Complaint Review: Viking Range LLC - Greenwood Mississippi

Dear Reader,

My wife and I purchased a Viking Refrigerator, Model DFSB4230, for $6,061.98 at Warehouse Discount Center and had it installed in January, 2006. We also purchased at the Warehouse Discount Center a 5 year service contract for same from General Electric Company - Service Protection Plus, Rapid City, SD 57709

The refrigerator needed 9 service calls starting in July, 2006 through March, 2010. Repeatedly we complained about water leaking from the refrigerator onto the tile floor. Each time the service technician said that it was repaired. The first 6 of these service calls were done by AirFlo Company, Inc. All service calls were done by appliance repair companies selected by the Sureway - General Electric Company - Service Protection Plus Insurance Policy.

We continued to have water leaking under the refrigerator. This refrigerator is a build-in with a luxurious Cherrywood custom cabinet. The water started to affect a wooden post on the left front corner of the unit. After the insurance expired we asked another appliance repair company to check the leak problem. The technisian's recommendation was that we would have to replace the icemaker ($375.00), the water valve ($169.00), gasket and service ($340.00), for a total incuding tax of $932.96.

At this point we decided that there was some permanent deficiency with the refrigerator and contacted Viking Range, LLC. We felt that based on all the service calls we could not reasonably expect to get the refrigerator to be permanently repaired. Viking's service manager informed us that this model is not being made any longer and they have stopped making build in models with water and ice dispensers. Therefore we would not be able to use our expensive cabinet panels designed for the current refrigerator. The model in stainless steel without water and ice dispenser VCSB5423SS costs $9,449.00 or we could get a panel ready model for $8,999.00. When I spoke with the Service Manager at Viking, he told me that the Service Technicians that were used by the Insurance Comany were not qualified to work on Viking refrigerators because they were not trained by Viking and therefore the service problems we are experiencing are not their concern.

After the rejection at Viking we decided to contact the Warehouse Discount Center and let them know that the Appliance Insurance they are selling is not using approved technicians and therefore should not be sold by them. Also to get their contact information as we could not locate Sureway, Inc. The Store Manager emailed me the phonenumber 800-626-2001.

When I called them they were very hesitant to discuss anything. After a second call and much persuasion I obtained a fax number and sent them a copy of all the bills and correspondence., including the Viking allegation that they do not have properly trained technicians. I received a letter in reply with one paragraph: Your contract is expired. We were not able to locate any active contracts. Please contact the manufacturer of your appliance for futher assistance.

It is apparent that the manufacturer does not want to take any responsibility for the recurring water leak problems, that the insurer does not want to take any responsibility for using unqualified technicans, and the store does not want to take any responsibility for selling insurance  of a company that uses unqualified technicians. There seems to be no legal solution either, because of the cost of litigation. Therefore I thought it best to write this report and let the public decide not to use products and services that are not worth their expense.

I