he called whirlpool who hooked him up with a repairman service guy knew exactly what was wrong with it and I'm like that's odd how do you know exactly what's wrong with it comes in a clogged drain was causing ice to build up and water to seep out onto the floor he said these series of fridges have this design problem where that drain tube gets clogged up from dirt dust whatever Mike what next question was him was well if whirlpool knows that this is a design problem you know are they gonna cover the repair and he said you know they've said nothing to us about that our appliance guy has done that repair before if there was a design flaw and the repairman is telling mark that why should he have to pay to get a fixed well really he shouldn't right so if it is a design flaw then he shouldn't have to pay to have it fixed yeah I don't think I should be on the hook for the bill this is a drain issue on a refrigerator which is the most common problem I fix on any refrigerator in fact whirlpool has a replacement kit in case the drain keeps clogging as you'll see that sort of thing is common in other brands hello marketplace it's Terry in Vancouver I'm hoping you can help me with my samsung fridge that's just two years old Terry Lakes fridge is leaking water too I'm gonna phone Tom Harrington from CBC and see what he can do for me hi there hi Tom how are ya I'm good Terry how are you great thank you very much I have some friends with me okay great we organized a party-line service call for Vancouver so Terry I understand you have a problem with your fridge yes I have a big problem with my fridge it's been plaguing me all year would you like to see it Terry's hoping Steve can help ya show us the problem okay this is my fridge and my crisper is filling up with water water in the crisper yeah the water leaking into the vegetable drawer isn't the only problem so I'm gonna just pull out the crisper now and so I hope you can see this but now in the last few days I've got ice forming here okay so we have another refrigerator with a plug drain Terry's been solving a problem the old-fashioned way unplugging it like frost-free freezers went out how many years ago now and now I have a non frost-free fridge for goodness sakes I mean this is craziness it's retro thanks yeah with it along with the stainless steel front like Marx whirlpool her Samsung trouble began after the 1-year warranty ended got any ideas for me the more we look the more cold hard truths we learn about leaky fridges online there are lots of similar complaints I'll just read you what this one person says the ice is back and my food continues to spoil I don't know if they're still selling this fridge or not and there's a potential class action lawsuit against Samsung in the US this is $1400 and it's garbage crazy I can't live like this so what are shoppers hearing about the reputation of Samsung fridges let's find out the marketplace way shall we we're taking our hidden cameras into four major retailers Sears Leon's Home Depot and Future Shop our unplug repairmen are watching with us to see if our hidden shopper will hear all the nitty-gritty from my experience people buy with your eyes you know that looks good and why do the salesmen they're pretty good too LLL convince you that some of the stuff that no these gadgets that are coming up with her necessities and stuff and in the end you buy into it and you said Samsung's a good a good model I better Samsung myself so far glowing reviews but we've just spotted Terry's fridge this is the oldest fridge in our lineup but it sells so well every year that were we don't want to pull it straight from a Samsung corporate sales guy who happens to be in Home Depot today and how dependable is uh you askin the wrong guy quick shifter as far as you know there's not many issues fragile or 197 the one that seven and Samsung in general very reliable reliable maybe Samsung isn't aware of all the complaints but our insider Phil says the company probably is is it possible that Samsung knows this problem is crossed you already do because when you do warranty work for any company they they want you to put in a code on the work order and that codes supposed to go to the engineering department if they get a thousand of those codes and they'll face what's going on so they track the problems yes meantime our insider Jeff says this is bigger than one brand or one fridge our company is standing by their products like they used to no chance nobody cares and it's it's really come to that and that's our first repairman secret design flaws are well known in the industry but you're not told about them what did Samsung say when you call them they just said that I wasn't under warranty and I would have to pay to get someone out Samsung should acknowledge that this is a problem if you call us with this problem we'll fix it for you so that's what they should be doing instead Samsung gives Terry the cold shoulder but mark says don't give up I think you should stick to your guns and don't pay there's no way I want to pay for this don't be like me I felt I didn't even have a choice because water kept pouring out of my floor so I paid Terry's fighting back I mean why should I pay it's it's absolute insanity to own a new fridge while Terry takes on big appliance so the repairman is coming in he's asking me to shut down the fridge our repairmen are going to reveal more