Amana French Door Refrigerator – Consumer Review
Last December we purchased a new Amana refrigerator. We were thrilled to get the French Door model in black. We also chose one of the largest capacity refrigerators with a drawer freezer on the bottom.
During the first week we were excited to try out the various shelf configurations in the refrigerator part of the Amana. Every day it seemed that some new thing would come to light. First we found that each of the shelves would actually roll out. We could adjust the heights easily. We also could fit four gallons of milk in the doors which suites our large family of six.
The freezer portion of the Amana refrigerator is equally consumer friendly. The bottom drawer pulls out, and there is a second roll out shelf. Both hold a large amount and we usually have it filled to the brim.
We had purchased our refrigerator from a dealer in Eugene, Oregon called Oldfield’s Appliances. At the time we were briefly offered an insurance program in case anything went wrong. Rarely have we had an appliance repaired and did not feel it was worth the cost. We also felt that Amana was a product name that we could trust.
New Years weekend was approaching and we stocked up on groceries and had a full refrigerator for the holiday weekend. We were expecting family and were tickled to show off our new Amana refrigerator/freezer as well as feeding the expected heard.
New Years eve we noticed that the upper portion of the fridge seemed warmer than it should be. We chalked it up to the kids opening the doors too much. We kept a close watch on it though. By the next morning it felt even warmer, almost room temperature. We were surprised that an Amana product would go belly up in 25 days, but we felt that the store or manufacturor would stand behind their product. Shouldn’t a product that costs $1,200-$1,500 last more than 30, 60 or even 90 days?
My husband ran to Walmart and purchased a refrigerator thermometer so we could test it. We also checked the freezer drawer, but it was still going strong. Once we confirmed that the problem was serious we called the dealer in at Oldfield’s where we purchased the Amana and requested it be repaired, but I stated that I would prefer that it be replaced.
I was shocked at what I was next told. Because we had not purchased an extended warranty, neither the dealer nor Amana would repair the product unless we paid for the parts and servicing. I was also told that even though I had receipts showing that there was at least $150 worth of perishables in the refrigerator purchased only the day before the problem occurred, they would not reimburse me for that either.
Trapped between a rock and a hard place, I requested a service person to arrive as soon as possible. I needed a refrigerator that would work! Later that morning, a service technician arrived to repair the Amana fridge. In chatting with him, I did purchase the extended warranty because it was slightly less than the cost of repair at the time.
The service technician was also a vast source of information. He stated that the fan that moves the air around is what broke down. He educated us on how it worked and said that Amana as well as other manufacteror were required to meet specific requirements for energy savings. To do this they used fans that had very tiny engines that often burned out quickly. He replaced the fan mechanism with a different type that was sturdier. That change significantly reduced our energy savings rating that originally came with the refrigerator.
Energy savings is one of the key factors when you purchase appliances these days. Overall, I still love the configuration of the Amana refrigerator freezer that we purchased, but I am disappointed that Amana does not stand behind their product for even a limited amount of time.
