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A Chilly Reception Warmed Up for Santee Woman

Esther Knight called NBC 7 Responds for help with a fluctuating fridge.

Buying a new refrigerator is no easy task. Each refrigerator has unique features. Those added features come at a price.

Those questions loomed large for Santee resident Esther Knight. In September of last year Knight made the plunge, buying a new Maytag refrigerator with French Doors at Lowe’s Hardware in Santee. Knight paid just over $1,700 for her refrigerator and the one-year warranty from Maytag.

But in July of this year Knight noticed something wrong with the freezer.

“It started melting the food and freezing it up. It was changing temperatures back and forth,” Knight told NBC 7 Responds during an interview in August.

Knight called Maytag who then sent a technician to Knight’s home. The technician, however, was unable to find any problems. The freezer was working as it should, the food was frozen and ice was in the ice maker.

Knight assumed she must have left the door open and trusted that the freezer was in working condition.

It wasn’t.

A week later she says she again noticed that food had thawed inside the freezer. She says Ice crystals had appeared on the outside of frozen vegetable packages, indicating the items had thawed and then froze again. Items in the refrigerator also seemed to not be cooling properly.

Knight called Maytag again. The company called another technician to her home.

“He also said nothing was wrong with the freezer,” Knight said. “I was frustrated and very stressed about it.”

Esther needed evidence that there really was a problem with the unit.

“I decided to go out and buy a thermometer in order to keep track of the changes in temperature,” Knight said.

She says As she suspected the temperature in the freezer and the refrigerator fluctuated without any explanation. She again called Maytag.

A third technician arrived at Knight’s Santee home to try and find the problem. The technician again was unable to find anything wrong.

“He didn’t find nothing wrong either. I showed him the temperature. It’s going up and it’s going down.”

But the technician couldn’t find the problem. He applied a bead of glue inside the perimeter of the door hoping it would solve the issue.

It didn’t.

“We couldn’t eat the food,” said Knight. We had to throw the food away, all that food wasted.”

Adding to the stress, Knight said the year-warranty was set to expire and she worried that she would be responsible when the refrigerator broke down for good.

“I was concerned because they seemed to be putting me off and if the warranty expired than they wouldn’t have to do anything,” Knight told NBC 7 Responds.

That’s when she decided to call NBC 7 Responds for help.

Days later a representative from Maytag contacted Knight to let her know they would exchange her refrigerator with a new one.

“It was fantastic,” added Knight. “I had called them and called them and they wouldn’t get back to me.” 

NBC 7 Responds reached out to Whirlpool, the company that owns the Maytag brand. In a statement a company spokesperson wrote, “We regret that this consumer had a difficult experience in resolving an issue with her appliance. We are pleased to have come to a resolution that she is satisfied with. We stand behind our products and encourage anyone who has questions about their Whirlpool appliance to reach out to us at 866-698-2538.”

If you have a problem with a company or feel that you are not getting through, contact NBC 7 Responds at 619 -732-NBC7 or go to our website.

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