secrets is it reliable nothing's reliable sign up with your appliances then divide it on Facebook and Twitter we're calling in the repairman telling you what home appliance makers would rather you didn't know right here is the troublemaker secrets people such as Terry Lake wish she knew hmm she owns a fridge on the fritz it's leaking water it drips down here and I get a whole lot of water in the crisper so I can't use this crisper horn down the drain that's not all underneath the crisper all across the water I'll get in there and it'll freeze into ice pretty stupid for a fridge meantime across the country in Milton Ontario mark White's fridge needed fixing but that was just the beginning well the dishwasher wasn't washing dishes well my wife was complaining that you know she'd find bits and pieces of things in her glasses whatever so the same repairman who fixed his fridge made another house call and replaced a computer board and sensor and that seemed to resolve the problem and relieved me of several hundred dollars you know here's my range but just when mark thought his troubles were over several months later the display panel on him his stove had an issue without the display panel I cannot operate the stove once again it was the electronics our marketplace repairman Steve Brandon isn't surprised electronics and appliances how common is this you have a computer would you take it and put it on top of a hot stove no because you know when the water hits this thing there's a seam so if you have electronics here they are very vulnerable to that the design of modern stoves means more service calls maybe we could make a stove that doesn't blow up when your pasta boils over right our insiders Phil and Jeff have spent decades repairing machines even working for the manufacturers finicky electronics is the single biggest problem they deal with the shift has been through going from mechanical appliances to more electronic and it seemed to select Roenick stuff just doesn't have the longevity the other stuff did that's our second repairman secret electronics often fail and cost lots to fix will we hear that on our shopping tour of big appliance departments controls are electronic so those are something that you have to be careful surprisingly we do get hints when did the problems happen they're random it's electronics right they're all electronics right there's also conversion area but this salesperson goes one step further telling a repair story of her own with a surprise ending and you said yours broke right mine broke yes I've got about five years just to buy this piece meaning the computer of the controller it will be about $450 if those dollar would be more money so obviously would be almost the price of binary that's why in the binary ah so that's what's really going on our insiders say that dilemmas no accident it is the industry's grand plan at work I believe my opinion that they don't want you facing it they want you do buy another one I am yeah that actually makes sense to me what else will they price apart so expensive and get this even if you want to repair your appliance Jeff says you might not be able to I can get parts tomorrow for a machine that's 40 years old why can't I get a part tomorrow for a machine that's 2 years old either they can't keep up with the demand on that defective part or they're just not really willing to invest the money to replace those parts out into the marketplace extremely expensive like that's why the manufacturer shows you a lot because they don't really want you to fix it they want to make it difficult to you to buy the parts and pay for installation because you want you to buy a new right and that's our third repairman secret the high cost of parts and repairs may force you to buy a new machine even if you're lucky and don't have any major troubles how long can you expect any big appliance to last to find out we're back in the stores ten years of the most we used to say 15 but I'll tell her last for a hundred years well I think in all honesty I mean you will get at least 12 years out of here your fridge that's what I like to say is sort of the ballpark nowadays how long do they last these things now the fridges or any appliance there's estimated about 10-12 years and problem-free the whole time it's okay if you're like yup even sales people can't sugarcoat it today's appliances have a much shorter lifespan and that say our insiders is by design to at the end of the day if it's built in obsolescence when they say 12 years they're not saying 12 years problem-free they're saying at 12 years you're probably going to throw this thing out and in between that 12 years well it at 3 years you're going to have a problem with potentially a board at 5 years you probably have to put another 300 bucks for another board at 7 years you're gonna have a problem with it and they don't tell you that a lot is it gonna last is it reliable nothing's reliable and that's our next secret if you hope to keep your appliance for the long haul keep the repairman on speed dial back in Milton mark white couldn't afford to buy new machines whirlpool how much does jinda paying for all the repairs in here over thirteen hundred dollars and none of it under warranty right none of it we asked whirlpool to talk to us on camera about problems with their products this stuff shouldn't be breaking like as if it's 20 years old when it's like a year and a bit they turn us down but send us this Whirlpool Corporation has been making appliances for more than 100 years and product quality is among our top priorities I believe the manufacturer should be paying for the repairs pterri lakes about to put that to the test in Vancouver this is just absolutely unacceptable she's calling Samsung with an ultimatum I need you to either fix this bridge or give me a bridge that doesn't do this and our insiders share one final secret they can do whatever they want because they don't have to care shopping for new appliances don't get burned find out how at cbc.ca slash marketplace we're taking you inside the world of major home appliances and revealing some major secrets the industry likely wants on the back burner in vancouver terry lakes samsung fridge went on the fritz months after the one-year warranty expired and it drips down here it's been leaking water and icing up now I've got a frost filled fridge the likely cause a design problem and there are tons of similar complaints about Samsung online don't seem to be any help they don't even acknowledge that there's a problem with this fridge that's what Samsung told her the first time she called but Terry's not giving up she thinks Samsung should cover the cost of the repair I need you to either fix this bridge or give me a fridge that doesn't do this this time she gets through to the higher-ups okay you bet Thanks thank you when you've been waiting for almost a year a minute or two on hold what's another two minutes at last some good news repair for your case we don't need the hospital sale okay how about that Samsung comes through with a free repair but Terri wonders what took them so long um are you aware of the problem with this fridge okay what is not yet are recalled so we wouldn't call it a recall okay cuz my thought is it should be a recall because seems like when I go on the internet everybody in their dog is having this problem hmm Samsung's not denying there is a problem so the repair man's coming and he's asked me to shut down the fridge before he gets here so that it starts to thaw we asked Samsung to come on camera they freeze us out and send a note instead the company says it's committed to delivering high quality products and is promising to offer over the phone assistance to customers with problems Samsung it's a real shame that you didn't come on marketplace to explain your position on this and what you're willing to do for your customers the repairman installs some new parts and says that should fix the design problem in the end they have done the right thing for me you have to just keep pressuring them that's for sure don't companies want to compete though to have you as a long-lasting customer and build a products that do last and build oil competition I don't see competition anymore really in the end that's because despite all the brands out there our insiders say only a handful of companies is making them same people same people so you don't have a choice we don't have a choice not really and I think that's where the lack of caring starts when all of a sudden you don't have so many choices anymore I think when they won't do whatever they want because they don't have to care because where are you gonna go there's not many players in the game anymore and that is our final repairman secret a lack of competition means the industry has no incentive to be better back in Milton ok I just got a package this morning Oh a light bulb from whirlpool whirlpool is doing some repairs to their reputation after we get involved the company is in a hurry to please mark white they offered to buy back his stove even throw in a bulb for the hood oh yeah he says no to the new stove but guess what whirlpool offers to cover his $1,300 repair bill I want to say thank you very much for making me write with this our insiders Phil and Jeff hope they've done the right thing by coming forward if we can help somebody make the right decision on what they're buying be a little bit more conscious about the decision don't be fooled by the glitz guys thanks for sharing your stories with us appreciate it thanks for having thanks they've unplugged so that you can be plugged in and next week on like a place is it worth squeezing out extra bucks for premium orange juice that's all that's in it 100 percent on what some juice makers don't want you to know they don't want this to be perceived as a heavily processed product marketplace viewers are freshly PE I'm angry it I feel duped and help us reveal some juicy secrets give that a smell what do you think it is one squirt at a time that's orange juice that's our system you you

Channel: CBC News

Views: 1,821,254

Rating: 4.6654983 out of 5

Keywords: appliances, Consumer Electronics (Industry), consumer affairs, repairs, home, Home Appliance (Consumer Product), Refrigerator (Culinary Tool), Stove (Product Category), Washing Machine (Product Category), Dishwasher (Product Category), broken, Marketplace (Award-Winning Work), News (TV Genre), Canada, Vancouver, Toronto, repair

Id: hk2TfF1M4r8

Length: 22min 46sec (1366 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 09 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/tempest_]

Its been pretty common knowledge that white goods have been decreasing in build quality and have increasing points of failure due to electronics for some time now.